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lileuw's review against another edition
2.0
DNF at 145 pages.
I really need to learn that short story collection by Martin Edwards are just NOT my thing. The stories were all really boring, uninteresting and just bleh. I didn't like any of them so far and I really can't be bothered to read the others, even though Agatha Christie is even in it.
I just don't like short story collection like this, and I really need to avoid them.
I really need to learn that short story collection by Martin Edwards are just NOT my thing. The stories were all really boring, uninteresting and just bleh. I didn't like any of them so far and I really can't be bothered to read the others, even though Agatha Christie is even in it.
I just don't like short story collection like this, and I really need to avoid them.
depizan's review against another edition
2.0
Meh. More like 1 1/2 stars. It wasn't terrible or anything, but it wasn't good, either. Most of the mysteries weren't very mysterious and they were generally sort of blah.
mechee91's review
4.0
There is such an other worldliness about placing your story in another country. You take your readers out of their comfort zones in the first break of the story. Without the creature comforts of their own lives, readers are automatically put on edge. Throw in a mystery and suddenly we are simultaneously wishing for our own beds and looking or shoulders for the next crime. Martin Edwards has put together a lovely collection of short crime stories. This anthology has all the best thrills a fan of Poirot and Marple could ask for. You have damsels, socialites, rogues, lovers and of course the police.
If you are tired of the same old villages or the noise of London is too much and leaves you longing for Golden Age mysteries that still have a bit of a surprise to them, then I highly recommend this collection. It gives you just what you need. Beautifully put together and spaced out so that you are not in France forever and then in Italy forever. You are bounced around the continent which I feel adds a whirlwind sense to match the characters. I don’t typically like antholigies as I have an unhealthy distrust of short stories. This one however has opened me back up to honoring the short and long stories. It introduces you to new author and new viewpoints. Even if you do not particuarly like one story there is bound to be a dozen more that you will enjoy.
*This eBook was provided by NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press in exchange for honest feedback**
If you are tired of the same old villages or the noise of London is too much and leaves you longing for Golden Age mysteries that still have a bit of a surprise to them, then I highly recommend this collection. It gives you just what you need. Beautifully put together and spaced out so that you are not in France forever and then in Italy forever. You are bounced around the continent which I feel adds a whirlwind sense to match the characters. I don’t typically like antholigies as I have an unhealthy distrust of short stories. This one however has opened me back up to honoring the short and long stories. It introduces you to new author and new viewpoints. Even if you do not particuarly like one story there is bound to be a dozen more that you will enjoy.
*This eBook was provided by NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press in exchange for honest feedback**
gautamsing's review
5.0
Crimes involving the British and the continent. Interesting that most were set in France (with a few in Italy and one in far away Belgium!). Perhaps in the inter-war years, France was exotically far away enough!
zoer03's review
5.0
An absolute gem well gems really as it’s a collection of a few forgotten stories with a few more famous ones thrown in. Some are a bit dated but that’s what makes these mysteries so fun and just intriguing to read. Really need to get more like it.
joecam79's review
4.0
As editor Martin Edward explains in his introduction to this anthology, there is a prevalent but mistaken impression that British crime fiction of the "Golden Age" is invariably set in the familiar landscapes of home. It is a view which is reinforced by TV and movie adaptations of "cozy mysteries". If what they portray were anything near to reality, the mind-boggling levels of violent criminality in sleepy, pastoral English hamlets would be enough to make any sociologist or criminologist go wild.
This enjoyable collection sets the record straight by presenting the reader with a generous selection of stories set on the Continent. The reasons for the protagonists finding themselves away from the British Isles are varied - holidaying, work, war, or the necessities of the investigation itself. The nature of the crimes are equally diverse, ranging from murder most foul (through poisoning and beheading, just to mention a couple of morbid examples) to theft and espionage. It makes for a deliciously assorted bag.
What I particularly liked, however was the well-judged balance between familiar crime writers and characters (Agatha Christie's Parker Pyne, Chesterton's Father Brown, to give an example) and lesser-known (at least to me) authors and characters such as Marie Belloc Lowndes and her Hercules Popeau (the unwitting prototype of Christie's Poirot). Arthur Conan Doyle, who obviously needs no introduction is, interestingly, represented by a story which is generally classified amongst his "dark" or "weird" tales - The New Catacomb. It features no investigator and its setting is deliciously Gothic. As a fan of the latter genre, I also enjoyed the spooky melodrama of J. Jefferson Farjeon's "The Room in the Tower" as well as H.C. Bailey's "The Long Dinner". Bailey's investigator - Reggie Fortune - is rather irritating, but the windswept Breton landscape and the echoes of "folk horror" still made this a worthwhile read.
This anthology's publication date was, quite cannily, set for August. It is indeed the perfect holiday read for mystery lovers: a book to carry on a trip abroad or to use as accompaniment to some armchair travelling - to the Continent, of course.
This enjoyable collection sets the record straight by presenting the reader with a generous selection of stories set on the Continent. The reasons for the protagonists finding themselves away from the British Isles are varied - holidaying, work, war, or the necessities of the investigation itself. The nature of the crimes are equally diverse, ranging from murder most foul (through poisoning and beheading, just to mention a couple of morbid examples) to theft and espionage. It makes for a deliciously assorted bag.
What I particularly liked, however was the well-judged balance between familiar crime writers and characters (Agatha Christie's Parker Pyne, Chesterton's Father Brown, to give an example) and lesser-known (at least to me) authors and characters such as Marie Belloc Lowndes and her Hercules Popeau (the unwitting prototype of Christie's Poirot). Arthur Conan Doyle, who obviously needs no introduction is, interestingly, represented by a story which is generally classified amongst his "dark" or "weird" tales - The New Catacomb. It features no investigator and its setting is deliciously Gothic. As a fan of the latter genre, I also enjoyed the spooky melodrama of J. Jefferson Farjeon's "The Room in the Tower" as well as H.C. Bailey's "The Long Dinner". Bailey's investigator - Reggie Fortune - is rather irritating, but the windswept Breton landscape and the echoes of "folk horror" still made this a worthwhile read.
This anthology's publication date was, quite cannily, set for August. It is indeed the perfect holiday read for mystery lovers: a book to carry on a trip abroad or to use as accompaniment to some armchair travelling - to the Continent, of course.
kristin's review
4.0
3.5 stars
I would like to thank netgalley and Poisoned Pen Press for the opportunity to read this book.
This collection of short crime stories are all based in continental Europe. I didn't enjoy this collection as much as the others, but did come across some real gems.
5 star stories
> The new Catacomb - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and archaeology
> The secret garden - a father Brown mystery
> Petit-Jean - Set during ww2 and written by the author as he was serving in the conflict
> Have you got everything you want? - Agatha Christie
I would like to thank netgalley and Poisoned Pen Press for the opportunity to read this book.
This collection of short crime stories are all based in continental Europe. I didn't enjoy this collection as much as the others, but did come across some real gems.
5 star stories
> The new Catacomb - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and archaeology
> The secret garden - a father Brown mystery
> Petit-Jean - Set during ww2 and written by the author as he was serving in the conflict
> Have you got everything you want? - Agatha Christie
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