Friends and Foes
(The Critical Literature)
The literature of crime detection is of recent growth because the historical conditions on which it depends are modern.—F. W. CHANDLER, The Literature of Roguery
I
TO BE strictly accurate, the foregoing quotation was written with reference to detective fiction itself. But the same remark might have been made with equal pertinence and even greater force of the critical literature of the subject, which has been still slower to develop. Despite the age of the genre and the honorable estate it had achieved, comparatively little worth-while objective comment, aside from a few sporadic and tentative magazine articles, appeared in print before the early 1920's. And even then most writing on the topic was confined to repeating the startling thesis that really respectable and intelligent people (presidents and potentates, it was said with bated breath!) could read and enjoy detective stories.
By the middle of the decade, however, really important criticism began to emerge. Three of what are still the finest dissertations on the subject appeared in the space of as many years. In England, in 1926, the late E. M. Wrong of Oxford penned his memorable introduction to the first Oxford Press anthology of Crime and Detection, which after the passage of years remains the most succinct of all statements of detective story principles. In 1927, in America, Willard Huntington Wright (not then revealed as "S. S. Van Dine") introduced his collection The Great Detective Stories with a much more elaborate and comprehensive essay, predominantly in the historical mood. In 1928 Dorothy Sayers mounted the same pulpit, again an introduction to an anthology, in this case her Great Short Stories of Detection, Mystery, and Horror—known in America as the first Omnibus of Crime—to propound what is still the most brilliant critical analysis of the medium and its practitioners. Her preliminary remarks to the Second Series (1931) are no less valuable, if briefer and supplementary in nature.
The year 1931 also saw the publication, in England only, of the first full-length study of the police novel in the language, H. Douglas Thomson's valuable but mis-titled Masters of Mystery. Carrying into print some of the earmarks of the doctoral thesis, and characterized on the whole by a rather scholastic and theoretical approach, Masters of Mystery is nevertheless an original, suavely written, and well documented study which must stand close to first place in the student's or collector's library. The chief weakness of the volume lies in its American section; but here Mr. Thomson must be largely absolved, for his book was composed before the full effect of the American Renaissance of the late twenties and early thirties had time to be felt abroad. (One can not help wondering, however, if he has subsequently revised his egregiously mistaken analysis and estimate of Dashiell Hammett.)
In France, critical interest in the detective novel has at all times exceeded original achievement. Several studies of varying length and pretension have appeared (none, to the present writer's knowledge, in translation), of which the longest and most important must, anomalously, be dismissed as mostly beyond our ken. It is Régis Messac's Le "Detective Novel" et l'Influence de la Pensée Scientifique, a stout and promisingly titled volume which, however, ends its consideration of the subject with 1900! Entire chapters are devoted to the treatment of crime in ancient fiction, and to such writers as Dumas, Balzac, and Fenimore Cooper. Considered as a whole, the Messac work stands forth as the most complete and elaborate demonstration extant of the hieratic fallacy of mistaking analysis for detection, of confusing the detective story proper with its merely spiritual precursors. The few of M. Messac's chapters, however, which deal with bona fide detective fiction are full of rewarding penetration and insight. (But the critic Abel Chevalley quarrels with Messac's insistence on what his title calls "scientific thought," maintaining: "I am not at all sure that M. Messac's idea of science is scientific!")
François Fosca's Histoire et Technique du Roman Policier discloses a much more contemporary and lively approach, but is mostly derivative and contributes little thought or matter that is really original.
Carolyn Wells' The Technique of the Mystery Story still occupies top position among the "how-to-do-it" manuals in America, despite its age and a somewhat desultory and repetitive treatment of the subject.... If he can obtain a copy, the beginning writer will find many practical suggestions and a somewhat more modern attack in Basil Hogarth's Writing Thrillers for Profit, even though it is published only in England and is written in terms of the British market. Incidentally, the title of this work illustrates a difference in nomenclature which has puzzled many American readers. In America, the term "thriller" is usually employed to indicate the sensational crime story, as distinguished from the police novel proper. In England, on the other hand, it has come increasingly to mean the bona fide detective story. When the English wish to signify the sensational novel they say "shocker."
In quite different vein, John Carter's chapter on detective fiction in New Paths in Book-Collecting (also published as a separate pamphlet), while primarily concerned with a specialized phase of the topic, must not be overlooked for its keen critical implications.
* * *
These, then, are the major prophets and the law. In addition, the serious student and even the random reader may frequently wish to know where to find a number of important essays and articles about the police novel which remain buried in magazine files or in books of a collective nature: as, for example, R. Austin Freeman's celebrated but elusive manifesto on "The Art of the Detective Story," Van Dine's twenty rules, Father Knox's ten, and so on. The bibliography which concludes this chapter has been prepared in the hope of making some of the more representative of these writings more readily available than they have been in the past.
It is plain of course that any such listing must be limited to definite and topical essays, articles, and chapters; no attempt has been made to discover or bring out merely incidental or casual references. For the most part the writings listed will be found to treat of the subject in its more general aspects, rather than of individual authors, though occasional exceptions have been made for particularly outstanding individual criticism, such as Brander Matthews' essay on Poe, Valentine Williams' on Gaboriau, and Vincent Starrett's Private Life of Sherlock Holmes with its valuable appended bibliography of Sherlockiana (and occasionally Sherlockivia! ). Only those introductions and prefaces to larger works have been included which have seemed to make some definite contribution to critical literature. Not all the writings listed, by any means, are favorable to the subject: attacks as well as eulogies will be found.
