"Murder Will Out": The Detective in Fiction

Sherlock Holmes, Hercule Poirot, Miss Marple, Philip Marlowe, Perry Mason, Lord Peter Wimsey, Nero Wolfe, Mr. Moto, Sam Spade, Mike Hammer, Father Brown, Nick and Nora Charles--if not the most august figures in the world of fiction, the heroes and heroines of the detective novel are certainly some of the best loved and most memorable characters ever created.
In 'Murder Will Out', T.J. Binyon follows the trail of these fictional detectives in their many guises--amateur sleuths, hard-boiled private eyes, police detectives, and an assortment of moonlighting priests, physicians, and lawyers--and provides an entertaining capsule history of the entire genre as well. He covers not only qall the old favorites, but also many forgotten gems, such as Max Carrados, a blind detective who could detect a false moustache from its "five yard aura of spirit gum," and Dr. John Thorndyke, an early successor to Sherlock Holmes, who could read Egyptian hieroglyphics and identify at a glance different species of duckweed. Binyon excells at charting the changing taste and fashion in crime-writing and the evolution of the form.
For anyone who has ever been gripped by a good crime novel, and for those who never have but are tempted, 'Murder Will Out' is a delightful guide to who did what to whom, and how.