Murder on the Internet: Web resources for mystery and detective fiction |
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General Guides and Directories | Mystery Subgenres | Mystery Reading Lists
History and Criticism | Listservs, Cons, Zines & Stores | Print Resources
GENERAL GUIDES AND DIRECTORIES
- The ClueLass Home Page
- ClueLass is a quick way to access many mystery sites on the web through the Deadly Directory Online, which lists specialty bookstores, organizations and magazines, mystery conferences, author sites, and much more. See especially the Bloodstained Bookshelf, for a list of forthcoming books in mystery and detective fiction compiled by Dave Robeson.
- Crime Fiction Canada
- Searchable databases related to the study of detective fiction in English, in a variety of media – print, film, and television, with a particular emphasis on Canadian mysteries.
- Euro Crime: A guide to the European crime fiction scene
- European crime fiction has exploded in the last several years, with many more books from France, Italy, Scandinavia, Russia, Germany, and other countries now made available in the US and Britain. This site focuses purely on British and other European crime fiction writers that have been published in English. Includes links to news, author homepages, lists of new releases, book reviews, links, and much more.
- Gumshoes, Sleuths and Snoopers
- A crime fiction content database based on The George Kelley Paperback and Pulp Fiction Collection at the University of Buffalo. Provides an in-depth look at 185 detective and mystery novels originally published during the period 1930-1960.
- Looking for a Mystery?
- Nice overview of mysteries by era (early, Golden Age, British after WWII, American, etc.) and by topic (occupation, culinary, historical, multicultural, etc.) with other mystery-related links. Maintained by Linda Bertland, a school librarian.
- Mysteries, Detective Stories, and Crime Novels
- Handy list of lists of critic's choices, mystery awards, classics, etc. From the Booklist Center.
- The Mysterious Home Page
- An Internet guide to mystery and detective fiction, with links to author and character websites, mystery themes, newsgroups, listservs, organizations, conventions, TV and film, and much more. Now hosted by the Cluelass site.
- Mystery Guide
- Commercial site from Troutworks, featuring hundreds of mystery reviews subdivided by genre: from capers and hardboiled to classics, cozies, and thrillers. Good source for reading lists.
- Mystery Ink
- Book reviews, author interviews, recommended reading lists and reference, award lists, and more. Also home of the Gumshoe Awards.
- The Mystery Reader
- Online magazine with hundreds of book reviews by fans.
- Mystery Short Fiction
- An index to mystery short stories in mystery magazines, anthologies, and single-author collections, from 1990-2003. An update of William Contento's Index to Crime and Mystery Anthologies, G.K. Hall, 1990, now available on CD-ROM.
- Overbooked: Mystery, Suspense, Thrillers, Crime Fiction
- From one of the largest and best-known RA sites, news, reviews, and links, links, links for the mystery genre.
- Reader's Advice: Mystery Genres
- Mystery booklists in genres from academic mysteries to theater mysteries and everything in between!
- Reader's Advisory: Mysteries
- Links to general mystery sites, reviews, organizations, characters, and online communities and magazines, from the Palm Beach County Library System.
- Reviewing the Evidence
- An online mystery review magazine, particularly good on new releases.
- Stop, You're Killing Me
- Hundreds of mystery authors, with complete, chronological lists of their books. Indexed by author or series character.
- Virtual Murder: What's on the Internet for Mystery Buffs?
- A long list of mystery links: author pages, characters, bookstores and magazines, conventions and organizations, and more. From mystery author Barbara Paul. Last updated in 2004.
MYSTERY SUBGENRES
- Collins to Grisham: A Brief History of the Legal Thriller
- Good short essay outlining the history of lawyers in crime stories, from the Newgate Calendar to current favorites like Scott Turow and John Grisham. From the excellent Law in Popular Culture site at the Tarlton Law Library at the University of Texas.
- Clerical Detectives
- Introduction to mystery novels featuring sleuths with a religious or church background. Includes a list of recommendations. By Philip Grosset.
- A Fiction of Law: 100 years of legal fiction
- An overview article with references to several of the classic crime novelists who specialized in courtroom dramas and other legal fiction. See also A History of the Legal Mystery, a timeline from MysteryGuide.com.
- Genre Mysteries
- A series of articles about popular categories of mysteries, with recommendations about authors and titles. Includes medieval, academic, historical, culinary, and more. From Clues Unlimited, a mystery bookstore in Tucson, AZ.
- Hardboiled Crime
- Links to authors for those who prefer "crime novels that walk on the wild side." From Christchurch City Libraries, New Zealand.
- Locked Room Mysteries and Other Impossible Crimes
- Good overview of this niche subgenre, whose greatest proponent was John Dickson Carr. The essay includes recommended titles. From the Grobius Shortling mystery site.
