P. D. James brings a lifetime of reading and writing crime fiction to bear on this personal history of the genre, from the birth of the detective story, through Wilkie Collins and Conan Doyle, to the golden age of crime and the rise of Agatha Christie, Dorothy L. Sayers, Ngaio Marsh and Margery Allingham. There is a chapter on great American crime writers such as Raymond Chandler and Dashiel Hammett, and P. D. James also discusses many of her favourite detectives, from Sherlock Holmes to Kurt Wallender.
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Book Description
A celebration of the best in crime writing through the ages from one of the world's pre-eminent crime writer.
About the Author
P. D. James was born in Oxford in 1920. She has won awards for crime writing in Britain, America, Italy and Scandinavia, including the Mystery Writers of America Grandmaster Award. She has received honorary degrees from seven British universities, was awarded an OBE in 1983 and was created a life peer in 1991. In 1997 she was elected President of the Society of Authors.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
31 of 31 people found the following review helpful
By Bluebell
TOP 50 REVIEWER
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
This is a short book comprising a series of elegantly written, inter-related essays about aspects of detective fiction by one of the best writers in this genre. The book will appeal to those who read a lot of detective fiction and will recognize many of the authors and books with pleasure as she reminds us of the books we've read and enjoyed. She has read and re-read a prodigious number of books in this category in her long life and it's interesting to learn what has influenced her own work and also about her views on authors past and present, though there is scant allusion to the authors of modern detective fiction such as Colin Dexter, Ian Rankin, Peter Lovesey or Ruth Rendell, which may reflect PD James's acknowledged reluctance to act as a reviewer/critic of her contemporaries.
Talking about Detective Fiction starts with an essay about the birth of this genre and the importance of Conon Doyle in making this kind of book popular. Much of the book concentrates on what she terms the "Golden Age" of detective fiction and the writers Agatha Christie, Dorothy L. Sayers, Margery Allingham and Ngaio Marsh figure largely. The American Golden Age also merits a chapter about the more gritty-style of Dashell Hammett and Ryamond Chandler. One of the later chapters touches on why PD James started to write detective fiction and a little about her approach to writing.
This is not an in-depth analysis of detective fiction: more a sampler of what's available, mainly from the past, and how these earlier books reflected the society of the time and influenced later writers. I enjoyed this book as not only did it remind me of books I'd read it also referred to authors from the past that I haven't read and might try.
Talking about Detective Fiction starts with an essay about the birth of this genre and the importance of Conon Doyle in making this kind of book popular. Much of the book concentrates on what she terms the "Golden Age" of detective fiction and the writers Agatha Christie, Dorothy L. Sayers, Margery Allingham and Ngaio Marsh figure largely. The American Golden Age also merits a chapter about the more gritty-style of Dashell Hammett and Ryamond Chandler. One of the later chapters touches on why PD James started to write detective fiction and a little about her approach to writing.
This is not an in-depth analysis of detective fiction: more a sampler of what's available, mainly from the past, and how these earlier books reflected the society of the time and influenced later writers. I enjoyed this book as not only did it remind me of books I'd read it also referred to authors from the past that I haven't read and might try.
11 of 11 people found the following review helpful
By Red Rivere
Format:Hardcover
P. D. James is an acknowledged giant of the detective fiction genre. Nearly ninety years of age, she now looks back over the genre she has been a part of herself for forty-five years.
"Talking about Detective Fiction" is a small, attractive volume of 160 pages (rather large print and copious white space make it even shorter than it first appears) that can be pleasurably read in an evening. James is an elegant writer and masterful essayist and people will enjoy reading her thoughts on the genre.
Those familiar with James' earlier critical writings will recognize some of the same material here, but it is pleasing to see all her thoughts gathered in one place, along with her latest ideas. James writes mostly about the so-called Golden Age of detective fiction (emphasizing the contribution of the Crime Queens Christie, Sayers, Allingham and Marsh, who get their own chapter), but she also has general chapters on the craft of detective fiction, the reasons for its appeal and its prospects for the future.
Modern and American writers get short shrift, barring the great hardboiled triumverate of Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler and Ross Macdonald, limiting the book's utility as a general survey. James also emphasizes her belief that "realism" is the superior mode for detective fiction. Like Dorothy L. Sayers, she celebrates as a model for detective fiction the nineteenth-century novel of manners. Indeed, Sayers is clearly a huge influence on James' own critical thinking (James mentions reading Gaudy Night a year after it was published and explains the great impact it had on her). Another great influence is the late crime novelist and critic Julian Symons and his landmark 1972 study, "Bloody Murder.... Read more ›
"Talking about Detective Fiction" is a small, attractive volume of 160 pages (rather large print and copious white space make it even shorter than it first appears) that can be pleasurably read in an evening. James is an elegant writer and masterful essayist and people will enjoy reading her thoughts on the genre.
Those familiar with James' earlier critical writings will recognize some of the same material here, but it is pleasing to see all her thoughts gathered in one place, along with her latest ideas. James writes mostly about the so-called Golden Age of detective fiction (emphasizing the contribution of the Crime Queens Christie, Sayers, Allingham and Marsh, who get their own chapter), but she also has general chapters on the craft of detective fiction, the reasons for its appeal and its prospects for the future.
