犯罪小説は19世紀以降、最もポピュラーなジャンルの一つですが、意外にもその起源はシェークスピアまで遡ることができます。犯罪小説の定義やジャンルが確立していった過程を考察し、その世界的な人気や多様なスタイル、ジェンダー論に至るまでを論じます。エドガー＝アラン・ポー、コナン・ドイル、アガサ・クリスティーといった代表的な作家の作品に光を当て、犯罪小説は文学に分類すべきか否かといったことまで検討します。
 

• Tells the story of crime fiction, discussing what features define the genre and how it has developed
• The first account to consider how crime fiction has developed beyond Britain and the USA
• Includes an examination of crime fiction in comparison to spy fiction, legal dramas, and thrillers
• Poses questions about crime fiction's status as a brand of popular culture rather than legitimate 'literature'

  
Crime fiction has been one of the most popular genres since the 19th century, but has roots in works as varied as Sophocles, Herodotus, and Shakespeare. In this Very Short Introduction Richard Bradford explores the history of the genre, by considering the various definitions of 'crime fiction' and looking at how it has developed over time. Discussing the popularity of crime fiction worldwide and its various styles; the role that gender plays within the genre; spy fiction, and legal dramas and thrillers; he explores how the crime novel was shaped by the work of British and American authors in the 18th and 19th centuries. 

Highlighting the works of notorious authors such as Edgar Allan Poe, Conan Doyle, Agatha Christie, and Raymond Chandler — to name but a few — he considers the role of the crime novel in modern popular culture and asks whether we can, and whether we should, consider crime fiction serious 'literature'.