Imagination of Evil Detective Fiction and the Modern World (Continuum Literary Studies)-[Mary Evans].pdf

The Imagination of Evil
Continuum Literary Studies Series
Related Titles Available in the Series:
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Modernism and the Post-colonial, Peter Childs
Novels of the Contemporary Extreme, edited by Alain-Phillipe Durand and
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Women’s Fiction 1945–2000, Deborah Philips
The Imagination of Evil
Detective Fiction and the Modern World
Mary Evans
Continuum International Publishing Group
The Tower Building 80 Maiden Lane
11 York Road Suite 704, New York
London SE1 7NX NY 10038
© Mary Evans 2009
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted
in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying,
recording, or any information storage or retrieval system, without prior permission
in writing from the publishers.
Mary Evans has asserted her right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act,
1988, to be identifi ed as Author of this work.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN: 978-1-8470-6206-2 (hardback)
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
A catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress.
Typeset by Newgen Imaging Systems Pvt Ltd, Chennai, India
Printed and bound in Great Britain by the MPG Books Group
Contents
Acknowledgements vi
Introduction: Crime Writing 1
Chapter 1: Making Crime 10
Chapter 2: The Making of the Detective 24
Chapter 3: Detecting the Modern 53
Chapter 4: Illegal and Immoral 76
Chapter 5: Are the Times a’ Changing? 105
Chapter 6: The Dream That Failed 135
Chapter 7: ‘On Murder Considered as One of the Fine Arts’ 155
Notes 169
Bibliography 176
Index 183
Acknowledgements
I was very much helped in the reading for this project by Kathy Davis and
Hazel Johnstone. They were indefatigable in their suggestions about who to
read and in the provision of those texts. Shared enthu