At least a few of the pronouncements will reward the seeker with gratuitous chuckles—as the London Academy's flat declaration in 1905 that "from henceforth he [the detective of fiction] retires to limbo with the dodo"! Still others of the articles and essays abound with intended humor, as—to mention but two out of many—Robert J. Casey's "Oh, England! Full of Sin," and Marjorie Nicolson's "The Professor and the Detective," the latter masking a flanking attack on both pedantry and modern literature that comes dangerously close to being Higher Criticism.
It will be noted that the earliest general commentary on detective fiction which the writer has been able to turn up through the ordinary channels of bibliography carries the date of 1883: an article entitled, simply and adequately, "Detectives," in the London Saturday Review for May 5th of that year. Surely, the topic must have received previous attention in the public prints. (A large number of earlier references may readily be found, of course, to real-life detection, but they manifestly will not do.) The day will perhaps arrive when scholarship will incline its august attention to the subject and a really definitive bibliography be assembled. The list which follows here must be understood to be no more than the suggestive beginning of such a work. Doubtless a vast amount of fugitive material remains to be uncovered.
* * *
But before leaving this discussion, at least a brief word must be devoted to the increasing excellence of detective story reviewing on both sides of the water. A few years ago Dorothy Sayers complained, with justice, of the editorial practice of "lumping together" basically unrelated types of fiction under a generic title, and of the curious disregard of reviewers for the specialized and highly divergent tastes of readers. To-day, while there are still some journals and reviewers who sin in these respects, the trend is strongly toward departmentalization and classification, which is quite as it should be.
This is not the place to attempt a conclusive statement of the rules of good reviewing; nevertheless, a few suggestions from the viewpoint of the reader may be in order. Perhaps the first and greatest requirement of the detective story review is that it should never under any circumstances give the plot away. The reasons for this rule would seem sufficiently obvious: yet it has been done! It is well, too, that the reviewer should have some knowledge of and liking for this sort of literature. As Chesterton pointed out somewhere, no one would think of handing a book of poetry for review to a critic who dislikes or is indifferent to poetry; and the reviewer who holds a similar position with regard to so specialized a genre as the detective story is equally incapable of producing a useful estimate. Likewise, the reviewer must be prepared to submerge his personal predilections within the form to the tastes of his readers. For example: he may happen to have little enthusiasm for, let us say, the hard-boiled school, but he must remember that this is the favorite literary diet of thousands of readers, and for their sake he must attempt to distinguish good examples of this type of writing from the bad. The conscientious reviewer will also endeavor to classify each book clearly as to the general division into which it falls, so that those readers whose tastes lie in special directions may be advised or warned, as the case may be. He will similarly state prominently the name of the sleuth and any continuing significant characters, realizing that they will strike a helpful reminiscent note with many readers who do not attempt to keep authors' names in mind. If the detective story reviewer will observe these few special considerations, the canons of ordinary good taste and literary practice will take care of the rest. (For an able published discussion of this problem, see Clarence B. Boutell's informative article, "England's Other Crisis . . ." in the Publishers' Weekly for April 15, 1939.)
A survey of all the competent reviewers now doing yeoman work on behalf of readers of the police novel would be manifestly impossible, but awards for special merit must be pinned, in this country, on "Judge Lynch" of the Saturday Review of Literature, Isaac Anderson of the New York Times Book Review, Will Cuppy of the New York Herald Tribune "Books," and "Jack Ketch" of the Tribune's daily book pages. . . . One is less familiar with the English scene, but word of the discriminating excellence of "Nicholas Blake" (C. Day Lewis) and "Torquemada" (the late Edward Powys Mathers) has penetrated even to these shores. (Shortly after the latter's untimely death, John Dickson Carr cryptically dedicated a novel to: "My father, Powys Mathers." The relationship, however, was presumably only spiritual.)
In short, little criticism can be offered of present-day detective story reviewing. It has made great strides in recent years and continues steadily to improve in method and quality.
SOME READING ABOUT THE DETECTIVE STORY
MATERIAL IN BOOKS
(Arranged alphabetically by authors. Where no qualifying comment is appended, the full work pertains to the subject.)
Berkeley, A., The Second Shot (London, Hodder, 1930; New York, Doubleday, Doran, 1931). See Foreword: a succinct statement of the author's "credo."
Cambiaire, C. P., The Influence of Edgar Allan Poe in France (New York, Stechert, 1927). Includes several chapters on the early history of detective fiction.
Carter, J., editor, New Paths in Book-Collecting [by several hands] (London, Constable, 1934). See Carter's own chapter on "Detective Fiction"; also available separately as Collecting Detective Fiction (Constable, 1938).
Chandler, F. W., The Literature of Roguery (Boston, Houghton, Mifflin, 1907). See "The Literature of Crime Detection."
Chesterton, G. K., As I Was Saying (London, Methuen; New York, Dodd, Mead, 1936). See "About Shockers."
——— Come to Think of It (London, Methuen, 1930; New York, Dodd, Mead, 1931). See "On Detective Story Writers."
——— The Defendant (London, R. B. Johnson; New York, Dodd, Mead, 1902). See "A Defense of Detective Stories."
———G.K.C. as M.C. . . . [ed. by P. J. de Fonseca] (London, Methuen, 1929). See "Detective Stories" [reprinted from Masterman, q.v.].
