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Resources for the Bibliographical and Biographical Sleuth
Here are a few starting points for researching the life and works of nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century American and British mystery writers.
Using the Internet as a Resource
You will use other resources besides those you find on the Internet (printed books, magazines, newspapers, oral interviews, etc.). Although printed materials may end up being your primary resources, you will of course use the Internet as a research tool as well. The Internet contains a bewildering, highly complex set of resources, of varying quality and use, and searching these sources takes time! The tutorial Finding Information on the Internet, provided by the UC Berkeley Library, provides helpful and sophisticated searching techniques. (Who knows better than a reference librarian how to conduct research?) I highly recommend that you look over this tutorial before you begin searching the Internet. In the long run, it will save you valuable time.
Other Starting Points
- Quick-and-Dirty
Bibliography of Authors and Texts
Here is a basic bibliography on early mystery fiction. This is a quick-and-dirty assembly, by no means comprehensive, and as you'll see, I have incomplete bibliographical information for some of these entries. But it's a serviceable list for starting your bibliographic work.
- Barzun,
Jacques and Wendell Hertig Taylor. A Catalogue of Crime.
Harper and Row, 1971.
- Bleiler,
E.F. A Treasury of Victorian Detective Stories. 1979.
- Cook,
Michael L. and Stephen T. Miller. Mystery, Detective and Espionage
Fiction: A Checklist of Fiction in U.S. Pulp Magazines, 1915-1974.
- Contento,
William G. with Martin H. Greenberg. Index to Crime and Mystery
Anthologies. 1991.
- Cox,
Michael, ed. Victorian Detective Stories. 1992.
- Glover,
Dorothy and Graham Greene. Victorian Detective Fiction: A Catalogue.
The Bodley Head, 1966.
- Goulart,
Ron. Cheap Thrills: An Informal History of the Pulp Magazines.
Arlington House, 1972.
- Goulart,
Ron, ed. The Hardboiled Dicks: An Anthology and Study of Pulp
Detective Fiction. Sherbourne Press, 1965.
- Greene,
Douglas G., ed. Classic Mystery Stories. Dover Thrift Edition.
- Greene,
Douglas G., ed. Detection by Gaslight: 14 Victorian Detective
Stories. Dover Thrift Edition.
- Greene,
Hugh, ed. The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes. The Bodley Head,
Pantheon, 1970.
- Greene,
Hugh, ed. Further Rivals of Sherlock Holmes. Pantheon, 1973.
- Greene,
Hugh, ed. More Rivals of Sherlock Holmes or Cosmopolitan Crimes:
Foreign Rivals of Sherlock Holmes. Pantheon, 1971.
- Greene,
Hugh, ed. The American Rivals of Sherlock Holmes. Pantheon,
1976.
- Hackett,
Alice Payne and James Henry Burke. 80 Years of Best-Sellers 1895-1975.
Bowker, 1977.
- Hagemann,
E. R. A Comprehensive Index to Black Mask 1920—1951.
Popular Press, 1982.
- Hagen,
Ordean A. Who Done It? A Guide to Detective, Mystery and Suspense
Fiction. R. R. Bowker, 1969.
- Haycraft,
Howard. Murder for Pleasure: The Life and Times of the Detective
Story. Appleton-Century, 1941.
- Haycraft,
Howard, Caroll, and Graff, ed. The Art of the Mystery Story.
1946, 1974.
- Heresy,
Harold Brainerd. Pulpwood Editor: The Fabulous World of the Thriller
Magazines Revealed by a Veteran Editor and Publisher. Stokes,
1937.
- Hubin,
Allen J. The Bibliography of Crime Fiction, 1749-1980. University
of California, San Diego Extension, 1979. Revised edition, as Crime
Fiction 1749-1980: A Comprehensive Bibliography. Garland, 1984.
- Klein,
Kathleen Gregory, ed. Great Women Mystery Writers: Classic to
Contemporary. 1994.
- Klein,
Kathleen Gregory. The Woman Detective: Gender and Genre.
University of Illinois Press, 1988, 1995 (2nd ed.).
- La
Cour, Tage and Harald Morgensen. The Murder Book: An Illustrated
History of the Detective Story. Allen and Unwin, Herder, 1971.
- Madden,
David, ed. Tough Guy Writers of the Thirties. Southern Illinois
University Press, 1968.
- Mundell,
E. H. and G. Jay Rausch. The Detective Short Story: A Bibliography
and Index. Kansas State University Library.
- Murch,
A. E. The Development of the Detective Novel. Philosophical
Library, 1958.
- Nevins,
Francis M. Jr., ed. The Mystery Writer's Art. Bowling Green
University Popular Press, 1970.
- Nolan,
William F., ed. The Black Mask Boys.
- O'Cork,
Shannon. How to Write Mysteries. Writer's Digest Books, 1989.
- Peterson,
Audrey. Victorian Masters of Mystery. Ungar, 1983.
- Queen,
Ellery. The Detective Short Story: A Bibliography. Little
Brown, 1942.
- Ruhm,
Herbert, ed. The Hard-Boiled Detective: Stories from Black Mask
Magazine, 1920-1951. Vintage, 1977.
- Shaw,
Joseph T. The Hard-Boiled Omnibus: Early Stories from Black Mask.
Simon and Schuster, 1946.
- Slung,
Michele, ed. Crime on Her Mind: 15 Stories of Female Sleuths
from the Victorian Era to the Forties. Pantheon, 1975.
- Smith,
Marie, ed. The Mammoth Book of Golden Age Detective Stories.
1994.
- Wright, William Huntington. The Great Detective Stories: A Chronological Anthology. Scribner, 1927.
- Barzun,
Jacques and Wendell Hertig Taylor. A Catalogue of Crime.
Harper and Row, 1971.
- Guides
and Encyclopedias
- A
Guide to Classic Mystery and Detection, a Web site maintained
by Michael E. Grost, contains links to information about many pre-1960
authors of mystery fiction.
- Herbert,
Rosemary, ed. The Oxford Companion to Crime and Mystery Writing.
Oxford University Press, 1999.
- Winks,
Robin, ed. Mystery and Suspense Writers: The Literature of Crime,
Suspense and Espionage. Scribner's, 1998.
- Reilly,
John M., ed. Twentieth-Century Crime and Mystery Writers,
2nd ed. St. Martin's Press, 1985.
- Steinbrunner,
Chris and Otto Penzler, eds. Encyclopedia of Mystery & Detection.
McGraw-Hill, 1976.
- A
Guide to Classic Mystery and Detection, a Web site maintained
by Michael E. Grost, contains links to information about many pre-1960
authors of mystery fiction.
- Miscellaneous
Dover Publications has reprinted many out-of-print, hard-to-find volumes of early detective fiction in inexpensive editions.
Local Libraries
Many public libraries have holdings that include material particular to local authors. You might contact the public library (preferably by telephone) in the hometown of your author and see what it can offer you.
Local libraries, like the San Francisco Public Library, also have extensive, often non-digitized, archives of local newspapers and magazines.
Always ask reference librarians for assistance, even if you think you know what you are doing. They are wonderful resources.
Biography
The UC Berkeley Library lists major online resources for biographical research. The encyclopedias listed above also have basic biographical information.
Mailing Lists
For certain kinds of inquiries, mailing lists and their archives can be very helpful. The major hardboiled mailing list is RARA AVIS, and the major classic mystery list is DOROTHYL. Lurk for a while and learn the list's culture before jumping in with an inquiry.
