The Vintage Book of Classic Crime

Michael Dibdin's omnibus guides readers through more than a century of crime writing, intended not as much to define the genre as to prove that good crime writing is good writing--a proposition to which the anthology is dedicated. A perusal of the contents of The Vintage Book of Classic Crime shows unusual juxtapositions; such familiars as Edgar Allan Poe, P.D. James, Raymond Chandler, and Barbara Vine appear alongside more literary types such as Northrop Frye, W.H. Auden, and Bertolt Brecht. Five sections comprise the collection, each with its own brief, though highly informative, Dibdin introduction.

Forget the locked room and the man with the gun. The 54 stories, essays, and book excerpts featured in this stylish and innovative collection push past the familiar conventions of crime fiction to reveal how varied, original, and subversive this genre can be.