Suspense versus Mystery versus Adventure: Why Holmes Has Lasted

The "mystery" label is often attached to books that aren't strictly speaking "mysteries" or primarily mysteries.

One of the most common subgenres within mysteries is the adventure story. Quite frankly, Sherlock Holmes's books fall into this category as do Ranpo Edogawa's Boy Detectives Club books. Consequently, the latter books are some of the more exact tributes to Sherlock Holmes. 

What puts both Conan Doyle and Edogawa books back into the mystery category is the search for and explanation of clues. Big Gold Bullion, recently translated by Eugene Woodbury, presents a scene early on in which, like Holmes with the Norwood Builder, Detective Korogoro Akechi figures out the location of an important piece of proof.

Like with Holmes's story, the same novel includes action sequences, including a boat ride to an island. 

Suspense falls almost entirely into the action category. Hitchcock's movies such as Spellbound are more about the "escape" (the train ride) than about digging around for clues. A mystery still needs to be solved (something is going on that explains everything else)--action rather than rumination is the way to get TO the solution. Supernatural mostly falls into this category, as do many action-based shows and movies. The mystery is the reason for the action, not the action itself. (Oh, that's why we are in this apple orchard rather than we went to this apple orchard to find out more.)

I do enjoy Riptide--I don't think of it as mystery.

My preference is for mystery over everything else. Consequently, with police procedurals, I get rather tired of shows where the emphasis is either on the cops' unhappy lives and/or the number of shoot-outs. I far prefer shows like Blue Bloods, which never strays too far from "here's a case-here's the investigation-here's the wrap-up" despite bringing in other plots (and I rapidly tired of the obligatory serial killer season; it was too far off the show's premise). Likewise, I prefer private investigation shows where the emphasis is on the collection of material (Elementary) rather than the investigators running around in cars, helicopters, mopeds, bicycles, trains, boats, subways, and hot air balloons (see every American 1970s-1980s P.I. show). Consequently, with Jake and the Fatman, I like about 1/2 of the episodes and don't care for about 1/2 of the episodes.

Many shows start as clue-searching mysteries and end as action-as-the-entire-purpose adventures; action for the sake of action is harder to film but easier to write.

However, whatever my preferences, I appreciate that for a movie or show, the need for movement does matter. 

This need for movement potentially explains why Holmes has had such a long life: the discovery of clues while setting fires, exploring prisons, running after and from dogs, and hunting through caves is the best approach to the visual medium.