Modern and American writers get short shrift, barring the great hardboiled triumverate of Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler and Ross Macdonald, limiting the book's utility as a general survey. James also emphasizes her belief that "realism" is the superior mode for detective fiction. Like Dorothy L. Sayers, she celebrates as a model for detective fiction the nineteenth-century novel of manners. Indeed, Sayers is clearly a huge influence on James' own critical thinking (James mentions reading Gaudy Night a year after it was published and explains the great impact it had on her). Another great influence is the late crime novelist and critic Julian Symons and his landmark 1972 study, "Bloody Murder.... Read more ›
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
This is not a book on the general history of detective fiction, but a concise narrative of P.D. James on detective fiction in the English language, written on request of the Bodleian Library. It tells you much of P.D. James and her appreciation of this genre, her favourite period being named "the Golden Age" of the English Detective novel featuring the "Four Formidable Women". This preference is no surprise, as her latest novel "The Private Patient" is written in the same fashion. If you like the novels of P.D. James, this book gives you in the same eloquent style valuable background information and a better understanding of her work. If you do not, you will most probably not agree with her judgement and point of view. Therefore a must for P.D. James fans only.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
By G. M. Sinstadt
VINE™ VOICE
Format:Hardcover
P D James in this little roam around the genre pays proper tribute to the work of others, notably Julian Symons; it is to those authors we should look for a more exhaustive survey. Ms James, in her somewhat arbitrary choice of subjects, makes valid points about the essentials of detective fiction. If one cavils here and there, it is not to deny the pleasure this volume has given but rather to provide further food for thought.
For example, her enthusiasm for Conan Doyle and Sherlock Holmes is easy to share; but Holmes' frequent dependence on esoteric knowledge (sometimes retrieved from one of his cuttings books) hardly accords with Ms James' assertion that "... the reader shpuld be able to arrive at [a solution] by logical deduction from clues inserted in the novel ..." By the same token I seem to recall that when I read Dorothy Sayers' The Nine Tailors (admittedly many years ago), I felt slightly cheated because my knowledge of campanology left me floundering.
Again, the brief diversion into the American school of hard-boiled private eyes uncontroversially cites Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler and Ross Macdonald, but it is sad to find no acknowledgment for Robert B Parker's Spenser, an authentic heir to Chandler's legacy.
There is much eulogising of the Golden Age - roughly the period between the wars - but it is only at the very end of the book that there is a nod towards the master of the locked room mystry, John Dickson Carr, who had much to do with my early addicition.... Read more ›
For example, her enthusiasm for Conan Doyle and Sherlock Holmes is easy to share; but Holmes' frequent dependence on esoteric knowledge (sometimes retrieved from one of his cuttings books) hardly accords with Ms James' assertion that "... the reader shpuld be able to arrive at [a solution] by logical deduction from clues inserted in the novel ..." By the same token I seem to recall that when I read Dorothy Sayers' The Nine Tailors (admittedly many years ago), I felt slightly cheated because my knowledge of campanology left me floundering.
Again, the brief diversion into the American school of hard-boiled private eyes uncontroversially cites Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler and Ross Macdonald, but it is sad to find no acknowledgment for Robert B Parker's Spenser, an authentic heir to Chandler's legacy.
There is much eulogising of the Golden Age - roughly the period between the wars - but it is only at the very end of the book that there is a nod towards the master of the locked room mystry, John Dickson Carr, who had much to do with my early addicition.... Read more ›
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
3.0 out of 5 stars
Decent Primer
If you are new to the history of crime fiction then this is probably a decent primer however, I found it hard work. There was nothing new in this book. Read more
Published 5 months ago by Thor Odinson
2.0 out of 5 stars
An overview of the history of the subject
I love P.D. James' novels and so I read this anticipating some real insights into writing detective fiction. Read more
Published 12 months ago by The Book Witch
5.0 out of 5 stars
Interesting and informative read
Recommended for all who enjoy detective fiction, though as the lady herself observes, a story doesn't need a detective to be detective fiction. Read more
Published 15 months ago by Tinkertoo
4.0 out of 5 stars
Listening to an expert
PD James has provided a short and very readable overview of detective fiction writing, justifying her view that the modern contributions to the genre merit being considered as... Read more
Published 16 months ago by Serendipity
4.0 out of 5 stars
Intelligent, insightful and informative
Written by one of our present day detective fiction masters, this slim volume contains a plethora of historical background, author analysis and exploration of writing methods. Read more
Published 18 months ago by David Briddock
4.0 out of 5 stars
A short enjoyable overview
In this enjoyable monograph P. D. James discusses the genre of detective fiction, from its nineteenth century origins to the present day, focusing mainly on England's inter-war... Read more
Published on 10 May 2011 by Eleanor
5.0 out of 5 stars
a gem of a book
This is an extended essay, really. Beautifully written, with wit and style. Highly recommended for anyone who takes an interest in murder and those who write about it.
Published on 2 May 2011 by J. Robins
4.0 out of 5 stars
Short but good
Short but incisive book. A gallop through the history of Detective Fiction. More like an essay or a lecture than a book but good all the same
Published on 28 Nov 2010 by W. P. WRIDE
4.0 out of 5 stars
PD James the.doyenne of British crime writing
There is no doubt that PD James is the.doyenne of British crime writing. She recently celebrated her 90th birthday and is still going strong, with her latest novel in the... Read more
Published on 12 Oct 2010 by Mr Creepy
4.0 out of 5 stars
P.D.James'Overview of Detection
This is a charming, light-hearted, witty overview of the traditional detective story, with a few very funny cartoons about the genre and its readers.
P.D. Read more
P.D. Read more
Published on 1 July 2010 by Sr A. M. House
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