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A review by tombomp
Continental Crimes by Martin Edwards
3.0
Obviously the quality of the stories is variable but there's only one that's outright *bad* or offensively break my suspension of disbelief. At the same time none are really "wow" either. The bad one is The Secret Garden by GK Chesterton, which I admit I didn't read this time because when I first read it years ago I thought it was the worst mystery story I'd ever read. Chesterton doesn't think atheists are human and can't imagine human motives for them so the denouement is purely ludicrous and to be honest I cannot understand why anyone would think this story was good.
Probably the best stories are The New Catacomb by Arthur Conan Doyle - which is highly predictable and yet the payoff is still satisfyingly macabre - and Have You Got Everything You Want? by Agatha Christie - which doesn't have the sparkle of her best writing yet the solution is the most clever *and* satisfying of the book. The other interesting one is The Perfect Murder by Stacy Aumonier, which like the Conan Doyle story is macabre and avoids issues of justice in favour of a grimly satisfying dramatic twist. Other stories are alright but just don't have that special something to elevate them. The Long Dinner by HC Bailey has a highly unusual murder method and crime but somehow doesn't really feel like a "wow" ending like it should. Petit-Jean by Ian Hay is on the poorer side in my opinion but it's at least interesting as an example of a war time story.
At the same time I do really love these compilations, even if individually the stories aren't brilliant, and I'll definitely keep reading them. I really appreciate the range of the stories chosen and how most of them are a bit unusual and admire the editing work. Also I'll admit reading this around the UK election kind of soured my mood
Probably the best stories are The New Catacomb by Arthur Conan Doyle - which is highly predictable and yet the payoff is still satisfyingly macabre - and Have You Got Everything You Want? by Agatha Christie - which doesn't have the sparkle of her best writing yet the solution is the most clever *and* satisfying of the book. The other interesting one is The Perfect Murder by Stacy Aumonier, which like the Conan Doyle story is macabre and avoids issues of justice in favour of a grimly satisfying dramatic twist. Other stories are alright but just don't have that special something to elevate them. The Long Dinner by HC Bailey has a highly unusual murder method and crime but somehow doesn't really feel like a "wow" ending like it should. Petit-Jean by Ian Hay is on the poorer side in my opinion but it's at least interesting as an example of a war time story.
At the same time I do really love these compilations, even if individually the stories aren't brilliant, and I'll definitely keep reading them. I really appreciate the range of the stories chosen and how most of them are a bit unusual and admire the editing work. Also I'll admit reading this around the UK election kind of soured my mood