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A Companion to the Mystery Fiction (McFarland Companions to Mystery Fiction)
by Nathan Ashman
Once described as "the best crime writer you've never heard of," James Sallis is a largely underexplored figure in contemporary American literature.
Best known for his thriller novel Drive--later adapted into the acclaimed 2011 movie of the same name starring Ryan Gosling and Carey Mulligan--Sallis has written across a range of genres and forms, including short fiction, poetry, musicology, science fiction, biography, nonfiction essays, literary reviews, and criticism.
This companion, the first comprehensive examination of Sallis' writings, locates him as a vital voice within mystery fiction. In addition to an alphabetized analysis of his works, it includes a biography, career chronology, and an interview with the author. Readers will gain a deeper understanding of Sallis' extraordinary life and career, as well as insight into the recurrent themes and motifs of his rich and varied writings. This book is both an introduction to Sallis' work for new readers and a thorough reference guide for established fans and scholars.
Edgar Awards, 2025Media reviews not yet available.
This information about James Sallis was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Nathan Ashman is a lecturer in crime writing at the University of East Anglia in Norwich, England. His research spans the fields of crime fiction, contemporary American fiction and ecocriticism, with a particular specialism in the works of James Ellroy.
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