title: Critical Survey of Mystery and Detective Fiction: Authors (4 Volume Set)
author: Frank N. Magill
description: Magill's name has long been associated with critical surveys (e.g., in poetry, drama, and literary theory) and with the Masterplots series. This survey meets the standard of scholarly, in-depth analysis set by its predecessors. In a genre that continues to explode in popularity, this survey is a cornerstone of research and background material. It encompasses 280 authors who are synonymous with the genre, have made significant contributions to it, or have contributed to the genre though they are associated with another. Each entry is divided into several elements: basic personal information; principal series; description of main characters in each series; explanation of author's contribution to the genre; a 2500-word analysis of the principal works and characters; and a bibliography of mystery and of nonmystery works. The last volume contains a glossary of detective/mystery terms, indexes of subgenre and series characters, and an author/title/term index. Authors are listed by their mystery-genre pseudonym (e.g., Gore Vidal is listed as Edgar Box), but the index crossreferences pseudonyms with the author's better-known names. The information here is valuable, concise, and easy to find.<br /><i>- Martin J. Hudacs, Towanda H.S., Pa.</i><br />Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.
zlib_text: 
  
  
  ## About the Author
  
  
  ALEX PAVESI lives in London, where he writes full time. He previously worked
  as a software engineer and before that studied mathematics to PhD level,
  during which time he worked as a part-time bookseller. Eight Detectives is his
  first novel.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ## Acknowledgements
  
  
  Thanks to James Wills, my agent, and my editors Joel Richardson and James
  Melia, without whom the book wouldn’t be what it is.
  
  
  Thanks are due also to Rachel Richardson, Ciara McEllin, Maggie Pavesi, Maxine
  Hitchcock, Kit Shepherd, Grace Long, Jen Breslin, Jess Hart, Ellie Hughes,
  Nick Lowndes, Clare Parker, Vicky Photiou, Tom Robson, Clare Bogen, Amy
  Einhorn, Kerry Cullen, Kenn Russell, Patricia Eisemann, Caitlin O’Shaughnessy,
  Maggie Richards, Christopher Sergio and Georgina Hulland Brown.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ![Penguin Books](prh_core_assets/images/logo_large.png)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ![Penguin walking logo](prh_core_assets/images/penguin_logo.png)
  
  
  ## 1\. Spain, 1930
  
  
  The two suspects sat on mismatched furn