The Writings
About the Writings
Hi. I've been collecting and reading classic detective fiction for more than forty years. Many of my comments on the accompanying web pages come from my personal observations and thoughts from reading the books. But other books that I have read -- "writings about the writings" -- have filled in gaps in my information and knowledge of the subject.
One book in particular has guided me in collecting and acquiring my own library -- Murder for Pleasure by Howard Haycraft. Haycraft's The Art of the Mystery Story has also been a delight to read -- in it, Haycraft anthologizes a number of essays by other writers and scholars of detective, mystery, and crime fiction.
|
Click Image to  Click the image below to  |
Click Image to  |
It's also been great fun to read a number various reviewers who criticize one another in the debate. For example, Howard Haycraft criticizes Dorothy Sayers on one or two occasions. (Notably, when she wrote that the Sherlock Holmes novel A Study in Scarlet was "flung like a bombshell on the reading public." Haycraft responded that it may have been flung like a bombshell, but it didn't explode. A Study in Scarlet was not the book that made Sherlock Holmes a household world, and it went all but unnoticed until short stories about Holmes began to appear in The Strand magazine.)
|
And in Bloody Murder, his book about the history of the detective and crime story, Julian Symons criticizes Haycraft when he opines that Haycraft's use of the phrase "detective story" includes stories that seem to have the form but are not really stories of detectives -- after all, how can we call the stories about A.J. Raffles, who is a criminal, "detective" stories? Symons prefers the term "crime" stories. |
Click Image to  Click the image below to  |
Symons also points out that, while Haycraft points to the 1920s and 1930s as "the Golden Age" of detective fiction, there was an earlier "Golden Age" -- the period after Sir Arthur Conan Doyle killed off his detective Sherlock Holmes in the famous death-struggle with Professor Moriarty. This created a market for this form of fiction, and there was a proliferation of stories by other writers to fill the void. Many of these stories are well written and still highly readable today.
|
Click Image to  Click the image below to  |
Click Image to  Click the image below to  |
But these are not the only books that I have perused (with very great pleasure) on the subject. Below, I list volumes that I have, on occasion, immersed myself in. I apologize for not being able to provide complete bibliographical information at this time -- these books are currently in storage and I can't access them easily. When I get more time (and can access them), I will provide more complete information, including publisher, city, and year for each. In the meantime, I hope it is of some value to share with you my sources -- at least the titles and authors (and an occasional note).
Click Image to
Order from Amazon
(As an Amazon Associate
I earn from
qualifying purchases.)
Click the image below to
Read the Reviews:
- The Annotated Sherlock Holmes. Volume I. William S. Baring-Gould.
- The Annotated Sherlock Holmes. Volume II. William S. Baring-Gould.
- The Annotated Sherlock Holmes (Includes Volume I and Volume II.)
- The World Bibliography of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson. Ronald Burt De Waal.
- Great Detectives. (Sherlock Holmes; Nero Wolfe; Philip Marlowe; Miss Marple; Hercule Poirot; Ellery Queen; Maigret.) Julian Symons.
- Sherlock Holmes on the Screen. Robert W. Pohle, Jr. and Douglas C. Hart.
- The Films of Sherlock Holmes. Chris Steinbrunner and Norman Michaels.
- Holmes of the Movies. David Stuart Davies.
- Unpopular Opinions. Dorothy L. Sayers.
- Sherlock Holmes: The Published Apocrypha. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Selected Hands. Edited by Jack Tracy.
- The Final Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Collected and Introduced by Peter Haining.
- Murder Ink. The Mystery Reader's Companion. Perpetrated by Dilys Winn.
- Murder Ink ("Revived, Revised, Still Unrepentant"). Perpetrated by Dilys Winn.
- Murderess Ink. ("The Better Half of the Mystery.") Perpetrated by Dilys Winn.
- The Murder Book. An Illustrated History of the Detective Story. Tage la Cour and Harald Mogensen.
