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The Oxford Book of English Detective Stories gathers 33 engrossing tales of crime, ranging from the birth of the genre to the present day. Arthur Conan Doyle, G.K. Chesterton, Agatha Christie, Dorothy Sayers, Margery Allingham, P.D. James, Ruth Rendell, Robert Barnard, and Simon Brett--all the giants of English mystery are here, as well as Christianna Brand, Ngaio Marsh, Michael Innes, Reginald Hill, Nicholas Blake, Michael Underwood, and many more
The best anthology of its kind, showing even more consistently good taste than Ellery Queen in their big Modern Library anthology. Those anthology staples "The Avenging Chance," "The Witness for the Prosecution," "The House in Goblin Wood," "Silver Blaze," and "Solved by Inspection" are all justifiably here to anchor the collection, while the less familiar selections generally testify to Craig's wide reading in the genre and excellent taste.
Some quibbles of course. Crime stories of the "biter is bit" genus are perhaps overrepresented leading to a bit of repetitiousness, nor do such stories really qualify as detective fiction. Craig complains that all but two or three of Chesterton's Father Brown stories are tedious and melodramatic "moral parables" rather than classical detective stories, then selects for inclusion one of the preachiest of them all ("The Oracle of the Dog"); I'd have selected "The Sign of the Broken Sword" or "The Invisible Man" or "The Queer Feet" or "The Eye of Apollo" or "The Miracle of Moon Crescent" or "The Dagger with Wings" myself. It would also have been nice to find space for "The Two Bottles of Relish" by Lord Dunsany, surely one of the top ten short stories in this genre. ( )
Including stories by Arthur Conan Doyle, Agatha Christie, G.K. Chesterton, Dorothy Sayers, Margery Allingham, P.D. James, and many more this serves as a good introduction to British mystery writing. ( )
An interesting collection of stories (ie not novels, novellas, but longish stories - and, as the introduction suggests, still perhaps the best format for the detective fiction, although virtuoso novelists are acknowledged) designed to give the reader a chronological overview. Some mannered, some conventional, some interesting, one or two struggling, taken together they offer a great range from about the times of Holmes to the work of Hill and Rendell.
I liked the stories more and more as we went on - and the Ruth Rendell, Reginal Hill and Simon Brett which close the collection are, in my view, the best, probably because the characters are interestingly drawn and the exact nature of each mystery is somewhat mysterious. They border on the psychological and even pathological, yet retain an air of whimsy (and, on a side note, I'm glad to say that he doesn't feature - not my favourite detective).
A good, diverting read, with the bonus of gaining an overview of the development of the fiction - at least into the 1980s.
An excellent collection. Stories from just about every big name from Conan Doyle to the leaders of the genre in the 1980s, i.e. Ruth Rendell, P D James and Reginald Hill. ( )
Introduction: While the short story proper in England was evolving in one direction, under the auspices of Chekhov and de Maupassant, one of its most pungent offshoots, the detective story, was acquiring a framework of its own.
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Disambiguation notice
Please distinguish between The Oxford Book of English Detective Stories (this work; 1990) and The Oxford Book of Detective Stories (2000). Patricia Craig edited both, but they are clearly separate Works having different contents. Thank you.
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▾Book descriptions
A collection of thirty-three stories showing the scope, vigour, and enduring fascination of the detective story.
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Book description
This volume contains the following stories: Clarence Rook: 'The Stir Outside the Café Royal' Arthur Conan Doyle: 'Silver Blaze' R. Austin Freeman: 'The Mysterious Visitor' Arthur Morrison: 'The Case of Laker, Absconded' G. K. Chesterton: 'The Oracle of the Dog' E. C. Bentley: 'The Genuine Tabard' H. C. Bailey: 'The Dead Leaves' Freeman Wills Crofts: 'The Mystery of the Sleeping-Car Express' John Rhode: 'The Purple Line' Ronald Knox: 'Solved by Inspection' Roy Vickers: 'The Henpecked Murderer' G. D. H. & M. Cole: 'Superintendent Wilson's Holiday' Agatha Christie: 'The Witness for the Prosecution' Anthony Berkeley: 'The Avenging Chance' Dorothy L. Sayers: 'Murder at Pentecost' Ngaio Marsh: 'Death on the Air' Cyril Hare: 'Miss Burnside's Dilemma' Gladys Mitchell: 'Daisy Bell' Margery Alllingham: 'Three is a Lucky Number' Nicholas Blake: 'The Assassin's Club' Carter Dickson: 'The House in Goblin Wood' Michael Innes: 'The Furies' Christianna Brand: 'The Hornet's Nest' Julian Symons: 'The Murderer' Michael Gilbert: 'The Killing of Michael Finnegan' Michael Underwood: 'Murder at St. Oswalds' P. D. James: 'Great Aunt Allie's Flypapers' Edmund Crispin and Geoffrey Bush: 'Baker Dies' H. R. F. Keating: 'A Dangerous Thing' Ruth Rendell: 'Thornapple' Robert Barnard: 'The Oxford Way of Death' Reginald Hill: 'Bring Back the Cat!' Simon Brett: 'How's Your Mother'
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