———Generally Speaking (London, Methuen, 1928; New York, Dodd, Mead, 1929). See "On Detective Novels."
———The Man Who Was Chesterton [comp. and ed. by R. T. Bond] (New York, Dodd, Mead, 1937). See "On Detective Novels."
——— The Uses of Adversity (London, Methuen, 1920; New York, Dodd, Mead, 1921). See "The Domesticity of Detectives."
——— See also Jepson, R. W.; Masterman, W. S.; Pritchard, F. H.; Rhode, J.
Connington, J. J. See Rhode, J.
Crouse, R., Murder Won't Out (New York, Doubleday, Doran, 1932). See particularly "The Murder of Mary Cecilia Rogers."
Depken, F., Sherlock Holmes, Raffles, und Ihre Vorbilder: Ein Beitrag zur Entwicklungsgeschichte und Technik der Krim-inalerzàhlung (Heidelberg, C. Winter, 1914).
Detective Fiction: A Collection of First and a Few Early Editions (New York, The Scribner Bookstore, 1934). Catalogue; believed assembled by John Carter.
Epstein, H., Der Detektivroman der Unterschicht (Frankfurt-am-Main, Neuer Frankfurter Verlag, 1930).
Forbes, A. P., editor, Essays for Discussion (New York, Harper, 1931). See "Cold Chills of 1928" [by S. Strunsky].
Ford, C., The John Riddell Murder Case: A Philo Vance Parody (New York, Scribner, 1930). Parody-criticism.
Ford, F. M., The March of Literature (New York, Dial Press, 1938; London, Allen & Unwin, 1939). See particularly pp. 831-833.
Fosca, F., Histoire et Technique du Roman Policier (Paris, Éditions de la Nouvelle Revue Critique, 1937).
Freeman, R. A., Dr. Thorndyke's Crime File [omnibus; ed. by P. M. Stone] (New York, Dodd, Mead, 1941). Includes the author's "The Art of the Detective Story" and Thorndykiana by Freeman and P. M. Stone.
———See also Rhode, J.
Gass, S. B., The Criers of the Shops (Boston, Marshall Jones, 1925). See "Desipere in Loco."
Hardy, T. J., Books on the Shelf (London, P. Allan, 1934). See "The Romance of Crime."
Hawthorne, J., editor, The Lock and Key Library (New York, Review of Reviews Co., 1909). See Introduction ("Riddle Stories").
Hitchcock, A. See Wright, L.
Hogarth, B., Writing Thrillers for Profit . . . (London, A. & C. Black, 1936).
Honce, C., Mark Twain's Associated Press Speech (New York, privately printed, 1940).
——— A Sherlock Holmes Birthday (New York, privately printed, 1938).
Houghton, S. G., and Olson, U. G., editors, The Writer's Handbook (Boston, The Writer, Inc., 1936). See "The Detective Story" [by V. W. Mason].
Jepson, R. W., editor, New and Old Essays: 1820-1935 (London and New York, Longmans, 1937). See "A Defense of Detective Stories" [by G. K. Chesterton].
Jesse, F. T., Solange Stories (London, Heinemann, 1931; New York, Macmillan, 1931). See Foreword.
Knox, R. A., editor, The Best [English] Detective Stories of 1928 (London, Faber, 1929; New York, Liveright, 1929). See Introduction, which includes the editor's "decalogue" of detective story commandments.
Landmarks in Medicine: Laity Lectures (New York, Appleton-Century, 1939). See "Dr. Watson and Mr. Sherlock Holmes" [by H. S. Martland].
Leacock, S., Here Are My Lectures and Stories (New York, Dodd, Mead, 1937; London, Lane, 1938). See "Murder at $2.50 a Crime."
——— Too Much College . . . (New York, Dodd, Mead, 1939; London, Lane, 1940). See "Twenty Cents Worth of Murder."
Leonard, S. A., and Poole, R. C., editors, Introducing Essays (Chicago, Scott, Foresman, 1933). See "On the Floor of the Library" [by S. Strunsky].
Locard, E., La Criminalistique, à l'Usage des Gens du Monde et des Manual Auteurs de Romans Policiers (Lyon, J. Desvigne, 1937).
Lucas, E. V., A Fronded Isle and Other Essays (London, Methuen, 1927; New York, Doubleday, Doran, 1938). See "Murder and Motives."
——— Only the Other Day . . . (London, Methuen, 1936; Philadelphia, Lippincott, 1937). See "My Murder Story."
Macgowan, K., editor, Sleuths: Twenty-Three Great Detectives of Fiction and Their Best Stories (New York, Harcourt, Brace, 1931). See Introduction and "Who's Who" accounts of detectives preceding each story.
MacLean, M. S., and Holmes, E. K., compilers, Men & Books (New York, R. R. Smith, 1930). See "Detectives in Fiction"; "The Professor and the Detective" [by M. Nicolson].
Martland, H. S. See Landmarks in Medicine.
Mason, V. W. See Houghton and Olson.
Masterman, W. S., The Wrong Letter (London, Methuen, 1926; New York, Dutton, 1926). See Preface [by G. K. Chesterton].
Matthews, B., Inquiries and Opinions (New York, Scribner, 1907). See "Poe and the Detective Story."
Meet the Detective [by several English writers] (London, Allen & Unwin, 1935). In which a number of leading craftsmen talk about their sleuths; reprints of B.B.C. broadcasts.
