Here’s the rest of the shelf I showed last week. I repeat, I love these kind of books.
Starting on the left,
- A Reader’s Guide to the Private Eye Novel by Gary Warren Niebuhr, G.K. Hall & Co., 1993 – for fans of the P.I. novel, this is a must.
- By A Woman’s Hand, A Guide to Mystery Fiction by Women by Jean Swanson and Dean James, Berkeley Books 1994. Who says women’s mystery fiction wasn’t recognized until recently?
- A Reader’s Guide to the American Novel Novel of Detection by Marvin Lachman, G.K. Hall & Co. 1993
Now for some Raymond Chandler books:
- Raymond Chandler Speaking by Raymond Chandler, edited by Dorothy Gardiner, Houghton Mifflin Co. (c) 1962, this edition 1977. If you haven’t read this, drop everything and read it.
- The World of Raymond Chandler edited by Miriam Gross, A&W Publishers, 1977
- The Life of Raymond Chandler by Frank MacShane, Houghton Mifflin 1976 first edition, includes some material from Raymond Chandler Speaking
and the rest:
- “G” is for Grafton, the world of Kinsey Millhone by Natalie Kaufman and Carol McGuiness, H. Holt & Co. 1997
- Murder for Pleasure, the life and times of the detective story by Howard Haycraft, (c) 1941, this edition Mercury Publications 1974. This includes the famous list.
- Crimes of the Scene, A mystery novel guide for the international traveler. by Nina King & Robin Winks, St. Martins, 1997.
Tip the Wink 
I’ve read all of the ones here about Chandler. The Haycraft was the first book about the mystery genre that I ever read (too many years ago); it was fascinating for a wide-eyed teen-aged mystery fan. I’m drooling over the other books on that shelf, Rick.
I’ve discovered, as I do these shelf shots, that I want to open the books and spend time with them.
The only one I have in this set of books is By A Woman’s Hand, which I am coincidentally reading through right now (a reread). I would love to have all the others.
I would enjoy “G” is for Grafton: The World of Kinsey Millhone because it has the Santa Barbara locations she used and what they are called in the books.
Yes it does. I recognized many of them from my own trips through or stays there.
I have the Dean James. I’ve read two of the Chandlers and the Haycraft.
There don’t seem to be many books like these published lately, do there? Chandler was and is still a big favorite of mine, yet I’ve not read any in years.
Jeff, I’m surprised you don’t have the books by Gary and Marv.
I have some others of Marv’s books but not that one. In fact, I have one coming in the mail this week. I never did get Gary’s, for some reason I can’t remember.
OK, you sold me. I just ordered both of them. I think I had pretty much quit reading PI books by the time Gary’s book came out, or possibly I just didn’t see it was out at the time.
Books about books are the best kind of books.
Yep. I’m enjoying browsing through these, now that I’m highlighting them.
I own about 50% of the books in your SHELF SHOT 11. The Chandlers, of course, and Diane owns the Grafton. By A Woman’s Hand, A Guide to Mystery Fiction by Women brings back good memories of the first time I read it. And, like Jerry, I read the Haycraft early in my mystery reading bingeing. You own a lot of great books!
Thanks, George. I got into a “reference” buying kick in the 90s and haven’t regretted it. I’m having fun looking through these now.
I love serendipitous moments. I just posted a shelf post that also has a Raymond Chandler book as part of the grouping. I have a couple of his books, picked up (or gifted to me from wishlists) from your recommendations in the past…time I got around to reading him. Technically I have read him as I’ve read some of the short stories in the short story collection I have, and I like them, but have yet to read a novel.
It’s been a while since I read one of the novels, but I’ve read them all more than once.
I’m looking forward to finally making that happen.
We’ve been watching a lot of old Perry Mason shows now that CBS has the entire series up on their subscription site, and that has me in the mood for some detective fiction, even though that isn’t quite what Perry Mason is.
I only have the Frank MacShane book — and 10 Ballantine Book editions — nine of which are from the 1971-72 period with those wonderfully evocative covers by Tom Adams. Raymond Chandler open my eyes to the fact that writing alone — never mind the story — could be entertaining in and of itself.