- Paperback: 512 pages
- Publisher: Robinson Publishing (30 Mar 2006)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 1845292529
- ISBN-13: 978-1845292522
- Product Dimensions: 19.4 x 13 x 4.2 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 377,391 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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More About the Author
Product Description
Product Description
Hidden gems from the earliest days of mystery fiction. The years 1850-1905 represent the pre-Golden Age of crime writing. Drawn exclusively from those earliest days of mystery fiction, this revealing anthology includes a surprising number of authors not commonly associated today with crime fiction - names like Alexander Dumas, Alexander Pushkin, Charles Dickens, Robert Louis Stephenson, Arnold Bennett, Mark Twain and Rudyard Kipling. Over three-quarters of the stories in this fascinating volume have not been reproduced since the 1950s. They include: Guy de Maupassant's "The Hand"; Charles Dickens's "Hunted Down"; Maurice LeBlanc's gentleman-burglar Arsene Lupin; Conan Doyle's "The Adventures of the Three Students"; Robert Louis Stephenson's "Markheim"; Edgar Poe's Chevaller Auguste Dupin, the first genuine fictional detective; Baroness Orczy's "Old Man in the Corner"; and EW Hornung's immensely popular thief Raffles.
About the Author
Maxim Jakubowski is the editor of The Best British Mysteries, and the bestselling Mammoth Book of Erotica series, now into its seventh volume. A columnist for The Guardian, novelist and broadcaster, he lives in London where he owns the world-famous Murder One bookshop.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
The title of this collection of short stories is somewhat misleading. There are very few genuine whodunits included. Most, but not all, are, examples of early detective and detective fiction or mystery writing.
There are twenty-seven stories. They cover a wide range of dates: earliest example comes from 1834 - before mystery fiction had developed as a recognisable genre - and the latest from 1935 - well into the golden age of detective writing. Most readers, I'm sure, will find plenty of the stories here engaging and intriguing, but possibly not all of them.
Some of the stories barely seem to justify their inclusion: Alexander Pushkin's `The Queen of Spades' is more a story of the uncanny than anything else; Alexandre Dumas' `Solange'is, similarly, more an example of a ghost story or horror fiction; and `The Crimson Curtain' by Barbey d'Aurevilly - whilst very well told and enjoyable - lacks any crime or detection or - in the sense usually applied to it in this sort of fiction - a mystery. Many of the stories, in fact, appear to have been included for no other reason than the their authors' fame. Charles Dickens, no stranger to the genre, wrote much better works than `Hunted Down' (included here) and so too Robert Louis Stevenson and his story `Markheim' - their literary fame would not have survived so long if they had not.
They are some excellent stories, though. Criminal rogues do very well with examples from E.W Hornburg's Raffles, Leblanc's Arsene Lupin, William Hope Hodgson's Captain Gault and an amusing tale of an American charlatan in `A Personal Magnet'. Satirical or humorous, be it wholly or partially, takes on the form also fare well - examples here include Mark Twain's `The Stolen White Elephant', Arnold Bennett's `Murder!', Thomas Hardy's `The Three Strangers' and `The Biter Bit' by Wilkie Collins.
There are standards of the genre here too - Poe's `Purloined Letter' gets another outing, as does a Sherlock Holmes story. The real highlights of this collection, however, are in the stories by less well remembered writers in the genre. `The Disappearance of Marie Severe' with its blind detective, `The Lenton Croft Robberies', `Popeau Intervenes' (whose detective helped inspire Christie's Poirot), `Locked In' and `The Episode of Torment IV' are all excellent examples.
It is a little sad that they come without any context. A collection covering such a wide range of dates could do with some. The stories might be more enjoyable if given some background, an understanding of the sorts of stories around at the time, or, perhaps, other examples of now forgotten works, such as the Casebook fiction of the nineteenth century.
Such complaints aside, however, this is a strong collection which includes some unusual and interesting works.
There are twenty-seven stories. They cover a wide range of dates: earliest example comes from 1834 - before mystery fiction had developed as a recognisable genre - and the latest from 1935 - well into the golden age of detective writing. Most readers, I'm sure, will find plenty of the stories here engaging and intriguing, but possibly not all of them.
Some of the stories barely seem to justify their inclusion: Alexander Pushkin's `The Queen of Spades' is more a story of the uncanny than anything else; Alexandre Dumas' `Solange'is, similarly, more an example of a ghost story or horror fiction; and `The Crimson Curtain' by Barbey d'Aurevilly - whilst very well told and enjoyable - lacks any crime or detection or - in the sense usually applied to it in this sort of fiction - a mystery. Many of the stories, in fact, appear to have been included for no other reason than the their authors' fame. Charles Dickens, no stranger to the genre, wrote much better works than `Hunted Down' (included here) and so too Robert Louis Stevenson and his story `Markheim' - their literary fame would not have survived so long if they had not.
They are some excellent stories, though. Criminal rogues do very well with examples from E.W Hornburg's Raffles, Leblanc's Arsene Lupin, William Hope Hodgson's Captain Gault and an amusing tale of an American charlatan in `A Personal Magnet'. Satirical or humorous, be it wholly or partially, takes on the form also fare well - examples here include Mark Twain's `The Stolen White Elephant', Arnold Bennett's `Murder!', Thomas Hardy's `The Three Strangers' and `The Biter Bit' by Wilkie Collins.
There are standards of the genre here too - Poe's `Purloined Letter' gets another outing, as does a Sherlock Holmes story. The real highlights of this collection, however, are in the stories by less well remembered writers in the genre. `The Disappearance of Marie Severe' with its blind detective, `The Lenton Croft Robberies', `Popeau Intervenes' (whose detective helped inspire Christie's Poirot), `Locked In' and `The Episode of Torment IV' are all excellent examples.
It is a little sad that they come without any context. A collection covering such a wide range of dates could do with some. The stories might be more enjoyable if given some background, an understanding of the sorts of stories around at the time, or, perhaps, other examples of now forgotten works, such as the Casebook fiction of the nineteenth century.
Such complaints aside, however, this is a strong collection which includes some unusual and interesting works.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
1 review
1 of 4 people found the following review helpful
really fun book
21 May 2010
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
This is a very fun and entertaining book of whodunnits, especially if you like the older Victorian age stories. I also found one of the BEST ever ghost stories in here!!
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