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The sixth book in this series of anthologies from the team of Tony Medawar and HarperCollins brings us another selection of “unknown, unpublished and uncollected stories by writers from the Golden Age of crime and mystery fiction”. There are eleven stories in this one, including two novellas from Anthony Gilbert and Margery Allingham respectively, and a further novella-length “round robin” written in turns by five thriller writers.
I keep expecting this series to run out of steam at some point – how many great stories can still be uncollected, especially given the huge upsurge in anthologies of vintage crime in the last few years? However, although this one perhaps doesn’t have as many outstanding delights as some of the earlier volumes, the standard is still high overall. I gave half of the stories four stars, splitting the other half pretty equally between five and three, so while there may have been a shortage of greatness there were also no duds. There’s the usual mix of well-known names – Christianna Brand, Margery Allingham, etc. - and perhaps a higher number of less well known writers than in previous volumes. As always, I found the less well known writers just as good as the famous ones on the whole.
Here’s a flavour of the stories I enjoyed most:
No Evidence by Alice Campbell – a woman goes to the cinema on a foggy London night. She is anxious and her anxiety transfers itself to the reader very effectively. She returns home to her 14-year-old son, and then the police arrive to tell her that her husband, who left her five years ago, has been murdered. An immediate warning that this story is of its time and has some homophobic content. That aside, though, it’s a dark and very tense story with a great use of the London fog to create atmosphere. I haven’t come across Campbell before but will certainly look out for her.
The Whole Truth by Anthony Gilbert – A famous defence barrister, Anthony Hooke, KC, fell in love with a woman whom he successfully defended against a charge of murdering her husband. Hooke later married Janet, even though he couldn’t be 100% sure in his own mind of her innocence, but he felt that if she did kill her husband he had deserved it because of his treatment of her. Now, a few years later, his love for Janet is in no way diminished, so when he learns that she is being blackmailed by a man who claims to be able to prove her guilt, Hooke decides to act. This is a twisty story, novella-length so allowing more room for characterisation and plot development, and has more than a smidgen of moral ambiguity around Hooke’s behaviour. He is nevertheless a likeable main character, and the story is excellent. My favourite of the collection.
The Mystery Man of Soho by Margery Allingham – An American businessman has embezzled his company and escaped to England with £½M in cash. The police are all set up to arrest him on arrival, but his arrest is hijacked by a criminal gang who want the money for themselves. We see the action mostly from the perspective of the leader of the gang, as Inspector Fisher sets out to find the businessman and catch the gang. This is a thriller style, again novella length, and is very well done, with lots of atmosphere and danger. Allingham is never a favourite of mine because I can’t stand her silly-ass regular detective, Campion, but when she leaves him out, as in this one, her talents really shine.
Sinister Sequence – This is the round robin, written by Michael Cronin, Geoffrey Household, Laurence Meynell, Dennis Wheatley and LP Hartley. It’s good fun – a man sees a girl in peril, falls in love immediately (as you do), and sets out to protect her from a group of villainous baddies. The plot is pretty weak – secret formula, those pesky Communists who turn up as the villains in so much British mystery fiction of that era (how did they ever find time to plan a revolution?) – and the pacing gets stuck a bit in the middle. But each writer is good and their styles are pretty smoothly meshed, keeping the two main characters entertaining all the way through.
Overall then another good instalment in this series. Will they be able to find more hidden gems for a seventh book?
NB This book was provided for review by the publisher, HarperCollins.
www.fictionfanblog.wordpress.com
The sixth book in this series of anthologies from the team of Tony Medawar and HarperCollins brings us another selection of “unknown, unpublished and uncollected stories by writers from the Golden Age of crime and mystery fiction”. There are eleven stories in this one, including two novellas from Anthony Gilbert and Margery Allingham respectively, and a further novella-length “round robin” written in turns by five thriller writers.
I keep expecting this series to run out of steam at some point – how many great stories can still be uncollected, especially given the huge upsurge in anthologies of vintage crime in the last few years? However, although this one perhaps doesn’t have as many outstanding delights as some of the earlier volumes, the standard is still high overall. I gave half of the stories four stars, splitting the other half pretty equally between five and three, so while there may have been a shortage of greatness there were also no duds. There’s the usual mix of well-known names – Christianna Brand, Margery Allingham, etc. - and perhaps a higher number of less well known writers than in previous volumes. As always, I found the less well known writers just as good as the famous ones on the whole.
