Oxford LibGuides: Law & Literature: Books: Crime Fiction

Crime fiction

Subject searches to try in SOLO

Crime in literature

Detective and mystery stories -- History and criticism
Detective and mystery stories, English -- History and criticism
Detective and mystery stories, American -- History and criticism

Detective and mystery films -- History and criticism

Crime Fiction: a Very Short Introduction by Richard Bradford
Call Number: Holders of an Oxford SSO can read this via title link
ISBN: 9780199658787
Publication Date: 2015
A print copy could be requested from Closed Stacks if preferred
Crime Fiction by John Scaggs
Call Number: Holders of an Oxford SSO can read this via title link
ISBN: 0415318246
Publication Date: 2005
Print copy in EFL at PR830.C74 S28 SCA 2005
The Cambridge Companion to Crime Fiction by Martin Priestman
Call Number: Holders of an Oxford SSO can read this via title link
ISBN: 0521008719
Publication Date: 2003
Print copy in English Faculty Library PR830.D4 C36 CAM 2003
A Companion to Crime Fiction by Charles J. Rzepka (Editor); Lee Horsley (Editor)
Call Number: Holders of an Oxford SSO can read this via title link
ISBN: 9781119675778
Publication Date: 2010
Print copy in EFL PN3448.D4 COM 2010
The Oxford Encyclopedia of Crime, Media, and Popular Culture by Nicole Rafter (Editor-In-Chief); Michelle Brown (Editor-In-Chief)
Call Number: Holders of an Oxford SSO can read this via title link
ISBN: 9780190494674
Publication Date: 2018

BoB (formerly Box of Broadcasts)
Access restricted to within the United Kingdom only. This resource requires you to log in with your Oxford SSO again at the homepage. This resource requires you to register before use.
Includes documentary programmes
Sleuths, Spies & Sorcerers: Andrew Marr’s Paperback Heroes Episode 1 Detectives
A Very British Murder with Lucy Worsley
Episode 3 The Golden Age
Alternative name: Box of Broadcasts

BoB is an on demand TV and radio service for education. It allows staff and students at subscribing institutions to search an archive of over 2 million broadcasts, record programmes from over 65 free-to-air channels, and create their own playlists, clips and clip compilations. Content includes BBC One, BBC Two, BBC Four, ITV, Channel 4, Film4, 10 foreign language channels, BBC Shakespeare Archive content dating back to the 1950s, and more.

Over the last century, an Oxford setting has become a sub-genre of English detective/murder/crime stories.

Suggested subject search strategies to try in SOLO

Murder -- Investigation -- England -- Oxford -- Fiction

Crime -- England -- Oxford -- Fiction

Police - England -- Oxford -- Fiction

Or try

Detective and mystery stories

with Oxford in separate field

The footsteps at the lock by Ronald Arbuthnott Knox
Call Number: Request from Closed Stacks to read in Bodleian Reading Room of your choice
Publication Date: Originally published 1928
The Oxford Murders by Adam Broome
Call Number: Radcliffe Camera Level -2 Gladstone Link - (UBHU) 25612 e.10709
ISBN: 9781906288082
Publication Date: Originally published in 1929
An Oxford Tragedy by J. C. Masterman; Jonathan Goodman (Foreword by)
Call Number: Request from Closed Stacks to read in Bodleian Reading Room of your choice
ISBN: 0745187072
Publication Date: Originally published 1933
First of two crime novels by alumnus of Worcester College, tutor at Christ Church, Provost of Worcester College (1946 to 1961) and Oxford V-C (1957 to 1958)/
The body in the Turl by David Frome
Call Number: Request from Closed Stacks to read in Bodleian Reading Room of your choice
Publication Date: Originally published in UK in1935
Gaudy night by Dorothy L. Sayers ; with an introduction by Dame Harriet Walter.
Call Number: English Faculty Library PR6037.A95 G3 SAY 2016
ISBN: 9781473621404
Publication Date: Originally published 1935
Lord Peter Wimsey (Balliol) and Harriet Vane (Shrewsbury College, Oxford fictitious institution off Jowett Walk probably based on Somerville, the author's college.) already had featured in several novels before events bring them both back to Oxford.

