Beginning detection. Before detection ; Enter the detective ; Realistic police ; Edgar Allan Poe's initiative -- Developing detection. Early English detection ; Sensation ; Gaboriau and the 1870s-1990s ; Detective apotheosis : Sherlock Holmes -- After Sherlock Holmes. Enter death ; Scientific detectives ; Ironic anti-heroes ; Low-level detection ; Women on the case -- Forming the clue-puzzle. Had they but known ; How golden was the age? ; Golden royalty : Agatha Christie ; American gold ; English variations ; Supporting cast ; Themes and explanations -- American versions. Origins and attitudes ; Hammett's initiative ; Chandler's variation ; Other American crime writers ; The crime novelists ; The 'Tough Guy' abroad -- Continuity and diversity. After the 'Golden Age' in Britain ; The private eye modernised ; Other continuities ; The psychothriller ; Police procedurals -- Diversifying gender. Towards feminist detection ; Feminist detection in America ; Feminist detection around the world ; The lesbian detective ; Male gay detection -- Diversifying race and ethnicity. Black male detection ; Black female detection ; Other ethnicities -- Diversity : postmodernity, body, city. Postmodern crime fiction ; Generic violence to city and body ; Urban collapse ; Serial killers

1. Detective and mystery stories
2. English -- History and criticism
3. Detective and mystery stories
4. American -- History and criticism
5. Crime in literature