Companion to Crime Fiction

Charles Rzepka is Professor of English at Boston University, where he teaches and writes on British Romanticism, popular culture, and detective and crime fiction.   His publications include The Self as Mind (1986), Sacramental Commodities (1995), Detective Fiction (2005), and Essays, Inventions, Interventions (2010). Lee Horsley is Reader in Literature and Culture at Lancaster University, where she teaches two specialist crime courses. Her publications include Political Fiction and the Historical Imagination (1990), Fictions of Power in English Literature 1900-1950 (1995) Twentieth-Century Crime Fiction (2005), and an expanded paperback edition of the 2001 publication The Noir Thriller (2009).

"Including a helpful introduction by Rzepka and conclusion by both editors, the volume is a welcome addition to the impressive "Blackwell Companion to Literature and Culture" series and to scholarship on crime and detective literature. Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty and professionals; general readers. " (Choice, 1July 2011) "Whilst the editors admit that the collection is not entirely representative (there is no mention of Japanese manga, for instance, or any consideration of hybrids of crime and science fiction), this companion offers an encyclopaedic account of crime fiction and its generic cross-fertilisations, and is an essential guide for students and scholars alike." (Routledge ABES, 2011)"This substantial and informative book covers a wide variety of themes within the genre and also a long time span from the eighteenth century to the present . . . It will give all aficionados of the genre hours of enjoyment. It is indeed a trusty companion that will entertain and add to our knowledge." (Reference Reviews, 2011)"It will give all aficionados of the genre hours of enjoyment. It is indeed a trusty companion that will entertain and add to our knowledge." (Languages & Literature, 2011) "Several of the contributors praise books and authors long out of print. Hopefully, this companion will encourage readers and librarians to hunt them down and enjoy." (Book News, 1 March 2011)"In all, despite its shortcomings in terms of narratology and a few logical inconsistencies, Rzepka and Horsley's Companion to Crime Fiction offers a broad-ranging and well-argued introduction to this field of popular culture. Beginning students will certainly profit from its thematic diversity and wide historical reach." (Kult Online, 2011)"A Companion to Crime Fiction goes into enormous detail but is reasonably easy to read.  It is not an academic-styled book but a guide to how crime fiction has developed over time to accommodate an increasingly demanding audience/reader.  With essays from some of the most educated scholars in this field of research, the reader gains a greater understanding in terms of a general overview of the genre, individual authors and producers of film, the blurred lines between crime fiction and other genres and an in depth, well researched analysis of crime fiction itself." (M/C Reviews, November 2010)

• List of Figures ixNotes on Contributors xiIntroduction: What Is Crime Fiction? 1Charles J. RzepkaPart I History, Criticism, Culture 111 From The Newgate Calendar to Sherlock Holmes 13Heather Worthington2 From Sherlock Holmes to the Present 28Lee Horsley3 Criticism and Theory 43Heta Pyrhönen4 Crime and the Mass Media 57Alain Silver and James Ursini5 Crime Fiction and the Literary Canon 76Joel BlackPart II Genre of a Thousand Faces 916 The Newgate Novel and the Police Casebook 93Lauren Gillingham7 From Sensation to the Strand 105Christopher Pittard8 The “Classical” Model of the Golden Age 117Susan Rowland9 Early American Crime Fiction: Origins to Urban Gothic 128Alexander Moudrov10 The “Hard-boiled” Genre 140Andrew Pepper11 The Pursuit of Crime: Characters in Crime Fiction 152Carl Malmgren12 Crime, Forensics, and Modern Science 164Sarah Dauncey13 The Police Novel 175Peter Messent14 Noir and the Psycho Thriller 187Philip Simpson15 True Crime 198David Schmid16 Gangs and Mobs 210Jonathan Munby17 Historical Crime and Detection 222Ray B. Browne18 Crime and the Spy Genre 233David Seed19 Crime and the Gothic 245Catherine Spooner20 Feminist Crime Fiction and Female Sleuths 258Adrienne E. Gavin21 African-American Detection and Crime Fiction 270Frankie Bailey22 Ethnic Postcolonial Crime and Detection (Anglophone) 283Ed Christian23 Crime Writing in Other Languages 296Sue Neale24 Postmodern and Metaphysical Detection 308Patricia Merivale25 Crime and Detective Literature for Young Readers 321Christopher Routledge26 Crime in Comics and the Graphic Novel 332Arthur Fried27 Criminal Investigation on Film 344Philippa GatesPart III Artists at Work 357Fiction 35928 William Godwin (1756–1836) 361Philip Shaw29 Edgar Allan Poe (1809–1849) 369Maurice S. Lee30 Wilkie Collins (1824–1889) 381Andrew Mangham31 Arthur Conan Doyle (1859–1930) 390John A. Hodgson32 Raymond Chandler (1888–1959) 403Leroy Lad Panek33 Agatha Christie (1890–1976) 415Merja Makinen34 James M. Cain (1892–1977) 427William Marling35 Dorothy L. Sayers (1893–1957) 438Esme Miskimmin36 Dashiell Hammett (1894–1961) 450Jasmine Yong Hall37 Jorge Luis Borges (1899–1986) 462Alicia Borinsky38 Chester Himes (1909–1984) 475Stephen Soitos39 David Goodis (1917–1967) 487David Schmid40 P. D. James (1920–) 495Louise Harrington41 Patricia Highsmith (1921–1995) 503Bran Nicol42 Elmore Leonard (1925–) 510Charles J. Rzepka43 Sara Paretsky (1947–) 523Malcah Effron44 Walter Mosley (1952–) 531John GruesserFilm 53945 Alfred Hitchcock (1899–1980) 541Nick Haeffner46 Martin Scorsese (1942–) 553Mark Desmond Nicholls47 John Woo (1946–) 562Karen FangConclusion 570Charles J. Rzepka and Lee HorsleyReferences 574Index 599