Physicians as detectives in detective fiction of the 20th century.ABSTRACT Background. Surprisingly few detectives are physicians in 20th-century detective fiction Detective fiction is a branch of crime fiction that centers upon the investigation of a crime, usually murder, by a detective, either professional or amateur. Detective fiction is the most popular form of both mystery fiction and hardboiled crime fiction. . Methods. Potential books with physician-detective characters were located by pursuing all mentions of characters referred to as "Doctor" in any of several reference materials pertaining per·tain intr.v. per·tained, per·tain·ing, per·tains 1. To have reference; relate: evidence that pertains to the accident. 2. to mystery and detective fiction. Results. As a result of the search, 53 authors whose detective characters are physicians were found. Examination of novels by these authors revealed that early in the 20th century, physicians applied their own specialized scientific knowledge to detection. Mid-century physicians worked by intuition. In the 1990s, science returned to detective fiction in the form of standard forensic procedure, and the level of violence dramatically increased. Conclusion. The relation between science and violence at the end of the 20th century may not be accidental. ********** JOHN EVELYN John Evelyn (October 311620 – February 27 1706) was an English writer, gardener and diarist. Evelyn's diaries are largely contemporaneous with those of the other noted diarist of the time, Samuel Pepys, and cast considerable light on the art, culture and politics of THORNDYKE, the medical jurist A judge or legal scholar; an individual who is versed or skilled in law. The term jurist is ordinarily applied to individuals who have gained respect and recognition by their writings on legal topics. jurist n. in approximately 30 detective novels from the early 20th century by R. Austin Freeman R(ichard) Austin Freeman (April 11, 1862 London - September 28, 1943 Gravesend) was a British writer of detective stories, mostly featuring the medico-legal forensic investigator Dr Thorndyke. , works using almost obsessively scientific methods, and so, in a completely different way, do the pathologist-detectives in a profusion of detective novels of the 1990s. The late 20th-century group shows a dramatic increase in violence and partisan involvement on the part of the detectives, which perhaps reflects the fate of science during this time. The contrast between these groups led me to trace a more complete history of the physician as detective in the 20th century. METHODS The Table (1-53) shows one book from each 20th century author I could find who wrote about a physician-detective. When an author wrote more than one such book, my choice was facultative--I selected the one closest to hand. I located potential books by tracking down all references to characters called "Doctor" in The Oxford Companion to Crime and Mystery Writing (54); consulting thematically indexed guides to fiction such as By a Woman's Hand (55); searching DorothyL, (56) an Internet site devoted to detective fiction; and consulting 2 issues of the Journal of Mystery Readers International about medical mysteries. (57,58) Many characters called "Doctor" were psychologists, and thus were excluded, since this study included only physicians. An interesting example is Dr. Charlie Adams
The class of books marketed as medical thrillers rather than as detective fiction was excluded. This exclusion does not nullify nul·li·fy tr.v. nul·li·fied, nul·li·fy·ing, nul·li·fies 1. To make null; invalidate. 2. To counteract the force or effectiveness of. the results, since most thrillers are gory go·ry adj. go·ri·er, go·ri·est 1. Covered or stained with gore; bloody. 2. Full of or characterized by bloodshed and violence. novels written in the 1990s. I wanted a way to quantify my impression that the amount of violence in detective fiction has changed. Several features of the fin de siecle Fin` de sie´cle 1. Lit., end of the century; - mostly used adjectively in English to signify: belonging to, or characteristic of, the close of the 19th century. violence offered themselves: the amount of gore, the hand-to-hand combat