Messac, R., Le "Detective Novel" et l'Influence de la Pensée Scientifique (Paris, H. Champion, 1929).
Milne, A. A., By Way of Introduction (London, Methuen, 1929; New York, Dutton, 1929). See "Introducing Crime."
——— If I May (London, Methuen, 1920; New York, Dutton, 1921 ). See "The Watson Touch."
——— See also Rhode, J.
Morland, N., How to Write Detective Novels (London, Allen & Unwin, 1936).
Murder Manual: A Handbook for Mystery Writers (East San Diego, Calif., Wight House Press, 1936). Hints, chiefly for the "pulp" market.
Nash, 0., The Face Is Familiar (Boston, Little, Brown, 1940). See "Don't Guess, Let Me Tell You," the author's famous tribute to the Had-I-But-Known school, reprinted from The New Yorker.
Nicolson, M. See MacLean, M. S.
Noyes, E. S., Readings in the Modern Essay (Boston, Houghton, Mifflin, 1933). See "On Detective Novels" [by G. K. Chesterton].
Overton, G. M., American Nights Entertainment (New York and London, Appleton, 1923). See "A Breathless Chapter."
Pearson, E. L., Books in Black or Red (New York and London, Macmillan, 1923). See "With Acknowledgements to Thomas De Quincey."
Peck, H. T., Studies in Several Literatures (New York, Dodd, Mead, 1909). See "The Detective Story."
Pence, R. W., editor, Essays by Present-Day Writers (New York, Macmillan, 1924). See "On the Floor of the Library" [by S. Strunsky],
Pritchard, F. H., editor, Essays of To-day: An Anthology (Boston, Little, Brown, 1924). See "A Defense of Detective Stories" [by G. K. Chesterton].
Queen, E., editor, Challenge to the Reader: An Anthology (New York, Stokes, 1936). See Introduction and afterwords to the individual stories.
Rawson, C., Death From a Top Hat (New York, Putnam; London, Collins, 1938). See first chapter for a tongue-in-cheek critique.
Rhode, J., editor, A Detective Medley (London, Hutchinson, 1939); as Line-Up (New York, Dodd, Mead, 1940). Story anthology interspersed with essays by members of the Detection Club, including Rhode, A. A. Milne, G. K. Chesterton, J. J. Connington, R. A. Freeman ["The Art of the Detective Story"].
Roberts, K. L., For Authors Only and Other Gloomy Essays (New York, Doubleday, Doran, 1935). See "For Authors Only."
Rosenbach, A. S. W., A Book Hunter's Holiday (Boston, Houghton, Mifflin, 1936). See "The Trail of Scarlet."
Sayers, D. L., editor, Great Short Stories of Detection, Mystery, and Horror (London, Gollancz, 1928); as The Omnibus of Crime (New York, Payson & Clarke, 1929). See Introduction.
———, editor, Great Short Stories of Detection, Mystery, and Horror: Second Series (London, Gollancz, 1931); as The Second Omnibus of Crime (New York, Coward-McCann, 1932). See Introduction.
———, editor, Great Short Stories of Detection, Mystery, and Horror: Third Series (London, Gollancz, 1934); as The Third Omnibus of Crime (New York, Coward-McCann, 1935). See Introduction.
———, editor, Tales of Detection (London, Dent [Everyman's Library], 1936). See Introduction.
Seaborne, E. A., editor, The Detective in Fiction: A Posse of Eight (London, G. Bell & Sons, 1931). See Introduction.
Starrett, V., Books Alive (New York, Random House, 1940). See particularly "From Poe to Poirot."
——— The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes (New York, Macmillan, 1933; London, Nicholson, 1934).
——— editor, Fourteen Great Detective Stories (New York, Modern Library, 1928). See prefatory essay, "Of Detective Literature."
Stone, P. M. See Freeman, R. A.
Strunsky, S., Sinbad and His Friends (New York, Holt, 1921). See particularly "On the Floor of the Library."
——— See also Forbes, A. P.; Leonard, S. A.; Pence, R. W.
Thomson, H. D., Masters of Mystery: A Study of the Detective Story (London, Collins, 1931).
Van Dine, S. S., Philo Vance Murder Cases [omnibus] (London and New York, Scribner, 1936). Includes the author's "Twenty Rules for Writing Detective Stories."
Warren, D., editor, What is a Book? . . . (Boston, Houghton, Mifflin, 1935; London, Allen & Unwin, 1936). See "On Crime Fiction" [by V. Williams].
Wells, C., The Technique of the Mystery Story (Springfield, Mass., Home Correspondence School, 1913, rev. ed., 1929). See also Prefaces to her several anthologies.
White, T. M., How to Write for a Living (New York, Reynal & Hitchcock, 1937). See "The Detective Story."
Williams, V. See Warren, D.
Wright, L., editor, The Pocket Book of Great Detectives (New York, Pocket Books, 1941). See Introduction [by A. Hitchcock].
Wright, W. H., The Great Detective Stories (New York, Scribner, 1927). See Introduction.
Wrong, E. M., Crime and Detection (London and New York, Oxford University Press, 1926). See Introduction.
MATERIAL IN MAGAZINES
(American publications unless otherwise noted)
Adams, J., "The Detective-Fiction Game" (Overland Monthly, August, 1932).
Adams, J. D., "Speaking of Books—" (New York Times Book Review, March 30, 1941).
