Reference and Research Guide to Mystery and Detective Fiction Second Edition

This new edition of Bleiler's popular and award-winning guide is a superb reference and research tool, as well as an invaluable aid to collection development. Evaluative reviews of approximately 1,000 reference works on mystery and detective fiction provide in-depth discussions of their contents, strengths, weaknesses, and usefulness, often comparing titles to similar or competing works. Encyclopedias, biographical dictionaries, genre guides, national bibliographies, media studies, general reader's guides, web sites, and organizations are just some of the information sources covered in this thorough source. All annotations from the previous edition have been reviewed, revised, and updated; and complete critical reviews of works published since the last edition have been added, including titles released in the present year (2003). More than one third of monographic citations are new to this edition. In a feature new to this edition, Bleiler indexes reference works that provide biographical information on mystery writers, and lists the key websites on these authors. More than 2,500 bio-bibliographic citations to individual mystery writers are given-information that will be particularly useful to those researching specific authors. Organized by publication type for easy access, this work also features a detailed index, making it an essential guide for scholars, researchers, educators, readers' advisors, reference librarians, collection development specialists, and fans.

Bleiler (U. of Connecticut) provides reference citations and frequent reviews and summaries of research material related to detective and mystery fiction, greatly expanding the boundaries of the genres from that imposed in his earlier edition. He has grouped the 1117 citations into sections on such types of material as encyclopedias and dictionaries, genre and theme listings, various types of bibliographies, maps and atlases, biographies, character indexes, cataloguing guides, artist studies, calendars, directories, web resources, and current periodicals. Annotation ©2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Booknews

An annotated bibliography of reference sources for mystery and detective fiction covering primary and secondary sources, both in print and electronic formats. Each of the approximately 750 reviews, organized by type, describes what the resource contains, explains how it can be used, and evaluates its quality and how it compares to similar titles. Web sites are included where available. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

RICHARD J. BLEILER is Humanities Reference Librarian, Babbidge Library, University of Connecticut, Storrs.