Hand-to-Hand Combat is the twentieth episode[1] of Mobile Suit Gundam. Plot summary Tempers flare as Ryu and Fraw stand in Amuro's cell. engaged in by the detective, and the presence of tortures. I chose the number of deaths mentioned per book as the easiest to quantify, although this number is more subjective than one might think. I could not persuade anyone to do an independent count. A character might casually mention that a relative had died, seemingly insignificant at the time, but as the plot progressed, the relative turned out to be a murder victim and, therefore, countable (mathematics) countable - A term describing a set which is isomorphic to a subet of the natural numbers. A countable set has "countably many" elements. If the isomorphism is stated explicitly then the set is called "a counted set" or "an enumeration". . I tried to count deaths that contributed to the atmosphere of violence overall, and these are not all murder victims, especially in the 1990s, when descriptions of dead bodies unrelated to the plot abound. In determining whether these physicians used scientific methods, I relied on the characters' actions and statements. The psychiatrists posed a special problem, but since they did not mention psychiatric insights and proceeded largely by idle conversation in public, I counted them unscientific unscientific Unproven, see there . One pathologist, Dr. Hugo Lytton in Florentine Dagger, (3) considers the possibility that more than one character is a multiple personality, but is not convincing as a scientist and remarks that motives are more interesting and important than clues. RESULTS I located 53 authors of detective fiction with physicians as detectives (Table). After a few scientific detectives early in the century, physicians until the 1990s detect largely without science. The science in the 1990s is up-to-date and standard forensic work, as opposed to the clever application of esoteric knowledge early in the century. The proportion of female detectives and pathologists as well as the number of deaths per book increases significantly in the 1990s (Figure). DISCUSSION A physician usually makes a cameo cameo (kăm`ēō), small relief carving, usually on striated precious or semiprecious stones or on shell. The design, often a portrait head, is commonly cut in the light-colored vein, and the dark one is left as the background. appearance in a detective story detective story: see mystery. detective story Type of popular literature dealing with the step-by-step investigation and solution of a crime, usually murder. to ascertain the time and cause of death, but physicians as detectives remained largely unexploited in 20th-century detective fiction until the 1990s. Their absence calls for explanation: first, because physicians are particularly well-situated to happen upon dead bodies and to notice suspicious circumstances surrounding deaths, points which frequently strain credulity cre·du·li·ty n. A disposition to believe too readily. [Middle English credulite, from Old French, from Latin cr in detective fiction; and, second, because the techniques of diagnosing illness parallel those of detectives in ferreting out murderers. In Rudolph Fisher's The Conjure-Man Dies, (5) Dr. John Archer John Archer may refer to:
Physicians who detect can be divided into three groups: 1) a scientific group early in the century investigating with scientific equipment and knowledge and remaining steadfastly nonpartisan and committed to propriety and justice; 2) a mid-century group, often physicians who do not practice medicine, investigating through social channels only, using no science, often committed to proving their friends innocent; and 3) a late group in the 1990s consisting of pathologists who use modern crime-investigation techniques and revel in the repellent re·pel·lent adj. Capable of driving off or repelling. n. A substance used to drive off or keep away insects. repellent able to repel or drive off; also, an agent that repels. Refers usually to insect repellent. aspects of autopsies. These physicians usually involve themselves in violence, and the number of deaths per book rises sharply. Early in the century (from 1905 to 1942), Dr. John Evelyn Thorndyke, probably the most renowned physician-detective, appears in about 30 novels and a number of short-story collections by R. Austin Freeman. Dr. Thorndyke, both a physician and a lawyer, calls himself a medical jurist. Thoroughly grounded in the physical and biologic sciences, as well as in history, he uses every conceivable form of evidence, from fluorosis fluorosis /flu·o·ro·sis/ (fldbobr-ro´sis) 1. a condition due to ingestion of excessive amounts of fluorine. 2. of the teeth being common in only a single area of England, to the position of snail eggs on a bone indicating how it lay in the water. His broad knowledge of dust, fibers, decomposition decomposition /de·com·po·si·tion/ (de-kom?pah-zish´un) the separation of compound bodies into their constituent principles. de·com·po·si·tion n. 1. , and jewels far exceeds that of Sherlock A Macintosh utility starting with Version 8.5 of the operating system that provides a common facility for searching the local hard disk, the local network and the Internet. Holmes. He has a well-equipped laboratory in his home and an assistant who can perform miracles of chemical and microscopic analysis, photography, radiography radiography: see X ray. , casting, fingerprinting, and even metalworking. He carries a miniature laboratory in a green case to crime scenes. The novels are usually narrated by a younger doctor, so that Dr. Thorndyke can reveal his impecc able logic in all its glory at the end. When Dr. Thorndyke testifies in court, it is as a disinterested witness DISINTERESTED WITNESS. One who has no interest in the cause or matter in issue, and who is lawfully competent to testify. 