The Art of Detective Fiction
The Art of Detective Fiction

Author: W. Chernaik

Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan

Published: 2000-03-15

Total Pages: 256

ISBN-13: 9780333746011

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The contributors to this volume all pay tribute to, and seek to account for, the astonishing durability of the detective story as a narrative genre. The essays range generously, taking a variety of theoretical approaches and including detective fiction in languages other than English, but particular attention is paid to the `Golden Age' of English detective story writing and to the `hard-boiled' American version on the genre. This is a collection that will appeal to the scholar and to the devotee alike, to all those, in fact, who can never resist the lure of finding out whodunnit.

The Gentle Art of Murder
The Gentle Art of Murder

Author: Earl F. Bargainnier

Publisher: Popular Press

Published: 1980

Total Pages: 242

ISBN-13: 9780879721596

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This study of the technique of Agatha Christie's detective fiction--sixty-seven novels and over one hundred short stories--is the first extensive analysis of her accomplishment as a writer. Earl F. Bargannier demonstrates that Christie thoroughly understood the conventions of her genre and, with seemingly inexhaustible ingenuity, was able to develop for more than fifty years surprising variations within those conventions.

First Class Murder
First Class Murder

Author: Robin Stevens

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 2017-04-04

Total Pages: 336

ISBN-13: 1481422200

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A murdered heiress, a missing necklace, and a train full of shifty, unusual, and suspicious characters leaves Daisy and Hazel with a new mystery to solve in this third novel of the Wells & Wong Mystery series. Hazel Wong and Daisy Wells are taking a vacation across Europe on world-famous passenger train, the Orient Express—and it’s clear that each of their fellow first-class travelers has something to hide. Even more intriguing: There’s rumor of a spy in their midst. Then, during dinner, a bloodcurdling scream comes from inside one of the cabins. When the door is broken down, a passenger is found murdered—her stunning ruby necklace gone. But the killer has vanished, as if into thin air. The Wells & Wong Detective Society is ready to crack the case—but this time, they’ve got competition.

Talking About Detective Fiction
Talking About Detective Fiction

Author: P. D. James

Publisher: Vintage

Published: 2011-05-03

Total Pages: 210

ISBN-13: 0307743136

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P. D. James, the undisputed queen of mystery, gives us an intriguing, inspiring and idiosyncratic look at the genre she has spent her life perfecting. Examining mystery from top to bottom, beginning with such classics as Charles Dickens's Bleak House and Wilkie Collins's The Woman in White, and then looking at such contemporary masters as Colin Dexter and Henning Mankell, P. D. James goes right to the heart of the genre. Along the way she traces the lives and writing styles of Arthur Conan Doyle, Agatha Christie, Dashiell Hammett, and many more. Here is P.D. James discussing detective fiction as social history, explaining its stylistic components, revealing her own writing process, and commenting on the recent resurgence of detective fiction in modern culture. It is a must have for the mystery connoisseur and casual fan alike.

Art Detective
Art Detective

Author: Doris Kutschbach

Publisher: Prestel

Published: 2023-08-31

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9783791375694

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Now available in paperback, this highly engaging book teaches young readers about great works of art by challenging them to spot the difference between the original and a sly forgery. From Michelangelo to Picasso, art history is filled with stories of spectacular forgeries that have stumped the greatest scholars of their time. It is from this fascinating angle that young readers learn about the great works of art in this fun and educational book. Set in an imaginary museum, it presents reproductions of famous art works alongside "forgeries." Readers are asked to play detective as they examine each painting closely, looking for the differences. Along the way a small cartoon sleuth leads them through the paintings, uncovering technical and historical details that enhance readers' appreciation and knowledge. Whether they're examining Seurat's painting of an afternoon scene on the island of La Grande Jatte; an arrangement of flowers by Sargent; van Gogh's Starry Night; or Rousseau's Exotic Landscape, readers will be playfully drawn into the world of great art and no doubt eager to examine other works first hand.

Detective Fiction and the Problem of Knowledge
Detective Fiction and the Problem of Knowledge

Author: Antoine Dechêne

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2018-08-16

Total Pages: 348

ISBN-13: 331994469X

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This book establishes the genealogy of a subgenre of crime fiction that Antoine Dechêne calls the metacognitive mystery tale. It delineates a corpus of texts presenting 'unreadable' mysteries which, under the deceptively monolithic appearance of subverting traditional detective story conventions, offer a multiplicity of motifs – the overwhelming presence of chance, the unfulfilled quest for knowledge, the urban stroller lost in a labyrinthine text – that generate a vast array of epistemological and ontological uncertainties. Analysing the works of a wide variety of authors, including Edgar Allan Poe, Jorge Luis Borges, and Henry James, this book is vital reading for scholars of detective fiction.

Murder for Pleasure
Murder for Pleasure

Author: Howard Haycraft

Publisher: Dover Publications

Published: 2019-02-13

Total Pages: 433

ISBN-13: 0486829308

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"Genuinely fascinating reading."—The New York Times Book Review "Diverting and patently authoritative."—The New Yorker "Grand and fascinating … a history, a compendium and a critical study all in one, and all first rate."—Rex Stout "A landmark … a brilliant study written with charm and authority."—Ellery Queen "This book is of permanent value. It should be on the shelf of every reader of detective stories."—Erle Stanley Gardner Author Howard Haycraft, an expert in detective fiction, traces the genre's development from the 1840s through the 1940s. Along the way, he charts the innovations of Edgar Allan Poe, Wilkie Collins, and Arthur Conan Doyle, as well as the modern influence of George Simenon, Josephine Tey, and others. Additional topics include a survey of the critical literature, a detective story quiz, and a Who's Who in Detection.

The Art of Mystery
The Art of Mystery

Author: Maud Casey

Publisher: Graywolf Press

Published: 2018-01-02

Total Pages: 115

ISBN-13: 1555979858

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A sensitive and nuanced exploration of a seldom-discussed subject by an acclaimed novelist The fourteenth volume in the Art of series conjures an ethereal subject: the idea of mystery in fiction. Mystery is not often discussed—apart from the genre—because, as Maud Casey says, “It’s not easy to talk about something that is a whispered invitation, a siren song, a flickering light in the distance.” Casey, the author of several critically acclaimed novels, reaches beyond the usual tool kit of fictional elements to ask the question: Where does mystery reside in a work of fiction? She takes us into the Land of Un—a space of uncertainty and unknowing—to find out and looks at the variety of ways mystery is created through character, image, structure, and haunted texts, including the novels of Shirley Jackson, Paul Yoon, J. M. Coetzee, and more. Casey’s wide-ranging discussion encompasses spirit photography, the radical nature of empathy, and contradictory characters, as she searches for questions rather than answers. The Art of Mystery is a striking and vibrant addition to the much-loved Art of series.

The Detective as Historian
The Detective as Historian

Author: Ray B. Browne

Publisher: University of Wisconsin Pres

Published: 2013-02

Total Pages: 321

ISBN-13: 0879728817

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Readers of detective stories are turning more toward historical crime fiction to learn both what everyday life was like in past societies and how society coped with those who broke the laws and restrictions of the times. The crime fiction treated here ranges from ancient Egypt through classical Greece and Rome; from medieval and renaissance China and Europe through nineteenth-century England and America. Topics include: Ellis Peter’s Brother Cadfael; Umberto Eco’s Name of the Rose; Susanna Gregory’s Doctor Matthew Bartholomew; Peter Heck’s Mark Twain as detective; Anne Perry and her Victorian-era world; Caleb Carr’s works; and Elizabeth Peter’s Egyptologist-adventurer tales.