Finn, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Woman in the Window Resurrecting long-gone authors and restoring their finest work to the page, this gorgeous volume is indispensable for any mystery enthusiast."Ī. "A treasure chest, packed with gumshoes and dames, Colt-.45s and fedoras, townhouses and locked rooms. Van Dine and the hard-boiled, knuckle-busting sagas of Dashiell Hammett." The book surveys a decade that delivered both the objective, ‘aesthetic’ puzzles of S.S. "A handsome, hefty volume, filled out by period illustrations (in both color and black-and-white), with a foreword by the knowledgeable Mr. Ideally, glamorous productions such as Klinger’s lead modern readers to good books worth rediscovering." The whole package cries ‘terrific holiday gift,’ which it is. What’s more, Pegasus has produced as handsome a volume as you could ask for, starting with the gold-embossed lettering on its cinema-marquee style dust jacket. There’s a treasure house of illuminating and useful information here. This hefty volume opens with an essay by our preeminent authority on the mystery genre, Otto Penzler, followed by excellent brief introductions to each author and novel from Klinger. By the time Inspector Richard Queen and his bookish son Ellery arrive at Manhattan’s Roman theater to examine the dead body of crooked lawyer Monte Field, I was registering a distinct sense of well-being and contentment. Klinger is a member of the Baker Street Irregulars and lives in Malibu. He has just completed The New Annotated H. The first two volumes, The Complete Short Stories, won the Edgar for "Best Critical/Biographical" work. He is the editor of the three-volume set The New Annotated Sherlock Holmes.
Klinger is one of the world's foremost authorities on Sherlock Holmes. This gorgeously illustrated volume includes over 100 color and black and white images as well as an introduction by the eminent mystery publisher Otto Penzler. Klinger's detailed foreword gives an overview of the history of American crime writing from its beginnings in the early years of America to the twentieth century. Klinger, allowing the reader to experience the story to its fullest. Burnett, created the indelible character of Rico, the first gangster antihero.Įach of the five novels included is presented in its original published form, with extensive historical and cultural annotations and illustrations added by Edgar-winning editor Leslie S. Dashiell Hammett brings readers another mystery narrated by the Continental Op. The quintessential American detective Ellery Queen leapt onto the stage, to remain popular for fifty years.
Van Dine invented Philo Vance, an effete, rich amateur psychologist who flourished while America danced and the stock market rose. Earl Derr Biggers wrote about Charlie Chan, a Chinese-American detective, at a time when racism was rampant.
After years of dominance by British authors, new American writers-with fresh ideas about the detective and the mystery-appeared on the scene and rose to heights of popularity not witnessed since the success of the Sherlock Holmes tales in America.Ĭlassic American Crime Writing of the 1920s-including House Without a Key, The Benson Murder Case, The Roman Hat Mystery, Red Harvest, and Little Caesar-offers some of the very best of that decade’s writing. Klinger.Īmerican crime writing was reborn in the 1920s. Classic American Crime Fiction of the 1920s Leslie S KlingerĪ riveting collection of five of the most famous crime novels of the 1920s, presenting anew some of the most admired authors of the era-with insightful annotations by the Edgar-winning anthologist Leslie S.