Great Detectives: A Century of the Best Mysteries from England and America

by David Willis McCullough (editor)

For enthralling suspense and brilliant detection, there has never been a collection to match this one, with complete novels by Ross Macdonald and Ruth Rendell, a novella by Israel Zangwill, and sixteen short stories by the best mystery writers from England and America—Dorothy Sayers, G.K. Chesterton, Agatha Christie, Robert van Gulik, William Faulkner, Dashiell Hammett, Edmund Cripn, Raymond Chandler, Ellery Queen, Rex Stout, Ray Bradbury, P.D. James, Donald Westlake, and Ed McBain. From Zangwill's 1892 classic The Big Bow Mystery to James's never-before-published “The Murder of Santa Clause,” these detective stories offer every kind of tension, shock and intrigue—a century's worth of excitement.

The New York Times has called Ross Macdonald's Lew Archer novels “the best series of detective novels by an American,” and The Chill is vintage Archer. His investigation of the disappearance of a bride on her honeymoon leads him to a small southern California college and to three related murders spinning two decades and half a continent.

In Ruth Rendell's Death Nothes, Inspector Wexford is called upon to investigate the accidental death of a world-famous flutist. As he probes the case, he discovers false identities, odd coincidences, and the certainty that the death was no accident, but a meticulously planned murder.

Dashiell Hammett's private eye Sam Spade appears only in The Maltese Falcon—and in three short stories, “A Man Called Spade,” “They Can Only Hang You Once,” and “Too Many Have Lived.” All three are included here—together for the first time in decades.

Featuring Raymond Chandler's Philip Marlow, Rex Stout's Nero Wolfe, Dorothy Sayers's Lord Peter Wimsey, and the formidable Ellery Queen, Great Detectives assembles the star sleuths of the last century and a dazzling array of tales—the best by the best.

Contents:
Foreword / David Willis McCullough
— The Big Bow Mystery—Israel Zangwill
— The Queen’s Square—Dorothy L. Sayers
— The Invisible Man—G. K. Chesterton
— The Girl in the Train—Agatha Christie
— The Murder on the Lotus Pond—Robert van Gulik
— Hand Upon the Waters—William Faulkner
— The Sam Spade Stories—Dashiell Hammett
— A Man Called Spade—Dashiell Hammett
— They Can Only Hang You Once—Dashiell Hammett
— Too Many Have Lived—Dashiell Hammett
— The Hunchback Cat—Edmund Crispin
— Trouble is My Business—Raymond Chandler
— The Adventure of Abraham Lincoln’s Clue—Ellery Queen
— See No Evil—Rex Stout
— Yesterday I Lived!—Ray Bradbury
— The Chill—Ross Macdonald
— The Murder of Santa Claus—P. D. James
— Never Shake a Family Tree—Donald E. Westlake
— Death Notes—Ruth Rendell
— Sadie When She Died—Ed McBain

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

728 pages, Hardcover

First published October 12, 1984

Reviews

[Jill H. · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book obviously was written for me!! An anthology of short stories and novellas covering what is known as the Golden Age of Detective Fiction (1920s-1930s) But is also includes some great tales from the 1940s-1950s which I consider part of the Golden Age.

As is common in all anthologies, there are some stories (very few) that don't quite measure up for all readers but I think we rather expect that when a book contains many authors.. But there are some real dandies: Dorothy Sayers, Dame Agatha Christie, Ellery Queen, Dashiell Hammet, Rex Stout, Raymond Chandler and this list goes on.

I have read a majority of these tales before but I can read them many times and still enjoy them as I did the first time. For such a large book (700+pages), it is a quick read and I would recommend it to fans of classic mystery

[Glen · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fairly good collection of mysteries from the 20 century. Can't call it complete as it omits Spillane and Prather, but not too bad.

[Sharon Barrow Wilfong · Rating 5 out of 5]

A simply superb anthology that introduced me to authors that I had never read: P.D. James, Ruth Rendell, and Israel Zangwill, who, unfortunately wrote only one mystery, his literary focal point being European Jewish culture.

And also Ed McBain, a prolific mystery writer who also wrote under the name Evan Hunter. His novel The Blackboard Jungle was adapted into a movie and he wrote the Screen play for The Birds.

After reading The Chill by Ross MacDonald, I ordered the Library of America collection of all of his novels.

Other authors include the usual suspects (ha, ha, pun intended): Dorothy L. Sayers, G.K. Chesterton, Agatha Christie, Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler, Ellery Queen, Rex Stout and, believe it or not, William Faulkner and Ray Bradbury.

Some stories are better than others and will depend on your taste. Overall I found this book to be about the best anthology I've read so far.

[Dharia Scarab · Rating 4 out of 5]

Since I don't normally write reviews unless I have something specific to say, here's the break down of how I rate my books...

