Snobbery with Violence: English Crime Stories and Their Audience

Originally published in 1971, Colin Watson's entertaining and informative account of the social attitudes reflected in the detective story and the thriller from Conan Doyle and Edgar Wallace to Agatha Christie and Ian Fleming has become something of a minor classic of literary and social history. Colin Watson's elegant, crisp and knowledgeable study of the world of crime fiction deserves a place in the library of every library of crime fans.