A Catalogue of Crime
Encyclopedia
A Catalogue of Crime, by Jacques Barzun
and Wendell Hertig Taylor, is a critique
of crime fiction
first published in 1971. A revised edition was published in 1989 by Barzun after the death of Taylor in 1985. The book was awarded a Special Edgar Award
from the Mystery Writers of America
in 1972.
This book is for readers of crime fiction. By offering fact and opinion about authors and their works, from Voltaire's Zadig to the latest tale published at the time of our going to press (1988), it enables the connoisseur and the neophyte to find, with greater confidence than luck provides, stories good to read or good to avoid.
As to Taylor's collaboration in the work, Barzun explains:
(Taylor) had finished (prior to his death), I am happy to say, his half of the substantive work... Wendell Taylor is therefore as fully co-author of this edition as of the. Had he lived, it would have appeared much sooner.
1587 GRIFFIN, FRANK, Appointment with My Lady West 1946
A good opening chapter, after which everything goes to pieces. The narrator-hero always shouts and commits acts, including murder, without rhyme or reason.
The "West 1946" refers to the publisher, John Westhouse Publishers, and to the year of publication.
However, there are fifty-one entries for the prolific Agatha Christie
. Christie wrote many other mystery stories, using several different detectives but Barzun and Taylor chose to review these only.
The first entry (no. 749) for her After the Funeral, published in 1953, says in part:
Not one of Agatha's best. The scheme is obvious and worked repetitiously.
The last entry (no. 799) for her Why Didn't They Ask Evans?, published in 1935, contains three sentences, one of which is:
The merit consists largely in Agatha's maintaining suspense about the small mystery of a name.
The other forty-nine entries for Christie are quite mixed. They range in praise (or lack thereof) from:
A Poirot story, and very dull... (entry no. 768, re Hickory, Dickory, Death, published in 1956) to:
A triumph of her art...of motive-building. That is where A.C. is unrivaled. She knows how to make plausible the divergence between action and motive that maintains uncertainty until the physical clues...mesh with motive to disclose the culprit. (entry no. 769 re The Hollow, published in 1946).
Part V The Literature of Sherlock Holmes... contains 81 entries (numbers 4965 through 5045). Included are, of course, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle himself, the originator of Holmes and the author of the 60 Holmes stories (56 short stories and four novelas). Also represented are a host of writers, some well-known from their works in other fields, and others little known to the general public but recognized by Sherlockian scholars as having made notable contributions to the Holmesian literature.
Among the former are Isaac Asimov
, the renowned science-fiction writer; the Roman Catholic clergyman Ronald Knox
; and Christopher Morley
, a long-time writer for the Saturday of Literature and author of some 50 literary works, among the best known of which are Kitty Foyle and Parnassus on Wheels; and, of course, Jacques Barzun
himself. In the latter category are Dorothy Sayers, the British crime novelist (whose Lord Peter Wimsey stories are the best known); Howard Haycraft, a U.S. publishing executive whose The Art of the Mystery Story (published in 1946) is a recognized survey of the mystery genre; and Edgar Smith
, a General Motors
corporate executive who was one of the founders of the Baker Street Irregulars (the first organized group in the United States dedicated to the formation of local groups of Holmes aficionados around the country (called "scion societies") for the purpose of meeting regularly for the scholarly study the Holmes adventures and to participate in such activities of other scion societies, in the United States and around the world.
Jacques Barzun
Jacques Martin Barzun is a French-born American historian of ideas and culture. He has written on a wide range of topics, but is perhaps best known as a philosopher of education, his Teacher in America being a strong influence on post-WWII training of schoolteachers in the United...
and Wendell Hertig Taylor, is a critique
Critique
Critique is a method of disciplined, systematic analysis of a written or oral discourse. Critique is commonly understood as fault finding and negative judgement, but it can also involve merit recognition, and in the philosophical tradition it also means a methodical practice of doubt...
of crime fiction
Crime fiction
Crime fiction is the literary genre that fictionalizes crimes, their detection, criminals and their motives. It is usually distinguished from mainstream fiction and other genres such as science fiction or historical fiction, but boundaries can be, and indeed are, blurred...
first published in 1971. A revised edition was published in 1989 by Barzun after the death of Taylor in 1985. The book was awarded a Special Edgar Award
Edgar Award
The Edgar Allan Poe Awards , named after Edgar Allan Poe, are presented every year by the Mystery Writers of America...
from the Mystery Writers of America
Mystery Writers of America
Mystery Writers of America is an organization for mystery writers, based in New York.The organization was founded in 1945 by Clayton Rawson, Anthony Boucher, Lawrence Treat, and Brett Halliday....
in 1972.
Purpose
In its preface Barzun says:This book is for readers of crime fiction. By offering fact and opinion about authors and their works, from Voltaire's Zadig to the latest tale published at the time of our going to press (1988), it enables the connoisseur and the neophyte to find, with greater confidence than luck provides, stories good to read or good to avoid.
As to Taylor's collaboration in the work, Barzun explains:
(Taylor) had finished (prior to his death), I am happy to say, his half of the substantive work... Wendell Taylor is therefore as fully co-author of this edition as of the. Had he lived, it would have appeared much sooner.