1 star... This book was bad, so bad I may have given up and skipped to the end. I will avoid this author like the plague in the future.

2 stars... This book was not very good, and I won't be reading any more from the author.

3 stars... This book was ok, but I won't go out of my way to read more, But if I find another book by the author for under a dollar I'd pick it up.

4 stars... I really enjoyed this book and will definitely be on the look out to pick up more from the series/author.

5 stars... I loved this book! It has earned a permanent home in my collection and I'll be picking up the rest of the series and other books from the author ASAP.

[Bill Weinberg · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an outstanding compendium of the best English and American detectives of the 20th century, with Sam Spade, Lew Archer, Nero Wolfe, Father Brown and many others. For those snobs who insist that detective stories are not fiction worth reading, you should know that the book includes stories by William Faulkner, G.K. Chesterton and Ross x
Jz McDonald. Highly recommended.

[Bill Tress · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you like this genre, than this book can't miss. Some excellent writers and some of their best stories.
It was a nice touch to give a short biographical sketch of the authors before presenting the story, it added context and provided facts that maybe even a devoted reader of a particular author was not aware of.
The short stories were flowing easy reads with some surprise ending. Of course, surprise ending are what make detective stories so great!
Included was a full length story by Ruth Rendell, called Death Notes, I found this story quite wordy and at times I wished for a quick solution, yet, when it came, it provided a brilliant twist and made the whole experience worth while. Rendell, used a nice technique, namely, having her featured detective Chief Inspector Wexford explain all of the twists and turns that brought the case to a close, after the killer was captured.
This is a good nightstand book that relaxes and stimulates at the same time. A book that can sit for a while and than grab your interest again as soon as you pick it up. One final positive is an introduction by David McCullough, an obvious fan of the detective genre.

[Brad McKenna · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an fantastic anthology that's spared from feeling dated, even though it's from 1984, because it's an exploration of the evolution of mystery detectives. It features giants such as Sayers, Christie, Queen, and Stout. I wish they included a couple of Chandler stories instead of all of Hammett's Sam Spade ones because I prefer Marlowe to Spade. Why Hammett seems to get more credit with popularizing the Hard-boiled detective than Chandler, I'll never know but that's my preference.

It also includes giants in other genres dabbling in detective fiction like Faulkner and Bradbury. While I didn't like all of the stories, in fact I couldn't even finish Ruth Rendell's, I enjoyed journeying through the years, and world. Robert Van Gulik, the Dutch ambassador to japan, wrote a series of stories with a Japanese detective. I also enjoyed finding a new detective series to dig deeper into; Ross MacDonald's Lew Archer.

For any Detective Mystery fans out there, this is not only a good read but a must read.

[Charissa Wilkinson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overview: Have you finished your favorite mystery author’s latest novel and need a new mystery? How do you find a new author? Maybe it’s a good idea to go back in time with this anthology…if you haven’t tried these authors before.

Dislikes: “The Big Bow Mystery” was too progressive in it’s ideology. And “Trouble is My Business” was pretty depressing.

Likes: “Never Shake a Family Tree” was fun. So was “Sadie When She Died” and “Yesterday I lived.”

Conclusion: This was a pretty good book. Enjoy it.

[Bruce · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read long ago. We're going digital, so rather than retain a physical copy on the bookshelf, I'll use Goodreads as my external memory drive.

This is an excellent collection of mysteries, and as good an introduction to the 20th Century's contribution to the genre as any you'll find. Represented here are Dorothy Sayers, G.K. Chesterton, Agatha Christie, all of Dashiell Hammett's Sam Spade stories, a bit of William Faulkner, Raymond Chandler's "Trouble is My Business," Rex Stout's Nero Wolfe ("See No Evil"), Ross Macdonald, P.D. James, Ed McBain, and a few others.

Whodunnit?

[LeAnne · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a collection of some of the best short stories and longer stories...some were printed in magazines and some were books. I liked them all - some better than others. There were many well known authors such as Agatha Christie, William Faulkner, Dashiell Hammett, P.D. James, Ellery Queen and others. I also became aware of another writer, Ross Macdonald. I'm going to find some more of his work.

[Muriel · Rating 5 out of 5]

19 short (?) detective stories from some of the best writers.

[Carol Pouliot · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is fabulous! The best of the best mystery writers and detectives. Essential for every mystery lover.

[Lillian · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved some of these authors but disliked others; it was great to read them in anthology form. No more Lord Peter Wimsey!

