Murder in the Library: Comics

What? You thought I made this all up, or cut-and-pasted it all from Wikipedia? Nope. Here are the books that inspired me to create this site, and the books I've used to cobble it together over the years, as well as the ones I've discovered along the way, broken down into various categories. If you … Continue reading Murder in the Library: Comics

We’re Livin’ In a Political World: The Bookshelf

Books About (American) Politics & Detective Fiction     Listed chronologically: Madden, David, ed., Tough Guy Writers of the Thirties | Buy this book Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press: 1968. Simply a pivotal, landmark work, one of the first to take an in-depth look at the genre, delving into political and cultural issues. Includes Herbert Ruhm's "Raymond … Continue reading We’re Livin’ In a Political World: The Bookshelf

Murder in the Library (Index)

What's on your bookshelf? COLLECTIONS & ANTHOLOGIES The Best Anthologies of Original P.I. Stories The Best Anthologies of Hard-Boiled, Noir & Pulp Reprints Other Mystery Anthologies Worth Hunting For The Mystery Writers of America Anthologies The Akashic Noir Series The Best American Mystery Stories/The Best American Mystery & Suspense The Mysterious Bookshop Presents The Best … Continue reading Murder in the Library (Index)

Murder in the Library: The Best Anthologies of Hard-Boiled, Noir & Pulp Reprints

Until the eighties, I don't think anyone had ever thought of doing a collection of original private eye stories. Oh, there'd certainly been some amazing volumes of reprinted tales, full of hard-boiled cops and cabbies and reporters and other dicks and janes who made trouble their business. It took Robert Randisi and the crew at … Continue reading Murder in the Library: The Best Anthologies of Hard-Boiled, Noir & Pulp Reprints

Murder in the Library: Other Mystery Anthologies Worth Hunting For

Worthwhile collections of original and reprinted stories that don't necessarily feature private eyes exclusively Until the eighties, I don't think anyone had ever thought of doing a collection of just private eye stories.  But that doesn't mean there weren't plenty of great private eye short stories, novellas, novelettes and the like, both classic reprints and edgy … Continue reading Murder in the Library: Other Mystery Anthologies Worth Hunting For

Murder in the Library: The Best Anthologies of Original P.I. Stories

Until 1984, I don't think anyone had ever thought of doing a collection of just original private eye stories. Oh, there'd certainly been some amazing volumes of reprinted tales, full of hard-boiled cops and cabbies and reporters and other dicks and janes (private and public) who made trouble their business. But it took Robert Randisi … Continue reading Murder in the Library: The Best Anthologies of Original P.I. Stories

Murder in the Library: The Mystery Writers of America Anthologies

Everybody into the Boat! Okay, nobody's ever going to mistake The Mystery Writers of America (MWA) for The Private Eye Writers of America (PWA), but private eye writers have played a major role in the MWA right from the beginning Brett Halliday and Baynard Kendrick were both involved in the founding of the organization back in … Continue reading Murder in the Library: The Mystery Writers of America Anthologies

Murder in the Library: The Best Crime & Detective Pulps

An Honour Roll. A work in progress; highly subjective. There were countless crime and detective pulps, of course, and almost all of them would, occasionally, publish some real gem of a story featuring a private eye, but remember -- these were the pulps, and most of the stories, even in the hallowed pages of Black … Continue reading Murder in the Library: The Best Crime & Detective Pulps

Murder in the Library: The Other Crime & Detective Pulps

Brother, Can You Spare a Dime? This list, mostly pinched from William F. Nolan's excellent The Black Mask Boys (1985), is almost certainly incomplete. Everyone knows the big names like Black Mask, Dime Detective and Detective Fiction Weekly, but most of the pulps came and went with dizzying speed, switching titles and publishers and formats with gay … Continue reading Murder in the Library: The Other Crime & Detective Pulps

Murder in the Library: The Crime Mags

Non-Fiction in a Periodical Vein Yeah, it's obvious that not all these print magazines are exclusively non-fiction. Most of them have, will or are willing to include the occasional bit of fiction alongside the usual non-fiction news, views, reviews and interviews, so there's bound to be some cross-over with the magazines listed on Murder in … Continue reading Murder in the Library: The Crime Mags