BoB (formerly Box of Broadcasts)
Access restricted to within the United Kingdom only. This resource requires you to log in with your Oxford SSO again at the homepage. This resource requires you to register before use.
Alternative name: Box of Broadcasts

BoB is an on demand TV and radio service for education. It allows staff and students at subscribing institutions to search an archive of over 2 million broadcasts, record programmes from over 65 free-to-air channels, and create their own playlists, clips and clip compilations. Content includes BBC One, BBC Two, BBC Four, ITV, Channel 4, Film4, 10 foreign language channels, BBC Shakespeare Archive content dating back to the 1950s, and more.

Death at the President's Lodging by Michael Innes
Call Number: Request from Closed Stacks to read in Bodleian Reading Room of your choice
ISBN: 9781842327326
Publication Date: Originally published 1937
First of 44 detective stories (the cases of John Appleby of Scotland Yard) The author also wrote a quintet of Oxford novels, collectively known as A Staircase in Surrey, under his real name JIM Stewart as well as critical works on Shakespeare, Joyce, Peacock, Kipling, Hardy, and others, and a volume in The Oxford History of English Literature.
The case of the gilded fly by Edmund Crispin.
Call Number: Request from Closed Stacks to read in Bodleian Reading Room of your choice
ISBN: 9780008275150
Publication Date: Originally published 1944
Introducing Gervase Fen, Professor of English Language and Literature at the University of Oxford - and amateur detective.
The Missing Link by Katharine Farrer
Call Number: Request from Closed Stacks to read in Bodleian Reading Room of your choice
Publication Date: 1952
Kidnapping of child of Oxford lecturer is a case for Inspector Richard Ringwood, an Oxford-educated gentleman copper
Landscape with Dead Dons by Robert Robinson
Call Number: Request from Closed Stacks to read in Bodleian Reading Room of your choice
ISBN: 9781903552520
Publication Date: Originally published in 1956
It all started with the stiffened corpse of the OU Vice-Chancellor being left in a row of rooftop statues ... Detective Autumn tries his best!
When Scholars Fall by Timothy Robinson.
Call Number: Request from Closed Stacks to read in Bodleian Reading Room of your choice
Publication Date: Originally published 1961
Last bus to Woodstock by Colin Dexter
Call Number: Request from Closed Stacks to read in Bodleian Reading Room of your choice
ISBN: 0330248960
Publication Date: 1977
First of series of novels featuring detectives Inspector Morse and Sergeant Lewis. Gave rise to 3 TV series: Inspector Morse (1988–2001), a sequel Inspector Lewis (2006–2016), and a prequel Endeavour (2012–2023).

BoB (formerly Box of Broadcasts)
Access restricted to within the United Kingdom only. This resource requires you to log in with your Oxford SSO again at the homepage. This resource requires you to register before use. Includes BBC radio version of Gaudy Night
Alternative name: Box of Broadcasts

BoB is an on demand TV and radio service for education. It allows staff and students at subscribing institutions to search an archive of over 2 million broadcasts, record programmes from over 65 free-to-air channels, and create their own playlists, clips and clip compilations. Content includes BBC One, BBC Two, BBC Four, ITV, Channel 4, Film4, 10 foreign language channels, BBC Shakespeare Archive content dating back to the 1950s, and more.

