This is a history of the development of detective fiction with illustrations of favourite scenes, characters and international editions of the books. Throughout, special features add enlightenment, classic puzzles are analyzed and women private eyes are celebrated. The afterlife of popular characters is revealed and the "Ten Commandments" for the detective story 1920s-style are defined. Bean-shooters, gats, heats, heaters, rods and roscoes are all explained in the dictionary. A world round-up of current crime novels testifies to the continuing appeal of the genre in its many forms.