This highly accessible, lively and informative study gives a clear and comprehensive overview of recent trends in American crime fiction. Building on a discussion of the immediate predecessors, Bertens and D'haen focus on the work of popular and award-winning authors of the last fifteen years. Particular attention is given to writers who have reworked established conventions and explored new directions, especially women and those from ethnic minorities.

Autorentext

HANS BERTENS is Professor of Comparative Literature at Utrecht University.

THEO D'HAEN is Professor of English and American Literature at Leiden University, The Netherlands. He has published widely in the field of modern literature, especially on postmodern and postcolonialism.

Inhalt

List of Writers and Detectives Preface Introduction The Old Guard in the Mid-nineties: Muller, Grafton, and Paretsky The Old Guard Continued: Kaminsky, Parker, and Black The Personal and the Regional: New Forms of Authenticity in Female Crime Writing Three Pictures from the Institution: Forrest, Barr, and Hightower LAPD: Ellroy's and Connelly's Police Procedurals Private Investigation in the 1990s The 'English Tradition' in Contemporary American Crime Fiction Historical Mysteries In Waco's Wake: Mary Willis Walker and Patricia Cornwell 'Other' Detectives: The Emergence of Ethnic Crime Writing Black Female Crime Writing The Persistence of Gender: The PIs of S.J. Rozan Index