Secrets of Crime Fiction Classics - Detecting the Delights of 21 Enduring Stories - Stephen Knight - Paperback Bog - McFarland & Co Inc - 2014 -

Description

Starting with William Godwin''s Caleb Williams and Charles Brockden Brown''s Edgar Huntly, this book covers in detail the great works of detective fiction--Poe''s Dupin stories, Conan Doyle''s The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes , Christie''s The Murder of Roger Ackroyd , Sayers'' Strong Poison, Chandler''s The Big Sleep , and Simenon''s The Yellow Dog . Lesser-known but important early works are also discussed, including Wilkie Collins'' The Woman in White , Emile Gaboriau''s M. Lecoq, Anna Katharine Green''s The Leavenworth Case and Fergus Hume''s The Mystery of a Hansom Cab . More recent titles show increasing variety in the mystery genre, with Patricia Highsmith''s criminal-focused The Talented Mr. Ripley and Chester Himes'' African-American detectives in Cotton Comes to Harlem . Diversity develops further in Sara Paretsky''s tough woman detective V.I. Warshawski in Indemnity Only , Umberto Eco''s medievalist and postmodern The Name of the Rose and the forensic feminism of Patricia Cornwell''s Postmortem . Notably, the best modern crime fiction has been primarily international--Manuel Vasquez Montalban''s Catalan Summer Seas , Ian Rankin''s Edinburgh-set The Naming of the Dead , Sweden''s Stieg Larsson''s The Girl with a Dragon Tattoo and Vikram Chanda''s Mumbai-based Sacred Games . Instructors considering this book for use in a course may request an examination copy here .