Citizendia

Sherlock Holmes, pipe-puffing hero of crime fiction, confers with his colleague Dr. Watson; together these characters popularized the genre.
Sherlock Holmes, pipe-puffing hero of crime fiction, confers with his colleague Dr. Watson; together these characters popularized the genre. Sherlock Holmes is a famous fictional detective of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries who first appeared in Publication in 1887
"Murder mystery" redirects here. For other uses, see Murder mystery (disambiguation).

Crime fiction is the genre of fiction that deals with crimes, their detection, criminals and their motives. A genre (ˈʒɑːnrə also /ˈdʒɑːnrə/ from French "kind" or "sort" from Latin: genus (stem gener-) is a loose set Fiction is the telling of stories which are not real More specifically fiction is an imaginative form of Narrative, one of the four basic Rhetorical modes. In the sociological field, crime is the breach of a rule or Law for which some governing authority or force may ultimately prescribe a Punishment In law especially Criminal law, a motive is the cause that moves people to induce a certain action It is usually distinguished from mainstream fiction and other genres such as science fiction or historical fiction, but boundaries can be, and indeed are, blurred. Mainstream is generally the common current of Thought of the Majority. Historical fiction is a sub-genre of Fiction that often portrays alternate accounts or dramatization of historical figures or events It has several sub-genres, including detective fiction (including the whodunnit), legal thriller, courtroom drama and hard-boiled fiction. Detective fiction is a branch of Crime fiction in which a Detective (or detectives either professional or amateur investigate a crime usually Murder A whodunit or whodunnit (for "Who done it?" is a complex plot-driven variety of the detective story in which the puzzle is the main feature of interest The legal thriller is a sub-genre of Crime fiction in which the major characters are Lawyers and their employees A legal drama is a work of dramatic Fiction about crime and civil litigation Hardboiled Crime fiction is a literary style pioneered by Carroll John Daly in the mid-1920s popularized by Dashiell Hammett over the course of the

Contents

History of crime fiction

Main article: History of crime fiction

Crime fiction began to be considered as a serious genre only around 1900. Crime fiction is a typically 19th and 20th century genre dominated by British and American writers Genre fiction is a term for fictional works ( Novels short stories) written with the intent of fitting into a specific Literary genre The earliest known crime novel is "The murder of machine operator Rolfsen" by Norwegian Mauritz Hansen, published in 1839. Yet more known are the earlier dark works of Edgar Allan Poe (e. Edgar Allan Poe (January 19 1809 – October 7 1849 was an American poet, short-story Writer, editor and Literary critic, g. , "The Murders in the Rue Morgue" (1841), "The Mystery of Marie Roget" (1842), and "The Purloined Letter" (1844). " The Murders in the Rue Morgue " is a Short story by Edgar Allan Poe published in Graham's Magazine in 1841 " The Purloined Letter " is one of Edgar Allan Poe 's detective stories. The evolution of locked room mysteries was one of the landmarks in the history of crime fiction. The locked room mystery is a sub-genre of Detective fiction wherein a crime such as murder is committed under apparently impossible circumstances—typically involving a crime The Sherlock Holmes mysteries, probably based upon C. Auguste Dupin and Émile Gaboriau's Monsieur Lecoq, are said to have been singularly responsible for the huge popularity in this genre. Sherlock Holmes is a famous fictional detective of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries who first appeared in Publication in 1887 C Auguste Dupin is a fictional Detective created by Edgar Allan Poe. Émile Gaboriau ( November 9, 1832 - September 28, 1873) was a French Writer, novelist and journalist and a pioneer of Monsieur Lecoq is the creation of Émile Gaboriau, a 19th century French Writer and journalist A precursor was Paul Féval, whose series Les Habits Noirs (1862-67) feature Scotland Yard detectives and criminal conspiracies. Paul Henri Corentin Féval, père ( 29 September 1816 - 8 March 1887) was a French Novelist and Dramatist Les Habits Noirs is a Book series written over a thirty-year period comprising eleven novels created by Paul Féval père, a 19th century French New Scotland Yard or Scotland Yard, informally known as The Yard and NSY, is the headquarters of the Metropolitan Police Service, responsible