Armstrong, M. T., "The Detective Story" (Editor, May, 1906).
Baring, M., "From the Diary of Sherlock Holmes" (Eye-Witness [London], November 23, 1911; same Living Age, January 20, 1912).
Beattie, A. B., "Whet Your Wits on a Clue" (Survey, July 15, 1930).
Becker, M. L., "The Readers' Guide" (Saturday Review of Literature, November 27, 1926; March 25, 1933).
Benét, S. V., "Bigger and Better Murders" (Bookman, May, 1926).
Benét, W. R., "Here's to Crime" (Saturday Review of Literature, February 18, 1928).
Bishop, J. P., "Georges Simenon" (New Republic, March 10, 1941).
"The Blood and Thunder Yen" (Literary Digest, June 21, 1930).
Boardman, F. W. See The Pleasures of Publishing.
Books. See New York Herald Tribune "Books."
Boutell, C. B., "England's Other Crisis: How Howard Spring . . . Wrestled with Mystery Fiction" (Publishers' Weekly, April 15, 1939).
Boynton, H. W., "Adventures in Riddles" (Bookman, May, 1919).
——— "In Behalf of the Puzzle Novel" (Bookman, November, 1923).
Brisbane, P., "A Poll of Mystery Fans" (Publishers' Weekly, August 10, 1940).
——— and Carpenter, C., "Mouthpiece for Murder" (Publishers' Weekly, March 15, 1941).
Broun, H., "Sherlock Holmes and the Pygmies" (Woman's Home Companion, November, 1930).
Cahuet, A., "Les Romans Policiers au Front" (L'Illustration [Paris], March 9, 1940).
Campinchi, C., "Le Crime et le Mystère d'Edgar Poe à Geo. London" (Les Annales Politiques et Littéraires [Paris], July 15, 1931).
Carpenter, C. See Brisbane, P.
Casey, R. J., "Oh, England! Full of Sin: As Discovered by a Chronic Reader of English Detective and Mystery Stories" (Scribner's Magazine, April, 1937).
Chastaing, M., "Le Roman Policier et Vérité" (Journal de Psychologie [Paris], April-June, 1938).
Chesterton, C., "Art and the Detective" (Temple Bar [London], October, 1906; same Living Age, November 24, 1906).
Chevalley, A., "Letter From France" (Saturday Review of Literature, December 13, 1930).
"The Chinese Apathy Toward Crime Detection" Literary Digest, September 23, 1933).
"Chronicle and Comment" [on detective stories, pp. 106-107] (Bookman, October, 1900).
Colbron, G. I., "The Detective Story in Germany and Scandinavia" (Bookman, December, 1909).
Collins, H., "Stooges for Fictional Detectives" (Saturday Review of Literature, January 25, 1941).
——— "Your Literary I.Q.: Famous Detectives" (Saturday Review of Literature, November 25, 1939; June 29, 1940).
Connolly, C., "Deduction From Detectives" (New Statesman and Nation [London], December 5, 1931).
Coxe, G. H., "Starting That Mystery Book" (Writer, December, 1940).
"Crime and the Reader" (Nation, February 13, 1908).
"Crime in Current Literature" [Signed "A. C."] (Westminster Review [London], April, 1897).
"Crime in Fiction" (Blackwood's [Edinburgh], August, 1890).
"Crime Should Be Credible" (Saturday Review [London], October 8, 1932).
Cummings, J. C., "Detective Stories" (Bookman, January, 1910).
Cushing, C. P., "Who Reads These Mystery Yarns?" (Independent, April 9, 1927).
Dane, C., "The Best Detective Story in the World" (Bookman, October, 1932).
Darwin, B., "Multiple Murder" (Nation [London], August 18, 1928).
Davis, F. C., "Mysteries Plus" (Writer, October, 1940).
Denbie, R. See Waite, J. B.
"Detective Stories" (Atlantic Monthly, April, 1898).
"Detectiveness in Fiction" (Nation, August 15, 1912).
"Detectives" (Saturday Review [London], May 5, 1883).
"Detectives in Fiction: A Study of Literary Fashions" (Times Literary Supplement [London], August 12, 1926; same Living Age, September 18, 1926).
Dodd, M. E., "The Crime Club" (Saturday Review of Literature, April 28, 1928).
Edgar, G., "The Unromantic Detective" (Outlook [London], December 3, 1910; same Living Age, December 24, 1910).
Elwin, M., "The Psychology of The Thriller" (Saturday Review [London], August 26, 1933).
Ewart, S. T., "Murder in (and of) a Library" (Library World [London], November, 1937).
Farrar, J., "Have You a Detective in Your Home?" (Century, May, 1929).
Field, L. M., "Philo Vance & Co.: Benefactors" (North American Review, March, 1933).
"$5,000,000 Worth of Crime" (Publishers' Weekly, July 24, 1937).
"Fluctuat," "Sur le Roman Policier" (L'Europe Nouvelle [Paris], April 2, 1938).
Frank, W., "The Mystery Tale" (New Republic, October 13, 1936).
Freeman, R. A., "The Art of the Detective Story" (Nineteenth Century and After [London], May, 1924).
Gerould, K. F., "Men, Women, and Thrillers" (Yale Review, June, 1930).
——— "Murder for Pastime" (Saturday Review of Literature, August 3, 1935).
"A Grave Literary Crisis" (Saturday Review [London], February 22, 1930).
