The Detective Fiction on the Move Network at the University of Newcastle, Australia, aims to correct an enduring prejudice regarding detective fiction, namely that it is a static genre stifled by conventions and rules and consequently lacking the sophistication of literary fiction.

By introducing the idea of an inherent "mobility" of detection fiction, we aim to propose alternative dynamics – one of cosmopolitanism, constant reinvention, interfacing with other genres and art forms, and complex textual logic obscured by, yet also predicated on, the overpowering authority of the detective protagonist.

Detective Fiction on the Move focuses on three strands emerging from this dynamic of mobility:

  1. Mobility across national borders (tracking the recent "globalisation" of detective fiction).
  2. Mobility of genre (exploring detective fiction as a site of permanent contestation of rules and conventions).
  3. Mobility of meaning (exposing latent or virtual meanings in seemingly straightforward detective stories).

Ultimately, the Network aims to take detective fiction seriously, not just as an immensely popular instance of genre fiction with a certain cultural and historical significance, but as a genuinely literary genre constantly on the move.

The members of Detective Fiction on the Move have a track record in innovative textual analysis, for discovering new meanings, even new criminals; they also operate across national, linguistic and disciplinary borders.