Edgar Award-winning crime novelist Minette Walters is known for revitalizing the tradition of the stand-alone psychological thriller in books such as The Ice House, The Dark Room, Acid Row and Fox Evil. This book offers an in-depth analysis of Walters narrative technique and examines the major themes found throughout her work, including truth and justice, the treatment of children, patterns of victimization, British social issues, body image and body politics, the fashioning of identity, and heroism and evil in society. In addition, it includes a valuable interview with Walters.

Since the 1979 discovery of Martha Grimes' work in a slush pile at Little, Brown & Co., she has gone on to publish over thirty books and is one of the most respected crime writers presently working. This collection of ten critical essays provides an in-depth analysis of Grimes' oeuvre, principally the Richard Jury, Emma Graham, and Andi Oliver series. The essays address Grimes' themes of parental abandonment, loneliness, obsession, greed, mistaken and dual identity, the resilience of children, stunted romantic relationships and animal cruelty. Particular critical attention is paid to her...