Edward Everett Root Publishers Co. Ltd.

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EER

​About this book

This invaluable study and analysis remains the most important standard
survey in its field. The work has never been eclipsed.

It sets out the fundamental incremental points about the evolution of
the detective story and genre, and its literary landmarks from the 18th to
the 20th centuries.

The pioneering author was very widely read, and she explored paths
that had been virtually unexplored from the emergence of a distinct type of
work in the 19th century. She comprehensively and insightfully deployed
evidence from Britain, America, and several continental languages, with
her detailed bibliography offering extensive additional guidance.
The work sustains interest across a vast field of detection and
deduction. It examines the specific historical and literary steps which
led to the modern detective story.

It also offers superb detailed studiesof key authors including the pioneering William Godwin, the author ofCaleb Williams: or Things as They Are (1794), Alexandre Dumas, JamesFenimore Cooper, Eúgene Sue, Edward Lytton Bulmer, Edgar Allan Poe,
Honore de Balzac, Sherlock Holmes, the innovative and extensively
infl uential French professional detectives and authors, and especially the
major women authors in the 19th and 20th centuries from Mrs. Ann
Radcliffe to the modern era.

Reviews

“There is a good deal to praise in the book…lively and original.”
– Julian Symons
“A must for all who are interested in the detective story.”
– Books of the Month
“Full of fascinating lore.” – Books and Bookman

The Development of the Detective Novel

Alma Elizabeth Murch 

Third edition, with major new introduction by John Spiers

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ISBN 9781915115850 Hardback    £60.00

​ISBN 9781915115867 Paperback  £29.99

​216 x 140 mm. 336 pp.

Available September 2026