During the 100 years from the middle of the 19th century to the 1950s, every important element of crime fiction was created. From Sherlock Holmes to James Bond, and from Edgar Allan Poe to John le Carre, this book explores the exciting cultural history behind crime fiction. In this book, crime enthusiasts can see how the famous (and sometimes infamous!) works of crime fiction were originally published and how unknown writers and illustrators were responsible for a genre that was to become one of the conerstones of popular culture. Discover how Wilkie Collins; book "The Woman in White" was inspired by meeting his future wife running away from captors; why Arthur Conan Doyle was forced to bring Sherlock Holmes back from the dead; which pair of brothers became enemies in the fight for crime fiction supremacy; and how Charlie Chan, the first Chinese-American fictional detective, came into being.