"Wake Up Dead Man" and the Whodunnit Renaissance

"We all know the formula: it begins with a dead body, and quickly introduces a motley crew of outlandish characters, each with a motive for murder. The whodunnit genre has been a cultural fixture since the days of Arthur Conan Doyle and Agatha Christie-the latter of whom has been outsold only by the Bible and Shakespeare. Recently, though, the murder mystery has achieved a new level of saturation, with streaming services offering up a seemingly endless supply of glossy thrillers."

""Wake Up Dead Man," the latest of Rian Johnson's "Knives Out" movies, slyly incorporates social commentary, while shows like "Search Party" and "Only Murders in the Building" poke fun at the figure of the citizen sleuth. In our era of conspiracy theories and vigilante actors, there's also a dark side to the archetype."

""This desire to be the hero and to follow the logical trails and take things into your own hands-it's very appealing, if you do it right," Schwartz says. "It's great if you catch the right guy. If you don't, and you catch the wrong one, the entire foundation of society crumbles.""

The whodunnit formula typically begins with a dead body and a motley crew of outlandish characters, each with a motive for murder. The genre has endured since Arthur Conan Doyle and Agatha Christie, with Christie remaining exceptionally popular. Streaming platforms have produced a wave of glossy murder mysteries that refresh the form. Recent entries inject social commentary and satirical takes on the amateur sleuth, while some works highlight the dangerous consequences of vigilantism. The appeal of amateur detection coexists with a risk that mistaken accusations can erode public trust and destabilize social order.

Read at The New Yorker