Gruber, F., "The Mystery Writer Can Make Money" (Publishers' Weekly, April 5, 1941).
Hankiss, J., "Littérature 'Populaire' et Roman Policier" (Revue de Littérature Comparée [Paris], July, 1928).
Hardy, A. E. G., ". . . Émile Gaboriau" (National Review [London], July, 1884).
Harwood, H. C., "The Detective Story" (Outlook [London], January 1, 1927).
——— "Holiday Homicide" (Saturday Review [London], August 17, 1929).
Haycraft, H., "Dictators, Democrats, and Detectives" (Saturday Review of Literature, October 7, 1939; same Spectator [London], November 17, 1939; translated Kort en Goed [Johannesburg], April, 1940).
Haycraft, H., "From Poe to Hammett: A Foundation List of Detective Fiction" (Wilson Library Bulletin, Feb,, 1938).
Hendricks, D., "Red Herrings Are Bad Business" (Publishers' Weekly, July 5, 1941).
Horwill, H. W., "London Letter" (New York Times Book Review, August 20, 1939; frequent discussion of the detective story in other issues).
Hutchinson, H. G., "Detective Fiction" (Quarterly Review [London], July, 1929).
Hyatt, R., "Who Done It? Detectives in Fiction" (Wilson Library Bulletin, June, 1940; additions by M. D. Brooks, October, 1940, and A. Burtch, January, 1941).
Jarrett, C., "Jane Austen and Detective Stories" (Saturday Review of Literature, December 7, 1935).
Jennings, E., "Mystery Story Solution Wanted" (Library Journal, October 15, 1931).
Johnston, C., "The Detective Story's Origin" (Harper's Weekly, February 12, 1910).
Kehl, M. M., "A Mystery Story Collection" (Library Journal, February 1, 1938).
Kellett, E. E., "Marginal Comments" (Spectator [London], February 26, 1937).
"Ketch, J.," "Selected Detective Fiction" (Scribner's Magazine, December, 1936).
Kimball, M. W. See Waite, J. B.
Knox, R. A., "10 Rules for a Good Detective Story" (Publishers' Weekly, October 5, 1929).
Kunitz, S. J., "Crime of the Century" (Wilson Library Bulletin, May, 1941).
Langenbrucher, E. and others, " 'Geistes' Blitze aus Kriminal-Romanen" (Die Buchbesprechung [Leipzig], Jahrg. 3, 1939).
Leacock, S., "The Irreducible Detective Story" (Golden Book, May, 1932).
——— "Twenty Cents Worth of Murder" (Saturday Review of Literature, July 8, 1939).
Lemmonier, L., "Edgar Poe et les Origines du Roman Policier en France" (Mercure de France [Paris], October 15, 1935).
Little, J. T., "The Mystery Story in the Hospital" (Libraries, October, 1929).
Long, J., "Guilty as Hell, But—" (The Writer, March, 1941). "A Long Way After Poe" (Nation, September 19, 1907).
"Looking Backward: Detective Stories" (Literary Review, November 24, 1923).
Loveman, A., "Clearing House: Some Scientific Detective Stories That Are Scientific" (Saturday Review of Literature, July 13, 1935).
Lucas, E. V., "The Search" (Outlook [London], September 22, 1906; same Living Age, December 8, 1906).
"Lynch, J.," "Blotter for 1939" (Saturday Review of Literature, December 30, 1939; same condensed Publishers' Weekly, January 20, 1940).
——— "Come Sweet Death" (Saturday Review of Literature, December 7, 1940).
——— "Spring Comes to Life with Death" (Saturday Review of Literature, April 5, 1941).
McCarthy, M., "Murder and Karl Marx: Class-Conscious Detective Stories" (Nation, March 25, 1936).
MacDonell, A. G., "The Present Convention of the Mystery Story" (London Mercury, December, 1930).
McElroy, C. F., "The Cliché of the Mystery Writers" (Saturday Review of Literature, January 13, 1940).
McGill, V. J., "Henry James: Master Detective" (Bookman, November, 1930).
Marcel, G., "Romans Policiers" (L'Europe Nouvelle [Paris], October 1, 1932).
Marion, D., "The Detective Novel" (Living Age, November, 1939; translated from La Nouvelle Revue Française [Paris] —date of issue not found).
Mason, A. E. W., "Detective Novels" (Nation [London], February 7, 1925).
Matthews, B., "Poe and the Detective Story" (Scribner's Magazine, September, 1907).
Maugham, W. S., "Give Me a Murder" (Saturday Evening Post, December 28, 1940).
Maurice, A. B., "The Detective in Fiction" (Bookman, May, 1902).
Mierow, C. C., "Through Seas of Blood" (Sewanee Review, January, 1933).
Millar, A. M., "The Detective in Literature" (Humberside [Manchester, England], October, 1938).
Mochrie, M., "They Make Crime Pay" (Delineator, February, 1937).
Morand, P., "Réflexions sur le Roman Detective" (Revue de Paris, Tome 2, 1934).
Morley, C., "Granules From an Hour Glass" (Saturday Review of Literature, March 10, 1928).
——— "Mystery-Detective Stories of an Earlier Vintage" (Saturday Review of Literature, January 13, 1940).
Morley, S. G. "Adjectives and Whodunits" (Saturday Review of Literature, May 3, 1941).
"Murder Market" (Time, February 28, 1938).
