 This
section of Crimeculture.com aims eventually to include introductions
to all aspects of crime fiction, from the Victorian detective novel
to the contemporary graphic novel.
The site also includes numerous articles on crime and detective fiction.
Please see our Articles
section for topics currently available.
For crime fiction sections see below.
Articles currently available on the site discuss, amongst other things, the Sherlock Holmes stories; the fiction of Paul Auster, Graham Greene, Edward Anderson, James M. Cain, David Goodis, Chester Himes, Jim Thompson, Patricia Highsmith, Marc Behm, Nicholas Blincoe, Patricia Cornwell, Sarah Paretsky, Helen Zahavi; William Gibson's 'future noir'; and the postmodern detective novels of Bret Easton Ellis, William Hjortsberg and Umberto Eco. There are editorial supplements on James Ellroy's LA Quartet, on black protest in mid-century crime writing and on femmes fatales in the hard-boiled thrillers of the 1950s. The critical approaches explored include feminist, psychoanalytic, historicist and deconstructive.
NEW ~ Feb 2005: 21st-Century Crime - containing interviews with Ian Rankin, Jack O'Connell, Jason Starr and Charlie Stella; reviews of the noir crime novels of Charlotte Carter, Jason Starr, Charlie Stella, Kevin Wignall, Charlie Williams and Allan Guthrie; and several review articles - 'Past Crimes', 'Goodfellas and Party Monsters', 'Book to Film and Back', 'Nightmare Alley' and lots more.
Sections
of the Crime Fiction Site
Victorian
detective fiction
 The
editor of Crimeculture's section on Victorian Detective Fiction
is Christopher Pittard, University of Exeter. He discusses the emergence
of the detective story as a distinct genre in the nineteenth century,
taking in the work of a large range of writers, including Vidocq,
William Russell, Poe, Dickens, Mary Elizabeth Braddon, Wilkie Collins,
Fergus Hume, Conan Doyle, Arthur Morrison, Grant Allen and L T Meade.
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Classic
detective fiction
 An
overview of the origins and development of classic detective fiction,
at present providing brief discussions of the stories of Sir Arthur
Conan Doyle, G.K. Chesterton, Arthur Morrison and R. Austin Freeman,
and of the novels of the 'Queens of Crime' (Christie, Sayers, Allingham).
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American
hard-boiled crime fiction
 An
introduction to the growth of hard-boiled crime fiction in the 1920s
and 1930s, with a brief discussion of the historical background and
sections on Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler, Horace McCoy, James
M. Cain, W.R. Burnett and Paul Cain.
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The
era of paperback originals
 A
brief discussion of the post-World War Two American paperback boom,
and of the influence of McCarthyism in 'the paranoid fifties'; amongst
the writers included in this section are Mickey Spillane, David Goodis,
Gil Brewer, Leigh Brackett and Jim Thompson.
Supplementary articles
~
Black
Protest in the Mid-Century American Crime Novel
&
Fatal
Women in the Hard-Boiled Fifties
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French crime fiction
 We are delighted to welcome Sue Neale to Crimeculture as the editor of a new section on French crime fiction, from Vidocq to Daniel Pennac and Fred Vargas. This is our first foray into European writing, and we would be very pleased to have offers of further articles or sections on non-Anglo-American crime fiction.
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Brit
grit
 An
introduction to British crime fiction outside the tradition of the
classic detective story, starting with Greene and Ambler in the 1930s,
and going on to glance at post-World War Two 'mushroom publishing',
at Ted Lewis and Get Carter, and at the 'New Wave' British
crime writing that has flourished since the 1980s.
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American
crime writing 1970-2000
 An
introduction to American crime writing of the past three decades,
summarizing key themes in contemporary American noir; amongst writers
included are James Ellroy, Edward Bunker, Geroge V. Higgins, Loren
Estleman, James Lee Burke, James Crumley, Walter Mosley, Elmore Leonard
and Carl Hiaasen
Supplementary
articles ~
Katharine Horsley
and Lee Horsley, Mères
Fatales: Maternal Guilt in the Noir Crime Novel (available
at online site of Modern Fiction Studies 45.2, Summer 1999).
Lee Horsley, Founding Fathers: 'Genealogies of Violence' in James Ellroy's L.A. Quartet
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Serial killer fiction
David Schmid gives a concise overview of the diverse and expanding field of serial killer fiction, tracing its history and considering the links between fiction and non-fiction. This essay will be supplemented by Serial Killer Non-Fiction, which will soon be added to the site.
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Graphic crime fiction
 Our Graphic Crime Fiction editor, Arthur Fried of Plymouth State University, has added to the site a detailed discussion of 'Crime Fiction in Comic Strips, Comic Books and Graphic Novels'.
 Crimeculture
and Noir Originals
are pleased to announce the launch of PULP
ORIGINALS ~ a site making available in e-book
form some of the very best mid-century American crime novels.
Our introductory offer is Harry Whittington's The Devil
Wears Wings; our January 2004 offer, James McKimmey's Squeeze Play. NEW: a Day Keene double.
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