In this two-part paper I draw attention to the striking similarities between the classical detective story, represented by Poe and Doyle, and Freud's early writings, in terms of both analytical methodolgy and narrative form. In the introductory section these two aspects are traced respectively from what Carlo Ginzburg terms the `conjectural' method of knowledge and from the Gothic Romance. In the following sections, both aspects (and the relations between them) are analysed in general terms as well as in a specific narrative in the case of Poe, Doyle, and Freud. The aims of this exercise are two: firstly, to encourage renewed attention to a literary form usually considered `trivial' in most academic contexts; and, secondly, to demonstrate that both the classical detective story and Freud's writings are important in the beginnings of the subversion of the assumptions of Classical Realist narrative, through their provocation of the recognition of the'symbolic necessity' The first part contains the introduction and the discussion of Poe, and the second part the discussions of Doyle and Freud.