Realism

Kingsley's Detective Story is written in the style of realism. Realism characterizes literature that strives to portray real-life circumstances as accurately as possible. Kingsley prepared for the writing of Detective Story by spending many hours in a New York City police precinct station, in order to render his characters, their speech, and the nature of their professional work as accurately as possible.

In order to prepare for the writing of Detective Story, Kingsley observed police stations and district attorney's offices and followed detectives on their rounds, gathering information that filled thirty notebooks. In an introduction to Detective Story, Kingsley explained:

I realized that though the police station had been exploited perhaps more than any other background in literature—in thousands of whodunits—there had never been a completely honest picture.

Although the specific characters and stories in Detective Story are fictional, Kingsley explores such real-life societal issues as...