LITR 240 - Mysteries, Detective and Crime Fiction

Compiled by William Denton and originally published in 1993, this is an entertaining collection of definitions for words found in the hardboiled stories of Philip Marlowe, Sam Spade, Mike Hammer and the Continental Op (and others).

"Why was crime such a popular subject in 19th-century fiction? How did literature balance fear, social commentary and entertainment? How were gruesome murders and shocking punishments treated by the press, the public and the authors of the period?" This British Library website collects authoritative articles/overviews.

"They work in Watts, Chicago, Oakland, and Harlem, go on vacation in Provincetown, MA, and return home to Otis, South Carolina (pop. 5,000). They include an Ivy League professor, an ex-CIA agent, a volatile ex-cop, a journalist, a domestic worker, an attorney, a Ph.D. student whose best informers work in a beauty salon, and a saxophone-playing street musician. Among them are single parents, foster parents, an orphan, and lesbians. They have starred in movies. They work in the past and the present. They are biracial. They partner with white colleagues. They are African American detectives created by African American mystery writers whose lives are as varied as their fictional characters."