Crime Writers

Photo: David Levenson/Getty Images (1991)

Sample of authors

McClure, James

The journalist and author James "Jim" McClure’s Scottish parents left for South Africa in 1930, and he was subsequently born in Johannesburg. The family soon moved to Pretoria and then to Pietermaritzburg in Natal. McClure was educated at Scottsville School in 1947–51, Cowan House in 1952–54 and Maritzburg College in 1955–58, all in Pietermaritzburg. He worked as a photographer between 1958 and 19...

Further reading

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 figures

Miss Jane Marple

Gender: Female

Miss Jane Marple is a kind, but stern, elderly lady detective created by Agatha Christie. She lives in the village of St. Mary Mead where the good and bad habits of her fellow villagers have made her a good judge of human character. She often able to solve the most complicated case just by listening to an account of the events. She occasionally travels at home and abroad.

Further reading