A Catalogue of Crime (1989) by Jacques Barzun and Wendell Hertig Taylor – Authors Beginning with A

If you are interested in the history of crime fiction and/or love digging up obscure authors, then you have probably come across the literary critiquing duo, Jacques Barzun and Wendell Hertig Taylor. They are best known for their work, A Catalogue of Crime, originally published in 1971. It was later updated and expanded in 1989. It is this later edition, which I recently acquired. This collection contains over 3500 reviews for crime fiction novels, and it is these which I will be concentrating on in my posts for this book. However, this volume also includes information and reviews for short stories, collections, anthologies, magazines, pastiches and plays. In these posts the plan is to focus on one letter of the alphabet (or a small group of letters if there are fewer example) and share some of the opinions Barzun and Taylor had on certain authors and titles. Which ones would they recommend? Which would they advise steering clear off? Will you agree with their assertions or not? I…