Meny

Theme article

History of crime fiction

By: Johan Wopenka

Depending upon how one wishes to define the concept ‘crime fiction’, it is possible to trace its history and roots back in time. When Dorothy L. Sayers compiled her comprehensive three-volume anthology Great Short Stories of Detection, Mystery and Horror (1928–34) she started with two stories from the Old Testament, and when Frederic Dannay and Manfred B. Lee (alias Ellery Queen) wrote their fundamental The Detective Short Story : A Bibliography (1942), they listed eight Chinese collections of short stories which are believed to have been written down between 600 A.D. and 1800 A.D., some of them containing stories based on an older, oral tradition.

Further reading

Literary figure

Lew Archer

Gender: Male

He began his careers within the police, but he was too honest for his job, so he became a private investigator in Los Angeles instead. Ross Macdonald’s sympathetic, intelligent and sensitive protagonist, Lew Archer, is one of the best-known characters within the hard-boiled crime genre. He often helps young people that have got into trouble, and he engages in cultural activities in his spare time.

Further reading