Cyanide in the Sun

by Martin Edwards (Editor)

All about them, happy holiday-makers were strolling and laughing, evidently oblivious of the prevailing perils of their chosen resort...

A cold case of poisonings heats up at a quaint guest house. A string of suspicious murders follows a crime writer’s tour bus. Two seedy stowaways uncover an infamous smuggling ring.

Everyone needs a break now and then, but sometimes getting away can be murder. In this new anthology, Martin Edwards presents a jam-packed travel-case of eighteen classic mysteries, featuring short stories from crime fiction legends such as Christianna Brand, Anthony Berkeley and Celia Fremlin alongside rare finds revived from the British Library archives. Including intriguing notes on the stories and their authors, this volume is your ticket to a thrilling journey from 1920s seaside skulduggery through to calamity in 1980s suburbia – perfect for armchair travelling or your own summer getaway.

Genres: Short Stories, Mystery, Classics, Crime, Audiobook, Summer, Fiction

240 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2025

About the author

Martin Edwards has been described by Richard Osman as ‘a true master of British crime writing.’ He has published twenty-three novels, which include the eight Lake District Mysteries, one of which was shortlisted for the Theakston’s Prize for best crime novel of the year and four books featuring Rachel Savernake, including the Dagger-nominated Gallows Court and Blackstone Fell, while Gallows Court and Sepulchre Street were shortlisted for the eDunnit award for best crime novel of the year. He is also the author of two multi-award-winning histories of crime fiction, The Life of Crime and The Golden Age of Murder. He has received three Daggers from the Crime Writers’ Association and two Edgars from the Mystery Writers of America and has also been nominated three times for Gold Daggers. In addition to the CWA Diamond Dagger (the highest honour in UK crime writing) he has received four other lifetime achievement awards: for his fiction, short fiction, non-fiction, and scholarship. He is consultant to the British Library’s Crime Classics, a former Chair of the CWA, and since 2015 has been President of the Detection Club.

Reviews

[Justine Shenton · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very entertaining collection but some of the stories were extremely short

[Kim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cyanide in the Sun is summer offering of Summertime Crime stories from the British Library Crime Classics series. Once again Martin Edwards has collected together a cracking collection of stories of mixed lengths but all of them interesting and inventive. To name a few in the collection:

Cyanide in the Sun by Christiana Brand was unsurprisingly one of my favourites, she is an exceptional writer of both short and longer form stories and the quirk in the one was ingenious.

A Holiday by the Sea by Will Scott relating the holiday trip of two tramps, Giglamps and Cheerful, was comic and entertaining as they stow away in a removals van to head to the coast at Margate, for what turns out to be a very short lived holiday but productive in solving a crime.

The Summer Holiday by Celia Fremlin, not be confused by the longer novel of a summer holiday Uncle Paul, but equally demonstrating perhaps the writers dislike of holidays and the lengths one might go to in order to be left alone at home. For anyone not a great traveller and a home-bird this one is easy to relate to with an unfortunate and unexpected outcome.

Even Murderers Take Holidays by Michael Gilbert, was on of the shortest stories included but very deserving of a place when Croft, a murderer or assassin by profession decides to take a break and finds the tables can turn.

I don't think there was a weak offering in this short story collection which made for an entertaining late summer read to see out the end of August.

[MaureenAnn · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an excellent collection of 18 short stories published in the British Library Crime Classics series. The introductions and author biographical information written by Martin Edwards, an Edgar award-winning author added to the reading enjoyment for me.

The stories ranged from the 1920s to the 1980s and many of them had the distinct atmosphere of seaside boarding houses in the post-war period in the UK. My two favourite stories were "Consider your Verdict" by Anthony Gilbert and "Crooked Harvest" by Shelley Smith in which confidence tricksters get their comeuppance. I also very much enjoyed Celia Fremlin's The Summer Holiday in which a widow is looking forward to spending summer at home on her own, but her family have other plans.

[Subjuntivo Subjuntivo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some stories are great, some stories are not, but Martin Edwards offers, yet again, an opportunity to —at least, if nothing else— get to know some authors you probably had missed.
Stories are generally short, which also helps in case some are not as good as you expected.

[Anna · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a fun collection of mystery short stories collected from across the twentieth century.

[Phil Butcher · Rating 4 out of 5]

Entertaining collection of mystery short stories around the theme of summer holidays, from the 1920s-80s. The best are the longer stories from Christianna Brand and Julian Symons. 4/5

[Alice Horoshev · Rating 4 out of 5]

There were lots of interesting stories in the book, but my favourite was towards the end about the widow who didn't like traveling on holidays.

[Robert Hepple · Rating 4 out of 5]

Published in 2025, 'Cyanide in the Sun' is a collection of 18 mystery short stories originally published over a wide range of dates from the early 20th century up to about 1983. The writers are all classics in their time, although some have long since dropped out of view. Most of the tales are very short, but all are well written and great fun.

[Sue Foster · Rating 4 out of 5]

a good selection of stories.
of them all my least popular was The Summer Holiday by Celia Fremlin dated 1983.
firstly it was too modern for my taste also it didnot fit in with the other stories and the child in it was just annoying.
the rest dated from 1936 to 1960 and were great reads.

[Penelope Pitstop · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyable mixed bag of crime stories, mostly Golden Age and as late as 1960s, with a theme of holidays. Rather too many crimes committed by someone being pushed off a cliff (it does seem the most popular seaside murder) but altogether an entertaining selection.

[Anne Brooke · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good range of summertime crime stories with a nice selection of investigators. These certainly kept my attention and the solutions were very satisfying. It was also good to find out a bit more about each author. Fascinating stuff.

[Liesl Biesl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quite entertaining stories, but some are very Short and one or two are quite hard to read, especially for non-native speakers I think, due to the use of „older“ english words and grammar.
But I would still recommend it, especially for occassional reading sessions.

[Donald · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting mixed bag of 'holiday' murder/crime stories. A few with twists that you won't see coming...

[Bine · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love mysteries, and these holiday mysteries were just perfect as the weather gets more beautiful here in Sydney.

Probably the most well-known holiday mysteries are Murder on the Orient Express and Death on the Nile by Agatha Christie, but there are so many great other stories and it is sometimes hard to know where to start. This means a short story collection is a great way to get a taste of different authors.

After reading & loving Tour de Force by Christianna Brand, I took it as a good omen that the title story Cyanide in the Sun is also by Brand, and I thoroughly enjoyed reading this anthology.

Ethel Lina White and Anthony Berkeley are also familiar names from the #BritishLibraryCrimeClassics series but there are so many more.

But I also loved the variety within the holiday mysteries and the variety in length which meant that I occasionally didn't go in order but rather by length when I only had a short lunch break or stopped on the beach to wait for the traffic to ease up.

Now I have to pack the next one into my bag as I set out to work.

Thank so much @bl_publishing for sending me this cop. I really appreciate it!