Crime Fiction

Crime Fiction provides a lively introduction to what is both a wide-ranging and hugely popular literary genre. Using examples from a variety of novels, short stories, films and televisions series, John Scaggs:

presents a concise history of crime fiction - from biblical narratives to James Ellroy - broadening the genre to include revenge tragedy and the gothic novel

explores the key sub-genres of crime fiction, such as 'Rational Criminal Investigation', The Hard-Boiled Mode', 'The Police Procedural' and 'Historical Crime Fiction'

locates texts and their recurring themes and motifs in a wider social and historical context

outlines the various critical concepts that are central to the study of crime fiction, including gender, narrative theory and film theory

considers contemporary television series like C. S. I. : Crime Scene Investigation alongside the 'classic' whodunnits of Agatha Christie.


Accessible and clear, this comprehensive overview is the essential guide for all those studying crime fiction and concludes with a look at future directions for the genre in the twentieth-first century.

Introduction Chapter 1. A Chronology of Crime: Early Crime Narratives Crime Stories as Cautionary Tales Crime Fiction and Policing The Golden Age to the Present Chapter 2. Mystery and Detective Fiction: Retracing the Steps The Origins of Mystery Fiction Reasoning Machines: The Figure of the Amateur Detective Escalating Crimes: From Purloined Letters to Murder Maintaining Social Order and the Status Quo Settings and Sub-Genres Chapter 3. The Hard-boiled Mode: Murder for a Reason Origins and Development A Shop-Soiled Galahad: The Private Eye Hero Last Chances and New Beginnings: The Myth of the Frontier Mean Streets and Rat's Alleys: Modernity and the City Fallen Angels: Appropriation of the Hard-Boiled Mode Chapter 4. The Police Procedural: Thin Blue Lines Fiction as Ideological State Apparatus Private Eye to Public Eye: The Development of the Procedural Textual Investigations: Characteristics of the Procedural, Social Placebo The Magic Bullet of Procedural Reassurance Arrested Developments: Appropriations of the Procedural Chapter 5. The Crime Thriller: Outlining the Crime Thriller The Noir Thriller The Anti-Conspiracy Thriller 6. Historical Crime Fiction: Writing History and Interpreting the Past Crime, History and Realism The Case of the Name of the Rose Postmodernism and the Anti-Detective Novel