The evolution of the print mass media in the United Kingdom and the United States in the latter half of the 19th century was crucial in popularising crime fiction and related genres. "Popular press" redirects here note that the University of Wisconsin Press publishes under the imprint "The Popular Press" The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain,is a Sovereign state located The United States of America —commonly referred to as the Literary 'variety' magazines like Strand, McClure's, and Harper's quickly became central to the overall structure and function of popular fiction in society, providing a mass-produced medium that offered cheap, illustrated publications that were essentially disposable. McClure's or McClure's Magazine was an American illustrated monthly periodical popular at the turn of the 20th century Harper's Magazine (also Harper's) is a monthly general-interest Magazine of literature politics culture finance and the arts Genre fiction is a term for fictional works ( Novels short stories) written with the intent of fitting into a specific Literary genre Mass production (also called flow production, repetitive flow production, series production, or serial production) is the production of

Like the works of many other important fiction writers of his day — e. g. Wilkie Collins and Charles Dickens — Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories first appeared in serial form in the monthly Strand magazine in the United Kingdom. William Wilkie Collins ( 8 January 1824 &ndash 23 September 1889) was an English Novelist, Playwright, and The Strand Magazine was a monthly fiction magazine founded by George Newnes. The series quickly attracted a wide and passionate following on both sides of the Atlantic, and when Doyle killed off Holmes in The Final Problem, the public outcry was so great, and the publishing offers for more stories so attractive, that he was reluctantly forced to resurrect him.

Later a set of stereotypic formulae began to appear to cater to various tastes.

Categories of crime fiction

Crime fiction can be divided into the following branches:

Detective fiction

Later and contemporary contributions to the whodunnit

Crime fiction and mainstream fiction

When trying to pigeon-hole fiction, it is extraordinarily difficult to tell where crime fiction starts and where it ends. Detective fiction is a branch of Crime fiction in which a Detective (or detectives either professional or amateur investigate a crime usually Murder A whodunit or whodunnit (for "Who done it?" is a complex plot-driven variety of the detective story in which the puzzle is the main feature of interest A whodunit or whodunnit (for "Who done it?" is a complex plot-driven variety of the detective story in which the puzzle is the main feature of interest The locked room mystery is a sub-genre of Detective fiction wherein a crime such as murder is committed under apparently impossible circumstances—typically involving a crime Cozy is a subgenre of Crime fiction whereby Sex and Violence are downplayed or treated Humourously The term was first coined in the late 20th The historical Whodunnit is a sub-genre of Historical fiction which bears elements of the classical Mystery novel, in which the central plot involves A parody (ˈpɛɹədiː US, [ˈpaɹədiː] UK) in contemporary usage is a work created to mock comment on or poke fun at an original work its subject A parody (ˈpɛɹədiː US, [ˈpaɹədiː] UK) in contemporary usage is a work created to mock comment on or poke fun at an original work its subject An inverted detective story, also known as a "howcatchem", is a Murder Mystery fiction structure in which the commission of the crime is shown An inverted detective story, also known as a "howcatchem", is a Murder Mystery fiction structure in which the commission of the crime is shown Hardboiled Crime fiction is a literary style pioneered by Carroll John Daly in the mid-1920s popularized by Dashiell Hammett over the course of the The police procedural is a sub-genre of the mystery story which attempts to convincingly depict the activities of a Police force as they investigate Crimes The legal thriller is a sub-genre of Crime fiction in which the major characters are Lawyers and their employees The caper story is a subgenre of Crime fiction. The typical caper story involves one or more crimes (especially thefts swindles or occasionally kidnappings perpetrated The Genre of spy fiction —sometimes called political thriller or spy thriller or sometimes shortened simply to Spy-fi —arose before Psychological thriller is a specific sub-genre of the wide-ranging thriller genre The Godfather is a Crime novel written by American Author Mario Puzo, originally published in 1969 by G This is largely attributed to the fact that love, danger and death are central motifs in fiction. In a Narrative, such as a novel or a film motifs are recurring structures contrasts or literary devices that can help to develop and inform the text’s major themes A less obvious reason is that the classification of a work may very well be related to the author's reputation.

