Whodunit?: A Who's Who in Crime & Mystery Writing [Paperback]

Rosemary Herbert (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0195157613 | ISBN-13: 978-0195157611 | Publication Date: May 8, 2003

Who populates the pages of crime and mystery writing? Who are the characters we willingly follow into the mystery genre's uneasy imaginative territory? And who created those characters in the first place? What life experience and expertise informs their work? What are the sources of their themes, regional accents, and even the axes that some grind? Why do some wish to give us a good laugh, while others seem hell-bent on making us shudder?

Whodunit? answers these questions and more. Here mystery expert Rosemary Herbert brings together enlightening and entertaining information on hundreds of classic and contemporary characters and authors. Some--such as P.D. James, Ian Rankin, Sherlock Holmes, and Kinsey Millhone--appear in individual entries. Still more keep company in articles about characters we admire, such as the Clerical Sleuth, and in pieces about those we love to hate, including the Femme Fatale and Con Artist. There is even an article on a figure that haunts so many great works of mystery--The Corpse.

Drawing on the Edgar Award-nominated volume The Oxford Companion to Crime & Mystery Writing, Herbert adds 101 new entries on the hottest new names in works ranging from puzzling whodunits to chilling crime novels.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

The Oxford Companion to Crime and Mystery Writing, edited by Rosemary Herbert, appeared in 1999. Now Herbert has drawn on that earlier volume and also updated it by adding 101 new entries.

Whereas The Oxford Companion to Crime and Mystery Writing had 666 entries covering not only writers and characters but also settings, themes, subgenres, and terminology, this whittled-down version has 380 entries for writers, characters, and character types, such as Coroner, Genteel woman sleuth, and Gentleman thief. It reprints most of the entries from the parent volume that can be considered even remotely to answer the question "who"--even Animals and Corpse. Many of the new entries are for American writers, among them Nevada Barr, Edna Buchanan, James Lee Burke, Patricia Cornwell, Loren Estleman, Elizabeth George, and Scott Turow. There is also a new entry for Culinary sleuths. Among the "who" entries that have not been carried over are several related to adventure and espionage (for example, Bond, James; Fleming, Ian; Gentleman adventurer). Also gone are the references attached to some of the entries in the older volume. With a few exceptions, such as a slight shortening of Dalgiesh, Adam and expansion of Morse, Chief Inspector Endeavor, existing entries have not been revised.

Perhaps a second edition of The Oxford Companion to Crime and Mystery Writing will incorporate both volumes. In the meantime, libraries that already own the more comprehensive work will question whether this is a necessary purchase. Although numerous authors have been added, information on most of them is not hard to find in other reference sources. For other libraries, Whodunit? is worth considering as a way to update and refresh the mystery reference shelves. RBB
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

"Full of the answers to all mystery lovers' questions. Every book shelf needs one."--Tony Hillerman

Praise for The Oxford Companion to Crime and Mystery Writing

"A treasure trove.... One that lovers of crime and mystery writing will want on their shelves."--P.D. James

"A gold mine of great essays about everything in our field by the people who know their specialty best."--Tony Hillerman

"A perfect gift for mystery fans."--The Wall Street Journal

"Idiosyncratic, informative, and charming, and the beauty of it is that the book will appeal to novices and experts alike.... This is the book to buy."--The Boston Globe

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA (May 8, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0195157613
• ISBN-13: 978-0195157611
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 6.1 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,523,602 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I'm excited to have two new books published in 2010: A New Omnibus of Crime, which I co-edited with the late Tony Hillerman, and my first mystery novel, Front Page Teaser, which follows the adventures of gutsy Boston tabloid reporter Liz Higgins. While A New Omnibus of Crime is an anthology that celebrates the best of the last 75 years in mystery writing, Front Page Teaser is a love song to the news-reporting life, a tribute to librarians, and a celebration of Boston's lively Irish pub/Celtic music scene. It also takes a look at how the way we write and headline the news colors the public's understanding of it. In our edgy contemporary world, it is also shows how people who pre-judge one another often get into deep trouble. May I add, that there is plenty of humor in Front Page Teaser, along with these more thought-provoking themes. Much action is set in scenes that will be familiar to Bostonians and residents of some other Massachusetts cities and towns -- and some action is set during Christmastime.

