The publisher's series presents the most famous or recognizable people or characters--dubbed "icons"--in various fields. For this reference devoted to mystery and crime, author Brunsdale
(English, Mayville State U., North Dakota) undertook the selection and the writing. Twenty-four chapters explore in great detail a mix of characters and creators including: Batman, whom she
deems "The Herculean Detective," James Bond ("Byronic spy"), Agatha Christie (creator of the "elderly snoop"), Columbo (disheveled detective), Tony Hillerman (creator of ethnic detectives Joe
Leaphorn and Jim Chee), Perry Mason (the legal sleuth), Alfred Hitchcock (cinema's master of suspense), Sam Spade (the hard-boiled private eye), Edgar Allan Poe (father of detective fiction),
and Zorro (the masked avenger), among others. The treatments offer analysis and interpretation of each subject's distinctiveness and appeal, with plenty of contextual information such as
chronologies, biographies, and production and distribution information. Annotation 穢2010 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