For example, William Somerset Maugham's (1874–1966) novella Up at the Villa (1941) could very well be classified as crime fiction. William Somerset Maugham, CH ( January 25 1874 &ndash December 16 1965) was an English Playwright, A novella is a written, Fictional Prose Narrative longer than a Novelette but shorter than a Novel. Up at the Villa is a 1941 Novella by William Somerset Maugham about a young widow caught between three men her Suitor, her One-night This short novel revolves around a woman having a one-night stand with a total stranger who suddenly and unexpectedly commits suicide in her bedroom, and the woman's attempts at disposing of the body so as not to cause a scandal about herself or be suspected of killing the man. As Maugham is not usually rated as a writer of crime novels, Up at the Villa is hardly ever considered to be a crime novel and accordingly can be found in bookshops among his other, "mainstream" novels.

A more recent example is Bret Easton Ellis's (born 1964) seminal novel American Psycho (1991) about the double life of Patrick Bateman, a Wall Street yuppie and serial killer in the New York of the 1980s. Bret Easton Ellis (born March 7, 1964 in Los Angeles California) is an American author. American Psycho is a Thriller novel by Bret Easton Ellis published in 1991 Wall Street is a street in lower Manhattan, New York City, United States. The term yuppie (short for " young urban professional The City of New York Even though in American Psycho the most heinous crimes are depicted in minute detail, the novel has never been labelled a "crime novel", maybe because the police are conspicuously absent and Bateman is never tracked down and brought to justice.

On the other hand, U. S. author James M. Cain is normally seen as a writer belonging to the "hard-boiled" school of crime fiction. However, his novel Mildred Pierce (1941) is really about the rise to success of an ordinary housewife developing her entrepreneurial skills and — legally — outsmarting her business rivals, and the domestic trouble caused by her success, with, in turn, her husband, her daughter and her lover turning against her. Mildred Pierce is a Novel (1941 by James M Cain. It was made into a feature film starring Joan Crawford Although no crime is committed anywhere in the book, the novel was reprinted in 1989 by Random House, alongside Cain's thriller The Postman Always Rings Twice (1934), under the heading "Vintage Crime". The Postman Always Rings Twice is a 1934 crime Novel by James M

When film director Michael Curtiz adapted Mildred Pierce for the big screen in 1945, he lived up to the cinemagoers' and the producers' expectations by adding a murder which is absent from the novel. Michael Curtiz ( December 24, 1886 - April 10, 1962) was an Academy Award -winning Hungarian-American Film director As potential cinemagoers had been associating Cain with hard-boiled crime fiction only, this trick — exploited in advertisements and trailers —, in combination with the casting of then Hollywood star Joan Crawford in the title role, made sure that the film was going to be a box office hit even before it was released. Joan Crawford (born Lucille Fay LeSueur; ( March 23, 1905 - May 10, 1977) Crawford was signed to a motion picture

Seen from a practical point of view, one could argue that a crime novel is simply a novel that can be found in a bookshop on the shelf or shelves labelled "Crime". (This suggestion has actually been made about science fiction, but it can be applied here as well. ) Penguin Books have had a long-standing tradition of publishing crime novels in paperback editions with green covers and spines (as opposed to the orange spines of mainstream literature), thus attracting the eyes of potential buyers already when they enter the shop. Penguin Books is a British Publisher founded in 1935 by Allen Lane. But again, this clever marketing strategy does not tell the casual browser what they are really in for when they buy a particular book.

"High art" versus "popular art"

