Bell,John, et al. “The Mystery Story” San Diego: University of California Extension Publishing, 1976. A collection of addresses, essays and lectures dealing with the history, and criticism of the genre.
Benvenuti, Stefano, and Gianni Rizzoni. “The Whodunit: An Informal History of Detective Fiction.” New York: MacMillan Publishing Co., 1948. The history and criticism of detective fiction from the bible through the modern era.
Haycraft, Howard. “The Art Of The Mystery Story: A Collection of Critical Essays.” New York: Carroll and Graf Publishers,Inc., 1947. Considered to be one of the best collections of essays on the mystery-crime-detective story.
———, “Murder for Pleasure: The Life and Times of the Detective Story.” New York: D. Appleton—Century Co., 1941. Another interesting work on the development of the detective story.
la Cour, Tage, and Harald Mogensen. “The Murder Book: An Illustrated History of the Detective Story.” London: George Allen and Unwin Ltd., 1971. A pictoral history of the detective story from Poe to the present.
Panek, Leroy Lad. “An Introduction to the Detective Story.” Bowling Green, Ohio: Bowling Green State University Popular Press, 1987. A history of the detective story that analyzes it as literature. The origins of the genre, as well as the literary and cultural forces that influenced it are discussed.
Symons, Arthur Julian. “Mortal Consequences:A History from the Detective Story to the Crime Novel.” New York: Harper Row Publishers, 1972. Presents a comprehensive history of the development of the detective and crime story.
Van Dover, J.K. “You Know My Method.” Bowling Green, Ohio: Bowling Green State University Popular Press, 1994. An interesting account of the major writers of the detective genre with consideration of the scientific method and the image of the detective.
Winks, Robin W. “The Historian As Detective.” New York: Harper and Row Publishers, 1969. A very interesting presentation of a series of essays that suggests similarities between the detective and the historian both of whom use evidence and clues to explain the human experience.
———. “Modus Operandi: An Excursion Into Detective Fiction.” Boston: David R. Godine, Publisher, 1982. A personal essay on detective fiction that covers some of the history and criticism of the genre.