Whodunit?

H R F Keating (1926-2011) was a British mystery writer best known for his Inspector Ghote (go-tay) series based in India (1964-2008). Keating won a Crime Writers' Association Gold Dagger Award and was nominated for an Edgar for the first book in the series, "The Perfect Murder." Interestingly, he didn't visit India until 10 years after he started writing about it!

I have never read any of the Ghote books (just one short story), but Keating's two non-fiction books about mysteries, "The Bedside Companion to Crime" ("Bedside") and "Whodunit? A Guide to Crime, Suspense & Spy Fiction" ("Whodunit") are personal favorites of mine. He has a self-deprecating sense of humor and an easy-to-read style.

"Whodunit" is more of an encyclopedia than "Bedside." Keating is the editor of the book and the author of two articles. There are five sections - "Crime Fiction and Its Categories," "How I Write My Books," "Writers and Their Books: A Consumers' Guide" (main section), "The People of Crime Fiction," and "Why People Read Crime Fiction." The authors include Reginald Hill, Robert Barnard, Hillary Waugh, Michael Gilbert, Stanley Ellin, P D James, Dorothy Eden, Patricia Highsmith, Len Deighton, Eric Ambler, and Dorothy B Hughes.

"Crime Fiction and Its Categories" details the various sub-genres of crime fiction - espionage, gothic, thriller, suspense, short story, British police procedural, American police procedural, and English detective story, and the genre's history.

"How I Write My Books" has short articles by Stanley Ellin ("The Eighth Circle"), P D James ("The Black Tower"), Desmond Bagley ("The Freedom Trap" - filmed as "The Mackintosh Man" with Paul Newman), Dorothy Eden ("Waiting for Willa"), Patricia Highsmith ("The Talented Mr Ripley"), Gregory McDonald ("Fletch" - made into a movie with Chevy Chase), Lionel Davidson ("The Night of Wenceslas" - made into a movie, "Hot Enough for June," with Dirk Bogarde), Len Deighton (the Harry Palmer spy series among others, made into movies with Michael Caine), Eric Ambler (do I really need to list them?), and H R F Keating himself.

"Writers and Their Books: A Consumers' Guide" is my favorite section of the book and it is also the longest. It lists alphabetically little bios - some just a paragraph, some considerably longer like Agatha Christie's - of authors with a couple books rated according to characterization (C), plot (P), readability or how quickly you turn the pages (R), and tension, which is a measure of the suspense element (T). I have found this section to be very useful when searching for books, especially the vintage paperbacks I have started collecting in a small way. "Whodunit" was published in 1982, so, yes, this section is out of date. However, if you are interested in vintage fiction, this is an excellent place to start looking for authors you have never heard of. I certainly would have never read Charlotte Armstrong ("The Unsuspected" - made into a 1940s movie with Claude Rains), Nicholas Blake (real name - Cecil Day-Lewis, father of Daniel, author of "Head of a Traveller" and "The Beast Must Die"), Ann Bridge (real name - Lady Mary Dolling O'Malley, author of "The Lighthearted Quest"), and Helen McCloy ("Panic" and "Through a Glass Darkly") if I had not come across them in this book.

There are some odd omissions. For example, Helen Reilly, a popular author in her day ("The Canvas Dagger," "Murder in Shinbone Alley," "Murder at Arroways," "Certain Sleep," etc.) is not included, though her daughters, Ursula Curtiss ("The Stairway" and "The Forbidden Garden" - made into the movie, "Whatever Happened to Aunt Alice?"), and Mary McMullen ("Stranglehold"/"Death of Miss X"), are listed. Elisabeth Sanxay Holding ("The Blank Wall") is also not listed for some reason.

"The People of Crime Fiction" has short bios of various characters ranging from Uncle Abner (Melville Davisson Post) to Brother Cadfael (Ellis Peters/Edith Pargeter) to Nero Wolfe (Rex Stout). There are many illustrations, some of which were specially done for the book.

The book wraps up with a short article, "Why People Read Crime Fiction."

This is a very enjoyable book and is well worth hunting down. It is out of print, but I was able to find a copy online for less than $15.