GREAT BRITISH FICTIONAL DETECTIVES

In the A-Z section of this encyclopaedia of British detective fiction are write-ups on around 450 fictional 'tecs, from the earliest to current favourites on page, stage, TV and screen – a far more detailed guide than you will find elsewhere, not only of the famous names (Sherlock Homes, John Rebus, Inspector Morse) but also of many equally fascinating but less well-known detectives. Wrapped around this encyclopaedic centre are articles and listings of top books, TV shows, genres and fascinating facts.

Fascinating? Well, how many detectives can you name? Can you name the book with the first woman detective, the first nurse detective, a blind detective, two Edwardian cycling detectives, the first transsexual sleuth and the dog that accompanied Valerie Drew? Do you remember Z-Cars on TV? Here in these pages you'll find not only the best-known TV detectives of today and yesterday but old favourites you thought you had forgotten. Older readers will remember Superintendent Lockhart — but what was the name of the programme? Anyone who watches TV today will know Morse and Rebus, but who were the starring actors in Life on Mars and Mind to Kill?

It’s all here. The A to Z section lists well over 400 detectives, some of whom have only a line or two while the more interesting sleuths have several pages each. You’ll also find quotes from books, lots of pictures and a wealth of inside information about detectives and crime fiction.

GREAT BRITISH FICTIONAL DETECTIVES
by
Russell James

published by Remember When
(an imprint of Pen & Sword)

Recommended price £19.99
(though check for lower on the net!)

"A meticulously researched book" - Gwen Moffatt, author of the Miss Pink series.

"The eclectic coverage is one of the great merits of this appealing book. The illustrations are a real plus, and there are plenty of lists of selected sidekicks, TV detectives and so on...A fascinating book to dip into, crammed with information and lavishly illustrated." - Martin Edwards, author of the Harry Devlin series.

"A splendid encyclopedia...Every page contains a gem of some sort." - Peter Lovesey, Cartier Diamond Dagger winner of the Sergeant Cribb series.

ISBN 978 1844 680269

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You can order a copy of GREAT BRITISH FICTIONAL DETECTIVES direct from the publisher, by clicking here.

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Though the main part of this book is its mammoth A-Z of over 400 detectives, you’ll be intrigued by its supporting sections – including:

** Why We Love Detective Stories

** Also Known As — Crime Writers’ Pseudonyms

** Barriers of Class

** Cinema: Some Films with a Strong Detective Element

** Day Jobs of the Amateur Detective

** The First Detectives

** Into the Golden Age

** The Golden Age — Its Legacy

** The Holmes Legacy

** Inverted Mysteries

** The Joy Of Puzzles

** Laugh Lines

** Mystery Magazines

** Olden Time Detectives

** The Procedural Detective

** The Rules of the Game

** The Scientific Detective

** Sidekicks

** TV Detectives

** The Undead

** Village Mysteries, and Cosies

** Zonation — A Timeline of Detection

2 of these sections can be sampled below:

** Day Jobs of the Amateur Detective

Where did amateur detectives really earn their money? Some were toffs, and didn’t need to worry (too much) about where the next meal was coming from, and some had a sufficiently full casebook to live on their sleuthing earnings, but many of our amateur detectives needed a day job. Here are some of them.

Detective (and author)	Where the money came from:
Johnny Ace (Ron Ellis)	Disc Jockey
Robert Amiss (Ruth D Edwards)	Civil Servant
Jonathan Argyll (Iain Pears)	Art dealer
Bertie (Peter Lovesey)	Prince of Wales
Mrs Bradley (Gladys Mitchell)	Consultant psychiatrist at the Home Office
Theodora Braithwaite (D M Greenwood)	Deaconess
Nell Bray (Gillian Linscott)	Suffragette
Miles Bredon (Ronald Knox)	Investigator (Indescribable Life Insurance Co)
Father Brown (G K Chesterton)	Roman Catholic Priest
Keith Calder (Gerald Hammond)	Gunsmith
Albert Campion (Margery Allingham)	Gentleman of leisure (possibly of royal blood)
Canaletto (Janet Laurence)	Artist
Melissa Craig (Betty Rowlands)	Crime novelist
Auguste Didier (Amy Myers)	Master chef
Montague Egg (D L Sayers)	Commercial Traveller
Dr Gideon Fell (J D Carr)	Lexicographer & historian
Gervase Fen (Edmund Crispin)	Oxford Professor of English & clumsy motorist
Flash the Alsatian (John W Bobin)	Dog
Reginald Fortune (H C Bailey)	Pathologist
Antony Gillingham (A A Milne)	Gentleman of leisure
Lindsay Gordon (Val McDermid)	Noisy journalist
Francis Hancock (Barbara Nadel)	Anglo-Indian undertaker
Dido Hoare (Marianne MacDonald)	Antiquarian book dealer
Mr Jellipot (Sydney Fowler)	Solicitor
Arnold Landon (Roy Lewis)	Archaeologist
Lovejoy (Jonathan Gash)	Antiques dealer
Miss Jane Marple (Agatha Christie)	Spinster
Peter Maxwell (M J Trow)	Teacher
Phyllida Moon (Eileen Dewhurst)	Actress
Charles Paris (Simon Brett)	Heavy drinking actor
Francis Pettigrew (Cyril Hare)	Barrister
Miss Pink (Gwen Moffat)	Mountaineer
Dr Priestley (John Rhode)	Mathematician and scientist
Mr Pringle (Nancy Livinston)	Tax inspector
Roger Sheringham (Anthony Berkeley)	Novelist
Tim Simpson (John Malcolm)	Antiques expert
Nigel Strangeways (Nicholas Blake)	Journalist and poet
Dr Thorndyke (R Austin Freeman)	Medical Jurist and amateur scientist of note
Ludovic Travers (Christopher Bush)	Gentleman of leisure
Mark Treasure (David Williams)	Merchant Banker
Philip Trent (E C Bailey)	Artist
Merrily Watkins (Phil Rickman)	Deliverance Consultant
Lord Peter Wimsey (D L Sayers)	Gentleman of leisure
David Wintringham (Josephine Bell)	Doctor

