It is an important step in the reading socialisation of young and inexperienced readers to understand how literary genres are constructed. This article examines the different ways of how authors introduce genre conventions of detective novels for young readers. It is based on three texts, written for readers between 5 and 8 years with a focus on a text by Franz Fühmann. The author connects the structure of a fairy tale with elements of detective novels, which is examined using the theoretical framework of Vladimir Propp.