Table Of Content

KEY CONCEPTS IN CRIME FICTION Palgrave Key Concepts Palgrave Key Concepts provide an accessible and comprehensive range of subject glossaries at undergraduate level. They are the ideal companion to a standard textbook making them invaluable reading to students throughout their course of study and especially useful as a revision aid. Key Concepts in Accounting and Finance Key Concepts in Bilingualism Key Concepts in Business and Management Research Methods Key Concepts in Business Practice Key Concepts in Criminology and Criminal Justice Key Concepts in Cultural Studies Key Concepts in Drama and Performance (second edition) Key Concepts in e-Commerce Key Concepts in Human Resource Management Key Concepts in Information and Communication Technology Key Concepts in Innovation Key Concepts in International Business Key Concepts in Language and Linguistics (second edition) Key Concepts in Law (second edition) Key Concepts in Leisure Key Concepts in Management Key Concepts in Marketing Key Concepts in Operations Management Key Concepts in Philosophy Key Concepts in Politics Key Concepts in Public Relations Key Concepts in Psychology Key Concepts in Second Language Acquisition Key Concepts in Social Research Methods Key Concepts in Sociology Key Concepts in Strategic Management Key Concepts in Tourism Palgrave Key Concepts: Literature General Editor: Martin Coyle Key Concepts in Contemporary Literature Key Concepts in Creative Writing Key Concepts in Crime Fiction Key Concepts in Medieval Literature Key Concepts in Modernist Literature Key Concepts in Postcolonial Literature Key Concepts in Renaissance Literature Key Concepts in Romantic Literature Key Concepts in Victorian Literature Literary Terms and Criticism (third edition) Further titles are in preparation Palgrave Key Concepts Series Standing Order ISBN 978-1-4039-3210-5 (outside North America only) You can receive future titles in this series as they are published by placing a standing order. Please contact your bookseller or, in the case of difficulty, write to us at the address below with your name and address, the title of the series and the ISBN quoted above. Customer Services Department, Macmillan Distribution Ltd, Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS, England Key Concepts in Crime Fiction Heather Worthington © Heather Worthington 2011 All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No portion of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, Saffron House, 6-10 Kirby Street, London EC1N 8TS. Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. The author has asserted her right to be identified as the author of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. First published 2011 by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN Palgrave Macmillan in the UK is an imprint of Macmillan Publishers Limited, registered in England, company number 785998, of Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS. Palgrave Macmillan in the US is a division of St Martin’s Press LLC, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010. Palgrave Macmillan is the global academic imprint of the above companies and has companies and representatives throughout the world. Palgrave® and Macmillan® are registered trademarks in the United States, the United Kingdom, Europe and other countries. ISBN 978-0-230-55125-1 ISBN978-0-230-34433-4 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-0-230-34433-4 This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and sustained forest sources. Logging, pulping and manufacturing processes are expected to conform to the environmental regulations of the country of origin. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. A catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress. 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 To David, who made it all possible Contents General Editor’s Preface General Introduction 1 Contexts: History, Politics, Culture Introduction Cities and urbanisation Crime and criminality Detectives and detection Evidence Gender and sexuality The law Police and policing Race, colour and creed 2 Texts: Themes, Issues, Concepts Introduction American crime fiction Children’s crime fiction Early criminography Feminist crime fiction Golden-Age crime fiction Hard-boiled detective fiction Historical crime fiction The police procedural 3 Criticism: Approaches, Theory, Practice Introduction Cultural materialism Feminism Postcolonialism Postmodernism Chronology Index General Editor’s Preface The purpose of Palgrave Key Concepts in Literature is to provide students with key critical and historical ideas about the texts they are studying as part of their literature courses. These ideas include information about the historical and cultural contexts of literature as well as the theoretical approaches current in the subject today. Behind the series lies a recognition of the need nowadays for students to be familiar with a range of concepts and contextual material to inform their reading and writing about literature. The series is also based on a recognition of the changes that have transformed degree courses in Literature in recent years. Central to these changes has been the impact of critical theory together with a renewed interest in the way in which texts intersect with their immediate context and historical circumstances. The result has been an opening up of new ways of reading texts and a new understanding of what the study of literature involves together with the introduction of a wide set of new critical issues that demand our attention. An important aim of Palgrave Key Concepts in Literature is to provide brief, accessible introductions to these new ways of reading and new issues. Each volume in Palgrave Key Concepts in Literature follows the same structure. An initial overview essay is followed by three sections – Contexts, Texts, and Criticism – each containing a sequence of brief alphabetically arranged entries on a sequence of topics. ‘Contexts’ essays provide an impression of the historical, social and cultural environment in which literary texts were produced. ‘Texts’ essays, as might be expected, focus more directly on the works themselves. ‘Criticism’ essays then outline the manner in which changes and developments in criticism have affected the ways in which we discuss the texts featured in the volume. The informing intention throughout is to help the reader create something new in the process of combining context, text and criticism. Martin Coyle