This is an entertaining and informative history of the many facets of crime fiction and the people who wrote/write it. Edwards does a fine job of intertwining the lives of the authors, the cultures in which they lived, and their work. The result is this very readable history of the genre and the subgenres within it.
We see the evolution of the genre and how authors were inspired by the work that preceded them. I found some new-to-me authors to look for and very much enjoyed reading about more familiar ones. As is to be expected, I was more interested in some chapters than others--simply a matter of personal taste and preference. I found even the chapters about the kinds of crime fiction I am not interested in quite interesting. The book is very well-written and I loved the inclusion of radio dramas in the book--I'm a big fan of old radio mysteries. I am not a watcher so was less interested in the discussions of visual adaptations, although I found it interesting that Hollywood adaptations ruined the characters for some authors.
Most chapters begin with an anecdote from an author's life, which I found fascinating. For anyone who wants to research any topic in more depth, the book includes a select bibliography, an index of titles, and an index of names.
If you're at all interested in crime fiction of any kind, I highly recommend this book.
1 comment:
I haven't either! I'm glad I read it!
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