Presents a selection of Poe's tales and poems with in-depth marginal notes elucidating his sources, obscure words and passages, and literary, biographical, and historical allusions.

Widely known as the crime fiction writer whose work led to the movies Get Shorty and Out of Sight, Elmore Leonard had a special knack for creating "cool" characters. In Being Cool, Charles J. Rzepka looks at what makes the dope-dealers, bookies, grifters, financial advisors, talent agents, shady attorneys, hookers, models, and crooked cops of Leonard's world cool. They may be nefarious, but they are also confident, skilled, and composed and cope without...

Whether you are a fan of Matt Scudder or Bernie Rhodenbarr, whether you know Lawrence Block as the best living writer about New York or the most versatile of crime novelists, this is the book you have been waiting for. Block talks to mystery connoisseur Ernie Bulow about his apprenticeship writing for pulp magazines and working at a leading literary agency, about his love of New York and his fondness for travel. He gives brief, tantalizing glimpses...

"Crime fiction expert Susanna Lee tracks the evolution of the hard-boiled character type over time and media in the United States. She shows how crime fiction rose in popularity at times of national conflict. Readers and viewers crave the sort of grit and independence that the hard-boiled detective offers when reality may leave them feeling they lack control over their own lives. This is a study of literature and film and also a work of cultural studies"--...

"In Private Investigations, twenty fan-favorite mystery writers share their first-person stories of grappling with mysteries they've personally encountered, at home and in the world. Caroline Leavitt regales us with a medical mystery, a time when she lost her voice and doctors couldn't find a cure; Martin Limon travels back to his military stint in Korea to grapple with the chaos of war; Anne Perry ponders the magical powers of stories conjured from...