Classic Crime Stories: 13 Tales from Edgar Allan Poe to Lawrence Block

by James Daley (editor)

Prepare for sleuthful suspense at its very best! This anthology of tantalizing tales includes thirteen of literature's finest crime stories. Enjoy the genre's most glittering jewels, including the first detective story ever written, Edgar Allan Poe's "Murders in the Rue Morgue," and G. K. Chesterton's "The Blue Cross," the mystery that introduced the world-famous Father Brown. This collection also boasts such crime classics as:
• "A Scandal in Bohemia" (Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
• "The Gutting of Couffignal" (Dashiell Hammett)
• "I'll Be Waiting" (Raymond Chandler)
• "The Problem of Cell 13" (Jacques Futrelle)
• "By the Dawn's Early Light" (Lawrence Block)
and six more thrill-filled masterpieces.
A short-story collection of unforgettable plots, murder methods, clues, and characters, Classic Crime Stories will satisfy readers' appetites for the expertly crafted whodunit!

The murders in the Rue Morgue / Edgar Allan Poe
A scandal in Bohemia / Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
A costume piece / E. W. Hornung
The case of Miss Elliott / Baroness Orczy
The problem of Cell 13 / Jacques Futrelle
The blue cross / G. K. Chesterton
The case of Oscar Brodski / R. Austin Freeman
The staircase at heart's delight / Anna Katharine Green
The gutting of Couffignal / Dashiell Hammett
Pastorale / James M. Cain
I'll be waiting / Raymond Chandler
Slowly, slowly in the wind / Patricia Highsmith
By the dawn's early light / Lawrence Block

Genres: Mystery

304 pages, Paperback

First published June 26, 2007

Reviews

[Googoogjoob]

I don't think any of the stories in here are duds, but the selection is kind of oddly-scoped. "Crime stories" obviously and inevitably overlaps heavily with "detective stories," so that the stories here should feature both detective stories and non-mystery crime stories is natural; but some of the detective stories aren't really about crime- "A Scandal in Bohemia," "The Problem of Cell 13," and "The Blue Cross" are all fairly celebrated, but involve no crimes beyond some minor vandalism. There's also an odd mixture of very familiar- arguably even overexposed- stories like the three mentioned above, or "The Murders in the Rue Morgue," and lesser-known material.

[Sucharita]

Wonderful collection of crime detection.