2. In North Carolina and Tennessee, wills to pass lands must be attested by disinterested witnesses. , and juries inevitably are swayed by his often abstruse scientific wisdom. Marjorie Nicolson, explaining in 1929 why professors read detective fiction, was thinking of R. Austin Freeman when she wrote that they read it to escape from literature to objectivity. (60) The scientific aspects of his mysteries and their plots contrasted pleasingly with the mainstream literature of the time, which often presented a subjective world through stream of consciousness. A. A. Milne, however, in the 1928 introduction to his book, The Red House Mystery, (61) wrote, "Away with the scientific detective, the man with the microscope... the detective must have no more special knowledge than the average reader." He proved more prescient pre·scient adj. 1. Of or relating to prescience. 2. Possessing prescience. [French, from Old French, from Latin praesci than Marjorie Nicolson; physicians appear as detectives sparsely over the next 60 years, and, with very few exceptions, they use no science whatever in their investigations, relying instead on social connections and their own intuitive reasoning. A couple of exceptions are the excellent The Conjure-Man Dies (1932) by Rudolph Fisher Rudolph Fisher (May 9, 1897 - December 26, 1934) was an African-American writer His first published work, "City of Refuge", appeared in the Atlantic Monthly of February 1925. He went on in 1932 to write The Conjure-Man Dies, the first black detective novel. , (5) whose Dr. John Archer uses antibody tests to show that blood samples do not match and says that in investigating one should "accumulate enough facts and they'd sort of draw their own conclusions," and Theodora DuBois' Death Dines Out (1939), (8) in which Dr. Jeffrey McNeill injects frogs with various foods from a dinner to identify the method of poisoning. H.C. Bailey's Shadow on the Wall (1934) (6) marks a transition from the scientific to the nonscientific mystery. Mr. Reginald Fortune has a laboratory and has his technician test for morphine morphine, principal derivative of opium, which is the juice in the unripe seed pods of the opium poppy, Papaver somniferum. It was first isolated from opium in 1803 by the German pharmacist F. W. A. in the champagne and photograph a bloodstain blood·stain n. A stain caused by blood. tr.v. blood·stained, blood·stain·ing, blood·stains To stain with blood. [V., back-formation from bloodstained. , but mainly he works his way through British upper-class society with innuendo innuendo n. from Latin innuere, "to nod toward." In law it means "an indirect hint." "Innuendo" is used in lawsuits for defamation (libel or slander), usually to show that the party suing was the person about whom the nasty statements were made or why the comments and small talk, saying that his method is to annoy people and see what they do. Quite a number of authors invoke this intuitive method. Jonathan Stagge, in Turn of the Table (1940), (9) shows Dr. Hugh Westlake questioning his social contacts at the request of the police, and they rush to confide in him. Gladys Mitchell Gladys Mitchell (April 19, 1901 – July 27, 1983) was an English author best known for her creation of Mrs. Bradley, the heroine of numerous detective novels. She also wrote under the pseudonyms Stephen Hockaby and Malcolm Torrie. , in mysteries published from 1929 to 1984, presents Dame Beatrice Lestrange, a psychiatrist who works by intuition, in books with little character and little plot. Margaret Millar Margaret Ellis Millar (née Sturm) (February 5, 1915 - March 26, 1994) was an American-Canadian mystery and suspense writer. Born in Kitchener, Ontario, she was educated there and in Toronto. presents Dr. Paul Prye, a psychiatrist who works his social connections, although the police in The Devil Loves Me (1942) (10) do use scientific methods. Dr. Basil Willing, in Helen McCloy's Burn This (1980), (24) similarly is a psychiatrist who relies on conversation for clues. Dr. Grace Severance, a pathologist in The Beaded Banana (1978) (23) by Margaret Scherf, drinks a lot of cocktails and questions people who cooperatively volunteer information. In The Down East Murders (1985) , (28) J. S. Borthwick's Dr. Alex McKenzie pursues unexplained trivia in his mind to solve the murder, such as why the widow attends the funeral in an inappropriate dress. Dr. Clio Marsh, retired at 42 years of age, easily induces people from all walks of life to confide