Overview

Now revised and expanded for its first paperback publication, The Life of Crime was the winner of four major prizes for the best critical/biographical book related to crime fiction: the Edgar, Anthony, Macavity and H.R.F. Keating Awards; and was shortlisted for both the Agatha and Gold Dagger Awards In this groundbreaking history of crime fiction, acclaimed expert Martin Edwards traces the evolution of the genre from the eighteenth century to the present, offering a brand-new perspective on the world's most popular form of storytelling. The Life of Crime is the result of a lifetime of reading and enjoying all types of mystery fiction from around the world. Martin Edwards has drawn on his experience as an award-winning novelist to capture the breadth and complexity of crime writing, telling the story of the genre's development and evolution in a way that will fascinate and entertain anyone who delights in a good mystery. With crime fiction being read more widely than ever, The Life of Crime reveals the writers’ secrets and the ups and downs of their literary lives with insight, compassion and wit. This definitive distillation of more than two centuries of extraordinary books and authors into one coherent history is an extraordinary feat and makes compelling reading. 'Martin Edwards is the closest thing there has been to a philosopher of crime writing' THE TIMES

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9780008192440

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Reviews

‘Magisterial but wickedly entertaining … reliably readable and frequently amusing. It also inspires awe: Edwards combines wide reading with a good memory, meticulous control over his unruly material, critical acumen and sheer bloody persistence.’ ANDREW TAYLOR, THE SPECTATOR ‘As entertaining and illuminating a history of crime and thriller fiction as I’ve ever read.’ IAN RANKIN ‘Impressively scholarly and joyfully anecdotal… it’s hard to imagine this book being superseded for many years to come.’ MORNING STAR ‘Vastly entertaining … [Edwards] plots the development of the genre and the bizarre lives of writers … You’ll find all your favourites here, from Edgar Allan Poe to PD James … But be warned – you’ll end up with a reading list as long as a giant’s arm.’ DENIS MANN, DAILY EXPRESS ‘A magisterial history of mysteries and their creators.’ THE TIMES ‘There is plenty here for mystery readers, whether well-versed in the genre’s history or not —and mystery writers will welcome this book as a resource.’ THE NEW YORK TIMES ‘A magisterial work… THE LIFE OF CRIME does more than just inform, entertain and provoke, it also sends new readers back to old books.’ THE WASHINGTON POST REVIEWS FOR MARTIN EDWARDS: ‘Few, if any, books about crime fiction have provided so much information and insight so enthusiastically and, for the reader, so enjoyably’ THE TIMES ‘Illuminating and entertaining – provides a new way of looking at old favourites. I admire the way that Martin Edwards weaves the sometimes violent, sometimes unlawful, and always gripping true stories of these writers with the equally wild tales they tell in their books.’ LEN DEIGHTON, author of The Ipcress File ‘Forensically sharp and exhaustively informed… Crime fiction is driven by death. In this superbly compendious and entertaining book, Edwards ensures that dozens of authorial corpses are gloriously reborn.’ MARK LAWSON, Guardian

Author Information

Martin Edwards is an award-winning crime novelist whose Lake District Mysteries have been optioned by ITV. Elected to the Detection Club in 2008, he became the first Archivist of the Club, and is also Archivist of the Crime Writers’ Association. In addition to 17 crime novels, he has published eight non-fiction books and is a noted commentator on the genre. Renowned as the leading expert on the history of Golden Age detective fiction, he won the Crimefest Mastermind Quiz three times, and possesses one of Britain’s finest collections of Golden Age novels, including unique inscribed books and manuscripts, notably the previously unknown handwritten study made by Dorothy L. Sayers of the case of Constance Kent and Inspector Whicher.

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