A reader's guide to hard-boiled American crime novels

The main purpose of this guide is to help the general reader who has an interest in the genre [American hard-boiled crime fiction] to find works which will satisfy that interest. The reader who has already enjoyed the work of a particular author should be able to discover further works of a similar type while those who are encountering the field for the first time should be able to discover the major figures in the genre by reading Section I and taking the writers detailed there as their starting point. It is hoped that this work would also be of use as a reference work for those intending to start a collection of first editions of this type of material or as a reference to what works are currently available in the UK. [Continues.]