"Italian crime fiction (known as gialli in Italy) has developed from a popular genre to a fully-fledged literary genre; and in the past thirty years it has gradually become the focus of growing interest from literary critics as well as the reading public." "This collection of twelve essays is the first one in English to deal exclusively with Italian crime fiction. The essays are scholarly yet accessible contributions to the growing research in this field. The analyze texts by well-known authors (such as Umberto Eco, Leonardo Sciascia and Andrea Camilleri) as well as works by younger writers. They bring together four of the most significant strands of Italian gialli: the way gialli develop or subvert the tradition and conventions of the crime genre; regional specificity within Italian crime fiction; gialli by and about women, lesbians and gay men; and representations of Italy in gialli written by English-speaking writers."--Jacket.