This book examines the central significance of sexualized female corpses in modern and contemporary Hispanic and Anglophone crime fiction. Beginning with the foundational detective fictions of the nin
This book establishes the genealogy of a subgenre of crime fiction that Antoine Dechêne calls the metacognitive mystery tale. It delineates a corpus of texts presenting 'unreadable' mysteries whi
This book examines the recent expansion of Ireland's literary tradition to include home-grown crime fiction. It surveys the wave of books that use genre structures to explore specifically Ir
This book is the first fully theorized queer reading of a Golden Age British crime writer. Agatha Christie was the most commercially successful novelist of the twentieth century, and her fiction remai
This book represents the first serious consideration of the 'domestic noir' phenomenon and, by extension, the psychological thriller. The only such landmark collection since Lee Horsley's The Noir Thr
Irish detective fiction has enjoyed an international readership for over a decade, appearing on best-seller lists across the globe. But its breadth of hard-boiled and amateur detectives, historical fi
This book of interdisciplinary essays serves to situate the original Sherlock Holmes, and his various adaptations, in a contemporary cultural context. This collection is prompted by three main and rel
This book offers a critically informed yet relaxed historical overview of the legal thriller, a unique contribution to crime fiction where most of the titles have been written by professionals such
This book is a comprehensive exploration of 90 years of film and television adaptations of the world’s best-selling novelist’s work. Drawing on extensive archival material, it offers new information r
This book is the first fully theorized queer readingof a Golden Age British crime writer. Agatha Christie was the most commerciallysuccessful novelist of the twentieth century, and her fiction remains
In 1888 the name Jack the Ripper entered public consciousness with the brutal murders of women in the East End of London. The murderer was never caught, yet film and television depicts a killer with a
Irish detective fiction has enjoyed an international readership for over a decade, appearing on best-seller lists across the globe. But its breadth of hard-boiled and amateur detectives, historical fi
Why has crime fiction become a global genre? How do writers use crime fiction to reflect upon the changing nature of crime and policing in our contemporary world? This book argues that the global
This book provides an original and compelling analysis of the ways in which British women’s golden age crime narratives negotiate the conflicting social and cultural forces that influenced depict
This book is a study of the 'mothers' of the mystery genre. Traditionally the invention of crime writing has been ascribed to Poe, Wilkie Collins and Conan Doyle, but they had formidable women rivals,
American detective dramas are a common and familiar fixture on televisions everywhere – from Dragnet to CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, from Columbo to Twin Peaks. This book explores the genre and its
James Ellroy is both an acclaimed crime novelist and enigmatic literary figure. Works such as the LA Quartet andUnderworld USA trilogy have become synonymous with his literary style as well as his sel
This book challenges the traditional view of the 'femme fatale' as merely a dangerous and ravenous sexual predator who leads men into ruination. It proposes alternative ways of viewing the femme fatal
Serial Crime Fiction is the first book to focus explicitly on the complexities of crime fiction seriality. As a whole the book argues that, far from being limited and repetitive, serial crime fiction
The English Crime Play in the Twentieth Century is the first comprehensive study of the English crime play, its history and its conventions. It presents an analysis of some 250 plays performed in the
The 1880s and 1890s were the years in which detective fiction firmly established itself as a genre and sealed its popularity with the reading public. Late-Victorian Crime Fiction in the Shadows of She
Detective Fiction and the Ghost Story is the first full-length study to concentrate on the engagement between detective fiction and the ghost story, one of the central relationships in all popular gen
"Why is detective fiction so popular? What connects such diverse characters as the armchair sleuth, the hardboiled dick, and the police detective? Dime Novels and the Roots of American Detective Ficti
This book, now in paperback, considers crime fighting from the perspective of the civilian city-goer, from the mid-Victorian garotting panics to 1914. It charts the shift from the use of body armour t
This is a feminist study of a recurring character type in classic British detective fiction by women - a woman who behaves like a Victorian gentleman. Exploring this character type leads to a new eval
This exploration into the development of women's self-defence from 1850 to 1914 features major writers, including H.G. Wells, Elizabeth Robins and Richard Marsh, and encompasses an unusually wide-rang
"A comprehensive social history of British crime film by the UK's principal expert on crime film and fictionPresenting a stunning social history of Britain through classic crime film, Barry Forshaw, o
A comprehensive social history of British crime film by the UK's principal expert on crime film and fiction Presenting a stunning social history of Britain through classic crime film, Barry Forshaw, o
From Edgar Allan Poe to James Ellroy, crime writers have provided some of the most popular, controversial, acclaimed and disturbing works in American literature. 100 American Crime Writers provides cr
Barry Forshaw, the UK's principal crime fiction expert, presents a celebration and analysis ofthe Scandinavian crime genre; from Sjowall and Wahloo's Martin Beck series, through Henning Mankell's Wall
Barry Forshaw, the UK's principal crime fiction expert, presents a celebration and analysis ofthe Scandinavian crime genre; from Sjowall and Wahloo's Martin Beck series, through Henning Mankell's Wall
The study of Hollywood detectives has often overlooked the B-Movie mystery series in favour of hard-boiled film. Hollywood's Detectives redresses this oversight by examining key detective series of th
The locked room mystery is one of the iconic creations of popular fiction. Michael Cook's critical study reveals how this archetypal form of the puzzle story has had a significant effect in shaping th
This book considers crime fighting from the seldom explored viewpoint of the civilian city-goer. While rates of violent crime were generally declining, the period from the `garotting' (strangling) pan
Since its invention in the nineteenth century, detective fiction has never been more popular, In novels, short stories, films, radio, television and now in computer games, private detectives and psyc
A Counter-History of Crime Fiction takes a new look at the evolution of crime fiction, drawing on material from the Middle Ages up to the early twentieth century, when the genre was theoretically defi
