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A Companion to Crime Fiction presents the definitive guide to this popular genre from its origins in the eighteenth century to the present day
* A collection of forty-seven newly commissioned essays from a team of leading scholars across the globe make this Companion the definitive guide to crime fiction
* Follows the development of the genre from its origins in the eighteenth century through to its phenomenal present day popularity
* Features full-length critical essays on the most significant authors and film-makers, from Arthur Conan Doyle and Dashiell Hammett to Alfred Hitchcock and Martin Scorsese exploring the ways in which they have shaped and influenced the field
* Includes extensive references to the most up-to-date scholarship, and a comprehensive bibliography
List of contents
Introduction: What is Crime Fiction? (Charles J. Rzepka).
Part I: History, Criticism, Culture
1. From the Newgate Calendar to Sherlock Holmes (Heather Worthington).
2. From Sherlock Holmes to the Present (Lee Horsley).
3. Criticism and Theory - (Heta Pyrhonen).
4. Crime and the Mass Media (Alain Silver and James Ursini).
5. Crime Fiction and the Literary Canon (Joel Black).
Part 2: Genre of a Thousand Faces
6. The Newgate Novel and the Police Casebook - Lauren Gillingham
7. From Sensation to The Strand (Christopher Pittard).
8. The "Classical" Model of the Golden Age (Susan Rowland).
9. Early American Crime Fiction: Origins to Urban Gothic (Alexander Moudrov).
10. The "Hard-Boiled" Genre (Andrew Pepper).
11. The Pursuit of Crime: Characters in Crime Fiction (Carl Malmgren).
12. Crime, Forensics, and Modern Science (Sarah Dauncey).
13. Police Novel (Peter Messent).
14. Noir and the Psycho-Thriller (Philip Simpson).
15. True Crime (David Schmid).
16. Gangs and Mobs (Jonathan Munby).
17. Historical Crime and Detection (Ray B. Browne)
18. Crime and the Spy genre (David Seed).
19. Crime and the Gothic (Catherine Spooner).
20. Feminist Crime Fiction and Female Sleuths (Adrienne Gavin)
21. African-American Detection and Crime Fiction (Frankie Bailey).
22. Ethnic Postcolonial Crime and Detection (Anglophone) (Ed Christian).
23. Crime Writing in Other Languages (Sue Neale).
24. Postmodern and Metaphysical Detection (Patricia Merivale).
25. Crime and Detective Literature for Young Readers (Christopher Routledge).
26. Crime in Comics and the Graphic Novel (Arthur Fried).
27. Criminal Investigation on Film (Philippa Gates).
Part 3: Artists at Work
Fiction:
28. William Godwin (1756-1836) - Philip Shaw
29. Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849) - Maurice Lee
30. Wilkie Collins (1824-1889) - Andrew Mangham
31. Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930) - John Hodgson
32. Raymond Chandler (1888-1959) - Leroy Panek
33. Agatha Christie (1890-1976) - Merja Makinen
34. James M. Cain (1892-1977) - William Marling
35. Dorothy L. Sayers (1893-1957) - Esme Miskimmin
36. Dashiell Hammett (1894-1961) - Jasmine Hall
37. Jorge Luis Borges (1899-1986) - Alicia Borinsky 38. Chester Himes (1909-1984) - Stephen Soitos
39. David Goodis (1917-1967) - David Schmid
40. P. D. James (1920- ) - Louise Harrington
41. Patricia Highsmith (1921-1995) - Bran Nicol
42. Elmore Leonard (1925- ) -Charles J. Rzepka
43. Sara Paretsky (1947- ) - Malcah Effron
44. Walter Mosley (1952- ) - John Gruesser
Film:
45. Alfred Hitchcock (1899-1980) - Nick Haeffner
46. Martin Scorsese (1942- ) - Mark Desmond Nicholls
47. John Woo (1946- ) - Karen Fang
Conclusion - Lee Horsley and Charles J. Rzepka
About the author
Charles Rzepka is Professor of English at Boston University, where he teaches and writes on British Romanticism, popular culture, and detective and crime fiction. His publications include The Self as Mind (1986), Sacramental Commodities (1995), Detective Fiction (2005), and Essays, Inventions, Interventions (2010)
Lee Horsley is Reader in Literature and Culture at Lancaster University, where she teaches two specialist crime courses. Her publications include Political Fiction and the Historical Imagination (1990), Fictions of Power in English Literature 1900-1950 (1995) Twentieth-Century Crime Fiction (2005), and an expanded paperback edition of the 2001 publication The Noir Thriller (2009).
Summary
A Companion to Crime Fiction presents the definitive guide to this popular genre from its origins in the eighteenth century to the present day. It brings together a series of forty-seven original essays from some of the world's leading authorities.
Report
"Including a helpful introduction by Rzepka and conclusion by botheditors, the volume is a welcome addition to the impressive"Blackwell Companion to Literature and Culture" series and toscholarship on crime and detective literature. Summing Up:Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty andprofessionals; general readers. " (Choice, 1July 2011)
"Whilst the editors admit that the collection is not entirelyrepresentative (there is no mention of Japanese manga, forinstance, or any consideration of hybrids of crime and sciencefiction), this companion offers an encyclopaedic account of crimefiction and its generic cross-fertilisations, and is an essentialguide for students and scholars alike." (Routledge ABES, 2011)
"This substantial and informative book covers a wide variety ofthemes within the genre and also a long time span from theeighteenth century to the present . . . It will give allaficionados of the genre hours of enjoyment. It is indeed a trustycompanion that will entertain and add to our knowledge." (ReferenceReviews, 2011)
"It will give all aficionados of the genre hours of enjoyment.It is indeed a trusty companion that will entertain and add to ourknowledge." (Languages & Literature, 2011)
"Several of the contributors praise books and authors long out ofprint. Hopefully, this companion will encourage readers andlibrarians to hunt them down and enjoy." (Book News, 1 March2011)
"In all, despite its shortcomings in terms of narratology and afew logical inconsistencies, Rzepka and Horsley s Companion toCrime Fiction offers a broad-ranging and well-argued introductionto this field of popular culture. Beginning students will certainlyprofit from its thematic diversity and wide historical reach."(Kult Online, 2011)
" A Companion to Crime Fiction goes into enormous detailbut is reasonably easy to read. It is not an academic-styledbook but a guide to how crime fiction has developed over time toaccommodate an increasingly demanding audience/reader. Withessays from some of the most educated scholars in this field ofresearch, the reader gains a greater understanding in terms of ageneral overview of the genre, individual authors and producers offilm, the blurred lines between crime fiction and other genres andan in depth, well researched analysis of crime fiction itself."( M/C Reviews , November 2010)
