Sample of authors
Gaboriau, Émile
While Edgar Allan Poe, the American author of short stories, is generally considered to be the father of modern crime fiction, Émile Gaboriau has been cited as the father of the crime novel. He was the first to use at least four defining elements of the genre: 1) He wrote briefly and succinctly compared to his contemporaries and his novels are driven by the crime plot. 2) His protagonists are ...
Literary figures
Melita Pargeter
Gender: Female
Mrs Melita Pargeter refuses to accept that her deceased husband was the man he was: a smart thief and fraudster. He left her a fortune and a promise from his gang to help her. She is, says author Simon Brett, a friendly, white-haired elderly lady, whose ample appearance hides a will of steel, great stubbornness and a sharp tongue – which makes her a formidable amateur detective.