The discrepancy between taste and acclaim

Up to the 1960s or so, reading the paperback edition of a crime novel was usually considered a cheap thrill — with the word "cheap" used in both meanings: "inexpensive" and "of minor quality". Paperback, softback, or softcover describe and refer to a Book by the nature of its binding. The educated and civilized world was often interested, or at least pretended to be, in the "high art" categorised by classical music, paintings by renowned artists, in famous literature and plays like those of William Shakespeare. Classical music is a broad term that usually refers to mainstream music produced in or rooted in the traditions of Western liturgical and Secular music The definition of an artist is wide-ranging and covers a broad spectrum of Activities to do with creating Art, practicing the Arts and/or demonstrating Literature is the Art of written works Literally translated the word means "acquaintance with letters" (from Latin littera letter William Shakespeare ( baptised The term "popular art" referred to folk music, jazz, or rock 'n' roll, photography, the design of everyday objects, comics, science fiction, detective stories or erotic fiction (the latter circulating in private prints only to beat the censor) to quote a few examples. Folk music can have a number of different meanings including Traditional music: The original meaning of the term "folk music" was synonymous Jazz is an American Musical art form which originated in the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States Rock and roll (also known as rock 'n' roll) is a form of Music that evolved in the United States in the late 1940s and early 1950s with roots in mostly African Design is used both as a Noun and a Verb. The term is often tied to the various Applied arts and Engineering (See design disciplines Comics (via Latin from the Greek "" kōmikos, of or pertaining to "comedy" from kōmos "revel" Erotic literature comprises fictional and factual stories and accounts which sexually arouse the reader whether written with that intention or not The idea of a "main stream" of literary output suggested that any book deviating, in either content or form or both, from the established norm of "high art" was "cheap", and anyone interested in popular culture was uneducated and unsophisticated, and most probably originated in a lower socio-economic division of the contextual society. Mainstream is generally the common current of Thought of the Majority. The universities and the other institutions of higher learning also looked down on artists producing "popular art" and categorically refused to critically assess it. A university is an institution of Higher education and Research, which grants Academic degrees in a variety of subjects

This often did not correlate with the immense popularity of popular art on both sides of the Atlantic, sometimes due to sensationalism. Sensationalism is a manner of being extremely Controversial, loud or attention grabbing For example, the British had been fascinated by Edgar Wallace's (1875–1932) crime novels ever since the author set up a competition offering a reward to any reader who could figure out and describe just how the murder in his first book, The Four Just Men (1906), was committed. Richard Horatio Edgar Wallace ( April 1, 1875 &ndash February 10, 1932) was a prolific British Crime writer, Journalist The Four Just Men was a 1959 Sapphire Films production for ITC Entertainment.

A re-assessment of critical ideals

In the long run, the vast output of popular fiction could no longer be ignored, and literary critics — gradually, carefully and tentatively — started questioning and assessing the complete notion of the perceived gap between "high art" (or "serious literature") and "popular art" (in America often referred to as "pulp fiction", often verging on "smut and filth"). One of the first scholars to do so was American critic Leslie Fiedler. Leslie Aaron Fiedler ( March 8, 1917 &ndash January 29, 2003) was an American literary critic known for his interest in Mythography In his book Cross the Border — Close the Gap (1972), he advocates a thorough re-assessment of science fiction, the western, pornographic literature and all the other subgenres that previously had not been considered as "high art", and their inclusion in the literary canon:

The notion of one art for the 'cultural,' i. Pornography or porn is the explicit depiction of Sexual subject matter with the sole intention of sexually exciting the viewer This article is not about Literary canons of influential works of fiction but about the concept of a canon which defines the world of a particular fictional series e. , the favored few in any given society and of another subart for the 'uncultured,' i. e. , an excluded majority as deficient in Gutenberg skills as they are untutored in 'taste,' in fact represents the last survival in mass industrial societies (capitalist, socialist, communist — it makes no difference in this regard) of an invidious distinction proper only to a class-structured community. Precisely because it carries on, as it has carried on ever since the middle of the eighteenth century, a war against that anachronistic survival, Pop Art is, whatever its overt politics, subversive: a threat to all hierarchies insofar as it is hostile to order and ordering in its own realm. An anachronism (from the Greek "ana" " ανά " "against anti-" and "chronos" " χρόνος " Pop Art is a visual Art movement that emerged in the mid 1950s in Britain and in parallel in the late 1950s in the United States. What the final intrusion of Pop into the citadels of High Art provides, therefore, for the critic is the exhilarating new possibility of making judgments about the 'goodness' and 'badness' of art quite separated from distinctions between 'high' and 'low' with their concealed class bias.

In other words, it was now up to the literary critics to devise criteria with which they would then be able to assess any new literature along the lines of "good" or "bad" rather than "high" versus "popular".