in her, from a young country boy to a sophisticated city executive, in Jo Bannister's The Going Down of the Sun (1989). (30) The question of intuition versus logic is a murky one. Dr. Lionel Salt, in J.B. Priestley's Salt Is Leaving (1966), (15) is presented as logical. His technique is to watch people carefully, listen intently, and then draw conclusions--a method differing little from that of others described as intuitive. Dr. Laszlo Kreizler, in The Alienist al·ien·ist n. A physician accepted by a court of law as an expert on the mental competence of principals or witnesses. (1994) (40) by Caleb Carr Caleb Carr (born August 2, 1955) is an American novelist and military historian. The son of Lucien Carr, a former UPI editor and a key Beat generation figure, he was born in Manhattan and grew up on the Lower East Side. , says he studies similar characters and works by intuition, creating an imaginary man who could have committed the murders, but his method seems logical and scientific to me. All the same, in most of these mysteries, whether the detective is called logical or intuitive, reasoning does not point out the murderer; instead the murderer hits the detective on the head and is found out. In Janet McGiffin's Emergency Murder (1992), (35) the weapons used to attack Dr. Maxene Clair include a tennis-ball machine, a picture wire, and a wrench wrench or spanner Tool, usually operated by hand, for tightening bolts and nuts. A wrench basically consists of a lever with a notch at one or both ends for gripping the bolt or nut so that it can be twisted by a pull at right angles to the axes of the lever . In Patricia Cornwell's Postmortem postmortem /post·mor·tem/ (post-mort´im) performed or occurring after death. post·mor·tem adj. Relating to or occurring during the period after death. n. See autopsy. (1990), (31) the first clue to the identity of the murderer comes at the very end, w hen he attacks Dr. Kay Scarpetta Kay Scarpetta is a fictional character and protagonist in a series of crime novels written by Patricia Cornwell. The series is noted for the use of recent forensic technology in Scarpetta's investigations. Fictional character biography Dr. . Two heroines who get prizes for dopiness are Kit Franklin, the medical examiner's assistant in D.J. Donaldson's Blood on the Bayou bayou (bī`ō, bī`  ) [Louisiana Fr.; from Choctaw bayuk=small stream], term used mainly in U.S. (199l), (33) who goes alone to the
crime scene at 3 AM to see what the actual conditions were, and Dr.
Jessica Coran in Robert W. Walker's Killer Instinct killer instinct n to have the killer instinct → ir a por todaskiller instinct n → combativité f; to have the killer instinct → (1992), (36) who goes to meet the murderer by herself and is tortured and nearly killed. The lack of importance of reasoning of any sort reaches a peak in Mark Frost's The List of 7 (1993), (38) which presents a bloody battle between good and evil. The mysteries of the 1990s are very different from the earlier ones. Michael Crichton, in A Case of Need (1968), (17) offers a footnote for every medical term. In the 1990s, authors rarely explain medical terms; they assume the reader to be familiar with the terminology. Medical information has become readily accessible to people outside of the profession, and our daily lives have become "medicalized" by mass education campaigns on heart disease, cancer, lung disease lung disease Pulmonary disease Pulmonology Any condition causing or indicating impaired lung function Types of LD Obstructive lung disease–↓ in air flow caused by a narrowing or blockage of airways–eg, asthma, emphysema, chronic bronchitis; , and cholesterol levels. Detective fiction reflects this medicalization medicalization Social medicine A term for the erroneous tendency by society–often perpetuated by health professionals–to view effects of socioeconomic disadvantage as purely medical issues . Robin Hathaway, in The Doctor Makes a Dollhouse Call (2000) explains sick sinus syndrome Sick Sinus Syndrome Definition Sick sinus syndrome is a disorder of the sinus node of the heart, which regulates heartbeat. With sick sinus syndrome, the sinus node fails to signal properly, resulting in changes in the heart rate. . Robert W. Walker