** Olden Time Detectives

Old Times have come upon us fairly recently. A hundred years ago a reader would struggle to find any mysteries set in ancient times, but over the last two decades that tiny sub-genre has become a substantial movement on its own. One of the first — certainly one of the first historical crime novels of note — came from the Queen of Crime, Agatha Christie, who in 1944 set Death Comes As The End in ancient Egypt. (Her husband was an archaeologist.) In 1959 Josephine Tey re-examined the mystery of the Princes in the Tower in her fine novel, The Daughter of Time, into which she incorporated her twentieth century hero Inspector Grant. (He was ill in bed, looking at history for relief.) But the kick-start came in 1977 when Ellis Peters brought out her first Cadfael story, A Morbid Taste for Bones. Here was a detective novel that broke a fundamental tenet of crime-writing: it was old hat. (One of the attractions of the genre for many readers is that detective stories are bang up-to-date and set in a world they recognise.) Cadfael wasn’t even a detective; he was an amateur who wasn’t a toff. He was a monk! How on earth could a medieval monk be a detective?

That, of course, was his appeal. The first book, intended by Peters as a one-off, was swiftly followed with a new title almost every year. The series was, and still is, one of the most successful series in detective fiction, both in book form and on TV (twelve 90-minute dramas). Success bred imitation: the history-mystery fan today is spoilt for choice, especially if their taste is medieval. For those interested in other eras, there is hardly a period in history which does not have its sleuth:

Period	Detective	Author
Ancient Rome	Falco	Lindsey Davis
7th century	Sister Fidelma	Peter Tremayne
Medieval	Owen Archer, Brother Athelstan, Matthew Bartholomew, Brother Cadfael, Hugh Corbett, Crowner John, Gill Cunningham, Delchard & Brett, William Falconer, Sir Baldwin de Furnshill, Abbess Helwist, Sir Geoffrey Mappestone, Simon Puttock, Roger the Chapman	Candace Robb Paul Harding Susanna Gregory Ellis Peters Paul Doherty Bernard Knight Pat McIntosh Edward Marston Ian Morson Michael Jecks Alys Clare Simon Beaufort Michael Jecks Kate Sedley
Tudor & Elizabethan	Simon Ames, Ursula Blanchard, Nicholas Bracewell, Sir Robert Carey, Simon Forman, Sir Roger Shallot, Matthew Shardlake	Patricia Finney Fiona Buckley Edward Marston P F Chisholm Judith Cook Michael Clynes C J Sansom
17th century	Thomas Challoner, Christopher Redmayne	Susanna Gregory Edward Marston
18th century	Canaletto, John Rawlings	Janet Laurence Deryn Lake
Early 19th century	Roger Brook, Martin Jerrold, The Scarlet Pimpernel	Dennis Wheatley Edwin Thomas Baroness Orczy
Victorian	Robert Colbeck, Sergeant Cribb, Jeremy Faro, Thorpe Hazell, Elizabeth Martin, Rose McQuinn, William Monk, Thomas Pitt, Sergeant Verity	Edward Marston Peter Lovesey Alanna Knight V L Whitechurch Ann Granger Alanna Knight Anne Perry Anne Perry Francis Selwyn
Edwardian	Bertie, Nell Bray, Inspector Brunt, Auguste Didier, George Dillman, Solar Pons, Lord Francis Powerscourt, Joe Sandilands, Mamur Zapt	Peter Lovesey Gillian Linscott John Buxton Hilton Amy Myers Conrad Allen Basil Copper David Dickinson Barbara Cleverly Michael Pearce
Between the wars	Corinth & Brown, Bernie Gunther, Merlin Richards, Miss Seeton	David Roberts Philip Kerr Keith Miles Hamilton Crane
Second World War	Francis Hancock	Barbara Nadel
1940s & 1950s	Inspector Thornhill	Andrew Taylor

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