Detective fiction - John Cooper

This book is an expanded, revised and updated second edition of the standard reference book for readers and collectors with a serious interest in detective fiction and its first editions. It provides an invaluable source of reference for collectors, dealers, librarians, scholars and readers, and is unique in the field. - - The first edition concentrated on Golden Age authors and their successors, but now the net is cast much more widely. Conan Doyle and G.K. Chesterton are now included, as are more modern but collectable authors such as Sara Paretsky. In all the book provides a checklist of the works of 157 of the most collected authors, listing all their detective novels and short story collections, with details of first editions, dust-wrappers and series characters. - - Each author entry has an accompanying black-and-white illustration, and a 12-page colour section presents the collector with over 90 dust-wrappers and spines. Several appendices provide additional information on aspects of collecting, enlarging upon and illustrating points made in the opening chapters. - -