Correspondence, manuscripts and illustrations concerned with Symons' two most important historical works on the detective story, The Great Detectives, 1981, and the 1985 revised edition of Bloody Murder, which received the Mystery Writers of America Edgar Allan Poe Award for the 1972 first edition. Most of the correspondence is concerned with The Great Detectives, including 2 letters from Frederic Dannay, 2 letters from Lady Gregory Bromet (daughter of A. Conan Doyle), and 1 letter from Tom Adams with drafts of his illustrations for this book. There is also a letter from Canadian author Derrick Murdoch, founder of Crime Writers of Canada.