Readers of the detective story have puzzled for decades over these and other intriguing questions about their heroes—and heroines. Now Julian Symons, himself a master crime writer, suggests some of the answers in the form of amusing and revealing incidents in the lives of the world’s most famous detectives, together with some hitherto undocumented case histories. With him we walk the roads and lanes of St Mary Mead in the company of its vicar, learning many fascinating details of Miss Marple’s past. We quiz Archie Goodwin in his den and gain a clue to the ultimate fate of Nero Wolfe. We disentangle the facts of Poirot’s career from the rumors, and uncover the history of Ellery Queen.