The detective novel is the art-for-art's-sake of our yawning Philistinism, the classic example of a specialized form of art removed from contact with the life it pretends to build on.
Queen Victoria - a mixture of national landlady and actress.
We are used to the actions of human beings, not to their stillness.
A touch of science, even bogus science, gives an edge to the superstitious tale.
Criticism changes with the fashion of the time. A story is always a story.
Some writers thrive on the contact with the commerce of success; others are corrupted by it. Perhaps, like losing one's virginity,it is not as bad (or as good) as one feared it was going to be.