Book cover of Murder for Pleasure: The Life and Times of the Detective Story

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"Genuinely fascinating reading."—The New York Times Book Review
"Diverting and patently authoritative."—The New Yorker
"Grand and fascinating … a history, a compendium and a critical study all in one, and all first rate."—Rex Stout
"A landmark … a brilliant study written with charm and authority."—Ellery Queen
"This book is of…

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1 author picked Murder for Pleasure as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Haycraft was an American commentator and this survey of the history of crime writing up to the Second World War is soundly written and sympathetic. Interestingly, he believed that the locked room puzzle was played out and that authors should avoid it, whereas this type of mystery has enjoyed a significant revival in recent years. Predicting how crime writing will evolve in the future is fraught with danger! Inevitably, Haycraft’s focus was mainly on American and British crime fiction. The limited number of translated mysteries in those days meant that the global reach of crime writing, and the achievements of…

If you love Murder for Pleasure...

Book cover of December on 5C4

December on 5C4 by Adam Strassberg,

Magical realism meets the magic of Christmas in this mix of Jewish, New Testament, and Santa stories–all reenacted in an urban psychiatric hospital!

On locked ward 5C4, Josh, a patient with many similarities to Jesus, is hospitalized concurrently with Nick, a patient with many similarities to Santa. The two argue…

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