What kind of mind can create the intricate and intriguing world of the mystery novel - the human puzzle, the tangle of motivation, deception, and death? What drives a superior author to turn to crime and mystery rather than to mainstream literary fiction? During her thirteen years of interviewing authors, writer and photographer Rosemary Herbert has posed these questions to distinguished crime writers.

Now in The Fatal Art of Entertainment: Interviews with Mystery Writers, Herbert provides answers in a volume that will introduce anyone from the literary scholar to the mystery fan to the talented, calculating, and witty minds that commit murder on the printed page, much to the entertainment and fascination of millions of readers. In a unique collection of interviews, Herbert provides three types of portraits of each of thirteen authors: a photographic likeness; an essay describing each author's personality, place in the crime writing genre, and the environment of the interview; and a conversational visit that enables the reader to feel personally acquainted with each author. These revealing interviews with such luminaries as P. D. James, Tony Hillerman, John Mortimer, Sue Grafton, Julian Symons, and Patricia D.

Cornwell will be a source of valuable information and considerable enjoyment to the researcher and the avid mystery reader alike.