by:
Bleiler, Richard J.

Publisher:
Libraries Unlimited
Published:January 30, 2004
ISBN:1563089246
Format:Hardcover
Pages:848

Description: From Library Journal
Another outstanding guide to genre fiction from someone who has authored many (e.g., The Annotated Index to the Thrill Book), this work focuses on separately published English-language reference sources documenting and describing the primary and secondary literatures of mystery and detective fiction, such as encyclopedias, dictionaries, companions, bibliographies, indexes, directories, handbooks, and a few, highly selective web sites and electronic databases. While detective and mystery fiction may range widely, including everything from science to religious fiction, Bleiler chooses to limit the scope to the commonly understood genre, excluding works devoted to classical thrillers, adventure and espionage stories, gangster tales, historical novels, Westerns, and true-crime stories. The book is arranged in chapters by reference type and then alphabetically by reference, with each entry containing standard bibliographic information: author or editor, title, place and year of publication, publisher, pagination, series title, index, edition or revision notes, and ISBN and LC numbers. Annotations furnish descriptions of intent, organization, and content along with perceptively critical evaluations varying in length from a single short paragraph to one page. A worthwhile addition to the literature; recommended for public and academic libraries.AMarilyn Rosenthal, Nassau Community Coll. Lib., Garden City, NY
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.--This text refers to the

Hardcover edition.

Product Description:
This new edition of Bleiler's popular and award-winning guide is a superb reference and research tool, as well as an invaluable aid to collection development. Evaluative reviews of approximately 1,000 reference works on mystery and detective fiction provide in-depth discussions of their contents, strengths, weaknesses, and usefulness, often comparing titles to similar or competing works. Encyclopedias, biographical dictionaries, genre guides, national bibliographies, media studies, general reader's guides, web sites, and organizations are just some of the information sources covered in this thorough source. All annotations from the previous edition have been reviewed, revised, and updated; and complete critical reviews of works published since the last edition have been added, including titles released in the present year (2003). More than one third of monographic citations are new to this edition. In a feature new to this edition, Bleiler indexes reference works that provide biographical information on mystery writers, and lists the key websites on these authors. More than 2500 bio-bibliographic citations to individual mystery writers are given-information that will be particularly useful to those researching specific authors. Organized by publication type for easy access, this work also features a detailed index, making it an essential guide for scholars, researchers, educators, readers' advisors, reference librarians, collection development specialists, and fans.