Fair Play Gives Readers Clues

Fair play in detective fiction means authors must give readers a genuine chance to solve the mystery alongside the detective. The principle became central to the clue-puzzles popularized during Britain's Golden Age of detective fiction in the 1920s and 1930s by writers such as Agatha Christie and S. S. Van Dine. Every vital clue must appear in the text and be possible to decode, even if hidden in plain sight among red herrings, rather than being withheld until the final reveal.

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