100 Greatest Literary Detectives

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.

The Literary Detective is an omnibus edition of John Sutherland's three best-selling collections of literary puzzles, Is Heathcliffe a Murderer?, Can Jane Eyre be Happy?, and Who Betrays Elizabeth Bennet? Investigating a variety of anomalies, enigmas, and conundrums such as 'Why does RobinsonCrusoe find only one footprint?' and 'Where does Fanny Hill keep her contraceptives?', Professor Sutherland explores the questions readers often ask and critics rarely discuss. His forensic skills focus on authors from Defoe and Fielding to Wells and Woolf, relishing in particular thenineteenth-century novelists, Austen, Collins, Dickens, and the Brontes.By addressing 'real world' questions John Sutherland has brought lit. crit. Down from the rarefied heights of academe and into the everyday discourse of ordinary readers, who bring their own expertise to bear on these novels. In his introduction he quotes from some of the many letters he hasreceived, which demonstrate that we can all be astute and entertaining critics. The 'Sherlock Holmes of Literature', as he has been called, John Sutherland reminds us of the sheer pleasure and excitement that good books inspire, and of their endless ability to surprise and delight us.

One hundred essays celebrate fiction's greatest detectives.

Some of the greatest detective stories every wrote are collected in this massive anthology. This book contains the stories and novels by Arthur Conan Doyle, G. K. Chesterton, Emile Gaboriau, E. W. Hornung, M. McDonnell Bodkin, Guy Boothby, Jacques Futrelle, Melville Davisson Post, Ethel Lina White, Baroness Emmuska Orczy Orczy, Arthur Morrison, Edgar Wallace, Algernon Blackwood, Wilkie Collins, Maurice Leblanc, Edgar Allan Poe, Charles Dickens, Gaston Leroux, Anna Katharine Green, Fergus Hume, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Robert Louis Stevenson, Dorothy L. Sayers, R. Austin Freeman. Table of Contents Wilkie Collins The Moonstone A Romance Edgar Allan Poe The Gold-Bug The Murders in the Rue Morgue The Mystery of Marie Roget. A Sequel to “The Murders in the Rue Morgue.” The Purloined Letter Charles Dickens Hunted Down Arthur Conan Doyle The Hound of the Baskervilles A Study in Scarlet The Sign of Four The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes G. K. Chesterton The Man Who Was Thursday: A Nightmare The Innocence of Father Brown The Wisdom of Father Brown Emile Gaboriau The Lerouge Case by Emile Gaboriau Monsieur Lecoq The Mystery of Orcival E. W. Hornung The Amateur Cracksman Dead Men Tell No Tales The Crime Doctor M. McDonnell Bodkin The Capture of Paul Beck Guy Boothby The Red Rat's Daughter Jacques Futrelle The Problem of Cell 13 The Chase of the Golden Plate Melville Davisson Post Walker of the Secret Service The Sleuth of St. James's Square Ethel Lina White The Man Who Loved Lions Baroness Emma Orczy (Emmuska Orczy) The Old Man in the Corner The Scarlet Pimpernel Arthur Morrison Chronicles of Martin Hewitt Martin Hewitt, Investigator Edgar Wallace The Angel of Terror Algernon Blackwood Three More John Silence Stories Three John Silence Stories Maurice Leblanc The Extraordinary Adventures of Arsene Lupin, Gentleman-Burglar Gaston Leroux The Mystery of the Yellow Room Anna Katherine Green The Leavenworth Case Fergus Hume The Mystery of a Hansom Cab Fyodor Dostoevsky Crime and Punishment Robert Louis Stevenson The Suicide Club The Rajah’s Diamond Dorothy L. Sayers Whose Body? A Lord Peter Wimsey Novel R. Austin Freeman John Thorndyke's Cases The Mystery of 31 New Inn

Combining theoretical and practical approaches, this collection of essays explores classic detective fiction from a variety of contemporary viewpoints. Among the diverse perspectives are those which interrogate the way the genre reflects important social and cultural attitudes, contributes to a reader's ability to adapt to the challenges of daily life, and provides alternate takes on the role of the detective as an investigator and arbiter of truth. Part I looks at the nature of and the audience for detective fiction, as well as at the genre as a literary form. This section includes an inquiry into the role of the detective; an application of object-relations psychology to the genre; and analyses of recent literary criticism positing that traditional detective fiction contained the seeds of its own subversion. Part II applies a variety of theoretical positions to Agatha Christie and her heirs in the British ratiocinative tradition. A concluding essay positions the genre within the middle-class traditions of the novel since its inception in the eighteenth century. Of interest to all scholars and students of detective fiction and British popular culture.

Literature has always recorded a history of patriarchy, sexual violence, and resistance. Academics have been using literature to expose and critique this violence and domination for half a century. But the continued potency of #MeToo after its 2017 explosion adds new urgency and wider awareness about these issues, while revealing new ways in which rape culture shapes our everyday lives. This intersectional guide helps readers, students, teachers, and scholars face and challenge our culture of sexual violence by confronting it through the study of literature. #MeToo and Literary Studies gathers essays on literature from Ovid to Carmen Maria Machado, by academics working across the United States and around the world, who offer clear ways of using our reading, teaching, and critical practices to address rape culture and sexual violence. It also examines the promise and limitations of the #MeToo movement itself, speaking to the productive use of social media as well as to the voices that the movement has so far muted. In uniting diverse voices to enable the #MeToo movement to reshape literary studies, this book is also committed to the idea that the way we read and write about literature can make real change in the world.

Read professional, fair reviews by practicing academic, public, and school librarians and subject-area specialists that will enable you to make the best choices from among the latest reference resources. This newest edition of American Reference Books Annual (ARBA) provides librarians with insightful, critical reviews of print and electronic reference resources released or updated in 2017-2018, as well as some from 2019 that were received in time for review in the publication. By using this invaluable guide to consider both the positive and negative aspects of each resource, librarians can make informed decisions about which new reference resources are most appropriate for their collections and their patrons' needs. Collection development librarians who are working with limited budgets—as is the case in practically every library today—will be able to maximize the benefit from their monetary resources by selecting what they need most for their collection, while bypassing materials that bring limited value to their specific environment.