Richard B. Schwartz explores the work of his favourite writers, building on a reading of almost 700 novels from the 1980s and 1990s. By looking at reoccuring themes in these mysteries, Schwartz offers readers new ways to approach the works in relation to contemporary cultural concerns. With sensitivity to a cutlure consisting of frontiers and borders, Schwartz, examines the posistion of the vigilante in art and society, racial bridges and divides, the absence of divine presence and compensating narrative strategies, the unresolved nature of the crime plot and its roots in chivalric romance. The importance of setting, and the growing importance of grotesque humour in the fiction studies here are addressed by the author, as is the journalistic/instructional dimension of the field and the importance of crossover narratives. This book is not only a study and appreciation of an important subgenre and its contemporary practioners, it also utilizes both literary history and theorectical material. Information has been drawn from fanzines, from discussions with writers, booksellers, agents, and editors, and from the author’s own knowledge of literature and American culture.