Telling Tomorrows: Detective Fiction and Popular Culture
A special issue of Humanities (ISSN 2076-0787).
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 July 2026 | Viewed by 17
Special Issue Editor
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
While it can be both a noun and a verb, “telling” is perhaps more interestingly used as an adjective: convincing, prophetic, and powerfully persuasive; but also disclosing unintentionally, producing a strong effect, or in reference to something impossible to describe, as in beyond all telling.
In what ways is detective fiction telling? What might it tell, and what are its tomorrows? How does its past give us glimpses into its future? Knowing that detective fiction has always been “popular” fiction, what is its relationship to culture at large? How might current political questions and current events present in detective fiction? What trends in other popular genres show ties to detective fiction?
We might also consider the implications of who does the telling: in what ways has detective fiction been co-opted more dangerously? What stories aren't being told, especially in the contexts of the “true crime” genre wave? How is victimization exploited? What are some of the negative repercussions indicated in authorship, and what adverse corollaries might amalgamation of authorship engender?
In this special issue, we seek articles that discuss the many ways that detective fiction tells us about popular culture, how it ties in and how it breaks the genre’s boundaries, and what might be elided or co-opted in the telling. We welcome close analysis of authors, characters, and detectives, as well as articles on more far-ranging topics. Some additional thoughts:
- the proliferation of Sherlock Holmes adaptations
- true crime documentaries
- podcasts, television series, web series
- historical crime fiction
- the roles of the criminal or other characters
- authorial regeneration of authors such as Josephine Tey and Agatha Christie
- the genre’s boundaries and how it might break them
As a purposefully wide call, we are hoping for a similarly wide range of ideas and analysis.
Dr. Carla Kungl
Guest Editor
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Keywords
- detective fiction
- popular culture
- adaptations
- crime fiction
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