Identifies and annotates 239 books about mystery and detective fiction published through the end of 1981.

In 1972, in an attempt to elevate the stature of the "crime novel," influential crime writer and critic Julian Symons cast numerous Golden Age detective fiction writers into literary perdition as "Humdrums," condemning their focus on puzzle plots over stylish writing and explorations of character, setting and theme. This volume explores the works of three prominent British "Humdrums"--Cecil John Charles Street, Freeman Wills Crofts, and Alfred Walter Stewart--revealing their work to be more complex, as puzzles and as social documents, than Symons allowed. By championing the intrinsic merit of these mystery writers, the study demonstrates that reintegrating the "Humdrums" into mystery genre studies provides a fuller understanding of the Golden Age of detective fiction and its aftermath.

For more than a century, the mystery and detective story has been among the most popular forms of fiction in bookstores and libraries. Some writers (Edgar Allan Poe or Dashiell Hammett, for example) have attracted a considerable body of critical response; others have been the focus of less scrutiny. This bibliography is intended for the student, general reader, or mystery buff who needs some basic information about the mystery genre and its representative authors. Selective, rather than exhaustive, it serves as an introduction. Entries on the life and work of seventy-five writers from Margery Allingham, Raymond Chandler, and Amanda Cross to P.D. James, John D. MacDonald, Edgar Allan Poe, Ellery Queen, and Georges Simenon appear.

Essays taken from Salem Press's Critical survey of mystery and detective fiction, published in 1988.