Who is father of the detective story?

Answer 1

Edgar Allan Poe

The first detective story was “The Murders in the Rue Morgue” by Edgar Allan Poe, published in April 1841.

http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9030101/detective-story

Answer 2

The father of detective story is Adgar Allan Poe and the first detective story ever written is his "The Crime in Rue Morgue" (1841). Its major character, Auguste Dupin is going to be the perfect detective type, followed later on by Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes.

Answer 3

I'll mention Arthur Conan Doyle, since no one else seems to have. He created Sherlock Holmes, and wrote the original Sherlock Holmes stories. He's very much the "father" of the detective story as its own genre.

The others are right to point out that Edgar Allen Poe does predate Doyle a little, and has written several very good short stories that could be considered "detective stories" or mysteries. In general, I'd say that he was the originator of many of the devices and conventions that Arthur Conan Doyle later popularized.

Think of Arthur Conan Doyle, the great popularizer and genre-defining author, as the Elvis Presley of detective stories, and Edgar Poe the originator as the Bo Diddley/Little Richard of detective stories. Both are the genre's "fathers," but in very different ways.

Answer 4

Dashiel Hammett's hard-boiled style in The Maltese Falcon brought the detective story to public prominence.
Edgar Allen Poe deserves credit, but what you have to remember about Poe is that he only came to public attention a full 100 years or so after his death.

Answer 5

Wilkie Collins wrote the first ever detective story in the English language, a brilliant work entitled "The Moonstone". He therefore deserves the title.

Answer 6

Edgar Allen Poe

Answer 7

Some say Wilkie Collins and some say Edgar Allen Poe.