Includes bibliographical references and index

Vol. 1. Margery Allingham / Paula M. Woods -- Eric Ambler / Peter Lewis -- Robert Barnard / Jon L. Breen -- E. C. Bentley / Thomas M. Leitch -- Nicholas Blake / Thomas M. Leitch -- Lawrence Block / Charles Ardai -- Jorge Luis Borges and the Metaphysical Mystery / Michael Holquist -- John Buchan / George O'Brien -- John Dickson Carr / Michael Dirda -- The Nick Carter Stories / J. Randolph Cox -- Raymond Chandler / Joan Zseleczky -- Leslie Charteris / Burl Barer -- G. K. Chesterton / John C. Tibbetts -- Agatha Christie / David Hawkes -- Wilkie Collins / Audrey Peterson -- K. C. Constantine/ Jeffery Fraser -- Patricia Cornwell / Ellen Bleiler -- Edmund Crispin / Michael Dirda -- Freeman Wills Crofts / Melvyn Barnes -- Amanda Cross / Mary Rose Sullivan -- Carroll John Daly / Rex Burns -- Cohn Dexter / Douglas G. Greene -- Arthur Conan Doyle / Owen Dudley Edwards -- Daphne du Maurier / June M. Frazer -- Mignon G. Eberhart / LeRoy Lad Panek -- Stanley Ellin / Marvin S. Lachman -- Ian Fleming / Max Allan Collins -- Dick Francis / Rachel Schaffer -- Emile Gaboriau / Walter Albert -- Erle Stanley Gardner / William F. Nolan -- Michael Gilbert / B. A. Pike -- Sue Grafton / Jean Swanson -- Anna Katharine Green / Patricia Maida -- Graham Greene/ Brian Diemert -- Dashiell Hammett / David Geherin -- George V. Higgins / Erwin H. Ford -- Patricia Highsmith / Noel Dorman Mawer -- Evan Hunter / Dean A. Miller -- Michael Innes / George L. Scheper -- P. D. James / Dennis Porter -- Ronald A. Knox / Susan Oleksiw -- John le Carré / LynnDianne Beene -- Elmore Leonard / Edward Gorman, Robert Skinner, and Robert Gleason -- Robert Ludlum / Roy S. Goodman -- John D. MacDonald / Lewis D. Moore --

Vol. 2. Ross Macdonald / Robert F. Moss -- Helen Maclnnes / Priscilla L. Walton -- Ngaio Marsh / Bruce Harding -- Margaret Millar / Mary Jean DeMarr -- John Mortimer / Sharon Villines -- Sara Paretsky / Margaret H. Kinsman -- Robert B. Parker / Maureen Corrigan -- Edgar Allan Poe / J. Gerald Kennedy -- Ellery Queen / Francis M. Nevins -- Ruth Rendell / B. J. Rahn -- Sax Rohmer / R. E. Briney -- Dorothy L. Sayers / Robert Allen Papinchak -- Georges Simenon / George Grella -- Maj Sjowall and Per Wahloo / Nancy C. Mellerski and Robert P. Winston -- Mickey Spillane / Max Allan Collins -- Rex Stout / David R. Anderson -- Julian Symons / H. R. F. Keating -- Josephine Tey / Alexandra von Malottke Roy -- S. S. Van Dine / John Loughery -- Robert van Gulik / Wilt L. Idema -- Edgar Wallace / Richard Bleiler -- Donald E. Westlake / Lawrence Block -- Cornell Woolrich / Francis M. Nevins --

Vol. 3. Themes and Sub genres -- The armchair detective / B. J. Rahn -- Black detective fiction / Stephen Soitos -- Crime noir/ Charles L. P. Silet -- The ethnic detective: Arthur W. Upfield, Tony Hillerman, and Beyond / Ray B. Browne -- The female detective: from Nancy Drew to Sue Grafton / Maureen T. Reddy -- Gay and lesbian mystery fiction / Anthony Slide -- The historical mystery / Robin W. Winks -- The legal crime novel / Jon L. Breen -- The police procedural / Jon L. Breen -- Regionalization of the mystery and crime novel / J. K. Van Dover -- Religious mysteries / William David Spencer -- The romantic suspense mystery / Jennifer Crusie Smith -- The spy thriller / Wesley K. Wark -- Women of mystery: Helen McCloy, Doris Miles Disney, and Dorothy Salisbury Davis / Robert Allen Papinchak