whydunit

English

Alternative forms

• whydunnit

Noun

whydunit (plural whydunits)

1. (literature, film) A type of detective story in which the focus is not on the person who committed the crime, but on the motives for committing it.
   • 1985, Laurence Urdang, Walter W. Hunsinger, Nancy LaRoche, Picturesque expressions: a thematic dictionary‎^[1], page 420:

     Connery takes over the interrogation and in the process beats the man to death. This much we know almost from the beginning, so the film is less of a whodunit than a whydunit.

Related terms

• howdunit
• wheredunit
• whodunit