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
Elma Craggs
Gender: Female
One of the most original problem-solvers in crime literature is Mrs Elma Craggs. She is a cockney and a widow, and has a strenuous and badly-paid job as a cleaning lady. This gains her admittance to various environments. She won’t tolerate any nonsense, and when crimes are committed, she carries out her own investigations with the help of the timid Mrs Millhone. H.R.F. Keating has written a n...