This page provides links to resources on detective and crime fiction, from books and reference sources to academic databases and websites. Click "Help" on the left sidebar to contact a librarian for more research assistance or to troubleshoot issues accessing any of the resources listed here.
Encyclopedias, handbooks, dictionaries and other reference books can be a great place to start your research. They will:
The following featured books are included in the Kistler Library's collection. EBooks will link directly to their source (login may be required).
100 Masters of Mystery and Detective Fiction
by
Essays taken from Salem Press's Critical survey of mystery and detective fiction, published in 1988.
Adapting Detective Fiction
by
Adapting Detective Fiction is a study of specific instances of adaptation, with close readings of both the originating sources and adapted texts. But it is also more than this. It is a study of the politics of representation in the last decades of the twentieth century, and the role television detective fiction plays in this. It is about the mutually-informing interrelation of cultural texts and political rhetoric, about the connection between the popular-cultural depiction of crime and criminality and how we come to understand human behaviour and culpability; most of all, it is a detailed consideration of what the process of adaptation reveals about the shifting nature of the world in which we live. With specific reference to television series such as The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, Miss Marple, Inspector Morse, A Touch of Frost, Cadfael, and Midsomer Murders, Adapting Detective Fiction uses adaptation as the basis for an exercise in later twentieth-century cultural history, illustrating the fundamental role detective fictions play in popular beliefs about the nature of crime and Englishness.
The Complete Guide to Sherlock Holmes
by
A study in selection -- Birth of a detective -- A study in scarlet -- The sign of the four -- The Strand magazine -- The adventures of Sherlock Holmes -- Mr. Holmes and Dr. Watson -- The memoirs of Sherlock Holmes -- The 'death' of Sherlock Holmes -- The hound of the Baskervilles -- The return of Sherlock Holmes -- His last bow -- The valley of fear -- The case book of Sherlock Holmes -- Who's who of characters -- Unchronicled cases -- The writings of Sherlock Holmes -- Index of quotations -- General index.
Critical Survey of Mystery and Detective Fiction
by
Provides detailed analyses of the lives and writings of major contributors to the literary subgenre of mystery and detective fiction. Also includes essays that explore the history and nature of the mystery and detective genre and examine the fiction of ethnic writers and writers from other parts of the world.
Detective Fiction and the African Scene
by
From its very inception, detective fiction has enjoyed a great popularity among the young and the old, the learned and the not so learned. By some unfortunate stroke of irony, its respect has not kept pace with its enormous popularity. For over half a century now, it has remained the bane of creative writing. In strict intellectual circles, it is very rare to find people talk defensively and interestingly about the genre. Yet Asong has chosen to do just that. He has stoutly defended the weak by putting up a good case for its continued existence. He has also shown how irresistible key elements of the genre are to even the best respected novelists. Finally he has demonstrated for the first time, how the genre has been domesticated by African writers of very great repute such as Ngugi, Sembene and Lessing. That he has been able to prove that these writers have used techniques of detective fiction is a significant broadening of the horizons for appreciating creative writing in Africa.
Feminism in Women's Detective Fiction
by
Introduction. Gender and genre : the woman detective and the diffusion of generic voices -- Amelia Butterworth : the spinster detective / Joan Warthling Roberts -- The detective heroine and the death of her hero : Dorothy Sayers to P.D. James / SueEllen Campbell -- Gray areas : P.D. James's unsuiting of Cordelia / Nicola Nixon -- Questing women : the feminist mystery after feminism / Sandra Tomc -- From spinster to hipster : the 'suitability' of Miss Marple and Anna Lee / Glenwood Irons and Joan Warthling Roberts -- Nancy Drew : the once and future prom queen / Bobbie Ann Mason --Feminist murder : Amanda Cross reinvents womanhood / Jeanne Addison Roberts -- Murders academic : women professors and the crimes of gender / Susan J. Leonardi -- Talkin' trash and kickin' butt : Sue Grafton's hard-boiled feminism / Scott Christianson -- The female dick and the crisis of heterosexuality / Ann Wilson -- 'Friends is a weak word for it': female friendship and the spectre of lebianism in Sara Paretsky / Rebecca A. Pope -- Habeass corpus: feminism and detective fiction / Kathleen Gregory Klein.
The Maltese Falcon
by
In San Francisco in 1928, Sam Spade searches for a priceless statuette. He finds himself torn between loyalty to his murdered partner and an opportunity for personal gain.
The Noir Thriller
by
Questions of Identity in Detective Fiction
by
With essays by an international group of scholars, Questions of Identity in Detective Fiction delves into the ways in which this genre, given its status as popular yet marginalized literature, allows for the exploration of a wide range of meanings. Contributors examine how the genre both mirrors and focuses the personal/sexual/ ethnic/spiritual, how it interfaces with national literatures and histories, and how the generic identity of detective fiction has evolved over time. Chapters include discussions of novels and short stories from American, Argentine, British, Canadian, French, German, and Japanese national literatures, ranging from the mid 19th century to the early 21st century.
Swindler, Spy, Rebel
by
One would not expect a police officer to describe a criminal as "remarkable," "well worth knowing," or "excellent." Yet some did when their quarry was a confidence woman. Blackmailer, swindler, or pickpocket: the confidence woman could take any form. Regardless of their different motives and tactics, confidence women have much in common, for they have long been misrepresented in American literature and culture. In Swindler, Spy, Rebel: The Confidence Woman in Nineteenth-Century America, Kathleen De Grave redresses the exaggerations and distortions by examining how the line between fact and fiction blurs.
Talking about Detective Fiction
by
P.D. James--one of the most widely admired writers of detective fiction at work today--gives us a personal, lively exploration of the human appetite for mystery and mayhem, and of those writers who have satisfied it. She examines the genre from top to bottom, beginning with the mysteries at the hearts of such novels as Charles Dickens's Bleak House, and bringing us into the present with such writers as Colin Dexter and Sara Paretsky. She compares British and American Golden Age mystery writing. She discusses detective fiction as social history, the stylistic components of the genre, her own process of writing, how critics have reacted over the years, and what she sees as a renewal of detective fiction--and of the detective hero--in recent years.--From publisher description.
Victorian Tales of Mystery and Detection
by
Like ghost stories, short tales of mystery and detection were part of the Victorian reader's staple diet. But where the ghost story often cautioned against too great a faith in reason and showed men and women being persecuted by the inexplicable, the detective story celebrated the human ability to explain and comprehend.
Follow these links to search additional eBooks online:
Use the following multi-subject and subject-specific databases to search for detailed research articles on your topic. Login required for off-campus access. Click here for the full list of Rosemont's electronic databases.
Academic Search contains a wealth of essential material for learning and detailed research in a single, easily searched database, with the full text of articles from over 3,700 publications, and indexing and abstracts from nearly 5,300 publications.
Click here for support.
The links below will direct you to additional resources on the open web. Depending on the nature of your research, it may or may not be appropriate to utilize these sources, so it is always best to check first with your professor or a librarian. Consult this page for more guidance on evaluating websites.