解構主義論者指出偵探小說並非只是一個穩定、單純、通暢、毫無疑義地傳達理性價值、維護既有秩序的「透明」文本，而是一個充滿空缺、裂縫、矛盾，瓦解文本中提供神奇完整答案的表面建構，由顛覆性反面信息跨界、滲透和抗競的爭議領域，這對推翻傳統評論的簡單結論、發覺偵探小說的複雜性，確有重要貢獻。唯此觀點似以點出這些相當明顯的空缺為滿足，並未深入探討偵探小說的特有敘述要素和雙重層次，也就未能體察到這些空缺不但不是文本極力欲求掩蓋，反而是另一種敘述要素所必然導致的結果。偵探小說一面極力回歸穩定秩序，一面又渲染犯罪增加刺激，導致在敘述過程中的矛盾衝突並存，威脅表面完整的空缺和裂縫也就出現。這些裂縫是偵探小說內在特質的必然結果，也和穩定訴求同時出現在敘述過程，雖在小說結尾處通常受到回歸穩定、壓制／解決衝突的壓力，但也對現實秩序構成不無顛覆的挑戰，因此其顛覆意義，與其說是在它們的出現本身，不如說是在文本結尾時文本在一手製造出這些空缺又試圖一手收服壓制它們時所受到的極大挑戰。在和冒險小說有相當近似性的福爾摩斯偵探小說中，這種挑戰被加倍放大，因為脫離秩序、追求危險的張力更加強悍，空洞被愈加渲染，犯罪對秩序的最後臣服更加不確定，違規帶來的刺激和快感似乎強過對回歸穩定的渴求，文本本身試圖在結局達到有利秩序／法律／穩定的衝突解決也就更加不確定。

Deconstructionists have convincingly argued for the existence of gaps, cracks and contradictions within detective stories that have been traditionally dismissed as transparent texts unproblematically transmitting existing values and reinforcing the status-quo. However, such arguments have not demonstrated sufficient awareness of the fact that these gaps and contradictions have always been self-obvious and inherent in detection texts, and that they have been necessarily caused by the twin opposing narrative drives embedded in detective stories. The drive to resolve disruption/crime, to return to order and stability, and the simultaneous drive to indulge in transgression and stimulus, faces narrative pressure toward resolution to the benefit of the former as the narrative moves to the end. The subversive potential thus resides not, as demonstrated by deconstructionists, in the existence of these gaps themselves, but in the challenges the narrative is subject to in trying to tame these disruptions after having gone to every conceivable length in indulging and amplifying them during the narrative. The Sherlock Holmes detective stories, with their affinity to adventure stories, face greater challenges as the stimulating pleasure of transgression threatens even further the narrative attempt toward order and resolution,