This is a slightly odd book: always interesting, occasionally fascinating and certainly attractively designed and illustrated, but rather odd. It does not seem to know whether to be a straightforward history and criticism of the genre ‐ as which it actually works pretty well ‐ or to be a handbook into the bargain, in which case it does not quite succeed. Or perhaps the author has so much information to pass on that he could only include a certain amount of it in the text and so put the rest into a series of appendices or fact boxes. If I am sounding critical I have first to say of this book that as a fellow aficionado I thoroughly enjoyed reading it and will certainly refer back to the information it contains in the future.
The book is arranged in six broadly chronological chapters, preceded by an introduction and completed by a “now read on” epilogue or appendix. The introduction deals with definitions and a broad overview of the subject. Chapter 1 is on the origins of the crime and mystery story from Edgar Alan Poe and Chapter 2 deals with Sherlock Holmes in all his manifestations. Chapter 3 is on the golden age, and Chapter 4 on what the author calls “the hard‐boiled school”. Chapter 5 is on cops and killers, and proceeds from Simenon to Film Noir, while Chapter 6 on the state of the art reviews just that: modern trends in the genre. The final “now read on” section lists prize‐winning authors and titles, a single‐page bibliography of secondary works, and a chronology. Each chapter has as its core a narrative text which identifies and discusses themes and is a fascinating analytical discussion, rather than a simple chronological account or descriptive list of authors and titles. But each chapter also offers more information in tables or in more detailed discussions; thus, the chapter on the golden age gives us: a list of titles of stories set in Oxford, Cambridge or Harvard Universities; a directory of the golden age detectives (and their livings); and the ten commandments according to Ronald Knox. It also has separate sections interspersed within the text of discussions of the locked room, the English country house and of parodies. A similar approach is taken in each of the other chapters.
Ian Ousby comes well qualified to such a work. His qualifications are founded in his own long‐standing personal interest, but reinforced by his academic background, including a doctorate published as “Bloodhounds of heaven: the detective in English fiction from Godwin to Doyle”, not to mention his authorship of the Cambridge Guide to Literature in English. This volume is a mixture, as described above, but its core text is a fascinating critical and analytical survey of its subject, while its additions are always interesting, if rather random. The whole book is attractively produced and well and profusely illustrated throughout: this includes illustrations of many paperback volumes whose omission from other works I have always regretted, even deplored, as the paperback is the form in which most of us have long read (and for that matter collected) these works. They may comprise a bibliographic morass but they are worthy of closer attention and study.
So, the book is a bit of a mixture, hence presumably the companion of the sub‐title rather than calling it a handbook or similar. You might have problems in deciding whether this should be for the reference or for the lending collection: it is thoroughly worth reading through, but it also contains some useful reference information. Either way, it is definitely worth buying, and at such a reasonable price you could consider a copy for each collection.