Here’s a flavour of the stories I enjoyed most:
No Evidence by Alice Campbell – a woman goes to the cinema on a foggy London night. She is anxious and her anxiety transfers itself to the reader very effectively. She returns home to her 14-year-old son, and then the police arrive to tell her that her husband, who left her five years ago, has been murdered. An immediate warning that this story is of its time and has some homophobic content. That aside, though, it’s a dark and very tense story with a great use of the London fog to create atmosphere. I haven’t come across Campbell before but will certainly look out for her.
The Whole Truth by Anthony Gilbert – A famous defence barrister, Anthony Hooke, KC, fell in love with a woman whom he successfully defended against a charge of murdering her husband. Hooke later married Janet, even though he couldn’t be 100% sure in his own mind of her innocence, but he felt that if she did kill her husband he had deserved it because of his treatment of her. Now, a few years later, his love for Janet is in no way diminished, so when he learns that she is being blackmailed by a man who claims to be able to prove her guilt, Hooke decides to act. This is a twisty story, novella-length so allowing more room for characterisation and plot development, and has more than a smidgen of moral ambiguity around Hooke’s behaviour. He is nevertheless a likeable main character, and the story is excellent. My favourite of the collection.
The Mystery Man of Soho by Margery Allingham – An American businessman has embezzled his company and escaped to England with £½M in cash. The police are all set up to arrest him on arrival, but his arrest is hijacked by a criminal gang who want the money for themselves. We see the action mostly from the perspective of the leader of the gang, as Inspector Fisher sets out to find the businessman and catch the gang. This is a thriller style, again novella length, and is very well done, with lots of atmosphere and danger. Allingham is never a favourite of mine because I can’t stand her silly-ass regular detective, Campion, but when she leaves him out, as in this one, her talents really shine.
Sinister Sequence – This is the round robin, written by Michael Cronin, Geoffrey Household, Laurence Meynell, Dennis Wheatley and LP Hartley. It’s good fun – a man sees a girl in peril, falls in love immediately (as you do), and sets out to protect her from a group of villainous baddies. The plot is pretty weak – secret formula, those pesky Communists who turn up as the villains in so much British mystery fiction of that era (how did they ever find time to plan a revolution?) – and the pacing gets stuck a bit in the middle. But each writer is good and their styles are pretty smoothly meshed, keeping the two main characters entertaining all the way through.
Overall then another good instalment in this series. Will they be able to find more hidden gems for a seventh book?
NB This book was provided for review by the publisher, HarperCollins.
www.fictionfanblog.wordpress.com
The sixth entry in Collins Crime Clubs' collections of lesser known short stories edited by Tony Medawar. This was a really interesting selection with a lot of variety. Apart from the main body of short stories, there is a (non-Campion)short novel by Margery Allingham, a novella from Anthony Gilbert and a radio play by John Rhode. The whole is finished off with a round-robin novella from five thriller writes, which include Dennis Wheatley and is finished off by L.P. Hartley.
There was only one story I did not enjoy and did not finish - The Glass Gravestoneby American Joseph Commings. The story was first published in 1966 and I suppose it what is known as hard-boiled(?). My objection to it though was simply the attitudes to women displayed, which were downright sleazy. In his short biography of the author offered by the editor, we find that Commings was supplementing his income by writing pornographic paperbacks and (even more distastefully) salacious examinations of true-life sex crimes; I cannot say this surprises me in the least. Mr Medawar also refers to Commings as 'almost forgotten' - I think completely forgotten would be far preferable
Other than that, though, this a is well chosen and interesting collection
There was only one story I did not enjoy and did not finish - The Glass Gravestoneby American Joseph Commings. The story was first published in 1966 and I suppose it what is known as hard-boiled(?). My objection to it though was simply the attitudes to women displayed, which were downright sleazy. In his short biography of the author offered by the editor, we find that Commings was supplementing his income by writing pornographic paperbacks and (even more distastefully) salacious examinations of true-life sex crimes; I cannot say this surprises me in the least. Mr Medawar also refers to Commings as 'almost forgotten' - I think completely forgotten would be far preferable
Other than that, though, this a is well chosen and interesting collection
mysterious
medium-paced