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Publication Date: 26 April 2018
Format: Paperback
Extent: 224 pp
Our Price: £ 9.99
ISBN: 9780857301352

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Publication Date:26 April 2018
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ISBN: 9780857301369

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HISTORICAL NOIR

The Pocket Essential Guide to Fiction, Film and TV

Barry Forshaw

It's one of the most successful - and surprising - of phenomena in the entire crime fiction genre: detectives (and protodetectives) solving crimes in earlier eras. There is now an army of historical sleuths operating from the mean streets of Ancient Rome to the Cold War era of the 1950s. And this astonishingly varied offshoot of the crime genre, as well as keeping bookshop tills ringing, is winning a slew of awards, notably the prestigious CWA Historical Dagger.

Barry Forshaw, one of the UK's leading experts on crime fiction, has written a lively, wide-ranging and immensely informed history of the genre. Historical noir began in earnest with Ellis Peters' crime-solving monk Brother Cadfael in the 1970s and Umberto Eco's The Name of the Rose in 1980, and has now taken readers to virtually every era and locale in the past.

As in Nordic Noir, Euro Noir, Brit Noir and American Noir, Forshaw has produced the perfect reader's guide to a fascinating field; every major writer is considered, often through a concentration on one or two key books, and exciting new talents are highlighted.

READER REVIEWS FOR HISTORICAL NOIR

One of the great merits of Barry Forshaw's writing is its readability; another is his lively enthusiasm for the genre

Martin Edwards, Do You Write Under Your Own Name

PRESS REVIEWS FOR Historical Noir

'Most comprehensive, accessible and readable guides to noir crime fiction'
- Marcel Berlins, The Times

[read the full review]

Barry Forshaw has given us the four most comprehensive, accessible and readable guides to noir crime fiction: Brit, Nordic, Euro and American. His fifth, Historical Noir, covers crime novels (and their authors) set in ancient Greece and beyond to the 1950s. The list doesn't include authors writing about their own times, so no Arthur Conan Doyle or Wilkie Collins. But what a splendid, varied bunch Forshaw provides.

Marcel Berlins, The Times

'As one of the leading experts of crime fiction, Barry Forshaw's Historical Noir marks the most recent entry in his Noir series, tracing the history of the sub-genre of crime fiction set in the past'
- Dark Arts Journal

[read the full review]

'A very worthy addition to this great series'
- Crime Squad

[read the full review]

'The latest in the Pocket Essentials guides to crime writing, Historical Noir, is a useful and entertaining addition to the series'
- Paul Burke, Nudge

[read the full review]

And More Reviews >

'A lively, wide-ranging and immensely informed history of the genre'
- Crime Readers Association

[read the full review]

'An essential volume for the Crime and Thriller aficionado'
- Ali Karim, Shots Magazine

[read the full review]

'As always, Forshaw's books are fascinating to read and provide a handy insight into new authors to try'
- Crime Pieces

[read the full review]

'Provides an eminently readable, interesting and informative overview of this hugely popular and varied branch of crime fiction'
- Mystery People

[read the full review]

This, the fifth in the 'Noir, series, takes a wide-ranging look at 'one of the most successful... of phenomena in theentire crime fiction genre' - historical crime fiction. In just over 200 pages the reader is taken on a journey throughcrime fiction time zones from the ancient world to the 1960s and 1970s. Barry Forshaw introduces a wide selectionof authors (both well established and new) and their sleuths. Each section includes interviews with individualauthors, a selection of books, and information about TV series and films.The book provides an eminently readable, interesting and informative overview of this hugely popular and variedbranch of crime fiction. It will interest those readers who are already fans as well as the mildly curious and, indeed,the absolute beginner - they should all be aware that they are likely to end up with more books on the 'to read' list.

Mystery People

'A splendid resource'
- J Kingston Pierce, The Rap Sheet

[read the full review]

'He is the perfect guide, effortlessly taking us across time and space'
- Stav Sherez, Catholic Herald

[read the full review]