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Heres a look at the towering franchises and characters of the genre and where they stand today.
Theres a whole lotta good mystery out there.
Sherlock Holmes
Its impossible to talk about mystery fiction without talking about Sherlock Holmes.
Number of books:56 short stories (collected throughout five books) and four novels.
Vultures David Edelstein was not impressed with the latter.
World record:Guinness World Recordshas crowned Holmesthe most-portrayed literary human character in film and television history.
Thats what happens when you sell novels by the billions (no exaggeration).
The amateur detective Miss Marple needs to get to the bottom of the crime.
Acorn Media acquired a 64 percent stake in her estate in 2012.
The BBCstruck a dealto acquire the TV rights to her works two years later.
Whats in development?Death on the Nile, a sequel to 2017sMurder on the Orient Express.
Branagh puts nothing into evoking a mood of fear or paranoia, David Edelsteincharged.
Video games:During the mid-aughts, AWE Games developed a small series of Agatha Christierelated adventure games.
(Stratemeyer also created Nancy Drew; more on that below.)
Yet nearly 20 years later, twoish Hardy novels are still reliably published each year.
The new books continue to be credited to Frank W. Dixon.
When their father disappears, they have to solve the case on their own and locate a secret tunnel.
(The recent books are part of a reboot series, The Hardy Boys Adventures.)
The comic-book rightswere acquiredby the Canadian writer Anthony Del Col.
Whats in development?Not much.
Despite the enduring popularity of the books, there has never been a movie adaptation.
The most recent adaptation hit television in the mid-1990s and didnt survive more than one season.
Number of books:533, spread across nine distinct series.
The most recent book,Turkey Trot Plot,was published last month.
(All editions continue to be credited to Carolyn Keene.)
As withHardy Boys, Del Col has the comic-book rights.
Trivia:Hillary ClintonconsideredNancy Drew a role model when she was a young girl.
In the original novel, the amateur sleuths eventually take up with their steel-baron grandpa.
Screen adaptations have been surprisingly uncommon.
An animated film arrived in 2014 with little fanfare.
Who has the rights?The books have been published by Albert Whitman & Company for decades.
Whats in development?In 2016,there were reported to be threeanimatedBoxcar Childrenfilms in development.
Two of them have arrived, so presumably one more is on the way.
Was the movie good?Who the hell knows.According to Rotten Tomatoes, only one critic actually watched it.
However, be warned that it is closed for repairs until next May.
The firstEncyclopedia Brownbook was published in 1963 and spawned 28 sequels.
The books sold millions of copies and resulted in a live-action HBO series during the late 1980s.
Number of books:29 books, all written (or co-written) by Donald J. Sobol.
(Good luck finding a more detailed synopsis than that.)
Who has the rights?Its complicated.
The books were published by Puffin Books, an imprint of Penguin.
He evidently regretted the deal andeventually sued to get the character back.
The case was settled, withDeutsch holding onto the movie rights.
(HBO obtained the TV rights and released a well-received live-action series in 1989.)
Meanwhile, Warner Bros. began developing a feature-film adaptation in 1981, but it went nowhere.
In 2013, Warner Bros.once again optioned the movie rights.
That movie never arrived.
Whats in development?A movie … maybe?
Its not clear why the project has stalled or whether it will ever come to fruition.
Was the movie good?Well let you know when they finally make one.
Each book details the crime-solving adventures of private investigator Kinsey Millhone.
Unfortunately, Grafton died in late 2017 before writing the final entry,Z Is for Zero.
(The penultimate book,Y Is for Yesterday, had been published several months before her death.)
Thus, there will be no 26th book.
Number of books:25 one for every letter in the alphabet, exceptZ.
Millhone suspects that Beverlys disappearance may be linked to a prior murder.
I would never let those clowns get their hands on my work,she said in a 2013 interview.
Theyd ruin it for everyone, me more than most.
Graftons family now owns the rights, and her daughter has vowed to respect the late authors wishes.
Trivia:Grafton threatened to haunt her children as a ghost if they sold the film rights to Hollywood.
Who has the rights?The books were published by HarperCollins.
Im assured that another film will be made.
Perhaps,Handler said wryly in a 2008 interview.
That series resulted in three seasons now finished with Neil Patrick Harrishamming it up as Count Olaf.
Whats in development?Nothing we know of.
Was the movie good?It received mixed reviews, with a Rotten Tomatoes score of 72 percent.
Roger Ebert hopefully described it as a trial run for the series.
(The first entry,Devil in a Blue Dress, was published in 1990.)
The character was famously adapted for the big screen with 1995sDevil in a Blue Dress, starring Denzel Washington.
Since then, numerous would-be screen adaptations have failed to materialize.
Who has the rights?The books are published by Vintage Crime/Black Lizard.
NBCacquired the television rights in 2011, but that project also went nowhere.
Hopefully thats still in the works.
Trivia:Easy Rawlinsis the rare mystery franchise to center on a black protagonist.
The books frequently address racial injustice and touch on such historical events as the 1965 Watts Riots.
As aNew YorkTimescritic wrote in 1996, Easy has to confront the matter of race at every turn.
It affects every negotiation, limits or distorts every exchange especially with police officers.
Womens Murder Club
James Pattersons prolific, workmanlike approach to writing is somewhat terrifying.
(The most recent entry,19th Christmas,was publishedearlier this month.)
The series resulted in an ABC television drama back in 2007.It was canceledafter one season.
Who has the rights?The books are published by Little, Brown and Company.
Back in 2007, ABC aired a TV series based on the franchise.
More recently,USA internet was reported to bedeveloping a new series.
Its been four years and nothing has materialized.
Trivia:Patterson is the only mystery author whos co-authored a suspense novelwith a former U.S. president.
Notable collaborator:Patterson has worked extensively with the co-writer Maxine Paetro.
He used to have a family on Long Island.
Now hes on his own in the city and does favors for friends to get by.
Published in 1976, that first book was titledThe Sins of the Fathers.
Number of books:18 novels, and one short-story collection.
Who has the rights?The latest novel was published by Subterranean Press.
Whats in development?More books, perhaps.
Despite occasional murmurs of retirement, Block, at 81,doesnt seem able to put the pen down.
The latter was better received check out David Edelsteins reviewhere.
Trivia:Block originally planned to retire the Scudder character after 1982sEight Million Ways to Die.
The Millennium novels
Stieg Larsson never lived to see his Millenniumseries become an international phenomenon.
In 2009, the trilogy was first adapted for the big screen in Sweden.
Dragon Tattoogot the Hollywood treatment two years later, with awidely successful film adaptationdirected by David Fincher.
A quasi-sequel,The Girl in the Spiders Web, came out last year.
Mikael Blomkvist must solve the murder and clear Salanders name.
Who has the rights?The U.S. rights to the books are owned by Alfred A. Knopf.
Whats in development?Who knows.
But itgot caught in development hell and never materialized.
Hollywood went the reboot route instead withSpiders Web.
Swedish adaptations:In 2009, all three books were adapted into films in Larssons native Sweden.
The first one was particularly well received.
Trivia:Larsson planned to write ten novels in the series.
The author, Robert Galbraith, was said to be a civilian security expert.
A BBC One series based on the first two novels arrived in 2017.
Number of books:Four (and more likely on the way).
Who has the rights?The BBC acquired the television rights in 2014.
Whats in development?More books!
(Rowling apparentlyplans to write five or six more of them.)
After the world learned of Galbraiths real identity, sales ofThe Cuckoos Callingincreased by 150,000 percent.
