100 Greatest Literary Detectives
Edited by Eric Sandberg
Publication date:
12 April 2018Length of book:
250 pagesPublisher
Rowman & Littlefield PublishersISBN-13: 9781442278226
Crime fiction is one of the most popular literary genres and has been for more than a century. At the heart of almost all forms of mysteries—from the Golden Age puzzler to the contemporary police procedural, from American hardboiled fiction to the Japanese timetable mystery—is the investigator. He—or, increasingly, she—can be a private eye, a police officer, or a general busybody. But whatever forms these investigators take, they are the key element of crime fiction. Criminals and their crimes come and go, while our attention is captured by these fascinating characters who exist at the intersection of so many different literary and social roles.
100 Greatest Literary Detectives offers a selection of the most influential, important, and intriguing fictional sleuths—amateur or professional—from around the world. From Sherlock Holmes to Harry Hole, Kinsey Millhone to Kiyoshi Mitarai, the detectives profiled here give readers a broader picture of one of fiction’s most popular genres. Each entry summarizes the distinctive features of notable investigators and their approaches to crime, provides a brief outline of major features of their fictional careers, and makes a case for their importance based on literary-historical impact, novelty, uniqueness, aesthetic quality, or cultural resonance. The characters profiled here include Lew Archer, Martin Beck, Father Brown, Brother Cadfael, Adam Dalgliesh, Mike Hammer, Miss Jane Marple, Hercule Poirot, Ellery Queen, Ezekiel “Easy” Rawlins, Kay Scarpetta, Sam Spade, Phillip Trent, V. I. Warshawski, Lord Peter Wimsey, Nero Wolfe, and many others.
Readers will find some of their favorite detectives here, learn more about their literary and cultural significance, and discover other great sleuths—old and new, local and international—in this engaging volume. 100 Greatest Literary Detectives provides a fascinating look into some of the most intriguing fictional characters of all time.
100 Greatest Literary Detectives offers a selection of the most influential, important, and intriguing fictional sleuths—amateur or professional—from around the world. From Sherlock Holmes to Harry Hole, Kinsey Millhone to Kiyoshi Mitarai, the detectives profiled here give readers a broader picture of one of fiction’s most popular genres. Each entry summarizes the distinctive features of notable investigators and their approaches to crime, provides a brief outline of major features of their fictional careers, and makes a case for their importance based on literary-historical impact, novelty, uniqueness, aesthetic quality, or cultural resonance. The characters profiled here include Lew Archer, Martin Beck, Father Brown, Brother Cadfael, Adam Dalgliesh, Mike Hammer, Miss Jane Marple, Hercule Poirot, Ellery Queen, Ezekiel “Easy” Rawlins, Kay Scarpetta, Sam Spade, Phillip Trent, V. I. Warshawski, Lord Peter Wimsey, Nero Wolfe, and many others.
Readers will find some of their favorite detectives here, learn more about their literary and cultural significance, and discover other great sleuths—old and new, local and international—in this engaging volume. 100 Greatest Literary Detectives provides a fascinating look into some of the most intriguing fictional characters of all time.
This anthology of 100 critical profiles of fictional detectives rounds up the usual suspects and introduces some less familiar figures who will surely provoke discussion among crime connoisseurs. Warning that it would be impossible to include every reader’s favorite gumshoe, editor Sandberg includes essays on an eclectic selection of crime-solvers from the past two centuries. Along with Poe’s C. Auguste Dupin and Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes, there is coverage of Brother William of Baskerville, the 14th-century monk sleuth in Umberto Eco’s The Name of the Rose. In addition to Raymond Chandler’s Philip Marlowe and Dashiell Hammett’s Sam Spade, both iconic hardboiled detectives, there are Philip K. Dick’s Bob Arctor (from A Scanner Darkly) and China Miéville’s Inspector Tyador Borlú (from The City and the City), both crossovers from speculative fiction. Among essays on Walter Mosley’s Easy Rawlins, Sue Grafton’s Kinsey Millhone, and Patricia Cornwell’s Kay Scarpetta, there is also one on Daniel Quinn, the failed detective of Paul Auster’s metafictional New York Trilogy. The book’s contributors, mostly academics, cite chapter and verse from novels and stories to provide cogent and involving studies, driving home Sandberg’s central point that crime fiction favors character as much as plot.