Robert W. Walker was born in Corinth, Mississippi, and graduated from Northwestern University. , in Killer Instinct (1992), (36) introduces a criminal with porphyria Porphyria comes in a winter storm to show her devotion, and her lover strangles her with her own tresses. [Br. Poetry: Browning Porphyria’s Lover in Magill IV, 247] See : Love, Unrequited and Addison's disease Addison's disease [for Thomas Addison], progressive disease brought about by atrophy of the outer layer, or cortex, of the adrenal gland; it is also called chronic adrenocortical insufficiency. , and suggests the illness as an explanation for vampires. Starting in the 1990s, over half of the physician-detectives are women, and they usually have at least 2 men interested in them. The plot of detection is diluted by other agendas. The most extreme example is Nigel McCrery' s Silent Witness (1998), (52) which includes not only romance, but conflict with the police, antifeminism in the police department, grandfatherhood, a nephew in trouble, a mother with Alzheimer's disease Alzheimer's disease (ăls`hī'mərz, ôls–), degenerative disease of nerve cells in the cerebral cortex that leads to atrophy of the brain and senile dementia. , conflict with a sister, car chases, drugs, religion, and gardening. Most often, however, the plot is diluted with violence. Most of the physician-detectives of the 1990s are pathologists, and medical examiners A public official charged with investigating all sudden, suspicious, unexplained, or unnatural deaths within the area of his or her appointed jurisdiction. A medical examiner differs from a Coroner in that a medical examiner is a physician. have come a long way from Dr. Tina May, in Sarah Kemp's No Escape (1984), (26) who is said to be a published pathologist, but whose observations are limited to noting that the knife wounds are similar in several cases, involving the front and back of the neck and the eyes. She looks this up in a book and reads that this pattern suggests a male killer. Earlier works show even more restraint. H.C. Bailey, in Shadow on the Wall (1934), (6) actually uses ellipses Ellipses is the plural form of either of two words in the English language:
The amount of violence is cranked crank 1 n. 1. A device for transmitting rotary motion, consisting of a handle or arm attached at right angles to a shaft. 2. A clever turn of speech; a verbal conceit: quips and cranks. up in the 1990s. The Table lists the 53 mysteries included in this study and lists the number of deaths mentioned in each book. Not all of the deaths pertain to pertain to verb relate to, concern, refer to, regard, be part of, belong to, apply to, bear on, befit, be relevant to, be appropriate to, appertain to the plot. For example, Patricia Cornwell Patricia Cornwell (born Patricia Carroll Daniels on June 9, 1956) is a contemporary American author. She is widely known for writing a popular series of crime novels featuring the fictional heroine Dr. Kay Scarpetta, a medical examiner. opens Postmortem (1990) (31) with a description of a torture victim and then, as Dr. Kay Scarpetta walks into the morgue morgue (morg) a place where dead bodies may be kept for identification or until claimed for burial. morgue n. , describes in passing the body of a suicide victim who had thrown himself in front of a train. In Caleb Carr's The Alienist (1994), (40) which mentions the most deaths, many of the dead are parallel cases that the detectives study for clues. It is interesting that the three mysteries with the most deaths--The Alienist (1994) 40 with 71, Mark Frost's The List of 7 (1993) (38) with 59, and Susanna Greory's A Bone of Contention a subject of contention or dispute. See also: Bone (1997) (50) with 28--all have historical settings, as if taking place in the past provides the distance needed to increase the violence even further. In earlier mysteries, violence tended to be perpetrated by criminals, but in the 1990s the detective is likely to use violence as well. In Robin Cook's Terminal (1993), (37) Sean Murphy Sean Murphy can refer to the following people:
Violence has taken over detective fiction at the same time that science comes back, and I think there is a relationship. Part of the reason is that forensic medicine forensic medicine: see medical jurisprudence. forensic medicine Science of applying medical knowledge to legal questions, recognized as a specialty since the early 19th century. Its primary tool has always been the autopsy, to identify the dead (e.g. has made incredible progress, and real-life detection involves science. But it is also true that medicine becomes ever more invasive, more violent, if you will, and it can be frightening. Our current competitive managed-care system is exploitative and not overly concerned with human rights. With the wealth of nonmedical perspectives available in the press and on the Internet, normative medical opinions are undermined and increasingly distrusted. I think the association of science with torture and serial killers serial killer Forensic psychiatry A person who commits serial murders Prototypic SK White ♂ age 30; 97% are ♂; 80% are sociopaths. See Dahmer, Depraved heart murder, Ice Man. Cf Megan's law, Son of Sam law. is not an accident. While not inevitable, as the mysteries of the 1990s that follow the earlier mold show, it does reflect widespread hostility toward medicine and science. Dr. John Thorndyke's scientific reasoning would not prevail in a court today.
