Perplexing Plots

Martin Edwards, author of The Life of Crime: Detecting the History of Mysteries and their Creators:
Perplexing Plots is the most illuminating study of narrative technique that I’ve read. David Bordwell’s investigation of popular storytelling benefits from his exceptional breadth of knowledge and analytic skills. But what is especially impressive is his ability to present information and insights so persuasively—and so readably. An admirable achievement.

James Naremore, author of More than Night: Film Noir in Its Contexts:
My favorite of David Bordwell’s many important books, this is an engrossing tour of crime and mystery storytelling in literature high and low, with asides on film, theater, and other media. I’m in awe of its encyclopedic reach, erudition, analytic brilliance, clarity, and wit. It’s wonderfully instructive and fun.

Sarah Weinman, author of Scoundrel: How a Convicted Murderer Persuaded the Women Who Loved Him, the Conservative Establishment, and the Courts to Set Him Free:
David Bordwell has a brain I envy, one that makes connections and associations about books, film, and the arts that are breathtakingly unorthodox and exactly correct. I learned so much from reading Perplexing Plots about how crime narratives are situated in the larger literary and cinema spheres, and rejoiced in how much pleasure Bordwell's criticism provided, once more and always.