Accordingly,

But, according to Fiedler, it was also up to the critics to reassess already existing literature. In the case of U. S. crime fiction, writers that so far had been regarded as the authors of nothing but "pulp fiction" — Raymond Chandler, Dashiell Hammett, James M. Cain, and others — were gradually seen in a new light. Raymond Thornton Chandler ( July 23, 1888 &ndash March 26, 1959) was an American Author of crime stories and novels Samuel Dashiell Hammett ( May 27, 1894 — January 10, 1961) was an American Author of Hardboiled detective James Mallahan Cain ( July 1, 1892 &ndash October 27, 1977) was an American Journalist Today, Chandler's creation, private eye Philip Marlowe — who appears, for example, in his novels The Big Sleep (1939) and Farewell, My Lovely (1940) — has achieved cult status and has also been made the topic of literary seminars at universities round the world, whereas on first publication Chandler's novels were seen as little more than cheap entertainment for the uneducated masses. Philip Marlowe is a fictional character created by Raymond Chandler in a series of novels including The Big Sleep and The Long Goodbye The Big Sleep is a 1939 novel by Raymond Chandler, with two film versions one filmed in 1945, and another filmed in 1978. Farewell My Lovely is a 1940 novel by Raymond Chandler, the second novel he wrote featuring Los Angeles private eye Philip

Nonetheless, "murder stories" such as Dostoyevsky's Crime and Punishment or Shakespeare's Macbeth are not dependent on their honorary membership in this genre for their acclaim. Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky (Фёдор Миха́йлович Достое́вский, sometimes transliterated Dostoyevsky, Dostoievsky, Crime and Punishment (Преступление и наказание is a Novel by Russian author Fyodor Dostoevsky that William Shakespeare ( baptised Macbeth is among the best-known of William Shakespeare 's plays, and is his shortest tragedy, believed to have been written some time between

Pseudonymous authors

As far as the history of crime fiction is concerned, it is an astonishing fact that many authors have been reluctant to this very day to publish their crime novels under their real names — as if they were ashamed of doing something "improper". In the late 1930s and 40s, British County Court judge Arthur Alexander Gordon Clark (1900–1958) published a number of detective novels under the alias Cyril Hare in which he made use of his profoundly extensive knowledge of the English legal system, for instance in Tragedy at Law (1942). Cyril Hare, the Pseudonym of Alfred Alexander Gordon Clark ( September 4, 1900, Mickleham Surrey – August 25, 1958 Scottish journalist Leopold Horace Ognall (1908-1979) authored over ninety novels as Hartley Howard and Harry Carmichael. Hartley Howard (1908-1979 was the Pen name of Leopold Horace Ognall, a British Crime novelist Ognall was born in Glasgow and worked as When he was still young and unknown, award-winning British novelist Julian Barnes (born 1946) published some crime novels under the alias Dan Kavanagh. Julian Patrick Barnes (born January 19, 1946 in Leicester, England) is a contemporary English Writer. Other authors take delight in cherishing their alter egos: Ruth Rendell (born 1930) writes one sort of crime novels as Ruth Rendell and another type as Barbara Vine; John Dickson Carr also used the pseudonym Carter Dickson. An alter ego ( Latin, "the other I" is a second self, a second Personality or Persona within a Person Ruth Barbara Rendell Baroness Rendell of Babergh, CBE, (born 17 February 1930) who also writes under the pseudonym Barbara Vine, is an Ruth Barbara Rendell Baroness Rendell of Babergh, CBE, (born 17 February 1930) who also writes under the pseudonym Barbara Vine, is an John Dickson Carr ( November 30, 1906 &ndash February 27, 1977) was an American Author of Detective stories John Dickson Carr ( November 30, 1906 &ndash February 27, 1977) was an American Author of Detective stories The author Evan Hunter (which itself was a pseudonym) wrote his crime fiction under the name of Ed McBain.

