The collection includes literary works and memoirs of the most famous representatives of the “detective” genre from Conan Doyle and Agatha Christie to Boileau-Narcejac and Borges. These are by no means academic works, but, on the contrary, brilliant, polemical works, where excellent knowledge of the subject, insight into its “secrets” is combined with humor, self-irony, and they are read as fascinatingly as the genre they represent. The book is intended for a wide readership.

Contents

Arthur Conan Doyle. Something about Sherlock Holmes (essay, translation by N. Tsyrkun), pp. 3-15G. K. Chesterton. In Defense of Detective Literature (essay, translation by V. Voronin), pp. 16-19G. K. Chesterton. About detective novels (essay, translation by S. Belov), pp. 19-22 Dashiell Hammett. From the memoirs of a private detective (story, translation by S. Belov), pp. 23-27R. Austin Freeman. The Art of Detective (essay, translation by S. Belov), pp. 28-37 Stephen Van Dyne. Twenty rules for writing detective novels (article, translation by V. Voronin), pp. 38-41 Dorothy Lee Sayers. Preface to the detective anthology (article, translation by S. Belov), pp. 42-76 Ronald Knox. Ten Commandments of a Detective Novel (article, translation by V. Voronin), pp. 77-79 Oath of the Detective Club (translation by V. Voronin), pp. 80-82 Maurice Leblanc. About Conan Doyle (essay, translation by G. Kabakova), pp. 83-85 Claude Avlin. The Double Death of Frederic Belot (novel, translated by G. Kabakova), pp. 86-89 John Dixon Carr Lecture on the Locked Room (story, translated by V. Voronin), pp. 90-103 Friedrich Glauser. An open letter on the “Ten Commandments of the Detective Novel” (translation by V. Sedelnik), pp. 104-111 Marcel Allen. On the “folk novel” and its commercial opportunities (essay, translation by G. Kabakova), pp. 112-122 William Somerset Maugham. The history of the decline and destruction of the detective novel (essay, translation by V. Voronin), pp. 123-145 Earl Stanley Gardner. The case of how it all began (article, translation by V. Voronin), p. 146-150Rex Stout. Watson was a woman (essay, translation by V. Voronin), pp. 151-157 Ellery Queen. Leaves from the editors' notebook (essay, translation by V. Voronin), pp. 158-163 Raymond Chandler The simple art of killing (article, translation by S. Belov), pp. 164-179 Georges Simenon. Novelist (essay, translation by G. Kabakova), pp. 180-189 Michelle Butor. Distribution of time (fragment from the novel, translation by G. Kabakova), pp. 190-191 Boileau-Narcejac. Detective novel (essay, translation by A. Stroev), pp. 192-224 Julian Gustav Simons. From the book “Bloody Murder” (essay, translation by V. Voronin), pp. 225-246 Agatha Christie. From “Autobiography” (translation by V. Panov), pp. 247-262 Jorge Luis Borges. Detective (translation by B. Dubin), pp. 263-272 Uri Eizenzweig. Interview with Alain Robbe-Grillet (article, translation by G. Kabakova), pp. 273-278 Georgiy Andzhaparidze. The cruelty of the canon and eternal novelty (article), pp. 279-292С. Belov, A. Stroev. Information about the authors, pp. 293-314 (A. Conan Doyle - pp. 293-294)Name index, pp. 315-317