Product Details

• Published on: 1999-09
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback

Amazon.co.uk Review
"Detective shows have made for some of the most arresting programmes to appear on the tube." So write the authors of this informative but never po-faced guide to just under 200 TV series since the late 1940s that featured detectives, giving cast, credits and UK and/or US transmission dates. All programmes are given a fair and lively critical analysis and some are accompanied by episode title listings and black and white stills.

Superheroes and outright spoofs are omitted but nostalgic treats abound, from the hip (Miami Vice) and camp (The Green Hornet) to the weird (Twin Peaks). Detectives include hippies (The Mod Squad), monks (Cadfael) and the blind (Longstreet).

Each show's tone is discussed--including the self-parodying gooeyness of Hart to Hart, the homoeroticism of Homicide: Life on the Street, the possible fascism of The Professionals and the sexism of Charlie's Angels. Information is given on the previous work of the production team and cast and criticism is fair, differentiating honourable failures (Cop Rock) from outright disasters(Archer).

Notwithstanding a couple of proof-reading mistakes and one conspicuously missing still, this is an intelligent, informative and entertaining work, likely to delight most TV detective fans. --Stephen Portlock