Locations and Hours
Services
About the Library
Support your Library
Contact Us
Downloadable
Audio Books
askMONTANA:
Reference 24/7
|
Talking About Detective Fiction
P. D. James
Mysteries- Detective Fiction- this book is an encyclopedia of the genre, and who could have done it better than P. D. James. Make no mistake, this small volume is meant exclusively for those readers who truly love a good mystery and a great detective.
They come in all shapes and sizes, and Baroness James, being one of them, compares and analyses their work to perfection.
This book is about the authors of the last two centuries - crime arrives in many guises. I found her comparing the authors and their methods of weaving the threads of suspicion, so the reader is caught in the web. The detective novel is aimed at intelligence, which is why so many fans love the cosy relief of figuring out the macabre murders in the company of characters that are by turns rascals, comedians,lecherous, bright, loving and secretive.
I can't begin to list the names of all the authors she discusses - their heroes, their specialties, their similarities and differences.
James runs the gambit from top to bottom; from Dickens to Arthur Conan Doyle, Agatha Christe to Dorothy Sayers and her Peter Whimsey and on to Peter Crispin. In todays current writers she compares Henning Mankell with Colin Dexter. So many of my favorites make cameo appearances - Jospehine Tey, Ruth Rendell and some I've almost forgotten until she mentions their best characters and I suddenly remember them all. Nagio Marsh and Kate Summersale, Sara Paretsky - so read, remember and discover!
She compares the Golden Ages of the British and American authors and social commentary in the years they were written.
She quotes from one of her own characters, Adam Dalgliesh, as he quotes a superior when he was a recruit; " All motives can be explained under the letter L: lust, lucre, loathing and love. They'll tell you the most dangerous is loathing but don't you believe it boy; the most dangerous is love".
Published:
This is a Borzoi Book
Alfred A. Knopf
a division of Random House, Inc.
New York
Copyright:
© 2009 by P. D. James
Reviewed:
02/15/10 - 295
Copyright:
© 2010 by Joan G. Smith
295 |
|
