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hannests's review
mysterious
3.5
Highlights: A.A. Milne, Christianna Brand, Victor Canning, Edmund Crispin.
bunrab's review against another edition
5.0
The first thing that struck me about this book is that the introduction to the book, and then the introductions to each story, are a valuable resource since they list so many other books to look for! Other books by the authors whose stories appear, previous anthologies that the stories were in; I've collected a long list of books to look for. There's also information about other books in the British Library Crime Classics series, and individual novels being reissued by Poisoned Pen Press. My reading list runneth over!
Some of the stories I particularly enjoyed:
-A Sherlock Holmes adventure by S.C. Roberts, involving stolen signed first editions - and within the story, a mention of some books on a professor's bookshelf, including one of my favorites, Three Men In A Boat.
-Dear Mr. Editor.... by Christianna Brand, possibly my favorite, involving a letter requesting a contribution to an anthology - amusing but chilling!
-We Know You're Busy Writing, But We Thought You Wouldn't Mind If We Just Dropped in for a Minute, by Edmund Crispin (whom I did not previously know was also the film score composer Bruce Montgomery!) Any story with a title like that is going to be good, and I wasn't disappointed.
-A Roderick Alleyn story by Ngaio Marsh, where, as is often the case, one is watching for the dry snark from Fox and is not disappointed.
For me, as an American, there are some things to consider in reading these stories: I'm not always familiar with British slang/idioms/colloquialisms, especially not those of 50 or even 90 years ago. (The original publication dates of the stories range from 1933 to 1973.) There's also a question of things that a British person would instantly recognize about social class and status, that I don't - if a story refers to someone living in a particular place, that alone tells a British reader something about what to expect, where it doesn't convey that same information to me. It doesn't make the stories less enjoyable, but it does make reading them a little harder work as I figure these things out from context or through internet research. On the other hand, there is one story in here that to a British reader in 1952 might have been a genuine puzzle, but any literate American of the period would instantly see as obvious.
A couple of stories reflect attitudes of their times in ways that we would not consider acceptable from a modern author; as one might expect from stories that are 50 to 90 years old. I did not find any of them to be unreadable, but it's only fair to mention it so that readers who weren't around in 1973, let alone 1933, won't be too shocked. The introductions to stories do give fair warning of such content.
All in all, a nice anthology to browse through, and to enlarge one's Mount To-Be-Read with. Thanks to NetGalley for providing me with the eARC of this book; their digital platform made both reading and reviewing easy.
Some of the stories I particularly enjoyed:
-A Sherlock Holmes adventure by S.C. Roberts, involving stolen signed first editions - and within the story, a mention of some books on a professor's bookshelf, including one of my favorites, Three Men In A Boat.
-Dear Mr. Editor.... by Christianna Brand, possibly my favorite, involving a letter requesting a contribution to an anthology - amusing but chilling!
-We Know You're Busy Writing, But We Thought You Wouldn't Mind If We Just Dropped in for a Minute, by Edmund Crispin (whom I did not previously know was also the film score composer Bruce Montgomery!) Any story with a title like that is going to be good, and I wasn't disappointed.
-A Roderick Alleyn story by Ngaio Marsh, where, as is often the case, one is watching for the dry snark from Fox and is not disappointed.
For me, as an American, there are some things to consider in reading these stories: I'm not always familiar with British slang/idioms/colloquialisms, especially not those of 50 or even 90 years ago. (The original publication dates of the stories range from 1933 to 1973.) There's also a question of things that a British person would instantly recognize about social class and status, that I don't - if a story refers to someone living in a particular place, that alone tells a British reader something about what to expect, where it doesn't convey that same information to me. It doesn't make the stories less enjoyable, but it does make reading them a little harder work as I figure these things out from context or through internet research. On the other hand, there is one story in here that to a British reader in 1952 might have been a genuine puzzle, but any literate American of the period would instantly see as obvious.
A couple of stories reflect attitudes of their times in ways that we would not consider acceptable from a modern author; as one might expect from stories that are 50 to 90 years old. I did not find any of them to be unreadable, but it's only fair to mention it so that readers who weren't around in 1973, let alone 1933, won't be too shocked. The introductions to stories do give fair warning of such content.
All in all, a nice anthology to browse through, and to enlarge one's Mount To-Be-Read with. Thanks to NetGalley for providing me with the eARC of this book; their digital platform made both reading and reviewing easy.
meganstreb's review against another edition
5.0
A wonderful collection. Good mix of length of you want to pick shorter ones on some days.
foulone's review
adventurous
dark
funny
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
4.0
spacebornfew's review
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
3.5
alliepeduto's review against another edition
4.0
This was an excellently curated collection of short stories! As much as I’m a fan of Golden Age detective stories (and what a theme!), I admit I enjoyed the author information just as much. The context and background of some of the authors set the stage for the tales, ranging from ludicrous to quite believable, in my opinion.
My favorites were A Lesson in Crime, Trent and the Ministering Angel, The Clue in the Book, The Manuscript, and Dear Mr. Editor. All of them were well worth the read, and I’m excited to check out more of these collections!
My favorites were A Lesson in Crime, Trent and the Ministering Angel, The Clue in the Book, The Manuscript, and Dear Mr. Editor. All of them were well worth the read, and I’m excited to check out more of these collections!
tulemme's review
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
3.75
Good collection but the stories are not very memorable.
evanlooy's review
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
roseparis's review
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5