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Writing the Detectives

Writing the Detectives

Writing the Detectives

Character and the Series Form
Author:
Elspeth Latimer, University of East Anglia
Published:
September 2025
Availability:
Not yet published - available from September 2025
Format:
Paperback
ISBN:
9781009502443

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c.
£17.00
GBP
Paperback
£49.99 GBP
Hardback

    Crime fiction first emerged in the Victorian era and its series form continues to dominate the genre. Despite the prevalence of crime series, very little research has been done on how character is conceived. The Element's focus is contemporary, from the 1970s onward, and it determines the theory and conventions behind writing the detectives in these modern meganarratives. Exemplary series and a range of subgenres are analysed, thriller to cosy crime, professional investigator to amateur sleuth, embracing diversity and different gender identities. Previous examinations have tended to interpret the detective figure as either mythic or realist, but the author argues that both modes are combined in the contemporary crime series, generating a mythorealist protagonist. This creative-critical Element celebrates the vibrancy of the form and its capacity to investigate the human condition. It also considers future trends and concludes with the author's own guide to writing a crime fiction series.

    Product details

    September 2025
    Paperback
    9781009502443
    75 pages
    229 × 152 mm
    Not yet published - available from September 2025

    Table of Contents

    • 1. Introduction
    • 2. Creating and curating character
    • 3. Mythorealism
    • 4. Iconically masculine?
    • 5. Character in extremis
    • 6. 'An underappreciated revolution in storytelling'
    • 7. Writing a crime fiction series
    • References.
      Author
    • Elspeth Latimer , University of East Anglia