[Desiree Brown · Rating 2 out of 5]

didn't get 2 finish it, read the 1st 2 stories and just didn't really enjoy reading them which I normally like mystery detective novels 🤷

[Cindy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an interesting sampling of detective stories. Each had an introductory blurb which was a nice addition. Stories included were:
-The Big Bow Myster, by Israel Zangwill
-The Queen's Square, by Dorothy L. Sayers
-The Invisible Man, by G. K. Chesterton
-The Girl in the Train, by Agatha Christie
-The Murder on the Lotus Pond, by Robert van Gulik
-Hand Upon the Waters, by William Faulkner
-A Man Called Spade, by Dashiell Hammett
-They Can Only Hang You Once, by Dashiell Hammett
-Too Many Have Lived, by Dashiell Hammett
-The Hunchback Cat, by Edmund Crispin
-Trouble is My Business, by Raymond Chandler
-The Adventure of Abraham Lincoln's Clue, by Ellery Queen
-See No Evil, by Rex Stout
-Yesterday I lived!, by Ray Bradbury
-The Chill, by Ross Macdonald
-The Murder of Santa Claus, by P. D. James
-Never Shake a Family Tree, by Donald E. Westlake
-Death Notes, by Ruth Rendell
-Sadie When She Died, by Ed McBain

[Tinquerbelle]

1) The Big Bow Mystery; Zangwill, Israel
2) The Queen's Square; Sayers, Dorothy L.
3) The Invisible Man; Chesterton, G.K.
4) The Girl in the Train; Christie, Agatha
5) The Murder on the Lotus Pond; van Gulik, Robert
6) Hand Upon the Waters; Faulkner, William
7) A Man Called Spade; Hammett, Dashiell
8) They Can Only Hang You Once; Hammett, Dashiell
9) Too Many Have Lived; Hammett, Dashiell
10) The Hunchback Cat; Crispin, Edmund
11) Trouble Is My Business; Chandler, Raymond
12) The Adventure of Abraham Lincoln's Clue; Queen, Ellery
13) See No Evil; Stout, Rex
14) Yesterday I Lived!; Bradbury, Ray
15) The Chill; Macdonald, Ross
16) The Murder of Santa Claus; James, P.D.
17) Never Shake a Family Tree; Westlake, Donald E.
18) Death Notes; Rendell, Ruth
19) Sadie When She Died; McBain, Ed

[Stuart · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book is an anthology of many mystery stories, from 1891 onwards, of varying length, style and quality. But consistently good were the overall introduction and the individual introductions written by David Willis McCullough, which were erudite and interesting. The oldest mystery was somewhat verbose, even if the denouement was good. I especially liked the 1930's / 1940's American hard-boiled style mysteries - Dashiel Hammett / Ross MacDonald / Rex Stout / Raymond Chandler - as I had not realy read them. It was a good introduction; now I can go and read some of the full-length stories. There are two close-to-full-length stories which were also good.

[Chazzi · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an anthology of short stories and two full books by a number of well known mystery writers in the U.S. and England. It contains writings from various periods and in various styles of the genre.

Short stories by Dorthy Sayers, William Faulkner, Raymond Chandler, P.D. James and Donald E. Westlake, to name a few. Also two full novels by Ross Macdonald and Ruth Rendell.

As a preface to each entry there is a bio of the author and commentary on their contribution to the world of mystery writing, along with a little back story to the piece you are about to read.

It was enjoyable to have such a variety under one cover and to take the time to savour each piece.

[John Lyman · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book started out with a story that was much too long to convey the story it was intended to. It has a lot of stories by authors who I'd like to read more of. I had a hard time with the book because it weighs about two pounds and I was very ready to be done with it when I finished. The next to last story, "Death Notes" was much too long, it seemed to be striving to add meaningless details. Overall I liked the book but I wish it had been divided into two parts.

[Gerilyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

I did not get bored with this collection for a single moment. The highlight was the shortest story of all, "Never Shake a Family Tree." One of the funniest, cleverest short stories I've ever read. I also love Ross Macdonald's The Chill. I was disappointed in their Dorothy L. Sayers choice--there are so many good ones to choose from and this one is definitely not one of my favorites of hers. Super fun book that I picked up in a thrift store.

[Lydia Gunter · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book took me forever to read! I thought I liked mysteries but since reading this I have decided I do not necessarily. Great Detectives was 97% murders and after one or two of those stories I was sick of the morbid look at life most of these authors had. There was one short story, an Agatha Christie, that was did not involved death and I really enjoyed it.

[ShanDizzy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like that this book contained many mysteries from amazing authors, even from the golden age of detective novels. I think I may actually purchase since I had to return it to the library before actually completing reading ALL stories.

[Wyncia · Rating 4 out of 5]

A historical anthology of mysteries. What a find.

[George · Rating 5 out of 5]

An anthology of short mystery stories including two novellas. A very good selection and well worth my time reading.

[Jocelyn Montalvo Cullum]

I registered a book at BookCrossing.com!
http://www.BookCrossing.com/journal/14138168

[Donna]

One of Anne's picks.