- Murder for Pleasure. The Life and Times of the Detective Story. Howard Haycraft.
- The Art of the Mystery Story. Edited with a commentary by Howard Haycraft.
- The New Bedside, Bathtub, and Armchair Companion to Agatha Christie. Second Edition. Dick Riley and Pam McAllister.
- A Reader's Guide to the American Novel of Detection. Marvin Lachman.
- Whodunit? A Guide to Crime, Suspense and Spy Fiction. Edited by H.R.F. Keating.
- The Mystery Lover's Companion. Art Bourgeau.
- The Mystery Lover's Book of Quotations. The Wit and Wisdom of the World's Great Crime Writers. Jane Horning.
- The Detectives. Crime and Detection in Fact and Fiction. Frank Smyth and Myles Ludwig.
- The American Detective. An Illustrated History. Jeff Siegal.
- The Art of Mystery and Detective Stories. The Best Illustrations from Over a Century of Crime Fiction. Peter Haining.
- Agatha Christie: Murder in Four Acts. A Centenary celebration of "The Queen of Crime" on stage, film, radio and TV with a foreword by Sir John Gielgud. Peter Haining.
- The Pulps. Tony Goodstone.
- In the Footsteps of Agatha Christie. Francois Riviere (text). Jean-Bernard Naudin (photography). Alexandra Campbell (English translation). Lydia Fasoli (places to visit).
- The Agatha Christie Who's Who. Compiled by Randall Toye.
- An Informal History of the Pulp Magazines. Ron Goulart.
- Sleuths, Inc.: Studies of Problem Solvers. (Doyle, Simenon, Hammett, Ambler, Chandler.) Hugh Eames.
- The Omnibus of Crime. Edited by Dorothy L. Sayers.
- The Second Omnibus of Crime . Edited by Dorothy L. Sayers.
- The Third Omnibus of Crime. Edited by Dorothy L. Sayers.
- Great Tales of Detection. Nineteen Stories chosen by Dorothy L. Sayers.
- Ellery Queen's Challenge to the Reader. (An Anthology.) Ellery Queen.
- 101 Years' Entertainment. The Great Detective Stories 1841-1941. Ellery Queen.
- Rogues' Gallery. The Great Criminals of Modern Fiction. Edited by Ellery Queen.
- The World's 100 Best Detective Stories. (In 10 volumes.) Eugene Thwing.
- Library of the World's Best Mystery and Detective Stories. (One Hundred and One Tales of Mystery by Famous Authors of East and West.) Edited by Julian Hawthorne.
- World's Great Detective Stories.
- The Lock and Key Library: Classic Mystery and Detective Stories of All Nations. (Ten Volumes [but I only have one].)
- A Mystery Omnibus. Edited by Howard Haycraft and John Beecroft.
- A Treasury of Great Mysteries. Howard Haycraft and John Beecroft.
- The Best American Mystery Stories of the Year. Selected and with an Introduction by Carolyn Wells.
- Masterpieces of Mystery: The Prizewinners. (Note: This refers to Nobel prizewinners and Pulitzer prizewinners.) Selected by Ellery Queen.
- Ellery Queen's Minimysteries. (70 short-short stories of crime, mystery, and detection.) Edited by Ellery Queen.
- The Delights of Detection. (Classic writers....) Edited with an Introduction by Jacques Barzun.
|
Click Image to  Click the image below to  |
Click Image to  Click the image below to  |
|
Click Image to  Click the image below to  |
Click Image to  Click the image below to  |
|
Click Image to  Click the image below to  |
Click Image to  Click the image below to  |
|
Click Image to  Click the image below to  |
Click Image to  Click the image below to  |
|
Click Image to  |
Click Image to  Click the image below to  |
|
Click Image to  Click the image below to  |
Click Image to  |
Amazon and the Amazon logo are trademarks of Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliates.
(This is a link through which I make a small commission if you buy. See here for more details.)