Killer Books

by Jean Swanson, James Dean

Winner of the Agatha Award for Best Mystery Nonfiction, By a Woman's Hand was "a tour de force of a reference source on contemporary women mystery writers" (Nancy Pickard). Now Jean Swanson and Dean James have written a mystery guide with even broader appeal--by reflecting current trends in film, television, and mainstream fiction.Killer Books is the perfect guide for discovering favorite mystery writers based upon readers' personal preferences. For instance: If you liked the movies The Silence of the Lambs or The Usual Suspects, or TV's "The X-Files"TM"" or "Murder, She Wrote", this cross-referenced sourcebook will guide you to the types of writers and books you'd most enjoy. Brilliantly organized and indexed, with complete descriptions, author profiles and awards, Killer Books is the mystery guide that lets you navigate the maze of mystery--and find the books that you'll like best.

Includes special sections on:

- cops

- private eyes

-legal thrillers

- psychological suspense

- historical mysteries

- romantic suspense

- capers and criminals

- amateur sleuths

- reporters, writers, filmmakers

- sci-fi/horror mysteries

- and more.

Genres: Reference, Nonfiction

358 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published April 1, 1998

Reviews

[William · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love a good Mystery? Need to find a good Mystery? This compendium of Whodunnit is what you need. listed by Story type, each section lists authors in alphabetical order. this book came out in 1998, so newer authors and series will be lacking, but there is much to discover, none the less.

[Linda · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is really a reference book that lists pages and pages of mystery authors with a short synopsis of pseudonym(s), the series, and main character(s). Sometimes the authors includes comments about the writing and the availability of the books.
I can't imagine how this book was put together. Did the two authors read every book of every series by every author in this book or did they find others who read some and got their feedback? It is not the ultimate reference, there were 3 authors that I looked for. Two were not mentioned at all and the third was simply named with others under a "look for more like this" posting at the end of a chapter.
The biggest problem with this book is that the only edition is now 15 years old, therefore missing newer mystery writers such as Alan Bradley, Sara J. Henry, and Chris Pavone (to name a few).
All in all I wouldn't mind having this on my shelf.

[Grey853 · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was a little disappointed with this resource book. It's a list of various mytery writers based on subgenres like cops, amateur detectives, ect. It's very basic. I wanted more detail about each of the authors' work. I wanted a list with possible summaries.

This would be a good starting point, but I just wanted more.

[Andrea · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an excellent resource for mystery/thriller/crime fiction readers. Everything from medical thrillers to cozies to police procedurals to amatuer sleuths is covered here. I have found many great new (to me) reads thanks to this book. I highly recommend it.

[Jane Davis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great reference in a chatty style. You find yourself referencing and cross-referencing authors. There is an index of characters at the back of the book. The authors also wrote The Dick Francis Companion.

[Kristina · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some great background into the different subgenres in mystery. Great reference for anyone looking into mysteries.