There are many interesting genres in literature which I admire, but my favourite books are detective stories. Such books usually contain crime and mystery, which are later solved by smart detectives. One of the best-known detectives of all times was Sherlock Holmes. Everybody has heard of him and of his supernatural talent to investigate the cases and detect criminals. The typical features of a fine detective story are the seemingly perfect crime, the wrongly accused suspect at the beginning, the great observation skills of the detective and the unexpected outcome. The official founder of the western detective was Edgar Allan Poe. In 1841 he published the story called “The Murders in the Rue Morgue”, which is considered to be the first example of this genre. However, his work has been influenced by another story, written at the beginning of the 19th century. It is known that detectives have existed even in ancient literature. Ancient Greek writer and philosopher Sophocles wrote the play which was close to detective by its essence. One of the earliest detective stories was traced in ancient Arab world. It was told by Scheherazade in the “Arabian Nights”. The chapter narrated about mysterious murder of a young woman. The Golden Age of detective falls on the first half of the 20th century, when Agatha Christie produced a series of books featuring Miss Marple and Hercule Poirot. These two fictional characters have become the true symbols of detective fiction since then. People all over the world still read and watch the mysteries solved by them.