Friday's Forgotten Books -

In the 1996 anthology The Oxford Book of American Detective Stories, Tony Hillerman and Rosemary Herbert collected 33 stories that help trace the evolution of crime fiction in the U.S. from locked room mysteries, to hard-boiled tales of the '30s and '40s, to police procedurals from the latter part of the 20th century.

The book starts off with Poe and "Murders in the Rue Morge," which Hillerman notes is the basic model for the classic detective tale. He also points out how American authors tended to be ignorant of—or just plain ignore—the conventions of Ronald Knox's "Ten Commandments of Detective Writing" from 1928 as well as the philosophy of what editor/critic Jacques Brazum called "escape literature for the intellectual."

Instead of focusing exclusively on whodunit, writers like Ed McBain were more interested in why the crime had been committed, as in his story "Small Homicide," included in the anthology. Or hints of social purpose and realism, as in Anna Katherine Green's "Missing: Page Thirteen," featuring one of the earliest femle protagonists. Or a peek into social decadence and the human condition, as shown in Raymond Chandler's "I'll Be Waiting."

The goal of Hillerman and Herbert was to illustrate as many aspects of the American detective story as they could, with amateur sleuths, ethnic sleuths, regional sleuths, scientific sleuths like Arthur B. Reed's Professor Craig Kenndy, hard-boiled private eyes like Robert Leslie Bellem's Dan Turner and cops like Hillerman's own Jim Chee and Joe Leaphorn in the story "Chee's Witch."

Although the editors had an educational intention in mind, they also wanted to entertain, hoping readers "will find the volume just plain fun to read." It is most definitely that, and also a reminder of all the wonderful contributions that the late Tony Hillerman himself made to enrich and promote crime fiction.

For more suggestions for Friday's Forgotten Books, check out Patti Abbott's blog.

Comments

[Todd Mason]

I'm compiling the links for Patti this week. Well, Sayers and Hammett, after all, had other strings to pluck than what Knox or even Barzun had to offer, and "Rex Stout" and most of the other innovators to follow also had their own passions...

[George Kelley]

This was a solid collection. I remember picking remaindered copies cheap and sending them to friends.

[BV Lawson]

I just saw this morning that you were handling the FFB duties this week, Todd. I'm sure Patti appreciates the help! And yes, I think it's a *very* good thing that most crime fiction writers stepped past the Knox and Barzun philosophies. American authors were certainly in the forefront on this.

[BV Lawson]

That's a wonderful idea for a present, George! A solid introduction to American detective fiction with some of the best-known authors and also some lesser-known gems.

[J F Norris]

Looks like an excellent way to introduce novice readers to a wide spectrum of writing from the genre. Arthur B Reeve and Robert Leslie Bellem in the same volume! Even the Ellery Queen anthologies never got as varied as that.

[Robert Carraher]

This looks like 'must have' reference, goes on the shelf next to the recent release of "Thrillers: 100 Must Reads..."

[Todd Mason]

Well, John, "EQ" never seemed willing to stress historical importance over qualities of engagement...unlike most of the serious editors since.