Table of Contents

1: Origins
2: The two ages: Golden and Hard Boiled
3: Transitions
4: International crime fiction
5: Gender
6: Cousins of crime: spy ficiton, the thriller, and legal drama
7: Epilogue: Can crime fiction be taken seriously?
Further reading
Index

About the Author

Richard Bradford is Research Professor of English at the University of Ulster and has taught previously in Oxford, the University of Wales and Trinity College, Dublin. He has published twenty-one books on a variety of topics, including Russian Formalism, Stylistics, 18th Century Criticism and the History of English Poetry. He has written several books including a biography of Philip Larkin (Peter Owen Ltd, 2001).

Reviews

the "fine dining" of literature
*Ruth Ginarlis, Newbooks Magazine*

This is a fine introduction to a genre that embraces humanity in its flaws and glories, and it should find its way onto the bookshelves of anyone who likes crime fiction, or fiction in general.
*Ben Macnair, Nudge.com*

... this tidy little read-in-an-evening item will explain and enhance your affection for murder, open your eyes to new authors and have you reaching for the bookshelves for another fix, assured that you're right in the read afterall.
*Sunday Sport, Jon Wise*