"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 the investigative methods of
the nascent historical sciences, and to popular cultural attitudes
toward history, particularly in Great Britain and the United
States. In addition, the author examines the specific impact of
urbanization, the rise of the professions, brain science, legal and
social reform, war and economic dislocation, class-consciousness,
and changing concepts of race and gender. Extended close readings
of the classics of Detective Fiction in several 'Casebook' essays
devoted to seminal works by Poe, Doyle, Sayers, and Chandler show
in detail how the genre has responded to these influences over the
last century and a half. They also serve to introduce students to a
variety of current critical approaches.
Undergraduate students of Detective and Crime Fiction and of
genre fiction in general, will find this book essential
reading.
'Cool, savvy, and utterly compelling: every page of Charles J.
Rzepka's magnificent history of detective fiction displays the
forensic panache of the true connoisseur of murder. Commanding an
unrivalled breadth of reference and depth of insight, the book is
amust-read for everyone interested in detective fiction.'
"Nicholas Roe, University of St Andrews""
'In this sustained analysis of the emergence and development of
detective fiction in England and America, Charles Rzepka has
produced both a compelling cultural history and a skilful
demonstration of what Poe aptly called "the moral activity which
disentangles." It will become an indispensable guide to serious
students of detective literature.'
"Ronald R. Thomas, University of Puget Sound"
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