Film and literature: The case of crime fiction

Crime fiction and the motion picture industry have complemented each other well over the years. Both cater to the need of the average audience to escape into an idealist world, where the good reaps the rewards, and the bad incur their punishment. Adaptations of crime fiction into films have been hugely successful. An adaptation is a characteristic of an Organism that has been favored by Natural selection and

For a detailed explication of the history of the relationship between crime fiction and the film industry, see the main article crime film. A crime film, in the most general sense is a Film that involves various aspects Crime and the Criminal justice system

Availability of crime novels

Quality and availability

As with any other entity, quality of a crime fiction book is not in any meaningful proportion to its availability. Some of the crime novels generally regarded as the finest, including those which are regularly chosen by experts as belonging to the best 100 crime novels ever written (see bibliography), have been out of print ever since their first publication, which often dates back to the 1920s or 30s. Out of print refers to an item typically a book (see Out of print books) but can include any print or visual media or Sound recording, that is no longer being published The 1930s were described as an abrupt shift to more radical and conservative lifestyles as countries were struggling to find a solution to the Great Depression. The bulk of books that can be found today on the shelves labelled "Crime" consists of recent first publications usually no older than a few years.

Classics and bestsellers

Furthermore, only a select few authors have achieved the status of "classics" for their published works. A classic is any text which can be received and accepted universally, because they transcend context. A popular, well known example is Agatha Christie, whose texts, originally published between 1920 and her death in 1976, are available in UK and US editions in all English speaking nations. Agatha Mary Clarissa Lady Mallowan, DBE (née Miller; 15 September 1890 &ndash 12 January 1976 commonly known as Agatha Christie, was an English

Other less successful, contemporary authors who are still writing have seen reprints of their earlier works, due to current overwhelming popularity of Crime Fiction texts among audiences (One only has to look at the amount of crime related television series to observe the astonishing popularity). One example, Val McDermid, whose first book appeared as far back as 1987; another is Florida-based author Carl Hiaasen, who has been publishing books since 1981, all of which are readily available. Val McDermid (born June 4, 1955) is a Scottish Crime writer. Biography McDermid comes from Kirkcaldy, Fife Florida ( is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States, bordering Alabama to the northwest and Georgia to the Carl Hiaasen (ˈhaɪəsɛn (born March 12, 1953) is an American Journalist and Novelist.

Forgotten classics

On the other hand, English crime writer Edgar Wallace, who was immensely popular with the English readership during the early decades of the 20th century (and who achieved fame in German-speaking countries due to the many B movies made in the 1950s, 60s, and 70s which were based on his novels), had almost been forgotten in his home country until House of Stratus eventually started republishing many of his 170 books around the turn of the millennium. Richard Horatio Edgar Wallace ( April 1, 1875 &ndash February 10, 1932) was a prolific British Crime writer, Journalist A B movie is a motion picture made on a low or modest budget Originally the term was used for films intended for distribution as the less-publicized second half of a Double The 1960s decade refers to the years from the beginning of 1960 to the end of 1969 This article is about the Decade 1970-1979 For the Year 1970 see 1970. Similarly, the books by the equally successful American author Erle Stanley Gardner (1889–1970), creator of the lawyer Perry Mason, which have frequently been adapted for film, radio, and TV, were only recently republished in the United Kingdom — books such as The Case of the Stuttering Bishop (1937), The Case of the Green-Eyed Sister (1953), etc. Erle Stanley Gardner ( July 17, 1889 Malden Massachusetts – March 11, 1970 Temecula California Perry Mason is a fictional character a defense Attorney who originally was the main character in numerous pieces of Detective fiction authored by

Even television adaptations are not enough to save some authors. Gladys Mitchell rivalled Agatha Christie for UK sales in the 1930s and 1940s but only one of her 66 novels remains in print despite a BBC television series of the Mrs. Gladys Mitchell ( April 19, 1901 &ndash July 27, 1983) was an English Author best known for her creation of Mrs Bradley Mysteries in 1999.

