Deadlier

by Sophie Hannah (Editor)

100 of the best crime stories written by women, selected and introduced by Sophie Hannah.

From Agatha Christie and Daphne du Maurier, to Val McDermid and Margaret Atwood, women writers have long been drawn to criminal acts. Here, award-winning author Sophie Hannah brings together 100 of her favourite examples.

Deadlier includes prize-winners, bestsellers and rising stars, so whether you take your crime cosy or hard-boiled, this big, beautiful anthology will keep you reading long into the night.

Genres: Short Stories, Mystery, Fiction, Crime, Thriller

1104 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2017

About the author

Sophie Hannah is an internationally bestselling writer of psychological crime fiction, published in 27 countries. In 2013, her latest novel, The Carrier, won the Crime Thriller of the Year Award at the Specsavers National Book Awards. Two of Sophie’s crime novels, The Point of Rescue and The Other Half Lives, have been adapted for television and appeared on ITV1 under the series title Case Sensitive in 2011 and 2012. In 2004, Sophie won first prize in the Daphne Du Maurier Festival Short Story Competition for her suspense story The Octopus Nest, which is now published in her first collection of short stories, The Fantastic Book of Everybody’s Secrets.

Sophie has also published five collections of poetry. Her fifth, Pessimism for Beginners, was shortlisted for the 2007 T S Eliot Award. Her poetry is studied at GCSE, A-level and degree level across the UK. From 1997 to 1999 she was Fellow Commoner in Creative Arts at Trinity College, Cambridge, and between 1999 and 2001 she was a fellow of Wolfson College, Oxford. She is forty-one and lives with her husband and children in Cambridge, where she is a Fellow Commoner at Lucy Cavendish College. She is currently working on a new challenge for the little grey cells of Hercule Poirot, Agatha Christie’s famous detective.

Reviews

[Cass Moriarty · Rating 4 out of 5]

This collection – Deadlier: 100 of the Best Crime Stories Written by Women (Head of Zeus Books 2017), compiled and edited by Sophie Hannah, is a great doorstop of a book, the size of two house bricks and with 1069 pages. Hannah has compiled stories of crime and detection by authors long-dead and those still living, all women, all with their own unique style, from primarily the UK, America and Australia. Contributors include Louisa May Alcott, Margaret Atwood, M.C. Beaton, Enid Blyton, Agatha Christie, Mary Higgins Clark, Daphne du Maurier, Janet Evanovich, Nicci French, Patricia Highsmith, Faye Kellerman, Caroline Kepnes, Val McDermid, Gladys Mitchell, Ruth Rendell, Dorothy L. Sayers, Donna Tartt and Minette Walters.
The book features the Australian authors Ellen Davitt, Kerry Greenwood, Angela Savage, Emma Viskic and New Zealand author Ngaio Marsh.
I must confess I didn’t read this book from cover to cover and so can’t give a comprehensive review. But I did dip in and out at will, reading stories that took my fancy, and I did read all of the Australian contributors. Hannah has given readers a great selection from the mystery genre, stories that are puzzles, crimes that are undetected, sleuths that are everything from bumbling to genius. The short story fits the crime genre hand in glove – stories are the perfect length for a bite-sized read, and usually (although not always!) come to a nicely tied-up conclusion. This anthology features suspense, psychological thrillers and gritty whodunits from some of the best female crime writers. The styles and structures are as varied as the contributors.
I’ve seen this book priced very competitively for such a large tome! It would make a perfect gift for the crime reader in your life.

[Valerie Campbell Ackroyd · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn’t read all 100 stories; the book is 1069 pages long (hardcover, small type) Truthfully I only read about 10 (about 150 pages or so) because it was a 2 day loan from the ship’s library and also because I found the majority of stories that I read, though well written, frustrating. Several of them were like chapters of a longer novel, they ended so abruptly and with no resolution. What was going to happen next, I wanted to know. Perhaps they were meant to whet the appetite for that writer’s actual novels? Or to make us exercise our own little grey cells and think “How would I have written the next part?”
If I find the book again in a library when I get home, I will borrow it again though. Just to see what some of the other stories are like.

[Aoife · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 stars rounded up to 3.
This book is huge and I never had any intention of reading the whole thing. I did read some of the stories by 19th century authors but I stopped as they just weren’t working for me. Of the 20th and 21st century ones there was a mix. Some read like they could have been synopses of full novels but there were a few gems in there.

[Johanne · Rating 2 out of 5]

It started well but went downhill. I have a nasty suspicion that many of the stories are bulking agents - out of copyright period pieces. for the Victorian and earlier authors particularly the gothic shockers one story by the author under discussion would have been sufficient. But the more recent stuff is good with some very good pieces from contemporary writers.

[Zoe Stanford · Rating 3 out of 5]

As with all collections, a mixed bag, but generally all quite good. Slightly oddly compiled in that some authors had one story and some, four, and some stories weren't really of the genre (including one story in some of those where there were multiple offerings by the same author).

[Robert Hepple · Rating 4 out of 5]

Published in 2017, 'Deadlier' is a collection of 100 short crime stories by women, themed on the basis that women have written most of the best crime fiction. Strictly speaking, as the tale by Jill McGowan is an excerpt from one of her novels, there are only 99 short stories, but this will not affect things. The stories are arranged in alphabetic order of writers, with several warranting more than one short story. A wide range of writing styles and periods are represented here - there are some written in Victorian/turn of the century times, some written in the so-called golden age, and some modern. The older stuff is typically written in an overly melodramatic style that you find so often in literature of the period - Louisa May Alcott's three stories typify this. The golden age stuff usually involves main characters so posh that they have never learned to tie their shoelaces. The modern(ish) stuff is more gritty and people actually speak normally. The quality of the stories varies a lot, but personal choice of periods will influence this. My personal favourites were Margaret Atwood's 'Pretend Blood', Lisa Gardner's '3 Truths and a Lie' and Celia Fremlin's 'Last Day of Spring', but opinions will differ. The average length of each story is quite small, but this still ends up being a doorstop of a book, if you drop it on your foot you will end up in hospital. Enjoy!

[Yassemin · Rating 1 out of 5]

What a load of crap.
So we start off with two stories that have no resemblance to crime at all. Then we move onto a couple more which have some element mentioned but still aren't really crime.
Misleading title. Not what it says it is in the early stages at least. I didn't pick this up to read general fiction.
Rubbish

[Christine Rennie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a beautiful bound book and is extremely heavy!
I enjoyed reading some of the short stories whilst others seemed old fashioned and out of date.

[Lizy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some great stories mixed in this bunch. Definitely a few authors I would like to read more of.

[Emma · Rating 1 out of 5]

Very bizarre collection of stories. Many not crime related, including some where the same author has been included multiple times.

[Eleanor · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75 stars

[Mairi Byatt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Stunning collection by some of the most powerful women writers.

[Karen · Rating 2 out of 5]

A very mixed selection, some great, some good, some not so good. Not sure I would reccommend it.