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: # **CRITICAL PRAISE FOR**
  
  
  **_The Last Policeman_  
  by Ben H. Winters  
  An Edgar Award Finalist**
  
  
  
  
  
  “[The] plotting is sure-footed and surprising.… Ben H. Winters reveals himself
  as a novelist with an eye for the well-drawn detail.”
  
  
  — _Slate_
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  “Ben H. Winters makes noir mystery even darker: _The Last Policeman_ sets a
  despondent detective on a suspicious suicide case—while an asteroid hurtles
  toward earth.”
  
  
  — _Wired_
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  “I love this book. I stayed up until seven in the morning reading because I
  could not stop. Full of compelling twists, likable characters, and a sad
  beauty, _The Last Policeman_ is a gem. It’s the first in a trilogy, and I am
  already excited for book two.”
  
  
  —Audrey Curtis, _San Francisco Book Review_
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  “I’m eager to read the other books, and expect that they’ll keep me as
  enthralled as the first one did.”
  
  
  —Mark Frauenfelder, _Boing Boing_
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  “I haven’t had to defend my love for science fiction in quite a while, but
  when I do, I point to