Winner of the Agatha Award for Best Mystery Nonfiction, By a Woman's Hand was "a tour de force of a reference source on contemporary women mystery writers" (Nancy Pickard). Now Jean Swanson and Dean James have written a mystery guide with even broader appeal-by reflecting current trends in film, television, and mainstream fiction. Killer Books is the perfect guide for discovering favorite mystery writers based upon readers' personal preferences. For instance: If you liked the movies The Silence of the Lambs or The Usual Suspects, or TV's "The X-Files" or "Murder, She Wrote," this cross-referenced sourcebook will guide you to the types of writers and books you'd most enjoy. Brilliantly organized and indexed, with complete descriptions, author profiles and awards, Killer Books is the mystery guide that lets you navigate the maze of mystery-and find the books that you'll like best. Includes special sections on: • cops • private eyes • legal thrillers • psychological suspense • historical mysteries • romantic suspense • capers and criminals • amateur sleuths • reporters, writers, filmmakers • sci -fi/horror mysteries • and more.
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Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com Review
More like a chatty, knowledgeable, and opinionated friend than a fact-packed encyclopedia, Killer Books is the perfect place to start a newcomer to the genre on the road to addiction. If they like history, they can turn to a section called "Historical Mysteries" and find recommendations for dozens of authors--from Bruce Alexander's books about Sir John Fielding to Robert Van Gulik's Judge Dee series--as well as side trips to films (The Name of the Rose) and television shows (Sherlock Holmes Mysteries). Other sections on everything from "Suspense/Psychological" to "Amateur Sleuths" contain hundreds of similar links.
From School Library Journal
Grade 9 Up?The authors of By a Woman's Hand: A Guide to Mystery Fiction (Berkley, 1996) have produced another guide to mysteries that is sure to send teens to libraries and bookstores with a long list of books they just have to read. Each chapter covers a different subgenre: private eyes, historical mysteries, etc., and includes a wide variety of authors with a fairly detailed description of their writing style, series, and character(s). For each subgenre, there are overviews, books for further reading, and a list of films and television shows. Scattered throughout are asides, e.g., mysteries with musical themes or a listing of authors of detectives who like to fish. Titles are indexed by character, geographic location, and author. Libraries that own Willetta L. Heising's Detecting Women (1994), Detecting Women 2 (1996), and Detecting Men (1997, all Purple Moon) will find that Killer Books complements but does not replace those titles. A fun-to-read introduction to mysteries, this can be enjoyed on its own or used as a readers' advisory tool.?Peggy Bercher, Fairfax County Public Library, VA
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Must have for mystery readers looking for good authors,
By A Customer
This review is from: Killer Books (Paperback)
If you are like me you are constantly looking for mystery writers that produce those "too good to put down books". Tired of grabbing books off the library shelves onyl to find that they don't keep your interest at all or they aren't very good? This book enumerates lots of authors. It includes the type of books they write (Private Eyes, Legal mysteries, etc.) as well as awards they've won. They also sometimes list their best books. I'm going to use this book to make my mystery choices from now on!
8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great reference and interesting as well,
By A Customer
This review is from: Killer Books (Paperback)
Jean Swanson and Dean James have created a reference book that needs to be placed in a handy location for the true mystery aficionado. Each chapter is divided into categories: suspense/psychological, historical mysteries, legal thrillers, etc. At the beginning of each chapter is a brief essay about the chapter. This includes TV shows that are representative of each sub-genre. Authors, by sub-genre, are also listed in alphabetical order, with an overview of each writer and his/her special series described in comprehensive detail. As the editors gracefully point out, this the reference book is no means totally inclusive or intended to be so. However, the variety, description, and detail allow readers to choose the type of books, by a wide selection of authors that they would likke to try next. Like the editors who seem to have enjoyed this labor of love, this reviewer found the work to be scholarly but interesting, far from a dry non-fiction read. Harriet Klausner
5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Killing Time,
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Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Killer Books (Paperback)
If you are serious about wanting this information, save your money and buy Detecting Women and/or Detecting Men. (The paperback edition of Detecting Women doesn't cost much more.) Killer Books is a good effort, but did not provide much information and was not current. If it had not been for the postage, I would have returned it.
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