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100 Great Detectives or The Detective Directory
100 Great Detectives or The Detective Directory Author:Maxim Jakubowski (Editor) Here is a glorious celebration of fiction's greatest sleuths from Roderick Alleyn to Aurelio Zen, evoked in one hundred essays by some of the leading authors in the field: one hundred of them, to be precise. — Julian Symons selects Dashiell Hammett's Sam Spade as his favorite detective, Catherine Aird goes for Emma Lathen's J. Putnam ... more »Thatcher, H. R. F. Keating writes glowingly of the great Sherlock Holmes, while Edward D. Hoch selects Ellery Queen's Ellery Queen...All the most celebrated detectives of fiction from Victorian to ultra-modern are present. The reader will be delighted to renew acquaintance with these characters and be fascinated by the insights offered by writers who are themselves the creators of notable detectives. The mix is stunning.
But that is only part of the book's appeal. It also offers the chance to discover new books and characters, and if names like Brooks Banner, Inspector Barlach, 'Black Maria' and El Borbah are unfamiliar -- and that's only the B's! -- well, here is the place to begin a voyage of discovery: to detect new detectives. Full readling-lists are provided, as well as notes on the authors and a comprehensive index.
All of the pieces have been written especially for this book and are published here for the first time. Some are themselves stories, affectionately guying the books they discuss, while others take the form of letters, case-notes and interviews. In addition to the authors mentioned avove, there are contributions from Gwendoline Butler, Loren D. Estleman, Barry Fantoni, Joe Gores, Reginald Hill, Michael Z. Lewin, Peter Lovesey, MIchael Moorcook, Patricia Moyes -- and 87 more!« less