Those of us who complained in the past that detective stories are not taken seriously enough in this country or the US (two countries that have been in the forefront of producing the actual literature) ought to be pleased with the amount of academic interest displayed in the genre in the last couple of decades. All Tory Historian can say is that one must beware of what one wishes for as it might just come true.
The rest of this long posting is on the secondary Conservative History blog.
Alice Spencer Stanley, Countess of Derby
4 days ago
It always depresses me when academics decide to take an interest in a genre I value. The result is always the same. They start throwing around words like "subversive" and "transgressive" and they start trying to force the genre to conform to their ideological narrative. Everything gets reduced to ideology.
I'm not talking about the books by Martin Edwards and Curtis Evans here - I know they both have a genuine love for detective fiction.