Crime Fiction, 1749-1980: A Comprehensive Bibliography

New York: Garland Publishing, Inc, 1984. Presumed first edition/first printing thus. Hardcover. Good. No dust jacket. Ex-library. Usual Library Markings. COver has some wear and soiling. xix, 712 p. Author Index. Title Index. Settings Index. Series Index. Series Character Chronology. Garland Reference Library of the Humanities, volume 371. This volume is based on the author's earlier work covering the periond 1749-1975. Extending the coverage five years added some six thousand titles, or about ten per cent of the approximately 60, 000 title presented. Many corrections were made to the earlier work, including the addition of about 2, 600 titles for the years 1749-1975. A number of the corrections and additions were suggested by others who corresponded with the author. The Settings Index is a new feature, identifying 343 locations. Another new feature is the identification of reference works in which authors listed in this bibliography are cited. The other new feature is a chronology of durable series characters, identifying them by type, country of origin, nature of publication, and number of appearances. Crime fiction for the purpose of this bibliography was defined as fiction intended for adult readers in which crime or the threat of crime was a major plot element. Thus included are mystery, detective, suspense, thriller, gothic, police, and spy fiction. The intent was to cover all such fiction in the english language public in book form (both soft and hard covers), through the end of 1980. Magazine and dime novel fiction, juvenile and children's material, omnibus collections, and anthologies were not included. The main body of this bibliography comprises the author index, to which all other sections refer. Authors are listed alphabetically. Books are listed alphabetically under the byline under which they were first published. Cross-referencing is provided to the author's real name, where different from the crime fiction byline, and to any other speudonyms used for crime fiction. Headnotes identify in which of eight selected general reference works the author is significantly cited, or, if the author is not so cited, proves brief biographical information if such was obtained from other sources.