Annal:2003 Edgar Allan Poe Award® for Best Critical/Biographical Work

The Mammoth Encyclopedia of Modern Crime Fiction

Mike Ashley

• 2003 Edgar-Critical/Biography winner
• 2003 Anthony-Critical nominee
• 2003 Macavity-Nonfiction nominee
• 2002 Agatha–Nonfiction nominee
• Score: 28.53

Never before has there been a comprehensive, inexpensive reference guide and overview to the genre of crime fiction like The Mammoth Encyclopedia of Crime Fiction. Veteran editor Mike Ashley’s historical introduction gives an overview of the crime genre, showing the background and development of crime fiction from the earliest days with Agatha Christie and Raymond Chandler through to the modern exponents of the craft such as Elmore Leonard and Ian Rankin. His A to Z covers five hundred entries on the major writers in the crime fiction field, from Edward S. Aarons to Mark Zubro, from the cult favorites to the best known, including Marjorie Allingham, Patricia Cornwell, Colin Dexter, Jim Thompson, and Minette Walters. The Mammoth Encyclopedia of Crime Fiction packs more information into its author entries than more expensive hardcover reference works. Each entry gives a brief biographical background with highlights for the cross-referenced key works, provides a full bibliography, and notes significant films/series adapted from their works. There are also added bonuses of a crime…

The Art of Noir: The Posters and Graphics from the Classic Era of Film Noir

Eddie Muller

• 2003 Edgar-Critical/Biography nominee
• 2003 Macavity-Nonfiction nominee
• Score: 12.53

The Art of Noir brilliantly showcases the most glorious noir posters from Hollywood and around the world. The films represented in the 338 arresting posters, lobby cards, and other promotional material range from such hard-boiled detective classics as The Maltese Falcon and The Big Sleep, to movies steeped in a brew of post-war cynicism, like The Killers, Night and the City, and Gun Crazy, to rare archive films such as The Devil Thumbs a Ride, Christmas Holiday, and They Made Me a Killer.

Noir posters underwent some fascinating changes in foreign markets, as the art was adapted by local, classically trained artists—in most cases completely re-conceived—in brilliant rendering that not only capture the spirit of the films, but also highlight the graphic trends evolving worldwide over this rapidly developing period. For this book, noir expert Eddie Muller has assembled a striking lineup of posters, including many rare offerings, with the knockout graphics of Hollywood rounded out by the expansive Italian due- and quatro-folios woven with dark strands…

The Classic Era of Crime Fiction

Peter Haining

• 2003 Edgar-Critical/Biography nominee
• Score: 6.53

This lavishly illustrated history features rare covers and classic illustrations, revealing how crucial artists were to establishing the identity and popularity of crime fiction. During its “classic era”-from 1850 to 1950-a variety of writers developed every important element of the genre: the police detective, the professional sleuth, the hard-boiled private eye, the secret agent, and of course, the criminal masterminds, crooks, and gangsters. From Sherlock Holmes and James Bond to Edgar Allan Poe and Joseph Conrad, this book explores an exciting cultural history. Crime enthusiasts can here see how famous (and sometimes infamous) works of crime fiction originally looked, and how unknown writers and illustrators became responsible for one of the cornerstones of popular culture.

Crime Films: Genres in American Cinema

Thomas Leitch, Barry Keith Grant

• 2003 Edgar-Critical/Biography nominee
• Score: 6.53

Focusing on ten films that span the range of the twentieth century, Thomas Leitch traces the transformation of three figures common to all crime films: the criminal, the victim and the avenger. He shows how the distinctions among them become blurred throughout the course of the century, reflecting and fostering a deep social ambivalence towards crime and criminals. The criminal, victim and avenger characters effectively map the shifting relations between subgenres (such as the erotic thriller and the police film) within the larger genre of crime film.