Table
Novels of the 20th Century With Physicians as Detectives
Year
Published Author
1911 R. Austin Freeman
1917 Sax Rohmer
1923 Ben Hecht
1925 Ernest Poate
1932 Rudolph Fisher
1934 H. C. Bailey
1937 Elizabeth Gurtiss
1939 Theodora DuBois
1940 Jonathan Stagge
1942 Margaret Millar
1947 John Rhode
1948 Rosemary Kutak
1952 Lawrence Blochman
1965 Ruth Rendell
1966 J. B. Priestley
1966 George Harmon Coxe
1968 Michael Crichton
1973 Lucy Freeman
1974 Nicholas Meyer
1975 Lynn Meyer
1976 Herbert Lieberman
1977 Josephine Bell
1978 Margaret Scherf
1980 Helen McCloy
1984 Rick Boyer
1984 Sarah Kemp
1984 Gladys Mitchell
1985 J. S. Borthwick
1988 Leah Ruth Robinson
1989 Jo Bannister
1990 Patricia Cornwell
1990 Thomas Noguchi and Arthur Lyons
1991 D.J. Donaldson
1991 C. F. Roe
1992 Janet McGiffin
1992 Robert W. Walker
1993 Robin Cook
1993 Mark Frost
1993 Dylan Jones
1994 Caleb Carr
1994 Alan Scholefield
1994 L. M. Vincent
1995 Marcia Landreth
1995 Bill Pomidor
1996 Michael A. Dymmoch
1996 Tess Gerritson
1996 C. L. Grace
1997 Jonathan Gash
1997 Leonard S. Goldberg
1997 Susanna Gregory
1998 Susan Dunlap
1998 Nigel McCrery
2000 Robin Hathaway
Year Medical
Published Title Specialty
1911 The Eye of Osiris (1) Medical jurist
1917 The Hand of Fu Manchu (2) GP
1923 The Florentine Dagger (3) Path
1925 Pledged to the Dead (4) GP
1932 The Conjure-Man Dies (5) GP
1934 Shadow on the Wall (6) GP
1937 Nine Doctors and a Madman (7) GP
1939 Death Dines Out (8) GP
1940 Turn of the Table (9) GP
1942 The Devil Loves Me (10) Psych
1947 Death of an Author (11) Unknown
1948 I Am the Cat (12) Psych
1952 Recipe for Homicide (13) Path
1965 To Fear a Painted Devil (14) GP
1966 Salt Is Leaving (15) GP
1966 The Ring of Truth (16) GP
1968 A Case of Need (17) Path
1973 The Psychiatrist Says Murder (18) Psych
1974 The Seven Per-Cent Solution (19) Psych
1975 Paperback Thriller (20) Psych
1976 City of the Dead (21) Path
1977 Stroke of Death (22) GP
1978 The Beaded Banana (23) Path
1980 Burn This (24) Psych
1984 The Penny Ferry (25) Unknown
1984 No Escape (26) Path
1984 The Crozier Pharaohs (27) Psych
1985 The Down East Murders (28) Unknown
1988 Blood Run (29) ER
1989 The Going Down of the Sun (30) Former GP
1990 Postmortem (31) Path
1990 Physical Evidence (32) Path
1991 Blood on the Bayou (33) Path
1991 A Classy Touch of Murder (34) GP
1992 Emergency Murder (35) ER
1992 Killer Instinct (36) Path
1993 Terminal (37) Medical Student
1993 The List of 7 (38) GP
1993 Thicker Than Water (39) GP
1994 The Alienist (40) Psych
1994 Burn Out (41) GP
1994 Pas de Death (42) Radiology
1995 Vial Murders (43) Path
1995 Murder by Prescription (44) Geriatrics and Path
1996 The Death of Blue Mountain Cat (45) Psych
1996 Harvest (46) Surgery
1996 The Book of Shadows (47) GP
1997 Different Women Dancing (48) GP
1997 Deadly Harvest (49) Path
1997 A Bone of Contention (50) GP
1998 No Immunity (51) Former Path
1998 Silent Witness (52) Path
2000 The Doctor Mokes a Dollhouse Call (53) Cardiology
Year Physician's Scientific No. of
Published Sex Method Deaths
1911 Male Yes 3
1917 Male No 6
1923 Male No 1
1925 Male No 2
1932 Male Yes 2
1934 Male Yes 5
1937 Male No 5
1939 Male Yes 2
1940 Male No 4
1942 Male No 4
1947 Male No 5
1948 Male Yes 3
1952 Male No 2
1965 Male No 1
1966 Male No 2
1966 Male Yes 3
1968 Male Yes 2
1973 Male No 2
1974 Male No 2
1975 Female No 3
1976 Male No 9
1977 Male No 4
1978 Female No 2
1980 Male No 2
1984 Male No 5
1984 Female No 2
1984 Female No 4
1985 Male No 5
1988 Female No 1
1989 Female No 4
1990 Female Yes 7
1990 Male No 8
1991 Male No 13
1991 Female No 4
1992 Female No 1
1992 Female Yes 11
1993 Male Yes 8
1993 Male No 59
1993 Male No 3
1994 Male Yes 71
1994 Female No 4
1994 Male Yes 3
1995 Female No 3
1995 Male and Female Yes 5
1996 Male No 5
1996 Female No 16
1996 Female No 4
1997 Female No 3
1997 Female Yes 15
1997 Male No 28
1998 Female No 4
1998 Female Yes 10
2000 Male No 4
GP = General practice, Path = pathology, Psych = psychiatry, ER =
emergency room medicine.
