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The Mammoth Book of Best British Mysteries 5
Twenty short stories by the top names in British crime fiction, including Ian Rankin, Jake Arnott, Alexander McCall Smith, and Lee Child.
512 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2008
7 people are currently reading
92 people want to read
About the author
Maxim Jakubowski
279 books161 followersMaxim Jakubowski is a crime, erotic, and science fiction writer and critic.
Jakubowski was born in England by Russian-British and Polish parents, but raised in France. Jakubowski has also lived in Italy and has travelled extensively. Jakubowski edited the science fiction anthology Twenty Houses of the Zodiac in 1979 for the 37th World Science Fiction Convention (Seacon '79) in Brighton. He also contributed a short story to that anthology. He has now published almost 100 books in a variety of areas.
He has worked in book publishing for many years, which he left to open the Murder One bookshop[1], the UK's first specialist crime and mystery bookstore. He contributes to a variety of newspapers and magazines, and was for eight years the crime columnist for Time Out and, presently, since 2000, the crime reviewer for The Guardian. He is also the literary director of London's Crime Scene Festival and a consultant for the International Mystery Film Festival, Noir in Fest, held annually in Courmayeur, Italy. He is one the leading editors in the crime and mystery and erotica field, in which he has published many major anthologies.
His novels include "It's You That I Want To Kiss", "Because She Thought She Loved Me", "The State Of Montana", "On Tenderness Express", "Kiss me Sadly" and "Confessions of a Romantic Pornographer". His short story collections are "Life in the World of Women", "Fools for Lust" and the collaborative "American Casanova". He is a regular broadcaster on British TV and radio and was recently voted the 4th Sexiest Writer of 2,007 on a poll on the crimespace website.
Jakubowski was born in England by Russian-British and Polish parents, but raised in France. Jakubowski has also lived in Italy and has travelled extensively. Jakubowski edited the science fiction anthology Twenty Houses of the Zodiac in 1979 for the 37th World Science Fiction Convention (Seacon '79) in Brighton. He also contributed a short story to that anthology. He has now published almost 100 books in a variety of areas.
He has worked in book publishing for many years, which he left to open the Murder One bookshop[1], the UK's first specialist crime and mystery bookstore. He contributes to a variety of newspapers and magazines, and was for eight years the crime columnist for Time Out and, presently, since 2000, the crime reviewer for The Guardian. He is also the literary director of London's Crime Scene Festival and a consultant for the International Mystery Film Festival, Noir in Fest, held annually in Courmayeur, Italy. He is one the leading editors in the crime and mystery and erotica field, in which he has published many major anthologies.
His novels include "It's You That I Want To Kiss", "Because She Thought She Loved Me", "The State Of Montana", "On Tenderness Express", "Kiss me Sadly" and "Confessions of a Romantic Pornographer". His short story collections are "Life in the World of Women", "Fools for Lust" and the collaborative "American Casanova". He is a regular broadcaster on British TV and radio and was recently voted the 4th Sexiest Writer of 2,007 on a poll on the crimespace website.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
December 21, 2017
Compilations are hard to do, and keep all readers satisfied. So, this book tries to represent the best in British short story mysteries to mixed success. Some of the stories are excellent, while others fail to meet the mark. They may have been better managed as a novelette for full novel.
However, this was a great read for the end of summer when anything too complicated would have been put down.
However, this was a great read for the end of summer when anything too complicated would have been put down.
April 18, 2022
I do not think I have read a book full of short stories before by many authors of British origin.
The stories were very varied, set in a range of time periods. Some were quite fascinating, a few I just did not get, but on the whole it was a good experience.
The stories were very varied, set in a range of time periods. Some were quite fascinating, a few I just did not get, but on the whole it was a good experience.
May 25, 2017
A mixed bag of mysteries from various authors. Some will not suit every taste as some did not suit mine. Only a handful were very good, I thought, the rest either ok or unpleasant.
December 26, 2021
Very hard for me to end this compilation, with the superb story and least mystery combined.
December 25, 2023
Did not finish.
January 10, 2025
#5 This one is 50/50 always like Colin Dexter though....
October 9, 2014
Caveat: this is an annual collection and I'm afraid the books don't have their volume number printed on them anywhere. I chose "vol 5" from the good reads options because of the copyright date, but I could be off!
The collection is, indeed, "mammoth" with 30 stories of varying lengths, some quite long. My favorite of all was "Daphne McAndrews and the Smack-Head Junkies" by Stuart McBride. It was the eighth story in the collection and so good it's rather worth slogging through the more forgettable stories. The first five stories, in particular, were dreadful - but I'd packed the book as an in-flight read and had to forge ahead or be bored. Good thing, as I said, the eighth one was a charmer. I suppose it's hard to go wrong with a retired lunchlady and her elderly Westie confronting the criminal element.
"Distilling the Truth" by Marilynn Todd was also quite good - and not just because it was set on a cognac distillery. nom.
"Jade Skirt" by Simon Levack and "The Curious Contents of a Coffin" by Susanna Gregory were good historic mysteries. I particularly liked Jade Skirt because one doesn't often get Aztec historical mysteries.
A lot of the other stories had memorable bits. One in particular I loved right up to the end, where it seemed like the writer hit deadline and just smashed the story with blood to get it done with. A few felt like they had no story at all. "The Bookbinder's Apprentice" for example I found to be a very long and boring exploration of a cliche'd story.
So... yeah. Mixed bag, really, but the winners definitely entertained.
The collection is, indeed, "mammoth" with 30 stories of varying lengths, some quite long. My favorite of all was "Daphne McAndrews and the Smack-Head Junkies" by Stuart McBride. It was the eighth story in the collection and so good it's rather worth slogging through the more forgettable stories. The first five stories, in particular, were dreadful - but I'd packed the book as an in-flight read and had to forge ahead or be bored. Good thing, as I said, the eighth one was a charmer. I suppose it's hard to go wrong with a retired lunchlady and her elderly Westie confronting the criminal element.
"Distilling the Truth" by Marilynn Todd was also quite good - and not just because it was set on a cognac distillery. nom.
"Jade Skirt" by Simon Levack and "The Curious Contents of a Coffin" by Susanna Gregory were good historic mysteries. I particularly liked Jade Skirt because one doesn't often get Aztec historical mysteries.
A lot of the other stories had memorable bits. One in particular I loved right up to the end, where it seemed like the writer hit deadline and just smashed the story with blood to get it done with. A few felt like they had no story at all. "The Bookbinder's Apprentice" for example I found to be a very long and boring exploration of a cliche'd story.
So... yeah. Mixed bag, really, but the winners definitely entertained.
July 16, 2012
Another excellent edition ... Ray Banks, Stuart MacBride & Ken Bruen were the best for me ... a good mix of various themes & lengths ... well worth a look as a 'filler' before starting on your next novel .....
August 6, 2016
Predictable mysteries throughout the book, but I really enjoyed a few of them. I bookmarked specific authors whose short stories I enjoyed.
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October 2, 2009The Mammoth Book of Best British Mysteries by Maxim Jakubowski (2008)
April 30, 2012
A really good collection of short stories.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews