Extended close readings of the classics of Detective Fiction in several 'Casebook' essays devoted to seminal works by Poe, Doyle, Sayers, and Chandler show in detail how the genre has responded to these influences over the last century and a half. They also serve to introduce students to a variety of current critical approaches.

Rzepka (English, Boston U.) writes her primarily for college undergraduates, preferably English majors with some training in the interpretation of imaginative writing and some knowledge of the history of English and American literature; those for whom a course on detective fiction is their introduction to the study of literature will benefit from the guidance of their instructor, he suggests. His account is historical, but includes extended essays on Poe, Doyle, Sayers, and Chandler and shorter essays on other popular detective writers. Distributed in the US by Blackwell Publishing. Annotation 2006 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)