Photo: Louis Monier/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images (1999)
Sample of authors
Crumley, James
The American author and teacher James Arthur Crumley never reached bestseller status. However, he was instrumental in the development of hardboiled crime fiction from the 1970s onwards.
Crumley was born at Three Rivers, southern Texas. His father was an oil field foreman and his mother a waitress. The family was poor; his mother forced her son to attend church, but she never went herself since...
Literary figures
Reginald Wexford
Gender: Male
Inspector Reginald “Reg” Wexford, who operates in the fictional town of Kingsmarkham in Sussex, was a traditional detective when Ruth Rendell first introduced him. He is overweight and has a foul temper, which leads to conflicts with his superiors, but he has a pleasant and understanding family. Wexford has become more tolerant over the years and has developed into a major authority on human cha...