Introduction: The Birth of the Boy Detective

Abstract

Andrew traces the origins of the boy detective genre in Britain from the criminal-centric “penny dreadfuls” in the 1860s to the Harmsworths’ boys’ story papers from the 1890s to the 1930s. This chapter identifies Ernest Keen, hero of the “penny dreadful” narrative The Boy Detective; or, the Crimes of London (1865-1866), as a clearly defined and idealised boy detective and explores how his story-paper descendants—often boy assistants to Holmesian adult detectives—do not so obviously fit this ideal. Andrew explores variations in the boy detective model but also emphasises the shared disciplinary, monitory and aspirational functions of these characters for their young readers and examines how these fictional boy detectives reflect and respond to changing adult anxieties about boyhood and the boy’s transition to manhood.