"Murder Most Foul: Ingenious Means of Murder Devised by Mystery Story Writers" (Readers' Digest, October, 1936).
"Mysteries in The Theatre" (Literary Digest, September 16, 1922).
"Mystery in Fiction and Real Life" (Saturday Review [London], November 28, 1885; same Critic, January 2, 1886).
Nelson, J., "Judge Lynch of the Saturday Review's 'Criminal Record'" (Publishers' Weekly, August 5, 1939).
"The New School of Murder Mystery" (Literary Digest, September 1, 1934).
"A New Thrill for Armchair Detectives: With a Crimefile of Clues . . . " (Literary Digest, October 3, 1936).
New York Herald Tribune "Books," July 16, 1933 and July 29, 1934. Two special crime-story numbers with reviews and special articles by several hands.
Nicolson, M., "The Professor and the Detective" (Atlantic Monthly, April, 1929).
"The Noble Art of Mystery" (Nation, September 4, 1927).
O'Faoláin, S., "Give Us Back Bill Sykes" (Spectator [London], February 15, 1935).
"On the Floor of His Library" [by S. Strunsky?] (Nation, October 15, 1916).
"On Intellectual Thrillers" (Bookman, March, 1933).
O'Neill, D., "Too Many Murders" (Saturday Review of Literature, February 11, 1939).
O'Riordan, C., "Vicious Circle" (New Statesman [London], June 28, 1930).
Orr, C., "Miss Clink and Mr. Crump Talk Mysteries" (Publishers' Weekly, July 20, 1929).
Osborne, E. A., "Collecting Detective Fiction" (Bookman [London], February, 1932).
Page, C. H., "Poe in France" (Nation, January 14, 1909).
"The Passing of the Detective in Literature" (Academy [London], December 30, 1905; same Living Age, February 17, 1906).
Paul, E., "Whodunit" (Atlantic Monthly, July, 1941).
Pearson, E., "Perfect Murder" (Scribner's Magazine, July, 1937).
——— "Spring Three One Hundred" (Outlook, August 3, 1927).
——— See also Walbridge, E. F.
Philmore, R. and Yudkin, J., "Inquest on Detective Stories" (Discovery [London], April, September, 1938).
The Pleasures of Publishing, April 14, 1941 (New York, Columbia University Press). A survey of the preferences and prejudices of several hundred detective story addicts, conducted and compiled by F. W. Boardman, Jr.; same condensed Publishers' Weekly, April 26, 1941.
Portugal, E., "Death to the Detectives" (Bookman [London], April, 1933).
Powys, J. C., "Crime Wave in Fiction" (World Today [London], September, 1929).
Priestley, J. B., "On Holiday With the Bodies" (Saturday Review [London], July 3, 1926).
"Printed Murder is Valued at $5,000,000 a Year" (News-Week, June 19, 1937).
"Quincunx," "In General: The Cult of Detective Stories" (Saturday Review [London], December 6, 1930).
"Quiz, Q.," "Mental Holidays" (Christian Century, July 25, 1934).
——— "A Resolution and a Protest" (Christian Century, February 8, 1939).
"Read 'Em and Creep" (Publishers' Weekly, July 20, 1929).
Reeve, A. B., "In Defense of the Detective Story" (Independent, July 10, 1913; same condensed Literary Digest, August 2, 1913).
Rendall, V., "Reply" [to J. B. Priestley, supra] (Saturday Review [London], July 10, 1926).
Rhodes, H. T. F., "The Detective in Fiction—and in Fact" (Cornhill Magazine [London], January, 1938).
Rinehart, M. R., "The Repute of the Crime Story" (Publishers' Weekly, July 20, 1929).
Robbins, L. H., "They Get Away With Murder" (New York Times Magazine, November 17, 1940).
Roberts, D. M., " 'The Red-Headed League' and 'The Rue Morgue' " (Scholastic, February 26, 1938).
Roberts, K. L., "For Authors Only" (Saturday Evening Post, September 24, 1932).
Rodell, M. F., "Murder for Rent, Murder for Sale" (Publishers' Weekly, February 15, 1941).
Rogers, C., "We Dare You to Read the First Three Pages" (World's Work, January, 1925).
Rosenbach, A. S. W., "The Trail of Scarlet" (Saturday Evening Post, October 1, 1932).
Rutledge, W. A., "Detective Fiction" (The Quill, May, 1941).
Rutter, F., "Detectives in Fiction" (Bookman [London], July, 1925).
Sayers, D. L., "Aristotle on Detective Fiction" (English [London], Vol. I, No. 1, 1936).
——— "The Present Status of the Mystery Story" (London Mercury, November, 1930).
——— "The Sport of Noble Minds" (Saturday Review of Literature, August 3, 1929).
"A School of Detective Yarns Needed" (Literary Digest, September 23, 1922).
Scott-James, R. A., "Detective Novels" (London Mercury, February, 1939).
Seagle, W., "Murder, Karl Marx, and McCarthy: A Reply to M. McCarthy" [supra] (Nation, April 15, 1936).
Seldes, G., "Diplomat's Delight" (Bookman, September, 1927).
———"Van Dine and His Public" (New Republic, June 19, 1929).
"Sherlock Holmes and After" (Saturday Review of Literature, July 19, 1930).
"Shifting the Apology" (Saturday Review of Literature, September 11, 1926).
Simpson, H., "Down Among the Dead Men" (Bookman [London], December, 1924).
