Edited by Rebecca Martin, Professor of English at Pace University, this collection, part of the Critical Insights series, examines the richness of the field of crime writing and the many ways in which crime, its depiction, and its investigation cross narrative, national, and other boundaries. Readers will appreciate familiar authors in the genre, such as Arthur Conan Doyle and Raymond Chandler, as well as important new additions, most prominently represented by Steig Larrson’s The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. This volume will explore the reasons for crime writing’s popularity and persistence offered by scholars, critics, and readers in the last two or three hundred years, and challenge long-standing assumptions as to the literary significance of crime and detective fiction. Contributors include Joseph Paul Moser, Susan Elizabeth Sweeney, Malcah Effron, and Sara Karrhom. In addition, supplemental materials include a list of literary works not mentioned in the book and a bibliography of critical sources for further study into the genre.