- MysteryList.com: A Guide to Classic Mystery Novels and Detective Stories
- Fun site from Grobius Shortling, with his picks for the 50 best mysteries, a "desert island list" of must-haves, John Dickson Carr and the locked room syndrome, together with annotated author lists, and more. Good place to start for recommended classic mysteries.
- Soon's Historical Fiction Site
- Dedicated to historical fiction, including mysteries, this site includes contact info for the historical fiction newsgroup, lists of authors and reference sources, pseudonyms, reviews, and other resources.
- The Thrilling Detective Web Site
- Devoted to hard-boiled and noir fiction. The heart of the site is "a never-complete listing of private dicks and janes, and selected other tough guys and gals, listed by character, with all appearances in novels, short stories, film, television, radio and other media." Includes new and original stories.
MYSTERY READING LISTS
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- Archaeology in Fiction Bibliography
- Last updated in 1994, but still a great list of mysteries, science fiction, and other fiction related to archaeology and anthropology.
- Best Mysteries of the Century
- Another list, this time from Amazon.com, of 25 great mystery stories of the 20th century, from Josephine Tey's The Daughter of Time to Colin Dexter's The Wench is Dead.
- Bibliomysteries
- A great resource for mysteries relating to books, writers, archives, and libraries.
- BiblioMystery Collection at Simmons College
- Thanks to Candy Schwartz, the Graduate School of Library & Information Science at Simmons College in Boston has been collecting mysteries involving books, publishers, libraries, and librarians for several years. This l-o-o-o-n-g list consists of annotated titles in the collection with a shortlist of reference sources. Have fun.
- A Bit of Whimsey: Mysteries and Academia
- A list of academic mysteries from Western Kentucky University.
- Christmas Mystery Reading Ideas
- Get in the mood for the holidays with this list of detective and mystery fiction set at Christmas time. From MyShelf.
- Cozies: A Selective List
- Compiled by Helene Androski of the University of Wisconsin and featured on the Tangled Web (UK) mystery site and bookstore.
- Death Among the Books: Bibliomysteries for Booklovers
- Annotated list of 'booklover' mysteries, from the Manchester CT Public Library.
- Fictional World of Archives, Art Galleries and Museums
- Another long list, including mysteries, literary novels, and stories.
- Film Noir Films
- Good introduction to film noir, the innovative US crime-based 'dark' or 'black' cinema of the late '40s and '50s. (OK, these aren't books, but still fun.)
- Funny but Fatal
- A list of humorous mysteries.
- Genealogy in Fiction
- Compiled by librarians working in genealogy, this list includes mysteries, science fiction, historical fiction, and novels for children and YAs in which genealogy or genealogists play a part in the plot.
- Genre Mysteries from Clues Unlimited
- A series of booklists for popular categories of mysteries from an independent mystery store. Includes academic, historical, and culinary mysteries.
- The Golden Age of the British Detective Novel
- Another excellent bibliography by Helene Androski.
- Haycraft-Queen Cornerstones: A Definitive Library of Detective, Crime and Mystery Fiction, 1748 - 1952
- Essential list of the best and most influential writing in the mystery fiction genre, originally compiled by Howard Haycraft and updated by Ellery Queen.
- Historical Mystery Fiction
- A list of historical mysteries, subdivided by time period. This is a very popular subgenre and the list, compiled by Dean James, a well-known bibliographer in the field, is a goldmine (although not updated in some time).
- Historical Mystery Homepage
- Another list of historical mysteries, indexed alphabetically and by time period.
- Humorous Mysteries
- Recommended authors from a mystery bookseller. Includes several older authors, like Delano Ames, Margaret Scherf, and Colin Watson.
- IMBA's 100 Favorite Mysteries of the Century
- The list, minus the annotations, of the Independent Mystery Bookseller Association's choices for the top 100 mysteries. From Huang, Jim, ed., 100 Favorite Mysteries of the Century: selected by the Independent Mystery Booksellers Association, Crum Creek Press, 2000.
- Landscapes of Crime
- Articles by Dartmouth professor G.J. Demko on mysteries and crime fiction set in locales around the world. Part of his "Geography of Mystery Fiction" course.
- Legal Thrillers
- A booklist from the Salt Lake County Library System.
- Keating's 100 Best Mysteries
- H.R.F. Keating's list of his choices for the best mystery and detective fiction, derived from his book, Crime & mystery: the 100 best books, Carroll & Graf, 1988.
- Murder by Toaster: Mysteries with Surprisingly Lethal Weapons
- Mysteries, suspense novels, thrillers, and crime novels in which relatively or usually harmless items are employed as effective murder weapons. The list was compiled primarily by members of Fiction-L in January and February 2003. This list is full of spoilers, so beware! From the Waterboro ME Public Library.
