A Counter-History of Crime Fiction takes a new look at the evolution of crime fiction, drawing on material from the Middle Ages up to the early twentieth century, when the genre was theoretically defined as detective fiction. Considering 'criminography' as a system of inter-related, even incestuous, sub-genres, Maurizio Ascari explores the connections between modes of literature such as revenge tragedies and providential fictions, the gothic and the ghost story, urban mysteries and anarchist fiction, while taking into account the influence of pseudo-sciences such as mesmerism and criminal anthropology. The result is a fascinating inquiry into the nature of a genre whose formulaic nature has not prevented imaginative, not to say heretical, variations on the themes of crime and detection. Theoretically informed, with an innovative approach to its subject matter, and written in an accessible style, A Counter-History of Crime Fiction is essential reading for those researching in, studying, or just intrigued by crime fiction and its development.