Definitions

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A type of detective story in which the focus is not on who committed the crime, but how they have done so.

Etymologies

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Examples

  • A 'howdunit' from one of the best in the mystery business

    The Globe and Mail - Home RSS feed 2009

  • So there's no whodunit, no howdunit, and no compelling why-he-dunnit, and no need for a detective as brilliant as Clouseau to be assigned to the case, let alone for a "Dream Team" of brilliant detectives.

    Clouseau vs. Clouseau 2009

  • Mystery and sub genres cozy mystery detective mystery hardboiled mystery police procedural mystery whodunit mystery howdunit mystery locked room mystery historical mystery humorous mystery noir

    How to Write Engaging Work in a Land of Rules 2010

  • So there's no whodunit, no howdunit, and no compelling why-he-dunnit, and no need for a detective as brilliant as Clouseau to be assigned to the case, let alone for a "Dream Team" of brilliant detectives.

    Lance Mannion: 2009

  • Sometimes I go back and pick up where I left off for the whydunit or howdunit.

    Starting a Mother-Daughter Book Club 2008

  • Many of the more recent stories are gems, including a pair from _EQMM, _but so is the 1973 _AHMM _tale "To Hide a Tree," combining a unique and devilishly clever howdunit with a sharply observed reflection of its time.

    Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine 2004

  • Many of the more recent stories are gems, including a pair from _EQMM, _but so is the 1973 _AHMM _tale "To Hide a Tree," combining a unique and devilishly clever howdunit with a sharply observed reflection of its time.

    Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine 2004

  • It was fast developing into a pathetic, and disturbing howdunit.

    The Piano Teacher Robert K. Tanenbaum 1987

  • In the howdunit stage the so - called "medical mystery" gained much popularity, and after the turn of the century the comparatively simple "medical mystery" matured into the more complex "scientific detective story."

    In The Queens' Parlour Queen, Ellery 1864

  • Suddenly, instead of simply whodunit, solving crimes was a matter of howdunit, and with what size shoe, and whether anyone left behind traces of evidence that the blue ALS light could pick up.

    VeryCD - 电驴资源订阅 2008

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