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ssejig's review against another edition
3.0
Summer is (finally) arriving in Montana. And this book is a perfect accompaniment to sunny days and higher temps. As I sat outside my summer cocktail, I quite enjoyed many of the stories in this book. Most are from famous authors but feature stories not well known (Conan Doyle's "Devil's Foot") or lesser known works/detectives. While it was fun reading some stories about detectives I might not otherwise know, there were some stories that were lesser known for specific reasons (ahem, they aren't as good as the author's regular works.)
An interesting mix of Golden Age (and some others) authors makes this worth a read.
An interesting mix of Golden Age (and some others) authors makes this worth a read.
ninag98's review against another edition
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
5.0
sadie_slater's review against another edition
4.0
I picked this up in the BL shop on a whim as it seemed like good holiday reading. An enjoyable collection, of which I'd only read the Sherlock Holmes story (The Adventure of the Devil's Foot) and the Chesterton (The Finger of Stone) before; the rest were new to me, and with the exception of EW Horning, by writers I'd never read before. I'm not a great fan of short stories - I prefer longer formats with their greater opportunity to develop plot and character - but this was fun, although I'm not certain, on the strength of it, that I'd seek out any of the authors' other work.
afalse's review
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
amalia1985's review against another edition
5.0
“All of us, or nearly all of us, have at one time or another had the desire and the impulse to commit murder.”
Everything can happen when we're on holidays. We meet new people, we are free from our daily routine, we fall in love and we can possibly commit a murder or two. Think of a number of Christie's most popular mysteries. You will find that holidays offer the ideal backdrop for a large cast of characters, passions that flourish and feelings that become disclosed, things that get stolen.
In the volume edited by Martin Edwards, we find fourteen stories, set in various places, with a number of twists and turns, memorable motives and a wonderful sense of setting.
“It was a country of rolling moors, lonely and dun-coloured, with an occasional church tower to mark the site of some old-world village. In every direction upon these moors there were traces of some vanished race which had passed utterly away, and left as its sole record strange monuments of stone, irregular mounds which contained the burned ashes of the dead, and curious earthworks which hinted at prehistoric strife.”
The Adventure of the Devil's Foot by Arthur Conan Doyle. A fascinating incident of impossible deaths, Cornwall and Sherlock Holmes.
A Schoolmaster Abroad by E.W.Hornung.A surprising mystery set in Switzerland.
Murder! by Arnold Bennett. The story of a murder of passion, set in a seaside resort on the Channel coast.
The Murder on the Golf Links by M.McDonnell Bodkin. A confused young woman, a sad suitor, a strange father. Set in a luxurious golf hotel.
The Finger of Stone by G.K.Chesterton. Three young men try to decipher the murder of a very special man. Set in France.
The Vanishing of Mrs Fraser by Basil Thompson. The strange adventure of a young woman whose mother vanishes from a hotel in Paris. Strange motives, and a thoroughly unreliable narrator.
A Mystery of the Sand - Hills by R. Austin Freeman. A pile of clothes prompts the question: was the man drowned or was it a hideous murder? Set in a seaside resort in Britain.
The Hazel Ice by H.C.Bailey. A story of disappearances, cultural differences and marriage, set in the Austrian Alps.
Razor Edge by Anthony Berkeley. A body in a cove and a distorted wife.
Holiday Task by Leo Bruce. A strange murder set in Normandy.
A Posteriori by Helen Simpson. A provocative, uncomfortable story of an Englishwoman in Paris.
Where Is Mr Manetot? by Phyllis Bentley. A story of whispers, rainfall and a very alluring woman.
The House of Screams by Gerald Findler. A supernatural mystery of a miserable marriage and a brother's duty, set in a dark manor in Cumberland.
Cousin Once Removed by Michael Gilbert. Let's face it, cousins can be quite irritating, demanding and parasitic. A farm mystery set in Cumberland.
My reviews can also be found on https://theopinionatedreaderblog.wordpress.com/
Everything can happen when we're on holidays. We meet new people, we are free from our daily routine, we fall in love and we can possibly commit a murder or two. Think of a number of Christie's most popular mysteries. You will find that holidays offer the ideal backdrop for a large cast of characters, passions that flourish and feelings that become disclosed, things that get stolen.
