" James's brief overview of detective fiction at first seems to promise a basic survey of, largely, English entries in the genre, but it turns out to be more a minor, lightly-informative sampling. The book's main value will be to James's fans and to novice readers in the genre, and that value is in some scattered but very substantial insights and a few generous handfuls of places to look for first-rate reads. "
— Adam, 2/18/2014