This highly accessible, lively and informative study gives a clear and comprehensive overview of recent trends in American crime fiction. Particular attention is given to writers who have reworked established conventions and explored new directions, especially women and those from ethnic minorities.

List of Writers and Detectives Preface Introduction The Old Guard in the Mid-nineties: Muller, Grafton, and Paretsky The Old Guard Continued: Kaminsky, Parker, and Black The Personal and the Regional: New Forms of Authenticity in Female Crime Writing Three Pictures from the Institution: Forrest, Barr, and Hightower LAPD: Ellroy's and Connelly's Police Procedurals Private Investigation in the 1990s The 'English Tradition' in Contemporary American Crime Fiction Historical Mysteries In Waco's Wake: Mary Willis Walker and Patricia Cornwell 'Other' Detectives: The Emergence of Ethnic Crime Writing Black Female Crime Writing The Persistence of Gender: The PIs of S.J. Rozan Index

'This book is both an education and a joy..fresh insights into books published as recently as 1999.' - Choice 'The eminently utilitarian 'Crime File' series (under the custodianship of series editor Clive Bloom) steams ahead with another provocative and informed volume in Contemporary American Crime Fiction. Yet again (as in previous entries in the series), this is a truly eclectic mix of subject and approach, often eccentric, but always at the service of treating the crime fiction genre with the seriousness it deserves[...]this is a book with added value it will function as a useful shopping list for those who enjoy the genre.' - Barry Forshaw, Crime Time