Sparrell, A., "Fiction and Cookery: An Interview With Carolyn Wells" (Christian Science Monitor Magazine, October 21, 1939).
Sprague, P. W., "A Plea for Mystery Relief" (Atlantic Monthly, June, 1933).
Steel, K., "A Literary Crisis" [reply to "Quiz, Q.," supra] (Christian Century, May 17, 1939).
Steeves, H. R., "A Sober Word on the Detective Story" (Harper's, April, 1941).
Stern, P. V. D., "The Case of the Corpse in the Blind Alley" (Virginia Quarterly Review, Spring, 1941).
Stevenson, B. E., "Supreme Moments in Detective Fiction" (Bookman, March, 1913).
Stolper, B. J. R., "Who Done It?" (Scholastic, October 22, 1938).
Stone, P. M., "An American View of English Detective Fiction" (Bookman [London], July, 1932).
——— "Contemporary Detective Fiction" (Reading and Collecting, July, August, September, 1937).
———"Long Life—To Some Detectives: A Reply to E. Portugal" [Supra] (Bookman [London], June, 1933).
Stout, R., "Watson Was a Woman" (Saturday Review of Literature, March 1, 1941).
——— "We Mystery Writers Don't Kid Ourselves" (Publishers' Weekly, December 28, 1940).
Strachey, E. St. J., "The Golden Age of English Detection" (Saturday Review of Literature, January 7, 1939).
Taylor, F. S., "The Crux of a Murder" (Spectator [London], April 9, 1937); same as "Corpus Delicti: Secret Disposal of the Body" (Living Age, July, 1937).
Taylor, I. S., "Just Mysteries—and Proud of It" (Publishers' Weekly, February 22, 1941).
"Throw Out the Detective" (Saturday Review of Literature, December 1, 1928).
Tiffany, H. R., "Pacifying the Public with Mysteries" (Publishers' Weekly, August 24, 1935).
"Too Many Corpses in Detective Fiction" (Literary Digest, February 27, 1932).
Ullman, A. G., "Making Crime Pay" (Publishers' Weekly, July 7, 1934).
——— "Servicing the Mystery Fan" (Publishers' Weekly, August 18, 1934).
"The Ultimate Source of Sherlock Holmes" (Bookman, April, 1908).
Van Dine, S. S., "I Used to be a Highbrow But Look at Me Now" (American Magazine, September, 1928).
———See also Waite, J. B.
Very, P., "Murder on Parnassus: The Literature of the Future" (Living Age, April, 1935).
"Voracious Readers' Swiftly Changing Tastes Keep Publishers on the Jump" (Literary Digest, January 2, 1937).
Waite, J. B., "If Judges Wrote Detective Stories" [with reply by R. Denbie] (Scribner's, April, 1934).
Waite, J. B., and Kimball, M. W., "A Lawyer and a Mystery Writer Trade Blows" (Bookman, August, 1929; same condensed Literary Digest, October 26, 1929 [together with reply by S. S. Van Dine]).
Walbridge, E. F., and Pearson, E. L., "Who Killed Cock Robin?" (New York Libraries, May, 1931).
Wallace, E., "The Mystery Story Today and Yesterday" (Bookman [London], December, 1929).
Ward, C., "The Pink Murder Case by S. S. Veendam" (Saturday Review of Literature, November 2, 1929).
Weber, W. C., "Murder Will Out" (Saturday Review of Literature, August 15, September 24, 1932; February 25, 1933).
——— "A Survey of Sleuths" (Publishers' Weekly, January 30, 1937).
——— "Thrillers" (Saturday Review of Literature, June 18, 1932).
Wells, C., "The Detective Story's Place in Literature" (World Review, January 21, 1929).
Wells, W. H., "New Blood Whets More Customers' Appetites for Murder" (Publishers' Weekly, August 13, 1938).
"What the Lure of the Detective Story?" (Literary Digest, January 24, 1931).
Whipple, L., "Nirvana for Two Dollars" (Survey, May 1, 1929).
Williams, H. L., "The Germ of the Detective Novel" (Book-Buyer, November, 1900).
Williams, V., "Detective Fiction" (Bookman, July, 1928).
——— "The Detective in Fiction" (Fortnightly Review [London], September, 1930).
——— "Gaboriau: Father of the Detective Novel" (National Review [London], December, 1923).
——— "Putting the Shocks into Shockers" (Bookman, November, 1927).
Wilson, A. D., "Crime and the Stage" (Spectator [London], September 10, 1936).
Wimsatt, W. K., Jr., "Poe and the Mystery of Mary Rogers" (Publications of the Modern Language Association of America, March, 1941).
Wodehouse, P. G., "About These Mysteries" (Saturday Evening Post, May 25, 1929).
Woods, K. P., "Renaissance of Wonder" (Bookman, December, 1899).
Woollcott, A., "The President's Crime Shelf" (Cosmopolitan, April, 1941; same condensed Readers' Digest, April, 1941).
Wright, L., "Murder for Profit" (Publishers' Weekly, April 10, 1937).
——— "Mysteries Are Books" (Publishers' Weekly, January 25, 1941).
Wright, W. H., "The Detective Novel" (Scribner's Magazine, November, 1926).
——— "How I Got Away with Murder" (Readers' Digest, July, 1936).
Wyndham, H., "The Lure of the Crime Book" (Saturday Review [London], July 8, 1933).