This article presents a comprehensive scholarly analysis of the emergence and evolution of the detective genre within the context of modern literary theory. Tracing its origins to Edgar Allan Poe’s foundational works of the 19th century—particularly The Murders in the Rue Morgue and The Purloined Letter—the study follows the genre’s development through the contributions of Arthur Conan Doyle, Agatha Christie, Raymond Chandler, Umberto Eco, Jorge Luis Borges, and others. The detective genre is examined not merely as a narrative of crime and investigation, but as a multifaceted aesthetic structure that reflects moral dilemmas, logical reasoning, cognitive processes, and social values. The article differentiates between classical (Poe, Christie), socio-realist (Hammett, Chandler), epistemological (Borges, Eco), and postmodern (Eco, Pynchon) variations of the genre, highlighting their distinct semantic, aesthetic, and philosophical orientations. It also explores how contemporary interpretations—framed by postcolonial, gender, and postmodern theories—have transformed the genre into a metatextual, multilayered, and self-reflexive literary model. Ultimately, the detective genre is presented as a dynamic artistic form that encapsulates modern cultural and intellectual paradigms, serving as an aesthetic-cognitive platform that stimulates critical reader engagement.