More Than the Usual Suspects

My mention here last week that I’d just completed a year’s worth of work on a crime-fiction encyclopedia project caused a number of Rap Sheet readers to ask for more information regarding that venture.

As I’ve written previously, the book is called 100 American Crime Writers and is being edited by Steven Powell, who’s also the author of another forthcoming work, Conversations with James Ellroy. 100 American Crime Writers will be brought out by British publisher Palgrave Macmillan, along with a companion book, 100 British Crime Writers, edited by Esme Miskimmin. There’s no scheduled release date yet, but Powell tells me that the manuscript is due this coming December. Given the glacial pace of academic publishing, 100 American Crime Writers might find its way to bookstores in late 2012, or some time in 2013.

Entries in this encyclopedia range from 500 words in length to 2,500 words, and have been broken up among a variety of contributors. I wrote seven of the author biographies. Below is a complete, alphabetized list of the entries, with my seven in boldface type:

1. Megan Abbott

2. Paul Auster

3. W.T. Ballard

4. Ann Bannon

5. Robert Bloch

6. Lawrence Block

7. Leigh Brackett

8. Gil Brewer

9. Fredric Brown

10. Howard Browne

11. Edward Bunker

12. James Lee Burke

13. W.R. Burnett

14. James M. Cain

15. Paul Cain

16. Truman Capote

17. John Dickson Carr

18. Vera Caspary

19. Raymond Chandler

20. Harlan Coben

21. Max Allan Collins

22. Richard Condon

23. Michael Connelly

24. Patricia Cornwell

25. Robert Crais

26. James Crumley

27. Carroll John Daly

28. Norbert Davis

29. Mignon G. Eberhardt

30. James Ellroy

31. Janet Evanovich

32. William Faulkner

33. Kenneth Fearing

34. Rudolph Fisher

35. Kinky Friedman

36. Jacques Futrelle

37. Erle Stanley Gardner

38. William Campbell Gault

39. David Goodis

40. Sue Grafton

41. Davis Grubb

42. Frank Gruber

43. Dashiell Hammett

44. Thomas Harris

45. Carl Hiaasen

46. Patricia Highsmith

47. George V. Higgins

48. Tony Hillerman

49. Chester Himes

50. Dorothy B. Hughes

51. Roy Huggins

52. Day Keane

53. Jonathan Kellerman

54. C. Daly King

55. Jonathan Latimer

56. Dennis Lehane

57. Elmore Leonard

58. Ira Levin

59. Elizabeth Linnington

60. Eleazar Lipsky

61. John Lutz

62. Ed McBain

63. Horace McCoy

64. William P. McGivern

65. John D. MacDonald

66. Ross Macdonald

67. Dan J. Marlowe

68. Margaret Millar

69. Walter Mosley

70. Marcia Muller

71. Frederick Nebel

72. Barbara Neely

73. William F. Nolan

74. Sara Paretsky

75. Robert B. Parker

76. George Pelecanos

77. Edgar Allan Poe

78. Melville Davisson Post

79. Richard S. Prather

80. Bill Pronzini

81. Ellery Queen (aka Frederick Dannay and Manfred B. Lee)

82. Arthur B. Reeve

83. Mary Roberts Rinehart

84. James Sallis

85. George S. Schuyler

86. Viola Brothers Shore

87. Iceberg Slim

88. Mickey Spillane

89. Rex Stout

90. Jim Thompson

91. Ernest Tidyman

92. Lawrence Treat

93. Joseph Wambaugh

94. Carolyn Wells

95. Donald E. Westlake

96. Raoul Whitfield

97. Charles Willeford

98. Charles Williams

99. Cornell Woolrich

100. Willard Huntington Wright (aka S.S. Van Dine)

“As I’m sure you’re aware,” writes Powell, “the hardest part about doing an anthology like this is to keep the number of authors down to 100. I’ve tried to represent a wide range of subgenres and time periods, but it is always going to disappoint some people that some names have to be excluded.” Indeed, had I been in charge, I might have dropped a few novelists--such as Truman Capote and William Faulker--who are better known for their work outside the crime-fiction realm. I might also have left out Roy Huggins, who, despite having penned a rather winning 1946 novel called The Double Take, was considerably more prominent as a TV writer and producer. And I’d have fought to fit in wordsmiths such as Thomas B. Dewey, Brett Halliday (aka Davis Dresser), Stuart M. Kaminsky, Stanley Ellin, Arthur Lyons, Martin Cruz Smith, Joseph Hansen, Linda Barnes, John Shannon, David Dodge, Robert J. Randisi, and Earl Derr Biggers. Of course, by the time I was done trying to include everybody I thought belonged into this encyclopedia, I might have had to change its title to 150 American Crime Writers.

I shall keep Rap Sheet readers apprised of the progress of this book, as it approaches its pub date. But you can also look for updates in editor Powell’s own fine blog, The Venetian Vase.

Coming on the heels of last year’s Following the Detectives: Real Locations in Crime Fiction, to which I also contributed, working on 100 American Crime Writers was not only a welcome opportunity, but a most satisfying experience, as it invited me to read or re-read stories by all of the authors I was profiling. I hope to take advantage of other such opportunities in the near future.