Detective Fiction and the Ghost Story

Detective Fiction and the Ghost Story PDF Author: M. Cook
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 1137294892
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 231

Book Description
Detective Fiction and the Ghost Story is a lively series of case studies celebrating the close relationship between detective fiction and the ghost story. It features many of the most famous authors from both genres including Conan Doyle, Agatha Christie, M. R. James and Tony Hillerman.

The Treasure of Abbot Thomas

The Treasure of Abbot Thomas PDF Author: M. R. James
Publisher: CreateSpace
ISBN: 9781502733863
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 38

Book Description
Montague Rhodes James OM, MA, FBA (1 August 1862 – 12 June 1936), who used the publication name M. R. James, was an English author, medievalist scholar and provost of King's College, Cambridge (1905–1918), and of Eton College (1918–1936). He is best remembered for his ghost stories, which are regarded as among the best in the genre. James redefined the ghost story for the new century by abandoning many of the formal Gothic clichés of his predecessors and using more realistic contemporary settings. However, James's protagonists and plots tend to reflect his own antiquarian interests. Accordingly, he is known as the originator of the "antiquarian ghost story".James was born in Goodnestone Parsonage, near Dover in Kent, England, although his parents had associations with Aldeburgh in Suffolk. From the age of three (1865) until 1909 his home, if not always his residence, was at the Rectory in Great Livermere, Suffolk. This had also been the childhood home of another eminent Suffolk antiquary, "Honest Tom" Martin (1696–1771) "of Palgrave." Several of his ghost stories are set in Suffolk, including "'Oh, Whistle, and I'll Come to You, My Lad'" (Felixstowe), "A Warning to the Curious" (Aldeburgh), "Rats" and "A Vignette" (Great Livermere). He lived for many years, first as an undergraduate, then as a don and provost, at King's College, Cambridge, where he was also a member of the Pitt Club. The university provides settings for several of his tales. Apart from medieval subjects, James studied the classics and appeared very successfully in a staging of Aristophanes' play The Birds, with music by Hubert Parry. His ability as an actor was also apparent when he read his new ghost stories to friends at Christmas time.In September 1873 he arrived as a boarder at Temple Grove School, one of the leading boys' preparatory schools of the day.James is best known for his ghost stories, but his work as a medievalist scholar was prodigious and remains highly respected in scholarly circles. Indeed, the success of his stories was founded on his antiquarian talents and knowledge. His discovery of a manuscript fragment led to excavations in the ruins of the abbey at Bury St Edmunds, West Suffolk, in 1902, in which the graves of several twelfth-century abbots described by Jocelyn de Brakelond (a contemporary chronicler) were rediscovered, having been lost since the Dissolution. His 1917 edition of the Latin Lives of Saint Aethelberht, king and martyr (English Historical Review 32), remains authoritative.He catalogued many of the manuscript libraries of the Cambridge colleges. Among his other scholarly works, he wrote The Apocalypse in Art, which placed illuminated Apocalypse manuscripts into families. He also translated the New Testament Apocrypha and contributed to the Encyclopaedia Biblica (1903). His ability to wear his learning lightly is apparent in his Suffolk and Norfolk (Dent, 1930), in which a great deal of knowledge is presented in a popular and accessible form, and in Abbeys (Great Western Railway, 1925).James also achieved a great deal during his directorship of the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge (1893–1908). He managed to secure a large number of important paintings and manuscripts, including notable portraits by Titian.James was Provost of Eton College from 1918 to 1936. He died in 1936 and was buried in Eton town cemetery.

Talking About Detective Fiction

Talking About Detective Fiction PDF Author: P. D. James
Publisher: Vintage
ISBN: 0307743136
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 210

Book Description
P. D. James, the undisputed queen of mystery, gives us an intriguing, inspiring and idiosyncratic look at the genre she has spent her life perfecting. Examining mystery from top to bottom, beginning with such classics as Charles Dickens's Bleak House and Wilkie Collins's The Woman in White, and then looking at such contemporary masters as Colin Dexter and Henning Mankell, P. D. James goes right to the heart of the genre. Along the way she traces the lives and writing styles of Arthur Conan Doyle, Agatha Christie, Dashiell Hammett, and many more. Here is P.D. James discussing detective fiction as social history, explaining its stylistic components, revealing her own writing process, and commenting on the recent resurgence of detective fiction in modern culture. It is a must have for the mystery connoisseur and casual fan alike.

