Detective Fiction is a clear and compelling look at some of the best known, yet least-understood, characters and texts of the modern day. Charles J. Rzepka traces the history of the genre from its modern beginnings in the early eighteenth century, with the criminal broadsheets and 'true' crime stories of The Newgate Calendar, to its present state of diversity, innovation, and worldwide diffusion, in a manner that students and scholars alike will find readable and provocative.

The book focuses particularly on the relationship of detective fiction's emerging 'puzzle-element' to...

Detective Fiction is a clear and compelling look at some of the best known, yet least-understood, characters and texts of the modern day. Charles J. Rzepka traces the history of the genre from its modern beginnings in the early eighteenth century, with the criminal broadsheets and 'true' crime stories of The Newgate Calendar, to its present state of diversity, innovation, and worldwide diffusion, in a manner that students and scholars alike will find readable and provocative.

The book focuses particularly on the relationship of detective fiction's emerging 'puzzle-element' to...

A Companion to Crime Fiction presents the definitive guide to this popular genre from its origins in the eighteenth century to the present day

• A collection of forty-seven newly commissioned essays from a team of leading scholars across the globe make this Companion the definitive guide to crime fiction
• Follows the development of the genre from its origins in the eighteenth century through to its phenomenal present day popularity
• Features full-length critical essays on the most significant authors and film-makers, from Arthur Conan Doyle and...