"The secret and importance of mysteries have always been mysteriesthemselves. This fine analytical study is a five-story libraryanalyzed and mixed into answering the many questions that arise ...(an) exhaustive and comprehensive guide, which needs to be ownedand studied by all literary-cultural-crime fiction scholars."
Journal of American Culture
"A lucid and fascinating exploration of the cultural changesthat influenced the 19th and early 20th-century development of thegenre."
Times Higher Education Supplement
"Rzepka's real strength is his clear, graceful writing whichsets his overview apart from its many competitors. In hisdiscussion of the unique sensibility of Sherlock Holmes, thebaffling morality of Sam
Spade, or the sullied romanticism ofPhilip Marlowe, Rzepka is as skillful as these accomplisheddetectives?rightly perceiving a depth of complexity, shrewdlyidentifying their key elements, and clearly tracing their inherentlogic ? Admirably [fulfils] its stated purpose ... to be astimulating overview of this genre from its origins up to presentday and to be read by college undergraduates."
Modernism/Modernity
"Cool, savvy, and utterly compelling: every page of Charles J.Rzepka's magnificent history of detective fiction displays theforensic panache of the true connoisseur of murder. Commanding anunrivalled breadth of reference and depth of insight, the book is amust-read for everyone interested in detective fiction."
Nicholas Roe, University of St Andrews
"In this sustained analysis of the emergence and development ofdetective fiction in England and America, Charles Rzepka hasproduced both a compelling cultural history and a skilfuldemonstration of what Poe aptly called 'the moral activity whichdisentangles'. It will become an indispensable guide to seriousstudents of detective literature."
Ronald R. Thomas, University of PugetSound