Average number of deaths per book by decade (+ SD).
Decades Number of deaths
per book
1991-2000 ([+ or -] 17.7) 12.6
1981-1990 ([+ or -] 1.6) 3.2
1971-1980 ([+ or -] 2.6) 3.4
1961-1970 ([+ or -] .82) 2
1951-1960 ([+ or -] 2.1) 3.5
1941-1950 ([+ or -] 1.0) 4
1931-1940 ([+ or -] 1.5) 3.6
1921-1930 ([+ or -] .70) 1.5
1911-1920 ([+ or -] 2.1) 4.5
Note: Table made from bar graph
References (1.) Freeman RA: The Eye of Osiris [reprint reprint An individually bound copy of an article in a journal or science communication of 1911 publication]. Shelbourne, Ontario, George Vanderburgh, R. Austin Freeman Omnibus Ed., 1998 (2.) Robmer S: The Hand of Fu Manchu [reprint of 1917 publication]. New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of , Pyramid, 1962 (3.) Hecht B: The Florentine Dagger [reprint of 1923 publication]. New York, World Publishing, 1943 (4.) Poate E: Pledged to the Dead. New York, A.C. Burt, 1925 (5.) Fisher R: The Conjure-Man Dies [reprint of 1932 publication]. Ann Arbor Ann Arbor, city (1990 pop. 109,592), seat of Washtenaw co., S Mich., on the Huron River; inc. 1851. It is a research and educational center, with a large number of government and industrial research and development firms, many in high-technology fields such as , University of Michigan (body, education) University of Michigan - A large cosmopolitan university in the Midwest USA. Over 50000 students are enrolled at the University of Michigan's three campuses. The students come from 50 states and over 100 foreign countries. Press, 1992 (6.) Bailey HC: Shadow on the Wall New York, Doubleday, 1934 (7.) Curtiss E: Nine Doctors and a Madman. New York, Simon and Schuster, 1937 (8.) DuBois T: Death Dines Out [reprint of 1939 publication]. New York, Award Books, 1949 (9.) Stagge J: Turn of the Table [reprint of 1940 publication]. New York, Popular Library, 1950 (10.) Millar M: The Devil Loves Me. New York, Popular Library, 1942 (11.) Rhode J: Death of an Author. New York, Dodd, Mead, 1947 (12.) Kutak R: I Am the Cat [reprint of 1948 publication]. New York, collier, 1964 (13.) Blochman L: Recipe for Homicide. New York, J.B. Lippincott, 1952 (14.) Rendell R: To Fear a Painted Devil To Fear a Painted Devil is a novel by British writer Ruth Rendell. It was published in 1965, and was the author's second novel. Plot summary Gossip in tiny Linchester is raised to new heights when young Patrick Selby dies on the night of his beautiful wife's [reprint of 1965 publication]. New York, Ballantine, 1976 (15.) Priestley JB: Salt is Leaving [reprint of 1966 publication]. NewYork, Caroll and Graf, 1988 (16.) Coxe GH: The Ring of Truth. New York, Alfred Knopf Alfred Knopf can have two meanings:
(17.) Crichton M: A Case of Need [reprint of 1968 publication]. New York, Penguin, 1969 (18.) Freeman L: The Psychiatrist Says Murder. New York, Arbor House, 1973 (19.) Meyer N: The Seven Per-Cent Solution [reprint of 1974 publication]. New York, W.W. Norton, 1993 (20.) Meyer L: Paperback Thriller. New York, Random House, 1975 (21.) Lieberman H: City of the Dead. New York, Simon and Schultz 1976 (22.) Bell J: Stroke of Death [reprint of 1977 publication]. New York, Walker and Co, 1984 (23.) Scherf M: The Beaded Banana. New York, Doubleday, 1978 (24.) McCloy H: Burn This. New York, Dodd, Mead, 1980 (25.) Boyer R: The Penny Ferry [reprint of 1984 publication]. New York, Ivy Books, 1990 (26.) Kemp S: No Escape. New York, Doubleday, 1984 (27.) Mitchell G: The Crozier crozier see crosier. Pharaohs. London, Michael Joseph, 1984 (28.) Borthwick JS: The Down East Murders. New York, St. Martin's St. Martin's or St. Martins may refer to:
