Detecting Men examines the history of the Hollywood detective genre and the ways that detective films have negotiated changing social attitudes toward masculinity, heroism, law enforcement, and justice. Genre film can be a site for the expression and resolution of problematic social issues, but while there have been many studies of such other male genres as war films, gangster films, and Westerns, relatively little attention has been paid to detective films beyond film noir. In this volume, Philippa Gates examines classical films of the thirties and forties as well as recent examples of the genre, including Die Hard, the Lethal Weapon films, The Usual Suspects, Seven, Devil in a Blue Dress, and Murder by Numbers, in order to explore social anxieties about masculinity and crime and Hollywood's conceptions of gender. Up until the early 1990s, Gates argues, the primary focus of the detective genre was the masculinity of the hero. However, from the mid-1990s onward, the genre has shifted to more technical portrayals of crime scene investigation, forensic science, and criminal profiling, offering a reassuring image of law enforcement in the face of violent crime. By investigating the evolution of the detective film, Gates suggests, perhaps we can detect the male.

Sections include such listings as:a "master" list; mystery types; series characters; settings; title chronology; alphabetical list of titles; pseudonyms, and mystery book awards.

For the most part, Detecting Men presents only living authors who write series characters. Owing to its small size, the pocket guide includes 'just the facts' -- author name (last name first), character name, numbered book titles in series order, publication date and major mystery awards. This book includes more: More than 800 series detectives; Over 4400 titles in correct series order; More than 500 new titles from '95 and '96; Award winners and Nominees; Pseudonymous authors (P).