The Crime Fiction Handbook presents a comprehensive introduction to the origins, development, and cultural significance of the crime fiction genre, focusing mainly on American British, and Scandinavian texts.
- Provides an accessible and well-written introduction to the genre of crime fiction
- Moves with ease between a general overview of the genre and useful theoretical approaches
- Includes a close analysis of the key texts in the crime fiction tradition
- Identifies what makes crime fiction of such cultural importance and illuminates the social and political anxieties at its heart.
- Shows the similarities and differences between British, American, and Scandinavian crime fiction traditions
Table of Content
Acknowledgments vii
Introductory Note ix
Part 1 Introduction 1
Part 2 The Politics, Main Forms, and Key Concerns of Crime Fiction 9
The Politics of Crime Fiction 11
The Types of Crime Fiction 27
Classical Detective Fiction 27
Hard-Boiled Detective Fiction 34
The Police Novel 41
Transgressor Narratives 50
Vision, Supervision, and the City 60
Crime and the Body 75
Gender Matters 85
Representations of Race 96
Part 3 Some Key Works in Crime Fiction 107
Edgar Allan Poe: “The Murders in the Rue Morgue” (1841) 109
Arthur Conan Doyle: The Sign of Four (1890) 116
Agatha Christie: The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (1926) 127
Dashiell Hammett: The Maltese Falcon (1930) 136
Raymond Chandler: The Big Sleep (1939) 143
James M. Cain: Double Indemnity (1936) 151
Patricia Highsmith: The Talented Mr. Ripley (1955) 159
Chester Himes: Cotton Comes to Harlem (1965) 167
Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö: The Laughing Policeman (1968) 176
James Ellroy: The Black Dahlia (1987) 187
Thomas Harris: The Silence of the Lambs (1988) 198
Patricia Cornwell: Unnatural Exposure (1997) 208
Ian Rankin: The Naming of the Dead (2006) 218
Stieg Larsson: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2005) 227
End Note 241
References 243
Index 253
About the author
Peter Messent is Emeritus Professor of Modern American Literature at the University of Nottingham. A specialist on Mark Twain, Ernest Hemingway, and crime fiction, he has published numerous books and articles on a variety of nineteenth- and twentieth-century American writers. His most recent publication is the prize-winning book Mark Twain and Male Friendship (2009).
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