Are you a lover of crime fiction looking for new discoveries or hoping to rediscover old favourites?
Then look no further.

There are few contemporary crime fiction guides that cover everything from the golden age to current bestselling writers from America, Britain and all across the world, but the award-winning Barry Forshaw, one of the UK's leading experts in the field, has provided a truly comprehensive survey with definitive coverage in this expanded new edition of the much admired Rough Guide to Crime Fiction.

Every major writer is included, along with many other more esoteric choices. Focusing on a key book (or books) by each writer, and with essays on key crime genres, Crime Fiction: A Reader's Guide (with a foreword by Ian Rankin) is designed to be both a crime fan's shopping list and a pithy, opinionated but unstuffy reference tool and history. Most judgements are generous (though not uncritical), and there is a host of entertaining, informed entries on related films and TV.

"Essential reading for anyone seeking clues" - Guardian

"This guided meander through the field of crime fiction offers many pleasures of surprise and discovery" - Times Literary Supplement

"Essentially a crime writing equivalent to the much-missed Halliwell's Film Guide and all the better for it" - i news

"Forshaw's magnum opus... a work to savor" - The Rap Sheet

"This is a feast of a book, full of nourishment and spice" - Literary Review