Crime novel

The novel Perfume: The Story of a Murderer by Patrick Süskind can be considered a crime novel. The term "crime novel" is used as an umbrella term for various types of fiction. On the one hand, there are the "detective novels" and, on the other, the "Gothic novel" which has given birth to the modern thrillers.

The detective novels are mainly told from the point of view of a detective who wants to solve a crime. The exact circumstances of the perpetrator's crimes remain unexplained for a long time and sometimes even the perpetrator themselves remain undiscovered until the end of the novel.

In the gothic novel, the focus is on the pursuit of the perpetrator, not on solving a crime. It is quickly clear who committed the crime, and in the course of the action there are repeated confrontations between hunter and hunted. 

Sometimes, the crime novel genre focuses on the crime and the punishment of the criminal. The conviction of the perpetrator is an elaborate and lengthy process.

In Patrick Süskind's novel Perfume: The Story of a Murderer, the main character Jean-Baptiste Grenouille takes on the role of the perpetrator. The subtitle "The Story of a Murderer" already points to him as the criminal.

In the novel, Grenouille becomes the murderer of a large number of inn...