The Detective as Historian : History and Art in Historical Crime Fiction

Readers of detective stories are turning more toward historical crime fiction to learn both what everyday life was like in past societies and how society coped with those who broke the laws and restrictions of the times. The crime fiction treated here ranges from ancient Egypt through classical Greece and Rome; from medieval and renaissance China and Europe through nineteenth-century England and America. Topics include: Ellis Peter’s Brother Cadfael; Umberto Eco’s Name of the Rose; Susanna Gregory’s Doctor Matthew Bartholomew; Peter Heck’s Mark Twain as detective; Anne Perry and her Victorian-era world; Caleb Carr’s works; and Elizabeth Peter’s Egyptologist-adventurer tales. Preface -- Robin W. Winks Introduction -- Ray B. Browne and Lawrence A. Kreiser Jr. Lynda S. Robinson and Lauren Haney: Detection in the Land of Mysteries -- Rita Rippetoe John Maddox Roberts and Steven Saylor: Detecting in the Final Decades of the Roman Republic -- Terrance L. Lewis Lindsey Davis: Falco, Cynical Detective in a Corrupt Roman Empire -- Peter Hunt Peter Tremayne: Sister Fidelma and the Triumph of Truth -- Christiane W. Luehrs and Robert B. Luehrs Ellis Peters: Brother Cadfael -- Edward J. Rielly. P.C. Doherty: Hugh Corbett, Secret-Agent and Problem-Solver -- Edward L. Meek, Theron M. Westerwelt, David N. Eldridge Susanna Gregory: Doctor Matthew Bartholomew, Master of Medicine and Detection -- Jean Coakley Umberto Eco: The Name of the Rose -- Judy Ann Ford Elizabeth Eyre: Detection in the Italian Renaissance -- Jeffrey A. Rydberg-Cox Margaret Frazer: Sister Frevisse and Medieval Mysteries -- Patricia W. Julius Josephine Tey and Others: The Case of Richard III -- R. Gordon Kelly C.L. Grace: Kathryn Swinbrook, Fifteenth-Century Physician and Sleuth -- Jean Coakley. Michael Clynes: The Recollections of Shallot -- David N. Eldridge, Theron M. Westerwelt, Edward L. MeekMaan Meyers: The Saga of the Dutchman -- Frank A. Salamone Bruce Alexander: Sir Henry Fielding and Blind Justice -- Donna Bradshaw Smith Keith Heller: A Genealogy of Detection in the Eighteenth Century -- Scott R. Christianson Margaret Lawrence: An Eighteenth-Century Midwife -- Marie Nelson Stephanie Barron: (Re)Inventing Jane Austen as Detective -- Anita Vickers Kate Ross: Where Have All the Dandies Gone? -- Jerry L. Parker. James Brewer: Sleuths and Carpetbaggers along the Mississippi River -- Lawrence A. Kreiser, Jr. Peter Heck: Mark Twain as Detective -- Ray B. Browne and Lawrence A. Kreiser, Jr. Caleb Carr: Running Away from the Darkness -- Douglas Tallack Anne Perry: Victorian 'Istorian and Murdermonger -- Linda J. Holland-Toll Peter Lovesey: No Cribbing on History -- Margaret L. Foxwell Elizabeth Peters: The Last Camel Died at Noon as Lost World Adventure Pastiche -- Gary Hoppenstand Contributors. "The crime fiction examined here covers virtually all of recorded history - from ancient Egypt through classical Greece and Rome; from medieval Europe through nineteenth-century England and America. The essays in this collection analyze and evaluate these works and demonstrate that they are not only gripping stories in their own right, but also the nerve center for historians of all stripes - from the professional to the most casual minded - to learn about past societies. People of the past appear with all their pretenses down and their acts of violence laid bare."--Jacket