Revival of past classics

From time to time publishing houses decide, for commercial purposes, to revive long-forgotten authors and reprint one or two of their more commercially successful novels. Apart from Penguin Books, who for this purpose have resorted to their old green cover and dug out some of their vintage authors, Pan started a series in 1999 entitled "Pan Classic Crime", which includes a handful of novels by Eric Ambler, but also American Hillary Waugh's Last Seen Wearing .... Penguin Books is a British Publisher founded in 1935 by Allen Lane. Eric Clifford Ambler OBE ( 28 June 1909 - 22 October 1998) was an influential English writer of Spy novels who introduced Hillary Baldwin Waugh, a pioneering American mystery novelist was born in 1920 in New Haven, Connecticut. Last Seen Wearing. ( 1952) is a US detective novel by Hillary Waugh frequently referred to as the Police procedural In 2000, Edinburgh-based Canongate Books started a series called "Canongate Crime Classics", in which they published John Franklin Bardin's The Deadly Percheron (1946) — both a whodunnit and a roman noir about amnesia and insanity — and other novels. Edinburgh ( ˈɛdɪnb(ərə Dùn Èideann) is the Capital of Scotland and is its second largest city after Glasgow. Canongate Books (often simply Canongate) is a Scottish independent Publishing firm based in Edinburgh; it is named for the Canongate John Franklin Bardin ( November 30, 1916 – July 9, 1981) was an American Crime writer, best known for three novels he A whodunit or whodunnit (for "Who done it?" is a complex plot-driven variety of the detective story in which the puzzle is the main feature of interest Amnesia (from Greek) is a condition in which Memory is disturbed Traditionally insanity or madness is the behaviour whereby a person flouts societal norms and may become a danger to himself and others For some strange reason, however, books brought out by smaller publishers like Canongate Books are usually not stocked by the larger bookshops and overseas booksellers.

Sometimes older crime novels are revived by screenwriters and directors rather than publishing houses. In many such cases, publishers then follow suit and release a so-called "film tie-in" edition showing a still from the movie on the front cover and the film credits on the back cover of the book — yet another marketing strategy aimed at those cinemagoers who may want to do both: first read the book and then watch the film (or vice versa). Recent examples include Patricia Highsmith's The Talented Mr. Ripley (originally published in 1955), Ira Levin's Sliver (1991), with the cover photograph depicting a steamy sex scene between Sharon Stone and William Baldwin straight from the 1993 movie, and, again, Bret Easton Ellis's American Psycho (1991). Patricia Highsmith ( January 19, 1921 - February 4, 1995) was an American Novelist known for her Psychological thrillers The Talented Mr Ripley is a Novel by Patricia Highsmith, published in 1955. Ira Levin ( August 27 1929 &ndash November 12 2007) was an American Novelist, Playwright, and Songwriter Sliver ( 1991) is a Novel by US Author Ira Levin about the mysterious occurrences in a privately owned New York Sharon Vonne Stone (born March 10, 1958) is an American Golden Globe - and Emmy -winning Actress, producer, and former William "Billy" Baldwin (born February 21, 1963) is an American Actor, known for his starring roles in such films as Bret Easton Ellis (born March 7, 1964 in Los Angeles California) is an American author. American Psycho is a Thriller novel by Bret Easton Ellis published in 1991 Bloomsbury Publishing PLC on the other hand have launched what they call "Bloomsbury Film Classics" — a series of original novels on which feature films were based. Bloomsbury Publishing Plc is an independent London -based publishing house known for literary Novels It was named Publisher of the Year in 1999 and This series includes, for example, Ethel Lina White's novel The Wheel Spins (1936), which Alfred Hitchcock — before he went to Hollywood — turned into a much-loved movie entitled The Lady Vanishes (1938), and Ira Levin's (born 1929) science fiction thriller The Boys from Brazil (1976), which was filmed in 1978. Ethel Lina White (1876-1944 was an English Crime writer, best known for her novel The Wheel Spins (1936 on which the Alfred Hitchcock film Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock, KBE (13 The Lady Vanishes ( 1938) is a Film directed by Alfred Hitchcock. Ira Levin ( August 27 1929 &ndash November 12 2007) was an American Novelist, Playwright, and Songwriter The Boys from Brazil ( 1976) is a thriller Novel by Ira Levin. The Boys from Brazil is a 1978 Academy Award-nominated thriller made by Lew Grade 's ITC Entertainment and distributed by

Older novels can often be retrieved from the ever-growing Project Gutenberg database. Project Gutenberg, abbreviated as PG, is a volunteer effort to Digitize, archive and distribute Cultural works

See also

References

External links

((Category;Thrillers)

© 2009 citizendia.org; parts available under the terms of GNU Free Documentation License, from http://en.wikipedia.org