Writing the Detectives: Character and the Series Form (Elements in Crime Narratives) - Hardcover

Latimer, Elspeth

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1009502468 ISBN 13: 9781009502467

Publisher: Cambridge University Press, 2025

Synopsis

Crime fiction first emerged in the Victorian era and its series form continues to dominate the genre. Despite the prevalence of crime series, very little research has been done on how character is conceived. The Element's focus is contemporary, from the 1970s onward, and it determines the theory and conventions behind writing the detectives in these modern meganarratives. Exemplary series and a range of subgenres are analysed, thriller to cosy crime, professional investigator to amateur sleuth, embracing diversity and different gender identities. Previous examinations have tended to interpret the detective figure as either mythic or realist, but the author argues that both modes are combined in the contemporary crime series, generating a mythorealist protagonist. This creative-critical Element celebrates the vibrancy of the form and its capacity to investigate the human condition. It also considers future trends and concludes with the author's own guide to writing a crime fiction series.

Edition details

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Publication date: 2025
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1009502468
• ISBN 13: 9781009502467
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 82