As the Edgar Award-nominated editor in chief of The Oxford Companion to Crime & Mystery Writing, as a book reviewer, and as the editor of a number of mystery anthologies, it is quite a thrill, with Front Page Teaser, to add "mystery writer" to my credentials as "mystery editor," "mystery scholar," and "mystery critic."

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Excessive exclusions of important potential entries renders this reference of little value., February 16, 2007

By 

Reader - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Whodunit?: A Who's Who in Crime & Mystery Writing (Paperback)

Obviously in a field as large as mystery writing some limits had to be established to produce this relatively small book, somewhat longer than 200 pages. However, in this case the limits are so restrictive as to make this book of relatively little value to the mystery enthusiast.

The book is organized alphabetically, with a section for each letter of the alphabet and an index. However, there is no section for X, and the sections for Y and Z are only a half-page each. The entries present are well written, but there are simply too few entries. For example, although the book's title is "Whodunit?: A Who's Who in Crime and Mystery Writing" by my count there are only three authors listed under A and seven under T.

Because of the excessive pruning of significant and even important potential entries, this is not a book than can be recommend as a reference.

0 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A NEW AND TRIM COMPENDIUM OF EVERY ASPECT OF THE MYSTERY GENRE, May 11, 2007

By 

BARBARA GERSHENABUM "BOOK MAVEN" (CONNECTICUT United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Whodunit?: A Who's Who in Crime & Mystery Writing (Paperback)

Reviewed by Barbara Lipkien Gershenbaum (see all my other reviews at BOOKREPORTER.COM

Our culture is awash "Mystery Related" ephemera. Bookstores, public libraries, school and college libraries offer all kinds of "how to write a mystery" to scholarly and not so scholarly books, movies, plays, short stories, anthologies, magazines and true crime/true crime novels.. For the novice just coming to the genre this can be an overwhelming, Questions like: Who do I read? What should I read? What are differences between books by Agatha Christie and Dorothy Sayers or more contemporary writers like Carol Goodman and Dennis Lehane. Just reading reviews is not always the most informative way to choose. In an amazingly large novel form which includes such a diverse selection ranging from: the cozy, procedurals, cop/buddy series, lay detective's adventures, locked room, spy thrillers, romance laced "mystery," historicals, sci-fi and other forms of "mystery stories" are different and usually each attracts its own fans. And of course, experimenting is the best guide to choosing ones' niche.

Nobody, scholar or otherwise can compile a "What Mystery Writers To Read ..." compendium and include every writer who has penned a genre story, regardless of form.
Nevertheless many such books are available and usually helpful. The "Oxford Companion to Crime and Mystery Writing" debuted in 1999 is still the most formidable and approachable text covering mystery writers, plots, characters, especially those who appear in a series and much more arcane tidbits. Thus at this hearty staple of the genre is a major source for Rosemary Herbert's encyclopedic "Whodunit: A Who's Who in Crime and Mystery Writing." As is the way of the world her book is not an imprint of the older contribution made by the "Oxford...." She has courageously taken on the task of bringing a new tome that is fresh, literate and timely updated.

Over the past eight years the market has been swamped with every kind of "straight" mysteries along with new approaches to writing them. New authors have emerged who have become stars and whose work is outstanding. Between the easy availability of books through libraries, chain bookstores, genre specific bookstores and independent book sellers mingled with the world of used material readers will gain enormous insight and information from Ms. Herbert's magnum opus: "Whodunit A Who's Who in Crime and Mystery Writing. Happy sleuthing!
Reviewed by Barbara Lipkien Gershenbaum

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