Thus was Adonis murdered by Sarah Caudwell.
Call Number: Request from Closed Stacks to read in Bodleian Reading Room of your choice
ISBN: 1841195154
Publication Date: 1981 original publication
Introducing the amateur detective Hilary Tamar Professor of Medieval Law. (The author studied law at St Anne's Oxford, and practised as a barrister with special interest in tax law.)
Oxford Blood by Antonia Fraser
Call Number: Request from Closed Stacks to read in Bodleian Reading Room of your choice
ISBN: 0393318249
Publication Date: Originally published 1985
Jemima Shore is working on an expose of overprivileged undergraduates when a dying confession and dead student compells her to turn detective...
A Masculine Ending by Joan Smith
Call Number: Request from Closed Stack
ISBN: 0571151078
Publication Date: 1987
Prof Loretta Lawson, in Paris to deliver a paper on the oppressive nature of masculine grammatical forms, stumbles across the murder of an Oxford don. ...
The BBC adaptation of A Masculine Ending, starring Bill Nighy and Imelda Staunton, premiered in 1992.
The end of April by Penny Sumner
Call Number: Request from Closed Stacks to read in Bodleian Reading Room of your choice
ISBN: 9780704343580
Publication Date: 1992
Victoria Cross, professional archivist and amateur investigator, helps her Aunt (a professor at Oxford) to assist in a bit of academic work ... and see if a campaigning law student is safe...
Death and the Oxford Box by Veronica Stallwood
Call Number: Request from Closed Stacks to read in Bodleian Reading Room of your choice
ISBN: 0747244782
Publication Date: 1993
First in series featuring Kate Ivory, historical romance novelist, bibliographical cataloguer and amateur detective. The author also worked as cataloguer in both Bodleian Library and various colleges. She said: "It was a job for which you need good organisation and a nit-picking mind."
Falconer's Crusade by Ian Morson
Call Number: Request from Closed Stacks to read in Bodleian Reading Room of your choice
ISBN: 0312956975
Publication Date: 1994
Introducing Master William Falconer an Aristotelian philosopher in 13th century Oxford ...
An ancient evil : the Knight's tale of mystery and murder as he goes on pilgrimage from London to Canterbury by P.C. Doherty
Call Number: Request from Closed Stacks to read in Bodleian Reading Room of your choice
ISBN: 9780747243564
Publication Date: 1994
What is behind a spate of crimes in medieval Oxford?
An instance of the fingerpost by Iain Pears.
Call Number: Request from Closed Stacks to read in Bodleian Reading Room of your choice
ISBN: 0224044664
Publication Date: Originally published 1997
How did a fellow of New College meet his death in 1660s Oxford?
Down Cemetery Road by Mick Herron
Call Number: Request from Closed Stacks to read in Bodleian Reading Room of your choice
ISBN: 1841196207
Publication Date: 2003
A Narrow Escape by Faith Martin
Call Number: Request from Closed Stacks to read in Bodleian Reading Room of your choice
ISBN: 0709075952
Publication Date: 2004
Revised edn published in 2020 under title Murder on the Oxford Canal. First in series involving DI Hillary Greene,
The Oxford murders by Guillermo Martinez ; translated by Sonia Soto.
Call Number: Request from Closed Stacks to read in Bodleian Reading Room of your choice
ISBN: 9780349120942
Publication Date: 2005 (English translation)
The Argentinian author, had a couple of years as a postdoc at the Mathematical Institute, Oxford.
A murder adds to the tensions in relationship between graduate student and established academic.
A 2007 film adaptation directed by Álex de la Iglesia, starred Elijah Wood and John Hurt.
Trick of the Dark by Val McDermid
Call Number: Request from Closed Stacks to read in Bodleian Reading Room of your choice
ISBN: 9781408702000
Publication Date: 2010
Clinical psychiatrist Charlie Flint is anonymously sent a mysterious package of press cuttings about a brutal murder, which had occurred in the grounds of her old Oxford college ....
The late scholar by Jill Paton Walsh.
Call Number: Request from Closed Stacks to read in Bodleian Reading Room of your choice
ISBN: 9781444760873
Publication Date: 2013
Based on the characters of Dorothy L. Sayers Lord Peter is now Duke of Denver (& Harriet his Duchess) and Visitor of (fictional) St Severin's College, Oxford.
The Bookseller's Tale by Ann Swinfen
Call Number: Request from Closed Stacks to read in Bodleian Reading Room of your choice
ISBN: 9780993237263
Publication Date: 2016
First of a series where the amateur detective is bookseller Nicholas Elyot of fourteenth century Oxford.
Close to Home by Cara Hunter
Call Number: Request from Closed Stacks to read in Bodleian Reading Room of your choice
ISBN: 9780241283097
Publication Date: 2017
Introducing DI Fawley
The Shivering Turn by Sally Spencer
ISBN: 9781847517708
Publication Date: 2018
First in series involving a former policewoman turned private investigator Jennie Redhead who is also alumna (Eng lit) of (fictional) St Luke's College, Oxford.
Aspire to Die by M.S. Morris
ISBN: 9781914537004
Publication Date: 2019
First of a series featuring Detective Inspector Bridget Hart.
Magpie Lane by Lucy Atkins.
ISBN: 9781786485564
Publication Date: 2020
A Killing in November by Simon Mason
ISBN: 9781529415704
Publication Date: 2022
First of a series introducing DIs Ryan Wilkins and Ray Wilkins.
A Bitter Remedy by Alis Hawkins
ISBN: 9781800328570
Publication Date: 2023
1881, and the suspicious death of a Jesus College undergrad introduces us to Rhiannon Vaughan and her insistence on discovering the full story.
The Dead of Midwinter by J. R. Sinclair
ISBN: 9781915142115
Publication Date: 2023
Introducing DI Joseph Stone

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Law & Literature: Books: Crime Fiction

Introduction

Crime fiction

Related Bodleian Guides