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 Reference
Resources
Want to find out what else an author wrote?
Can't remember if it was Brother Cadfael or Brother Oswin who first heard
a young girl's voice in the herbarium? Want to find out when Sam Spade
made his first appearance? Curious about the cultural and social milieu
that created an avid readership for detective fiction? Answers to these
questions and many more can be found in the library's many reference resources.
Note: Reference books
are located on the first floor of the library, next to the I-Commons.
Genre-related Resources
- Crime Fiction, 1749-1980: A Comprehensive
Bibliography, by Allen Hubin /
PR 830 D4 H8 1984 Ref This helpful volume provides an
author index, a title index, a settings index, a series index, and a
very useful series character chronology, which classifies characters
by year, type of detective work (police, private, amateur, spy, adventurer,
criminal), book type, number of books, and author. It is not annotated.
- Gumshoes: A Dictionary of Fictional
Detectives, by Mitzi M. Brunsdale / PN 3377.5 D4 B78 2006 Ref This
resource provides three- to four-page entries for characters appearing
in detective fiction published in the most recent half century. In other
words, Dashiell Hammett's Sam Spade does not have an entry, nor does
Doyle's Sherlock Holmes, but Ellis Peters' Brother Cadfael and Dorothy
Gilman's Mrs. Pollifax do. An introductory essay in this resource traces
"the ancestry of the contemporary series detective."
- Encyclopedia of Mystery and Detection,
by Chris Steinbrunner and Otto Penzler / PN 3448 D4 E5 Ref Published
in 1976, this encyclopedia does not cover the most recent quarter century
of detective fiction, but it does an excellent job of covering the genre
up to 1975. It includes entries on authors, titles, series, individual
pulp magazines, film, television and radio adaptations, and significant
scholars of the genre.
- Sleuths, Sidekicks, and Stooges: An
Annotated Bibliography of Detectives, Their Assistants and Their Rivals
in Crime, Mystery and Adventure Fiction, 1795-1995, by Joseph Green
and Jim Finch / PN 3448 D4 G74 1997 Ref. This richly
detailed compendium not only provides entries on characters and authors,
but also includes pastiches and parodies of well-known fictional detectives.
- American Mystery and Detective Novels:
A Reference Guide, by Larry Landrum
/ PS 374 D4 L34 1999 Ref This books includes a detective
fiction chronology, historical outline, discussion of detective fiction
"formulas," overview of criticism and theory of detective
fiction, brief entries on authors, and an annotated bibliography of
other reference and scholarly books on the genre.
- The Gay Detective Novel: Lesbian and
Gay Main Characters and Themes in Mystery Fiction,
by Judith A. Markowitz / PS 374 H63 M37 2004 Ref The
first section of this reference book consists of an essay on "The
Gay and Lesbian Crime-Fiction Scene." The second section discusses
the authors and their characters, and divides the characters into five
types: police, private investigators, professional sleuths, amateur
sleuths, and partners. The final section analyzes "themes across
the series."
- Gay and Lesbian Characters
and Themes in Mystery Novels: A Critical Guyide to Over 500 Works in
English, by Anthony Slide
/ PR 1309 D4 S55 1993 Ref The main section of this reference
book is composed of detailed author entries. For specific themes (i.e.,
Antique/Art Dealers, Religion and Homosexuality) cross references to
the works that discuss them are given. A list of specialist publishers
of gay and lesbian fiction, an index of gay and lesbian characters,
and a bibliography of secondary sources follow the main section.
- Detective Fiction and the Rise
of Forensic Science, by Ronald R. Thomas (President of UPS!) / University
Publications, PR830 .D4 T53 1999 - Highly recommended.
University Publications are located in a special section on the third
floor of the library. This book can be checked out, so before going
to the shelf, please check SIMON
to make sure someone else hasn't already borrowed it. If it is checked
out, additional copies are available via SUMMIT.
- Sherlock's Sisters: The British
Female Detective, 1864-1913,
by Joseph A. Kestner / PR878.D4 K475 2003 Books. Analyzes
fictional female detectives as portrayed in works by both male and female
authors. This
book can be checked out, so before going to the shelf, please check
SIMON
to make sure someone else hasn't already borrowed it. If it is checked
out, additional copies are available via SUMMIT.
- Literature
Resource Center -- This full-text database offers
extensive biographical information and excerpts from book reviews and
literary criticism on many authors and is a particularly helpful source
for finding out information about contemporary genre fiction authors.
The "Authors by Type" search function permits you to leave
the author's name blank and search by one or more criteria, including
gender, nationality, genre, time period, etc. For example, if you want
to find out who else besides Arthur Conan Doyle was writing detective
fiction in England during the Victorian period, you could construct
a search using "English" as nationality, "detective fiction"
as genre, and "Victorian period" as time period.
Contextual Resources
You can use these
resources to find out more about the social, historical, and cultural
context in which authors of detective fiction wrote. This is just a sampling
of what is available to you. For suggestions on where to look for specific
topics, please do not hesitate to contact Peggy
Burge, Humanities Librarian.
- Oxford
Reference Online This splendid resource includes
the full-text equivalent of over 100 Oxford dictionaries and encyclopedias
on myriad topics; it also provides full-color maps. So, if you want
to follow Raskolnikov's path in St. Petersburg, you can use Oxford Reference
Online to see a map of the city, main thoroughfares, major landmarks,
and all!
- Handbook of American Popular Culture,
ed. M. Thomas Inge / E169.1 .H2643 1989 Ref
- Handbook of Russian Literature,
ed. Victor Terras / PG2940 .H29 1985 Ref
- Victorian Britain:
An Encyclopedia, ed. Sally Mitchell / DA550 .V53 1988 Ref and
The 1890s: An Encyclopedia of British Literature, Art,
and Culture, ed. G.A. Cevasco / DA560 .A18
1993 Ref Both of these volumes provide rich background
for Victorian and Edwardian history and culture.
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Scholarly
Articles
Films/TV
series