Ghost Detective

Ghost Detective PDF Author: Scott William Carter
Publisher: Flying Raven Press
ISBN:
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 293

Book Description


A Wee Murder in My Shop

A Wee Murder in My Shop PDF Author: Fran Stewart
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 0425270319
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 306

Book Description
FIRST IN A NEW SERIES! Hamelin, Vermont, isn’t the most likely place for bagpipes and tartan, but at Peggy Winn’s ScotShop, business is booming… While on a transatlantic hunt for some authentic wares to sell at her shop, Peggy is looking to forget her troubles by digging through the hidden treasures of the Scottish Highlands. With so many enchanting items on sale, Peggy can’t resist buying a beautiful old tartan shawl. But once she wraps it around her shoulders, she discovers that her purchase comes with a hidden fee: the specter of a fourteenth-century Scotsman. Unsure if her Highland fling was real or a product of an overactive imagination, Peggy returns home to Vermont—only to find the dead body of her ex-boyfriend on the floor of her shop. When the police chief arrests Peggy’s cousin based on some incriminating evidence, Peggy decides to ask her haunting Scottish companion to help figure out who really committed the crime—before anyone else gets kilt…

Just Desserts

Just Desserts PDF Author: R.W. Wallace
Publisher: Varden Publishing
ISBN:
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 43

Book Description
The screams reverberate through our cemetery as soon as the casket exits the church, with its large group of mourners in tow. A new arrival. Not everyone graciously comes to terms with suddenly dying and becoming a ghost. Hardly any of us, actually. Especially when the person who killed us still walks free. Just Desserts is also available in the collection Unfinished Business, Volume 1.

The Technique of the Mystery Story

The Technique of the Mystery Story PDF Author:
Publisher: Phillip Morledge
ISBN: 0955976545
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 222

Book Description


Narratives of Enclosure in Detective Fiction

Narratives of Enclosure in Detective Fiction PDF Author: M. Cook
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 0230313736
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 210

Book Description
The locked room mystery is one of the iconic creations of popular fiction. Michael Cook's critical study reveals how this archetypal form of the puzzle story has had a significant effect in shaping the immensely popular genre of detective fiction. The book includes analysis of texts from Poe to the present day.

Ghost Busting Mystery

Ghost Busting Mystery PDF Author: Daisy Pettles
Publisher: Hot Pants Press, LLC
ISBN:
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages :

Book Description
Veenie Goens and Ruby Jane Waskom would like to retire, but they lack a nest egg. In fact, they barely have a nest. They co-own a ramshackle, but cozy home, that’s overrun with quirky characters. Determined to supplement their social security, the amateur aging women sleuths, who live in the small town of Knobby Waters, Indiana, decide to go pro with their one natural talent: nosiness. They sign on as detectives with the Shady Hoosier Detective Agency, run by Harry Shades, an incompetent womanizer. Their knees aching, but their spirits high, the senior sleuths’ first crime case, the Ghost Busting Mystery, finds the lifelong friends chasing ghosts, bank robbers and hillbilly hoodlums through the barnyards of rural Indiana. Follow Ruby Jane and Veenie’s antics in the Ghost Busting Mystery, an award-winning feel-good, funny mystery voted the Best Humor Book 2019 by the Indie Reader. This is Book 1 in the humorous Shady Hoosier Detective Agency Cozy Mystery Series.

12 English Detective Stories

12 English Detective Stories PDF Author: Michael Cox
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN:
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 276

Book Description
These twelve stories provide an entertaining exploration of this extensive and fascinating corner of English popular fiction, celebrating the detective's intellectual and intuitive powers when confronted with murder, theft, and other mysteries. The main focus of this collection is from the 1890s to the 1920s, the period when the classic English detective story was at its confident and original best, but it also offers examples from earlier and later periods. Presenting a balance of classic and more unusual stories, and featuring works by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, G. K. Chesterton, Dorothy L. Sayers, and Michael Innes, this anthology will appeal to both the newcomer and aficionado of the genre.