What Is Crime Fiction?

Crime fiction consists of different subgenres such as Capers, Classic Whodunit, Cozies, Detective Fiction, Hard-Boiled, Police Procedurals, Private Eye, Suspense, Legal Thrillers, Medical Thrillers, and other subgenres.

Police, detectives, amateur detectives, private investigators, and other types of investigators investigate crimes that appear in these stories. These crimes can contain humorous events such as in cozies and capers. They also contain tough private investigators such as those in pulp and hard-boiled fiction.

Classic Mysteries:

Classic Mysteries started in the 19^th Century with Edgar Allan Poe, and others. Here is a website that I have found valuable in studying Classic Mysteries: A Guide to Classic Mystery and Detection.

http://members.aol.com/MG423/classics.htm.

It has continued throughout the centuries. Most of the Classic Mysteries do not contain the kind of language that is found in hard-boiled and pulp fiction books.

One anthology that I highly recommend is Murderous Schemes edited by Donald E. Westlake. It contains several short stories by authors such as Edward D. Hoch, G. K. Chesterton, Jacques Futrelle, John F. Suter, Agatha Christie, Ellery Queen, and many other authors.

This book is divided into sections such as The Locked Room, Only One Among You, The Caper, The Armchair Detective, and other sections. This helps to see what type of story you might be reading. There is also an introduction in each section that explains what that type of story contains. If you are interested in reading Classic Mysteries, you will enjoy reading this collection of short stories.

Another excellent book is The Oxford Book of American Detective Stories edited by Tony Hillerman and Rosemary Herbert. This collection of short stories has Edgar Allan Poe, Bret Harte, Jacques Futrelle, Anna Katharine Green, Erle Stanley Gardner, Raymond Chandler, Mary Roberts Rinehart, and many other classic mystery writers. If you enjoy Classic Mysteries, you will like reading the short stories in this anthology.

Janet Blaylock