The Bedside Companion to Crime

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.

"Bedside" is a little less than 200 pages and can easily be read in one sitting. The chapters are numbered from 10 to 1, like you're counting down:

10 - "Little - Well, Ten Little Whats?" - How the titles of Agatha Christie's mysteries get changed, often for no apparent reason ("Murder in Three Acts" was changed to "Three-Act Tragedy"), and sometimes for very good reasons (the original title of Christie's "And Then There Were None"/"Ten Little Indians," for example)

9 - "Sly Glances" - "Atlantic Crossings" - More about titles, though this is about other mystery writers such as Peter Dickinson. His "The Glass-sided Ants' Nest" was changed to "Skin Deep" because someone at the publishing firm said "No book with an insect in the title ever goes."

There is also "Is They Is, Or Are They Ain't?" - Is it a mystery novel or not? Case in point Graham Greene's "The Ministry of Fear" (made into a superb Ray Milland movie in the 1940s), "This Gun for Hire" (made into a movie in 1942 with Alan Ladd & Veronica Lake), "The Third Man" (classic movie with Joseph Cotten & Orson Welles), and "Brighton Rock" (made into a movie with a very young Richard Attenborough).

"Errors and Omissions" - mistakes in mystery novels. Keating discussions a mistake of his regarding the Indian railway system that was pointed out by a train buff.

Also in this section is "Never Mind the Great Detectives..." - all about great rogues like Fantomas (French master criminal and star of silent movies), Flambeau (Father Brown's rival and then friend), the legendary Fu Manchu, Count Fosco (villain in Wilkie Collins' "The Woman in White"), and, of course, Professor James Moriarty. Not all rogues are bad - Simon Templar (the Saint), Nick Velvet (the hero of many an Ed Hoch story), Lovejoy (remember the British TV series?), and Albert Campion's loyal Magersfontein Lugg.

The other chapters are:

8 - "Kinds of Criminosity" (sealed room murders, school settings, humor, etc.)
7 - "Songsters Singing" - mystery verse
6 - "Beginnings" (Agatha Christie/Georges Simenon/Michael Innes/Raymond Chandler/Ross Macdonald)
5 - "Favourites" ("The Moonstone"/"Hound of the Baskervilles"/"The Maltese Falcon"/"The Talented Mr Ripley"/"A Taste for Death")
4 - "Good Old Boys" (R Austin Freeman/Melville Davisson Post/Edgar Wallace/Jacques Futrelle)
3 - "Good Old Girls" (Mary Roberts Rinehart/Gladys Mitchell/Margery Allingham)
2 - "Into One" (Ellery Queen & Emma Lathen)
1 - "Fearful Yellow" - John D MacDonald's color titles and source of my pen name, which comes from his novel, "The Dreadful Lemon Sky"

The final chapter is not numbered. It's simply titled, "And Then There Were None - The Christie Classic Dismembered." It's an homage to one of my favorite Christies. Oh, and one that was made into an excellent movie in the 1940s (again!) entitled "And Then There Were None."

As far as I know, this book is out of print. I have the first printing, which dates from October 1989. It's an inexpensive book and I've seen used copies show up for sale online. I paid about $5 for mine and it's definitely worth more than that. You might also want to check out "Whodunit," too.