1001 Midnights: The Aficionado's Guide to Mystery and Detective Fiction
This bibliography includes lengthy reviews of 1001 mystery classics by every major author in the field from Edgar Allen Poe to authors first published in 1984. The book differs from the only other extensive annotated mystery bibliography, A Catalogue of Crime (1971), in that the signed 350-word annotations are longer and offer general commentaries on the author's work, extensive plot summaries, and a coded classification of book types such as comedy, private eye, etc. More complete information on mystery authors may be found in John M. Reilly's excellent Twentieth Century Crime and Mystery Writers ( LJ 10/15/80; 1985. 2d ed.). This work's place in the reference collection is primarily as a reader's adviser and plot summary book fit for both neophyte and expert. Dennis Dillon, Univ. of Texas Lib., AustinCopyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc.