The Oxford Book of English Detective StoriesThe Oxford Book of English Detective Stories
Title rated 3.75 out of 5 stars, based on 4 ratings(4 ratings)
Book, 1990
Current format, Book, 1990, , No Longer Available.Book, 1990
Current format, Book, 1990, , No Longer Available. Offered in 0 more formatsThe detective story, with its roots in Poe's Chevalier Dupin mysteries and Wilkie Collins's The Moonstone, first achieved mass popularity in the 1890s with The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. Its success has a good deal to do with its pungency, and with its power to intrigue and absorb thereader while abiding by the rules of the genre (however flexible these have become). Every age has produced a kind of detective fiction which exemplifies its distinctive manners and customs, from the sedate tales which began to appear in the wake of Sherlock Holmes to the debonair detection of the1920s and after.The sleuth short story took off in many directions, with such writers as Anthony Berkeley, Freeman Wills Crofts, Carter Dickson, and Edmund Crispin bringing the upmost expertise and ingenuity to bear on the detective theme. An increasing realism is apparent in the post-war era, though with nodiminution in entertainment value, and as we come up to the present, the detective story has been adapted further to accommodate sexual comedy and other facets of modern life.This collection of 33 stories shows the scope, vigour, and enduring fascination of the detective story, as well as indicating its importance as a barometer of social attitudes and literary practices. It gathers together a wide range of stories, many unfamiliar by writers of the calibre of AgathaChristie, Julian Symons, Ngaio Marsh, G. K. Chesterton, P. D. James, Ruth Rendell, Dorothy L. Sayers, Margery Allingham, Nicholas Blake, Michael Innes, and H. R. F. Keating.
Title availability
About
Contributors
Contains
Details
Publication
- Oxford [England] ; New York : Oxford University Press, c1990.
Opinion
More from the community
Community lists featuring this title
There are no community lists featuring this title
Community contributions
Community quotations are the opinions of contributing users. These quotations do not represent the opinions of Omaha Public Library.
There are no quotations from this title
Community quotations are the opinions of contributing users. These quotations do not represent the opinions of Omaha Public Library.
There are no quotations from this title
From the community