The Story Archive

Emil and the Detectives

Erich Kästner · 1929 CE · Novel · German · Modernist

A boy from a provincial town rides to Berlin with his grandmother's money pinned inside his jacket, dozes off in the compartment and wakes to find both the notes and the man in the bowler hat gone. A guilty conscience about a defaced statue keeps him from the police, so he tails the thief across the city and picks up a gang of children who organise a surveillance operation. Kästner's book invented the child-detective story.

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Attributes

Genre
MysteryAdventureComing-of-Age
Theme
Justice & RevengeFellowshipComing of AgeClass & Inequality
Archetype (Jung / Campbell)
EverymanAlly / CompanionVillain / TyrantTrickster
Plot structure
The ChaseMystery
Symbol / motif
The CityThe Train
Conflict
vs Personvs Society
Mode / tone
RealistComic
Culture / tradition
German

Closest analogues