Layout
The work contains 952 pages. It is divided as follows:- Part I Novels of Detection, Crime, Mystery, and Espionage (pages 1–566)
- Part II Short Stories, Collections, Anthologies, Magazines, Pastiches, and Plays (pages 569-698)
- Part III Studies and Histories of the Genre, Lives of Writers, and the Literature of Edwin Drood (pages 701-754)
- Part IV True Crime: Trials, Narratives of Cases, Criminology and Police Science, Espionage and Cryptography (pages 757-858)
- Part V The Literature of Sherlock HolmesSherlock HolmesSherlock Holmes is a fictional detective created by Scottish author and physician Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The fantastic London-based "consulting detective", Holmes is famous for his astute logical reasoning, his ability to take almost any disguise, and his use of forensic science skills to solve...
: Studies and Annotations of the Tales, Nonfiction Parodies, and Critical Pastiches (pages 859-874)
Entries
The book contains a total of 5,045 entries sorted, in each of the sections, in alphabetical order by the author's last name; where there is more than one entry for an author, each is in alphabetical order of the name of the work. Some entries are very short (one might say curt): one such—the only one for the author named—is:1587 GRIFFIN, FRANK, Appointment with My Lady West 1946
A good opening chapter, after which everything goes to pieces. The narrator-hero always shouts and commits acts, including murder, without rhyme or reason.
The "West 1946" refers to the publisher, John Westhouse Publishers, and to the year of publication.
However, there are fifty-one entries for the prolific Agatha Christie
Agatha Christie
Dame Agatha Christie DBE was a British crime writer of novels, short stories, and plays. She also wrote romances under the name Mary Westmacott, but she is best remembered for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections , and her successful West End plays.According to...
. Christie wrote many other mystery stories, using several different detectives but Barzun and Taylor chose to review these only.
The first entry (no. 749) for her After the Funeral, published in 1953, says in part:
Not one of Agatha's best. The scheme is obvious and worked repetitiously.
The last entry (no. 799) for her Why Didn't They Ask Evans?, published in 1935, contains three sentences, one of which is:
The merit consists largely in Agatha's maintaining suspense about the small mystery of a name.
The other forty-nine entries for Christie are quite mixed. They range in praise (or lack thereof) from:
A Poirot story, and very dull... (entry no. 768, re Hickory, Dickory, Death, published in 1956) to:
A triumph of her art...of motive-building. That is where A.C. is unrivaled. She knows how to make plausible the divergence between action and motive that maintains uncertainty until the physical clues...mesh with motive to disclose the culprit. (entry no. 769 re The Hollow, published in 1946).
Part V The Literature of Sherlock Holmes... contains 81 entries (numbers 4965 through 5045). Included are, of course, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle himself, the originator of Holmes and the author of the 60 Holmes stories (56 short stories and four novelas). Also represented are a host of writers, some well-known from their works in other fields, and others little known to the general public but recognized by Sherlockian scholars as having made notable contributions to the Holmesian literature.
Among the former are Isaac Asimov
Isaac Asimov
Isaac Asimov was an American author and professor of biochemistry at Boston University, best known for his works of science fiction and for his popular science books. Asimov was one of the most prolific writers of all time, having written or edited more than 500 books and an estimated 90,000...
, the renowned science-fiction writer; the Roman Catholic clergyman Ronald Knox
Ronald Knox
Ronald Arbuthnott Knox was an English priest, theologian and writer.-Life:Ronald Knox was born in Kibworth, Leicestershire, England into an Anglican family and was educated at Eton College, where he took the first scholarship in 1900 and Balliol College, Oxford, where again...
; and Christopher Morley
Christopher Morley
Christopher Morley was an American journalist, novelist, essayist and poet. He also produced stage productions for a few years and gave college lectures.-Biography:Christopher Morley was born in Haverford, Pennsylvania...
, a long-time writer for the Saturday of Literature and author of some 50 literary works, among the best known of which are Kitty Foyle and Parnassus on Wheels; and, of course, Jacques Barzun
Jacques Barzun
Jacques Martin Barzun is a French-born American historian of ideas and culture. He has written on a wide range of topics, but is perhaps best known as a philosopher of education, his Teacher in America being a strong influence on post-WWII training of schoolteachers in the United...
himself. In the latter category are Dorothy Sayers, the British crime novelist (whose Lord Peter Wimsey stories are the best known); Howard Haycraft, a U.S. publishing executive whose The Art of the Mystery Story (published in 1946) is a recognized survey of the mystery genre; and Edgar Smith
Edgar Smith
Edgar Smith is an American convicted murderer, who was once on Death Row for the 1957 murder of fifteen-year-old honor student and cheer leader Victoria Ann Zielinski. Vigorously contesting his conviction through the courts and in the media, Smith became a celebrity, and his case was argued in...
, a General Motors
General Motors
General Motors Company , commonly known as GM, formerly incorporated as General Motors Corporation, is an American multinational automotive corporation headquartered in Detroit, Michigan and the world's second-largest automaker in 2010...
corporate executive who was one of the founders of the Baker Street Irregulars (the first organized group in the United States dedicated to the formation of local groups of Holmes aficionados around the country (called "scion societies") for the purpose of meeting regularly for the scholarly study the Holmes adventures and to participate in such activities of other scion societies, in the United States and around the world.