This exhaustive reference work examines the complete fictional works of Dick Francis, a former steeplechase jockey to Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother and an accomplished British novelist. As of 2007, Francis had written one volume of collected short stories and 40 novels, most of which contain one or more elements related to British horse racing. Organized in a dictionary format, the book lists and discusses both the major and the peripheral characters in Francis's novels and short stories, along with the horses, plots, locations and themes employed throughout.

One of the most prolific crime writers of the last century, Evan Hunter published more than 120 novels from 1952 to 2005 under a variety of pseudonymns. He also wrote several teleplays and screenplays, including Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds, and the 1954 novel The Blackboard Jungle. When the Mystery Writers of America named Hunter a Grand Master, he gave the designation to his alter ego, Ed McBain, best known for his long-running police procedural series about the detectives of the 87th Precinct. This comprehensive companion provides detailed information about all of Evan...

This is the first comprehensive reference work in English dedicated to the writing of world-famous Italian mystery writer Andrea Camilleri. It includes entries on plots, characters, dates, literary motifs, and themes from the bestselling author's detective stories and television crime dramas, with special attention to the serialized policeman Inspector Salvo Montalbano, Camiller's most famous character. It also equips the reader with background information on Camilleri's life and career and provides a guide into the writings of reviewers and critics.

Sara Paretsky's groundbreaking mystery series about Chicago private investigator V.I. Warshawski debuted in 1982 and is still going strong. She is a co-founder of Sisters in Crime (worldwide organization supporting women writers), a sought-after public speaker and the 2015 president of the Mystery Writers of America. This book is the first comprehensive reference work on Paretsky, providing an overview of the Warshawski novels and short stories, her other novels, a volume of collected essays, her anthologies and journalism. Special attention is paid to the character of Warshawski--the tough,...

British National Health Service employee Phyllis Dorothy James White (1920-2014) reinvented herself at age 38 as P.D. James, crime novelist. She then became long known as England's "Queen of Crime." Sixteen of her 20 novels feature one or both of her series detectives, Adam Dalgliesh of Scotland Yard and private eye Cordelia Gray. Stand-alone works include the dystopian The Children of Men (1992) and Death Comes to Pemberley (2011), a sequel to Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. James's careful plotting has earned comparison with Golden Age British detective writers such...