In the volume edited by Martin Edwards, we find fourteen stories, set in various places, with a number of twists and turns, memorable motives and a wonderful sense of setting.
“It was a country of rolling moors, lonely and dun-coloured, with an occasional church tower to mark the site of some old-world village. In every direction upon these moors there were traces of some vanished race which had passed utterly away, and left as its sole record strange monuments of stone, irregular mounds which contained the burned ashes of the dead, and curious earthworks which hinted at prehistoric strife.”
The Adventure of the Devil's Foot by Arthur Conan Doyle. A fascinating incident of impossible deaths, Cornwall and Sherlock Holmes.
A Schoolmaster Abroad by E.W.Hornung.A surprising mystery set in Switzerland.
Murder! by Arnold Bennett. The story of a murder of passion, set in a seaside resort on the Channel coast.
The Murder on the Golf Links by M.McDonnell Bodkin. A confused young woman, a sad suitor, a strange father. Set in a luxurious golf hotel.
The Finger of Stone by G.K.Chesterton. Three young men try to decipher the murder of a very special man. Set in France.
The Vanishing of Mrs Fraser by Basil Thompson. The strange adventure of a young woman whose mother vanishes from a hotel in Paris. Strange motives, and a thoroughly unreliable narrator.
A Mystery of the Sand - Hills by R. Austin Freeman. A pile of clothes prompts the question: was the man drowned or was it a hideous murder? Set in a seaside resort in Britain.
The Hazel Ice by H.C.Bailey. A story of disappearances, cultural differences and marriage, set in the Austrian Alps.
Razor Edge by Anthony Berkeley. A body in a cove and a distorted wife.
Holiday Task by Leo Bruce. A strange murder set in Normandy.
A Posteriori by Helen Simpson. A provocative, uncomfortable story of an Englishwoman in Paris.
Where Is Mr Manetot? by Phyllis Bentley. A story of whispers, rainfall and a very alluring woman.
The House of Screams by Gerald Findler. A supernatural mystery of a miserable marriage and a brother's duty, set in a dark manor in Cumberland.
Cousin Once Removed by Michael Gilbert. Let's face it, cousins can be quite irritating, demanding and parasitic. A farm mystery set in Cumberland.
My reviews can also be found on https://theopinionatedreaderblog.wordpress.com/
beckmank's review against another edition
4.0
This is an interesting collection of short stories - classic crime while a character is on holiday (or on vacation, as we would say here in the United States). Before each story, Mr. Edwards provides a bit of background on the author and their writing career. While I knew the first, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, I was unfamiliar with the remainder of the authors in this collection.
The short stories vary greatly, and each is unique - some are told from the eyes of the criminal, others have a resolution for a victim, but not the entire mystery. Some stories are fairly straightforward, while others have a nice twist to them. All British authors, the majority of the holidays take place in the UK, but some are abroad in other European locations.
One nice aspect to this collection is it's easy to read in small increments. Sometimes you just don't have a large chunk of time to sit down and invest in a novel. This book is perfect for those times - you can pick it up and breeze through an entire mystery. A few of the 14 stories just were not my cuppa, resulting in the 4/5 rating. Most of them were quite engaging, and I enjoyed being immersed in the holiday mysteries of the early 20th century.
Thanks to NetGalley for providing me with a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Review from my blog Hidden Staircase.
The short stories vary greatly, and each is unique - some are told from the eyes of the criminal, others have a resolution for a victim, but not the entire mystery. Some stories are fairly straightforward, while others have a nice twist to them. All British authors, the majority of the holidays take place in the UK, but some are abroad in other European locations.
One nice aspect to this collection is it's easy to read in small increments. Sometimes you just don't have a large chunk of time to sit down and invest in a novel. This book is perfect for those times - you can pick it up and breeze through an entire mystery. A few of the 14 stories just were not my cuppa, resulting in the 4/5 rating. Most of them were quite engaging, and I enjoyed being immersed in the holiday mysteries of the early 20th century.
Thanks to NetGalley for providing me with a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Review from my blog Hidden Staircase.
charliechan21's review against another edition
2.0
Book 25 of the year(Resorting to Murder edited by Martin Lewis) is a set of short stories that I have been dipping into since the new year. I found there were elements of the stories that I enjoyed - like the descriptive style of some of them. What I found lacking was the development of plot and character which was probably due to the format and the time periods that they were written in.
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