Trott's well-organized book offers the history of crime fiction as a genre and then makes sure that the reader understands the elements that comprise quality crime fiction….This handy tool will work well for anyone who does readers' advisory in a public library. It would also be useful when developing a crime fiction collection or to offer when a customer is trying to figure out what to read next. This essential purchase can be used in many ways.

VOYA

Instead of looking at mysteries in terms of subgenres and standard rubrics like location and time period, as many others do, this one focuses on the appeal factors--familiar in the readers' advisory world--of story, character, setting, mood, and language. Among the delights of this and other books in the series are the witty annotations and the often quirky categories.

American Libraries

Both readers advisors and crime-fiction fans will find all sorts of inventive ways to use this book, including, of course, compiling their own lists of titles or categories that should have been represented. Reading lists should be considered conversation starters rather than answer providers, and Trotts contribution is perfectly designed for this application.

Booklist

This book will be useful for public librarians who want to improve their readers' advisory skills, assemble read-alike lists, pull together ideas for a book display, or design a thematic reading schedule for a book group. Read On…Crime Fiction is a tremendously informative overview of the mystery genre.

Public Libraries

This work is suitable for public or school libraries.

ARBA

. . . worth purchasing for public libraries. It is a great starting point for librarians to use when suggesting titles for new crime fiction and/or mystery readers or for avid readers looking for a new title. . . . The introduction is invaluable to this book as well.

Collection Management