Mostly good and interesting, but a tad repetitive and draggy in spots. Also it's more suited to readers across the pond or those who read a good deal of British mystery writers. Some were familiar, many were not, but most had insightful tips, ideas and practices for those who wish to endeavour on their own crime novel. See what I did there? ( )

Most people would regard this book as a good reference volume for dipping into now and again. I read it cover to cover and found it nicely coherent, primarily due to the informative and conversational linking paragraphs from the editor, Martin Edwards.

The contributions were grouped into themed categories and this avoided the issue of multiple pieces repeating the same things over and over, while providing a number of pieces on each theme that provided opportunity for differing views to be presented.

I had expected many of the contributions to be mundane, self-promotional articles with limited worthwhile content, but I must say I only spotted a couple of such articles amongst the 90 pieces of writing presented. The majority, and it was a big majority, of the contributions are serious efforts to pass on what wisdom the author may have regarding the topic they were asked to write about.

Most of the authors stated what worked for them, but acknowledged everybody is different and what works for them may not work for the reader. These authors often gave alternative approaches other than their own.

A sense of humour was frequently present, and some of the articles are very amusing.

The contributions in this book were brought together to specifically address the issues of writing crime fiction. In reality, most of the advice and commentary is applicable in a much wider context. Many of the issues discussed about the relationship of the crime fiction genre with "literature" are as relevant to the majority of fiction genres as they are to crime fiction. There is great commonality amongst the oppressed genres of The World.

I would read more books produced or edited by Martin Edwards.

This is a book I would recommend strongly to anyone who writes, is thinking of writing, or who, like myself, is interested in storytelling and the writing process.

Since reading Howdunit I have been looking up other works by Martin Edwards and already have two in my possession. ( )