DownloadThe Portobello Bookshop Gift Guide 2024

The Crossroads of Crime Writing

Unseen Structures and Uncertain Spaces

Rebecca Martin editor Meghan P Nolan editor

Format:Hardback

Publisher:Anthem Press

Published:5th Mar '24

Should be back in stock very soon

The Crossroads of Crime Writing cover

Explores the ability of crime writing to disclose the function and impact of unseen practices and boundaries, visible and invisible, on collective fears and cultural memory across time and cultures.

This volume argues that we must examine the boundaries in fiction and non-fiction crime writing with an awareness of and turn toward the unseen structures and spatial uncertainties that so often lead to and reflect collective fears and anxieties. The chapters within utilize theories of cultural memory and/or deep mapping to facilitate this process.

This volume argues that we must examine the boundaries in fiction and non-fiction crime writing with an awareness of and turn toward the unseen structures and spatial uncertainties that so often lead to and reflect collective fears and anxieties. Drawing upon the insights and expertise of an international array of scholars, the chapters within explore the interplay of the literary, historical, social, and cultural in various modes of crime writing from the 1890s to as recent as 2017. They examine unseen structures and uncertain spaces, and simultaneously provide new insights into the works of iconic authors, such as Christie, and iconic fictional figures, like Holmes, as well as underexplored subjects, including Ukrainian detective fiction of the Soviet period and crime writing by a Bengali police detective at the turn of the twentieth century. The breadth of coverage—of both time and place—is an indicator of a text in which seasoned readers, advanced students, and academics will find new perspectives on crime writing employing theories of cultural memory and deep mapping.

Journal of Modern Literature


A erudite, insightful, and thought-provoking compendium of ten original, seminal, and ground breaking studies, "The Crossroads of Crime Writing: Unseen Structures and Uncertain Spaces" is essential reading for novice and experienced crime fiction and true crime non-fiction novels and stories. [It] is unreservedly recommended as a highly prized addition to personal, professional, community, and college/university library collections and supplemental curriculum studies lists. -- Midwest

This distinctive collection investigates boundaries in crime fiction, paying attention to hidden narratives, structures, and spaces. Comprising wide-ranging essays examining topics such as ecology, politics, Black and Indian detective fiction, and true crime, Nolan and Martin’s edited volume makes a powerful contribution to the ever-diversifying field of crime fiction criticism.”— Dr. Charlotte Beyer, Senior Lecturer in English Studies, University of Gloucestershire, UK


Nolan and Martin have interestingly brought together analyses of texts likely unfamiliar to English readers and re-evaluations of ones that are overly familiar, making seen how the less visible geo-spatial and genre-spatial organizations have profound bearing on the social contributions of crime fiction.”— Dr. Malcah Effron, PhD, Lecturer II, Writing, Rhetoric, and Professional Communication Comparative Media Studies | Writing, Massachusetts Institute of Technology


A wide-ranging, multi-authored volume, this text traces the cultural memory of fear as it manifests in crime fiction in diverse spaces, times, genres, and media. Cohering around the twin concepts of unseen structures and uncertain spaces, it offers a survey of and new, critical insights into crime fiction’s capacity for mapping material spaces, historical contexts, and sociocultural constructions. For the scholar who is seeking a novel analytical approach that widens crime fiction as a rhetorical framework situated in the emerging discipline of Spatial Humanities, this is the ideal, cutting-edge text.” — Sam Naidu, Professor of Literary Studies in English, Rhodes University, South Afric

ISBN: 9781839991172

Dimensions: 229mm x 153mm x 18mm

Weight: 454g

244 pages