Crime Fiction Collection

The crime fiction collection was purchased over the period 1988 to 1994 in response to the teaching and research of Dr Michael Tolley of the University’s English Department who offered a course in popular fiction between 1991 and 1997 and who also founded and edited the newsletter The Body Dabbler (1988-96) and co-edited with Peter Moss the Wakefield Crime Classics series.  The purchases complement the collection of mainstream crime fiction, principally by British and Australian authors, that had begun to be built up within the main collection of the Library since the time at the University as Professor of English Language and Literature of  J.I.M. Stewart (the crime and mystery writer Michael Innes).

The collection of some 800 titles consists largely of Australian printings of American and Australian authors, with a smaller number of works of English authors in a variety of imprints.  For the Australian authors the principal publisher was Horowitz; the American authors appear principally in the series Larry Kent ‘I hate Crime’ (published by the Cleveland Publishing Co.), Phantom Books, Star Books/Star Mystery (Original Novels Foundation) and Invincible Mystery (Invincible Press), published mainly in Sydney.  Don Haring is the most prolific of the American and Marc Brody of the Australian authors represented, with smaller collections of the work of Carl Dekker, R.W. Hunter, James Preston and Bob McKinnon.  Australian women as crime fiction authors are represented by Hilda Bridges, Marie Cotton, Jean Devanney, Caroline Farr, Pat Flower, Miranda McElwain, Marcia McEwan, Norma Martyn, Margaret Henry, Charlotte Jay, Meredith Lee, Wilda Moxham and Margot Neville.

Most titles are from the 1950s and 1960s - a time of boom in the genre - many in a ‘pulp’ paperback format with the distinctive yellow covers and lurid cover illustration, with some later works in hard and soft cover and the 12 reprintings of the Wakefield Crime Classics series of 1992-94.  There are also magazines of short stories, some devoted exclusively to crime fiction and others, like   the Invincible Press Short Story Magazine and the Pocket Books Story Teller Weekly including it among general fiction.

The University of Sydney has the most extensive crime/detective fiction collection in Australia. There is a source of information on some detective fiction authors at the Thrilling Detective website.