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A review by elusivity
The Mammoth Book of Great Detective Stories by Roy Vickers, L.T. Meade, Robert Eustace, R. Austin Freeman, J.S. Fletcher, Christianna Brand, J.C. Squire, Dorothy L. Sayers, June Thomson, Agatha Christie, Wilkie Collins, Leslie Charteris, Arnold Bennett, Herbert van Thal, Dulcie Gray, H.R.F. Keating, G.K. Chesterton, Georges Simenon, Émile Gaboriau, Baroness Orczy, E.W. Hornung, Edgar Wallace, Margaret Cole, Edmund Crispin, E.C. Bentley, Raymond Chandler, Michael Innes, Freeman Wills Crofts
4.0
3.5 STARS
An enjoyable anthology mostly filled with older stories of one Great Detective or another. The better ones have their own quirks and history, twists and turns, and just high-quality writing. A great majority are located in a melodramatic world, or whimsical world, very different from more recent stories that tend to be more firmly grounded in reality. Some of my favorites are:
-THE SCAPEGOAT--Christianna Brand: melodrama, lots of twists, and illustration of human psychology through the Freudian lens that was so popular at that time;
-THE RUBBER TRUMPET--Roy Vickers: Elmore Leonard-type shenanigans narrated by an ironic jane Austen voice, a great combination;
-THE CAVE OF ALI BABA--Dorothy L. Sayers: Lord Wimsey navigating James Bond's world;
-SUPERINTENDENT WILSON'S HOLIDAY--Margaret Cole: a very fair story about murder by a cliffside that the reader could solve along with the detective;
-THE BITER BIT--Wilkie Collins: I typically have no patience for Victorian writing, but in this epistolary story Wilkie Collins is having fun playing a silly amateur detective with some no-nonsense policemen, and also, shenanigans;
-WE KNOW YOU'RE BUSY WRITING--Edmund Crispin: Don't interrupt a debt-ridden writer trying to complete his job, even the mildest of British men has a limit; the actual writing, turns of phrases, etc, are hilarious;
-MURDER!--Arnold Bennett: the tale of someone who did get away with it;
-THE EYE OF APOLLO--G.K. Chesterton: Father Brown being a little gray mouse as drab as melodramatically possible, versus a golden New Priest of Apollo;
-THE WOMAN IN THE BIG HAT--Baroness Orczy: A ladylike but powerful and respected female Great Detective!
-THE GIRL WITH THE RED-GOLD HAIR--June Thomas: well-written and empathetic;
-THE EVIDENCE OF THE ALTAR BOY--George Simenon: Inspector Maigret solves a case while feverish in bed, sneaking pipe smoking and a sip of run whenever his wife's back's turned.
An enjoyable anthology mostly filled with older stories of one Great Detective or another. The better ones have their own quirks and history, twists and turns, and just high-quality writing. A great majority are located in a melodramatic world, or whimsical world, very different from more recent stories that tend to be more firmly grounded in reality. Some of my favorites are:
-THE SCAPEGOAT--Christianna Brand: melodrama, lots of twists, and illustration of human psychology through the Freudian lens that was so popular at that time;
-THE RUBBER TRUMPET--Roy Vickers: Elmore Leonard-type shenanigans narrated by an ironic jane Austen voice, a great combination;
-THE CAVE OF ALI BABA--Dorothy L. Sayers: Lord Wimsey navigating James Bond's world;
-SUPERINTENDENT WILSON'S HOLIDAY--Margaret Cole: a very fair story about murder by a cliffside that the reader could solve along with the detective;
-THE BITER BIT--Wilkie Collins: I typically have no patience for Victorian writing, but in this epistolary story Wilkie Collins is having fun playing a silly amateur detective with some no-nonsense policemen, and also, shenanigans;
-WE KNOW YOU'RE BUSY WRITING--Edmund Crispin: Don't interrupt a debt-ridden writer trying to complete his job, even the mildest of British men has a limit; the actual writing, turns of phrases, etc, are hilarious;
-MURDER!--Arnold Bennett: the tale of someone who did get away with it;
-THE EYE OF APOLLO--G.K. Chesterton: Father Brown being a little gray mouse as drab as melodramatically possible, versus a golden New Priest of Apollo;
-THE WOMAN IN THE BIG HAT--Baroness Orczy: A ladylike but powerful and respected female Great Detective!
-THE GIRL WITH THE RED-GOLD HAIR--June Thomas: well-written and empathetic;
-THE EVIDENCE OF THE ALTAR BOY--George Simenon: Inspector Maigret solves a case while feverish in bed, sneaking pipe smoking and a sip of run whenever his wife's back's turned.