The Collins Crime Club was an imprint of UK book publishers William Collins & Co Ltd and ran from May 1930 to April 1994. It was not a Book club in the usual sense of the word in that customers did not have to subscribe to the club with promises to buy a certain number of volumes each year. Instead they registered their name and address with the club and were sent a Newsletter every three months which advised them of the latest books which had been or were to be issued. William Collins was a Scottish schoolmaster and publisher, founder in 1819 of Collins, one of the firms whose amalgamation produced HarperCollins. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... See also: 1929 in literature, other events of 1930, 1931 in literature, list of years in literature. ... This article or section needs additional references or sources to improve its verifiability. ... See also: 1993 in literature, other events of 1994, 1995 in literature, list of years in literature. ... A book club is a club where people usually meet to discuss a book that they have read and express their opinions, likes, dislikes, etc. ... A newsletter is a regularly distributed publication generally about one main topic that is of interest to its subscribers. ...

Collins' intention was to publish new three crime books on the first Monday of every month. All three books were supposedly picked by a panel of experts (only one of whom seems to have been named - Cyril Alington) and they chose for each month one book which they termed a Selection and two which were Recommended. Sherlock Holmes, pipe-puffing hero of crime fiction, confers with his colleague Dr. Watson; together these characters popularized the genre. ... The Very Reverend Cyril Argentine Alington, D.D., (1872–1955), was an English educationalist, scholar, cleric, and prolific author. ...

As a marketing device, the club seems to have been successful in that Collins boasted 25,000 subscribers in 1934. Certainly the number of books published increased beyond the three promised per month, reaching a pre-war peak of 42 books in 1938. See also: 1933 in literature, other events of 1934, 1935 in literature, list of years in literature. ... See also: 1937 in literature, other events of 1938, 1939 in literature, list of years in literature. ...

The real reason for the success of the club probably lies in the authors that it had on its list, topped by the best-selling crime writer of all time - Agatha Christie. Under contract to Collins since 1926, all except five of her books were published under the Crime Club imprint from The Murder at the Vicarage onwards and most of her classic titles such as Murder on the Orient Express first appeared as Crime Club books with huge sales. Agatha Mary Clarissa, Lady Mallowan, DBE (15 September 1890 – 12 January 1976), mainly known as Agatha Christie, was an English crime fiction writer. ... See also: 1925 in literature, other events of 1926, 1927 in literature, list of years in literature. ... The Murder at the Vicarage (published in 1930) is a detective fiction novel by Agatha Christie, the first novel to feature the character of Miss Marple. ... Murder on the Orient Express (London: Collins, 1934) also called Murder on the Calais Coach (New York: Dodd Mead, 1934) is a 1934 novel by Agatha Christie. ...

From 1939, the Crime Club also issued all the remaining works of Ngaio Marsh to be published (starting with Overture to Death) as well as many of the volumes of such 'Golden Age of Detective Fiction' writers such as John Rhode and Freeman Wills Crofts. US writers such as Hulbert Footner and, later on, Rex Stout, were also well represented. See also: 1938 in literature, other events of 1939, 1940 in literature, list of years in literature. ... Ngaio Marsh DBE (April 23, 1895 - February 18, 1982), born Edith Ngaio Marsh was an author and theatre director from New Zealand. ... The Golden Age of Detective Fiction was an era of detective fiction in the 1920s and 30s (also see Golden Age). ... Cecil Street (1884-1964) was a prolific English writer of detective novels. ... Freeman Wills Crofts (1879-1957) was born in Dublin, Ireland. ... Hulbert Footner (1879-1944) was a Canadian writer of detective fiction. ... Rex Stout, full name Rex Todhunter Stout, (December 1, 1886 - October 27, 1975) was an American writer best known as the creator of the larger-than-life fictional detective Nero Wolfe. ...

Wartime paper shortages hit the Crime Club badly. From 1942 it announced on its dustwrappers that they were no longer able to issue quarterly newsletters. The page count of its books reduced from an average of 252-280 pages down to 160-192 with smaller typefaces being used as well as far inferior paper. The number of new books being issued dropped dramatically with an all-time low being reached in 1946 when just 16 new books were issued. Combatants Allied powers: China France Great Britain Soviet Union United States and others Axis powers: Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Chiang Kai-shek Charles de Gaulle Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tōjō Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead: 33,000... See also: 1941 in literature, other events of 1942, 1943 in literature, list of years in literature. ... See also: 1945 in literature, other events of 1946, 1947 in literature, list of years in literature. ...

After the war, both the number of books and their quality of production increased as shortages ceased. The Crime Club managed to keep up with the times with far more diverse and gritty novels and was able to claim notable 'firsts' throughout the remainder of its existence, publishing the first editions of all of the early Lovejoy novels by Jonathan Gash from 1977 onwards starting with The Judas Pair and the Dalziel and Pascoe books of Reginald Hill starting in 1970. There are other articles with similar names; see Lovejoy (disambiguation). ... John Grant is a British author who writes under the pen name Jonathan Gash. He is the author of the Lovejoy series of novels. ... See also: 1976 in literature, other events of 1977, 1978 in literature, list of years in literature. ... Detective Superintendent Andrew Dalziel (usually known as Andy) and Detective Sergeant (later Detective Inspector) Peter Pascoe are two fictional Yorkshire detectives featuring in a series of novels by Reginald Hill that became a BBC television series, also named Dalziel and Pascoe. ... Reginald Hill (born in 1936 at West Hartlepool in County Durham) is a British crime writer. ... See also: 1969 in literature, other events of 1970, 1971 in literature, list of years in literature. ...

The end was in sight for the Crime Club when Collins was bought out by Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation in 1989. The editor of the Club, Elizabeth Walter, managed to keep the imprint going but upon her retirement in 1994, the Club was brought to an end. HarperCollins crime fiction output was much reduced and most of the best-selling authors were absorbed into the main imprint of the publishers. Keith Rupert Murdoch AC, KCSG (born 11 March 1931) is an Australian born United States citizen who is a global media executive and is the controlling shareholder, chairman and managing director of News Corporation, based in New York. ... 1211 Avenue of the Americas (Sixth Avenue), where News Corporation is based News Corporation (abbreviated to News Corp) (NYSE: NWS, NYSE: NWSa, ASX: NWS, LSE: NCRA) is one of the worlds largest media conglomerates. ... See also: 1988 in literature, other events of 1989, 1990 in literature, list of years in literature. ... HarperCollins is a publishing company owned by Rupert Murdochs News Corporation. ...

Throughout its sixty-four years the club issued a total of 2026 first editions of crime novels and reached a high standard of quality throughout. In the field of crime book collecting, Collins Crime Club is eagerly sought, particularly pre-war first editions in dustwrappers with their vivid and imaginative images. see also: The First Edition, a musical group fronted by Kenny Rogers. ... Book collecting is what it sounds like, the collecting of books. ...