The Judge Dee Novels provides a comprehensive survey of Robert van Gulik's series of novels (1949-1968) featuring the Tang dynasty magistrate, Judge Dee. In addition to providing a synopsis of each of the Judge Dee stories (with commentaries on the plots, the characters, and the thematic and historical aspects of each story), it examines van Gulik's achievement in two significant, related contexts: the development of detective fiction (both Chinese and Western) and the image of China in popular...
During the past thirty years, that uniquely American artform known as the hard-boiled mystery novel has come under increasing scrutiny by critics, scholars, and students alike. Literally hundrends of articles and books have been devoted to the subject, particularly to its three major practitioners, Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler, and Ross Macdonald. Now, for the first time, those interested in this field have available to them a carefully constructed guide to the wealth of information on thi...
Twenty-one short chapters discuss in detail the books selected as the most popular and influential mysteries across time. Starting with Caleb Williams (William Godwin) and Edgar Huntly (Charles Brockden Brown), the series moves through the great detective authors - Poe's Dupin stories, Doyle's Adventures of Holmes, Christie's The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, Sayers's Strong Poison, Chandler's The Big Sleep, Simenon's The Yellow Dog - and also considers lesser-known important early books, Wilkie Coll...
Lindsey Davis' popular "Marcus Didius Falco" mystery series has been in print for nearly two decades, amounting to 18 full-length novels with the promise of many more to come. This literary companion organizes and explains the intricate web of people, places, events, and titles that Davis has created within the "Falco" series. Whether providing a definition of an ancient "hodometer" or differentiating and identifying several dozen men all sharing the name "Marcus," each entry aims to help reader...
Icons of Mystery and Crime Detection (Greenwood Icons)
by Mitzi Brunsdale
Isnt Justice Always Unfair
Isn't Justice Always Unfair? explores the uncommonly long and uncommonly rich relationship between the fictional detective and his or her South. It begins with the New Orleans expatriate, Legrand, uncovering Captain Kidd's treasure on an island off Charleston, South Carolina; it covers the satires and parodies of Mark Twain and the polished stories of Melville Davisson Post and Irvin S. Cobb; and it concludes with surveys of the many good and excellent writers who are using the form of the detec...
A Cultural History of European Gothic Literature (Polity Cultural History of Literature)
by Victor Sage
Investigating Sherlock Holmes
by Hartley Nathan and Clifford Goldfarb
Enter the world of Sherlock Holmes. It is vast, complex, endlessly fascinating, full of characters, intrigue, twists, turns, amusing, engrossing and much more. And, there are thousands and thousands of people all on every continent who participate in this Sherlock Holmes world. They are known as Sherlockians, Bootmakers (taking the name from an allusion in the Hounds of the Baskervilles). They attend meetings, dinners, exchange views, write papers, discuss...they find many ways to share their ob...
The 10 essays in this work examine the changing nature of British detective fiction, focusing on the shifting view of ""otherness"" of such authors as Ruth Rendell, Elizabeth George, Peter Ackroyd, Caroline, Graham, Christopher Brookmyer, Denise Mina, and John Mortimer. Unlike their American counterparts, British detective writers are overwhelmingly white, and the essays here explore how these authors delve into ethnic diversity without the benefit of firsthand experience.
The Tattooed Girl
by Dan Burstein, Arne de Keijzer, and John-Henri Holmberg
Modernizing Your Bridge Bidding
by Gerald "Jerry" Olsen and Barbara Spencer Foster
The game is afoot! Immerse yourself in the curious cases of the world's greatest detective and his assistant Dr Watson.From the very first novel A Study in Scarlet, through to the masterpiece that is The Hound of the Baskervilles and the detective's last story, The Adventure of Shoscombe Old Place, this fascinating book explores every facet of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's most memorable creation. Discover how Holmes reaches his conclusions through deductive reasoning, plus in-depth biographies of ke...
Crime fiction was a creation of the modern world and its suddenly growing cities, when in both reality and fiction specialists emerged to identify criminals and protect the anxious, isolated citizens. At first they tended to be lawyers, but then detectives, both amateurs and police, came to play a central role. The development of crime fiction has its own mysteries. The book explores theme-focused aspects of its complex history through the nineteenth century. The first two chapters show how Ame...
Best known for his popular crime fiction, Boston novelist George V. Higgins (1939-1999) should stand among the top ranks of the American literary canon. In his 26 novels and dozens of short stories, Higgins chronicled the lives of Boston's Irish with his trademark hard-boiled dialogue, exploring the criminal underworld, American democracy, Boston politics, personal redemption and New England life in the tradition of Hawthorne and Thoreau. This intimate biography explores his turbulent life and c...
Quotations from Baker Street
The original CliffsNotes study guides offer expert commentary on major themes, plots, characters, literary devices, and historical background -- all to help you gain greater insight into great works you're bound to study for school or pleasure.In "CliffsNotes on The Detective in Fiction, " you explore the world of science fiction writing, complete with a look at some leading literary works.Covering the rules for science fiction writing, this study guide also looks into exactly what defines detec...
