Acknowledgements
Introduction
Part I: Narratives of Detection and the Sciences of History
Chapter 1: What is Detective Fiction?
Chapter 2: Detection and the Historical Sciences: Two Locked Rooms and Two Keys to Unlock Them
Part II: The Rise of Detective Fiction and the Birth of Detection
Chapter 3: From Rogues to Ratiocination
Casebook 1: The Ape and the Aristocrat
Chapter 4: From Detectives to Detection
Casebook 2: The Scientific Detective's Bohemian Soul
Chapter 5: From Holmes to the Golden Age
Casebook 3: Of War and Wimsey
Chapter 6: Hard-Boiled Detection
Casebook 4: No Game for Knights
Chapter 7: Cold War, Cops and Counterculture
Epilogue: The End of History?
Works Cited
Index
Charles Rzepka is Professor of English at Boston University.
"The secret and importance of mysteries have always been mysteries
themselves. This fine analytical study is a five-story library
analyzed and mixed into answering the many questions that arise ...
(an) exhaustive and comprehensive guide, which needs to be owned
and studied by all literary-cultural-crime fiction scholars."
Journal of American Culture "A lucid and fascinating exploration of
the cultural changes that influenced the 19th and early
20th-century development of the genre."
Times Higher Education Supplement "Rzepka's real strength is his
clear, graceful writing which sets his overview apart from its many
competitors. In his discussion of the unique sensibility of
Sherlock Holmes, the baffling morality of Sam Spade, or the sullied
romanticism of Philip Marlowe, Rzepka is as skillful as these
accomplished detectives?rightly perceiving a depth of complexity,
shrewdly identifying their key elements, and clearly tracing their
inherent logic ? Admirably [fulfils] its stated purpose ... to be a
stimulating overview of this genre from its origins up to present
day and to be read by college undergraduates."
Modernism/Modernity "Cool, savvy, and utterly compelling: every
page of Charles J. Rzepka's magnificent history of detective
fiction displays the forensic panache of the true connoisseur of
murder. Commanding an unrivalled breadth of reference and depth of
insight, the book is a must-read for everyone interested in
detective fiction."
Nicholas Roe, University of St Andrews
"In this sustained analysis of the emergence and development of
detective fiction in England and America, Charles Rzepka has
produced both a compelling cultural history and a skilful
demonstration of what Poe aptly called 'the moral activity which
disentangles'. It will become an indispensable guide to serious
students of detective literature."
Ronald R. Thomas, University of Puget Sound
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