A review by vsbedford
Murder by the Book: Mysteries for Bibliophiles by Nicholas Blake, Christianna Brand, Philip MacDonald, Ngaio Marsh, A.A. Milne, G. D. H. Cole, Gladys Mitchell, John Creasey, Edmund Crispin, Martin Edwards

5.0

A fun collection of book-centered mysteries wherein books, booksellers, book enthusiasts, and writers all play interesting parts. Perhaps because writers like writing about their craft there's hardly a stinker in the bunch - a solid 95% are As and the other are probably Bs just by comparison (although I'd give "We Know You're Busy Writing" a fairly low grade as it just grated immensely). Christianna Brand's "Dear Mr. Editor..." is amazingly modern and striking for its sort of "off" tone - it's as if Ms. Brand got a writing prompt from Shirley Jackson and went ham. The gem, for me, of this anthology is Marjorie Bremner's "Murder in Advance." I'll be pursuing her (only two!) mystery novels as her writing is fresh and cinematic and her mystery plays fair with the reader. All in all a strong recommend.

I received an ecopy from the publishers and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.