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Article: SLEUTHING IN THE PAST.(COMMENTARY)(Review)
- Article from:
- The Virginian-Pilot (Norfolk, VA)
- Article date:
- July 13, 1997
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1997 The Virginian Pilot-Ledger Star. All rights reserved. Reproduced with the permission of the Dialog Corporation by Gale Group. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Byline: DOUGLAS G. GREENE
The historical detective novel began with a few now-forgotten books such as Wallace Irwin's The Julius Caesar Murder Case (1933) and Victor Luhrs' The Longbow Murder (1941), but not until major writers set their stories in the past did the form gain much attention.
Agatha Christie wrote an ancient Egyptian mystery, Death Comes as the End, in 1944; Lillian de la Torre gave Dr. Samuel Johnson, the 18th century Great Champ of Literature, a role as a sleuth in Dr. Sam: Johnson, Detector, in 1946, and John Dickson Carr followed in 1950 with The Bride of Newgate, the first of his long series of historical whodunits.
The ...