- Murder They Write: 100 Masters of Crime
- Links to short bios and bibliographies of writers from Jane Adams to Margaret Yorke. From the Clare County Library, Ireland.
- Mysteries with Gay Detectives
- A list of classic and contemporary mystery authors whose works feature gay detectives. From Mahu Books.
- MystNoir
- A long list of African American authors and characters, with selected titles, reviews, trivia contests, and more.
- Springfield Library Booklists
- Browse booklists chosen by local librarians in the mystery genre and other fiction categories.
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- Crimeculture.com
- An academic site devoted to the teaching and study of crime fiction, film and graphic art.
- Classic Crime Fiction: History & Articles
- Links to several classic articles about crime and mystery fiction. The Classic Crime Fiction site also includes links to award winners, author bios, mystery lists, and more.
- Crime Fiction and Music
- Article by Philip Scowcroft, providing an introduction and overview to crime novels with a musical background. See also his article, "Music in English Detective Fiction."
- Guide to Classic Mystery and Detection
- An extended essay on the history of the mystery genre by a true fan, Michael E. Grost. Includes sections on many of the past masters of the form, especially the Golden Age authors, with reading lists.
- ID 225: Women Mystery Writers and the Rise of Feminism
- Links to information on leading women mystery writers from Anna Katherine Green to Patricia Cornwell. From a reference librarian at the University of Evansville Libraries. Includes other mystery-related links.
- "The Mysterious Romance of Murder"
- Interesting essay by David Lehman, discussing the "enduring highbrow fascination with detective stories" first published in the Boston Book Review.
- Mystery Author Interviews
- A series of transcribed interviews with a variety of mystery writers including Robert Parker, Dennis Lehane, Marcia Muller, and many, many more. From Mystery One Bookstore in Milwaukee WI.
- Mystery*File: The Crime Fiction Research Journal
- Online magazine with book reviews, author profiles, columns, articles on mystery subgenres, recommended links, and more. Great for browsing!
- Mystery Time Line
- An abbreviated history of mystery fiction, with profiles of leading authors including Poe, Doyle, Sayers, Queen, Hammett and McBain. From MysteryNet.com.
- New York Times Crime Archive
- An archive of crime and mystery fiction reviewed by Marilyn Stasio since January 1997, arranged by author.
- The Thrill of the Chase: A Survey of Collectible Crime
- Online essay by Mike Chase, outlining early crime fiction for the book collector. From Crime Time, a UK online magazine.
- Victorian Women Detectives
- A select bibliography of British novels featuring female detectives, from 1850 - 1900. Includes links to e-texts and articles.
LISTSERVS, ORGANIZATIONS, CONS, ZINES & STORES
- Crime Writers of Canada
- Homepage of the association of Canadian crime writers. Includes information on the annual Arthur Ellis Awards.
- DOROTHYL
- DorothyL is a mystery and detective fiction discussion group, named in honor of Dorothy L. Sayers, which currently has more than 1500 members, including librarians, writers, publishers, booksellers, and just plain fans. The list is available in either digest format or as individual messages. The official website includes information about subscribing to the list, FAQs, and a link to the archives.
- Mystery Events
- A list of mystery conventions and other mystery-related events from the Mysterious Homepage, with links to the individual sites. Includes the grandfather of all mystery cons, Bouchercon, a moveable feast which is headed to Toronto this year, Mid-Atlantic, a smaller, gentler con held (almost) annually in Philadelphia, Left Coast Crime, committed exclusively to venues on the West Coast, Malice Domestic, an increasingly popular convention devoted to the cozy, and many more.
- Mystery Magazines and Newsletters
- Another page from the Mysterious Homepage, listing available print publications which feature book reviews, author interviews, essays and mystery news. Highly recommended are: the Drood Review, edited by bookseller Jim Huang and Mystery Readers Journal, the quarterly thematic journal of Mystery Readers International.
- Mystery Writers of America
- Premier organization for writers and other professionals in the mystery field. Includes a database of all Edgar winners and nominees.
- Sisters in Crime
- With 3600 members in 48 chapters world-wide, this organization offers networking, advice and support to mystery authors, particularly women. Sisters in Crime was founded by Sara Paretsky and a group of women at the 1986 Bouchercon in Baltimore. PS: You don't have to be female to join. The New England Chapter also has a site: Scarlet Letters.
- Specialty Bookstores
- Independent mystery and crime fiction booksellers are a wonderful source of expert knowledge, book recommendations, and hard-to-find titles. Kate's Mystery Books, in Cambridge, has been an institution for the New England mystery lover for decades (and it's the only bookstore I've ever heard of to be hit by a bus). For more mystery bookstores, check out the Mysterious Homepage or the Deadly Directory Online search engine.
Originally presented:
WMRLS Reader's Advisory Training Workshop
Deadly Pleasures: Reading Mysteries
June 13, 2002
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