(29.) Robinson LR: Blood Run [reprint of 1988 publication]. New York, Avon, 1999 (30.) Bannister J: The Going Down of the Sun. New York, Doubleday, 1989 (31.) Cornwell P: Postmortem. New York, Pocket Books, 1990 (32.) Noguchi T, Lyons A: Physical Evidence. New York, Putnam, 1990 (33.) Donaldson DJ: Blood on the Bayou [reprint of 1991 publication]. New York, St. Martin's, 1993 (34.) Roe CF: A Classy class·y adj. class·i·er, class·i·est Informal Highly stylish; elegant. class  i·ness n. Touch of Murder [reprint of 1991
publication]. New York, Penguin, 1993
(35.) McGiffin J: Emergency Murder. New York, Fawcett Gold Medal gold medal traditional first prize. [Western Cult: Misc.] See : Prize , 1992 (36.) Walker RW: Killer Instinct [reprint of 1992 publication]. New York, Jove Books, 1995 (37.) Cook R: Terminal [reprint of 1993 publication]. New York, Berkley Books, 1994 (38.) Frost M: The List of 7. New York, Morrow, 1993 (39.) Jones D: Thicker Than Water. New York, St. Martin's, 1993 (40.) Carr C: The Alienist [reprint of 1994 publication]. New York, Bantam Bantam Former city and sultanate, Java. It was located at the western end of Java between the Java Sea and the Indian Ocean. In the early 16th century it became a powerful Muslim sultanate, which extended its control over parts of Sumatra and Borneo. , 1995 (41.) Scholefield A: Burn Out [reprint of 1994 publication]. New York, St. Martin's, 1995 (42.) Vincent LM: Pas de Death. New York, St. Martin's, 1994 (43.) Landreth M: Vial vial a small bottle. Murders. New York, Walker, 1995 (44.) Pomidor B: Murder by Prescription. New York, Signet, 1995 (45.) Dymmoch MA: The Death of Blue Mountain Cat. New York, St. Martin's, 1996 (46.) Gerritson T: Harvest, New York, Pocket Books, 1996 (47.) Grace CL: The Book of Shadows. New York, Pocket Books, 1996 (48.) Gash J: Different Women Dancing. New York, Viking, 1997 (49.) Goldberg LS: Deadly Harvest. New York, Dutton, 1997 (50.) Gregory S: A Bone of Contention. New York, St. Martin's, 1997 (51.) Dunlap S: No Immunity [reprint of 1998 publication]. New York, Dell, 1999 (52.) McCrery N: Silent Witness. New York, St. Martin's, 1998 (53.) Hathaway R: The Doctor Makes a Dollhouse Call. New York, St. Martin's, 2000 (54.) Herbert R: The Oxford Companion to Crime and Mystery Writing. New York, Oxford University Press, 1999 (55.) Swanson J et al: By a Woman's Hand. New York, Berkley Publishing, 1996 (56.) DorothyL Internet site devoted to detective fiction. Available at www.kovacs.com/DOROTHYL/dorothyl.html (57.) J Mystery Readers Int vol. 4, 1988 (58.) J Mystery Readers Int vol. 13, 1997 (59.) Boyer R: Why a doctor? Mystery Readers J 1997; 13:18-20 (60.) Nicolson M: The professor and the detective. The Art of the Mystery Story. Haycroft H (ed) . New York, Simon and Schuster, 1946, pp 113-114 (61.) Milne AA: The Red House Mystery [reprint of 1928 publication]. New York, Dutton, 1965, pp viii-ix RELATED ARTICLE: KEY POINTS * Early in the 20th century, physician-detectives used esoteric scientific knowledge to solve mysteries. * Mid-century, physician-detectives detect by intuition, rather than by scientific method. * In the 1990s, many women pathologists appear as detectives, using standard forensic techniques. * When science reappears in detective fiction in the 1990s, the number of deaths per book rises sharply. Reprint requests to Daryll Anderson, MD, PhD, 625 Golfview Dr, Lexington, KY 40504. |
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