John Scaggs 
Crime Fiction [PDF ebook] 

Crime Fiction provides a lively introduction to what is both a wide-ranging and hugely popular literary genre. Using examples from a variety of novels, short stories, films and televisions series, John Scaggs:

• presents a concise history of crime fiction – from biblical narratives to James Ellroy – broadening the genre to include revenge tragedy and the gothic novel


• explores the key sub-genres of crime fiction, such as »Rational Criminal Investigation», The Hard-Boiled Mode», »The Police Procedural» and »Historical Crime Fiction»


• locates texts and their recurring themes and motifs in a wider social and historical context


• outlines the various critical concepts that are central to the study of crime fiction, including gender, narrative theory and film theory


• considers contemporary television series like C.S.I.: Crime Scene Investigation alongside the »classic» whodunnits of Agatha Christie.

Accessible and clear, this comprehensive overview is the essential guide for all those studying crime fiction and concludes with a look at future directions for the genre in the twentieth-first century.