This award-winning multi-volume series is dedicated to making literature and its creators better understood and more accessible to students and interested readers, while satisfying the standards of librarians, teachers and scholars. Dictionary of Literary Biography provides reliable information in an easily comprehensible format, while placing writers in the larger perspective of literary history. Dictionary of Literary Biography systematically presents career biographies and criticism of writers from all eras and all genres through volumes dedicated to specific types of literature and time periods. For a listing of Dictionary of Literary Biography volumes sorted by genre 01
Writers covered: Lawrence Block Howard Browne James Lee Burke W. R. Burnett James M. Cain Raymond Chandler James Crumley Carroll John Daly Thomas B. Dewey Davis Dresser (Brett Halliday) James Ellroy Loren D. Estleman Steve Fisher William Campbell Gault David Goodis Joe Gores Sue Grafton Dashiell Hammett Joseph Hansen Chester Himes Ed Lacy Elmore Leonard Kenneth Millar (Ross Macdonald) Marcia Muller Frederick Nebel Bill Pronzini Mickey Spillane Jim Thompson Raoul Whitfield Charles Willeford Cornell Woolrich
Each author written by a different scholar, cover life and analysis of major works (including magazine articles) by each author. Very informative and I've picked up a few new authors to read. You may be able to find this at your local library, more likely at a university library.