{"schema_version":"bf_book_companion_v1","release_id":"20260402T191500Z-bisacv2site-fullset","book":{"amazon_purchase_url":"https://www.amazon.com/dp/B008CO9TW6?tag=bookfrontier-20","asin":"B008CO9TW6","authors":["Curtis J. Evans","Curtis Evans","Cecil J.C. Street","Freeman Wills Crofts","Alfred Walter Stewart"],"book_id":"9780786470242","canonical_url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9780786470242","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9780786470242.jpg?v=20260402T191500Z-bisacv2site-fullset%3A2026-04-05T10%3A13%3A18Z","description":"In 1972, in an attempt to elevate the stature of the \"crime novel,\" influential crime writer and critic Julian Symons cast numerous Golden Age detective fiction writers into literary perdition as \"Humdrums,\" condemning their focus on puzzle plots over stylish writing and explorations of character, setting and theme. This volume explores the works of three prominent British \"Humdrums\"--Cecil John Charles Street, Freeman Wills Crofts, and Alfred Walter Stewart--revealing their work to be more complex, as puzzles and as social documents, than Symons allowed. By championing the intrinsic merit of these mystery writers, the study demonstrates that reintegrating the \"Humdrums\" into mystery genre studies provides a fuller understanding of the Golden Age of detective fiction and its aftermath.","forthcoming":false,"isbn13":"9780786470242","publication_date":"20120615","publisher":"McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers","slug":"masters-of-the-humdrum-mystery","subtitle":"Cecil John Charles Street, Freeman Wills Crofts, Alfred Walter Stewart and the British Detective Novel, 1920-1961","title":"Masters of the \"humdrum\" Mystery"},"discovery":{"categories":{"all":[],"hint":[],"publisher":[]},"genres":[],"reader_fit":[],"related_lists":[],"series":null,"similar_books":[{"authors":["John Connolly","Declan Burke"],"book_id":"9781451696585","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9781451696585.jpg?v=20260402T191500Z-bisacv2site-fullset%3A2026-04-05T10%3A13%3A18Z","score":1.8166,"title":"Books to Die for","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9781451696585"},{"authors":["Michael Gilbert","Martin Edwards"],"book_id":"9781464211713","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9781464211713.jpg?v=20260402T191500Z-bisacv2site-fullset%3A2026-04-05T10%3A13%3A18Z","score":1.7663,"title":"Smallbone Deceased","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9781464211713"},{"authors":["Steve Goble"],"book_id":"9781633883598","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9781633883598.jpg?v=20260402T191500Z-bisacv2site-fullset%3A2026-04-05T10%3A13%3A18Z","score":1.7658,"title":"The Bloody Black Flag","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9781633883598"},{"authors":["Steve Goble"],"book_id":"9781633884847","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9781633884847.jpg?v=20260402T191500Z-bisacv2site-fullset%3A2026-04-05T10%3A13%3A18Z","score":1.7487,"title":"The Devil's Wind","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9781633884847"},{"authors":["Martin Edwards"],"book_id":"9781728267692","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9781728267692.jpg?v=20260402T191500Z-bisacv2site-fullset%3A2026-04-05T10%3A13%3A18Z","score":1.6752,"title":"The Edinburgh Mystery","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9781728267692"},{"authors":["Otto Penzler - editor foreword","Anthony Horowitz - editor introduction","Kim Niemi","BJ Harrison"],"book_id":"9781613165522","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9781613165522.jpg?v=20260402T191500Z-bisacv2site-fullset%3A2026-04-05T10%3A13%3A18Z","score":1.6532,"title":"The Mysterious Bookshop Presents the Best Mystery Stories of the Year: 2024","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9781613165522"},{"authors":["Hugh Fraser","Agatha Christie","HarperAudio"],"book_id":"9780063221086","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9780063221086.jpg?v=20260402T191500Z-bisacv2site-fullset%3A2026-04-05T10%3A13%3A18Z","score":1.6528,"title":"The Murder of Roger Ackroyd","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9780063221086"},{"authors":["Amor Towles - editor","Otto Penzler - editor","Keith Sellon-Wright","Christina Delaine"],"book_id":"9781613164495","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9781613164495.jpg?v=20260402T191500Z-bisacv2site-fullset%3A2026-04-05T10%3A13%3A18Z","score":1.64,"title":"The Mysterious Bookshop Presents the Best Mystery Stories of the Year 2023","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9781613164495"}],"topics":[],"what_you_get":["Publisher: McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers."]},"llm_signals":null,"source_presence":{"amazon":true,"book_detail":true,"goodreads":true,"llm_signals":false,"similarity_seed":true},"stats":{"amazon_ratings_count":14,"goodreads_ratings_count":16,"goodreads_reviews_count":7,"quality_score":0.695}}