Promotional Information

The first book that completely defines and explores the popular crime novel genre

Table of Contents

• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• 1. The Crime Novel: Guilt and Menace
• 2. Deviant Impulses: Incest and Doubling
• 3. Ontological Insecurities: Time and Space in the American Crime Novel
• 4. Devil or Angel: Fatal Passion in the American Crime Novel
• 5. Pale Criminals and Murderees: The Problem of Justice in the English Crime Novel
• 6. Civilization and Its Discontents: Simenon, Millar, Highsmith, and Thompson
• Coda
• Notes
• Bibliography
• Index

About the Author

Tony Hilfer (1936-2008) was Professor of English at the University of Texas at Austin.

Reviews

"[Hilfer] covers most of the major writers of crime novels and deals intelligently and interestingly with the major theme and forms of the genre . .. . [This] is a significant and original contribution to a field which has never been adequately treated before." John G. Cawelti, professor of English, University of Kentucky