Secret Passage - Mythological and Fictional Uses - Detective and Mystery Stories

Detective and Mystery Stories

In the late 1890s, detective novels featuring seemingly "impossible crimes" became popular. Impossible crimes were sometimes carried out using secret passages or doors. Subsequent generations of detective pulp fiction and mystery story authors also used the plot device of secret passages.

However, the use of secret passages in detective fiction and mystery stories has been criticised, on the grounds that it is not "fair" to expect the reader to guess about the existence of these secret passages. Ronald Knox (1888–1957), a British theologian and detective story author, argued that the plot device of a secret passage was overused in detective fiction. Knox's Ten Commandments for Detective Fiction states that "Not more than one secret room or passage is allowable." Furthermore, Knox urges that secret passages not be used in detective stories unless the story takes place in an old house or castle where a reader might reasonably expect to find a secret door or passageway.

Carolyn Wells' "impossible crime" stories from the first decades of the 20th century, such as Faulkner's Folly (1917) are often set in an upper class country house, where a murder takes place. There is a closed circle of suspects, all linked to the murdered man; however, based on the layout of the house, the murder seems "impossible". In Wells' stories, the solution to the seemingly impossible crime plots tend to depend on the murderers' use of secret passageways, secret panels, and hidden doors.

Passages figure in several books of the 'Famous Five' series written by Enid Blyton.

Various secret passages have been depicted in Batman fiction, usually one between Wayne Manor and The Batcave and another for the Batmobile to enter/exit the Batcave. In the Harry Potter books, Hogwarts, the castle-school where much of the action takes place, contains secret passages in the form of paintings which act as a door to tunnels, etc.