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Bodies from the Library #3
Bodies from the Library 3: Forgotten Stories of Mystery and Suspense by the Queens of Crime and other Masters of Golden Age Detection
Bodies from the Library
Bodies from the Library 2
Bodies from the Library 4
________________________
This anthology of rare stories of crime and suspense brings together 18 tales from the Golden Age of Detective Fiction for the first time in book form, including uncollected stories by Ngaio Marsh and John Dickson Carr.
The Golden Age of detective fiction had begun inauspiciously with the publication of E.C. Bentley’s schismatic Trent’s Last Case in 1913, but it hit its stride in 1920 when both Agatha Christie and Freeman Wills Crofts – latterly crowned queen and king of the genre – had crime novels published for the first time. They ushered in two decades of exemplary mystery writing, the era of the whodunit, the impossible crime and the locked-room mystery, with stories that have thrilled and baffled generations of readers.
This new volume in the Bodies from the Library series features the work of 18 prolific authors who, like Christie and Crofts, saw their popularity soar during the Golden Age. Aside from novels, they all wrote short fiction – stories, serials and plays – and although most of them have been collected in books over the last 100 years, here are the ones that got away…
In this book you will encounter classic series detectives including Colonel Gore, Roger Sheringham, Hildegarde Withers and Henri Bencolin; Hercule Poirot solves ‘The Incident of the Dog’s Ball’; Roderick Alleyn returns to New Zealand in a recently discovered television drama by Ngaio Marsh; and Dorothy L. Sayers’ chilling ‘The House of the Poplars’ is published for the first time.
With a full-length novella by John Dickson Carr and an unpublished radio script by Cyril Hare, this diverse collection concludes with some early ‘flash fiction’ commissioned by Collins’ Crime Club in 1938. Each mini story had to feature an orange, resulting in six very different tales from Peter Cheyney, Ethel Lina White, David Hume, Nicholas Blake, John Rhode and – in his only foray into writing detective fiction – the publisher himself, William Collins.
Bodies from the Library 2
Bodies from the Library 4
________________________
This anthology of rare stories of crime and suspense brings together 18 tales from the Golden Age of Detective Fiction for the first time in book form, including uncollected stories by Ngaio Marsh and John Dickson Carr.
The Golden Age of detective fiction had begun inauspiciously with the publication of E.C. Bentley’s schismatic Trent’s Last Case in 1913, but it hit its stride in 1920 when both Agatha Christie and Freeman Wills Crofts – latterly crowned queen and king of the genre – had crime novels published for the first time. They ushered in two decades of exemplary mystery writing, the era of the whodunit, the impossible crime and the locked-room mystery, with stories that have thrilled and baffled generations of readers.
This new volume in the Bodies from the Library series features the work of 18 prolific authors who, like Christie and Crofts, saw their popularity soar during the Golden Age. Aside from novels, they all wrote short fiction – stories, serials and plays – and although most of them have been collected in books over the last 100 years, here are the ones that got away…
In this book you will encounter classic series detectives including Colonel Gore, Roger Sheringham, Hildegarde Withers and Henri Bencolin; Hercule Poirot solves ‘The Incident of the Dog’s Ball’; Roderick Alleyn returns to New Zealand in a recently discovered television drama by Ngaio Marsh; and Dorothy L. Sayers’ chilling ‘The House of the Poplars’ is published for the first time.
With a full-length novella by John Dickson Carr and an unpublished radio script by Cyril Hare, this diverse collection concludes with some early ‘flash fiction’ commissioned by Collins’ Crime Club in 1938. Each mini story had to feature an orange, resulting in six very different tales from Peter Cheyney, Ethel Lina White, David Hume, Nicholas Blake, John Rhode and – in his only foray into writing detective fiction – the publisher himself, William Collins.
384 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2020
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Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews
February 21, 2021
Mixed bag…
As with the previous books in the series, this is a collection of stories that have rarely or never been included in a collection before. There are twelve stories, plus a fun collection of very short shorts where several writers were challenged to come up with a story all using the same object – an orange. There’s the usual mix of well known authors like Dorothy L Sayers, Agatha Christie and Ngaio Marsh, alongside some that have recently come back to prominence during the current revival, like Christopher St John Sprigg and Josephine Bell, and a few from authors entirely unfamiliar to me.
The problem with these “never before collected” collections is that there is bound to be a finite number of great stories that fall into that category. I read and loved the second book in the series, and was surprised at the high quality of the stories in it. I’m afraid this one feels rather like the leftovers – the ones that weren’t good enough to be included in the earlier books. Only one achieved a five-star rating from me and a few got four stars, but I found the rest disappointing and not really worth the bother of collecting. I feel the series has probably run its course, in this format at least.
Here’s a flavour of some of the better stories:
The Incident of the Dog’s Ball by Agatha Christie – although this story was only discovered many years after Christie’s death, it has certainly been collected before since I had already read it! A woman writes to Poirot for advice, but the letter doesn’t arrive till some months later. Poirot discovers the woman died just after she had written the letter, a death put down to accident. But the letter makes Poirot think that there may have been a darker cause, so he sets out to investigate. This story forms the nucleus of the plot of what would become the novel, Dumb Witness.
The Case of the Unlucky Airman by Christopher St John Sprigg – it’s sad that Sprigg died so young, since the little I’ve read of his stuff suggests he had a lot of talent. This one involves an airman who lands to get an oil leak fixed. He taxies into an empty hangar, there is the sound of a shot and he is found dead. An intriguing take on a “locked room” mystery – well told and quite fun.
The Riddle of the Black Spade by Stuart Palmer – a man is killed on a golf course, apparently by a ball with a black spade trademark. At first, his son is suspected, until it turns out the ball was one of the victim’s own. The police captain investigating the death is “assisted” by a spinster lady, Hildegard Withers, who apparently was the star of a series of novels and stories, and popular in her day. This story is light-hearted and entertaining, with some surprises and a clearly explained howdunit solution.
Grand Guignol by John Dickson Carr – written while he was at University, this story formed the basis of his early novel It Walks By Night. The basic plot and solution are the same but it’s done differently, and the dénouement here is all a bit silly and unbelievable. But it’s an interesting look at the beginnings of the style he would later develop into the decadent horror feel of the Bencolin novels.
So a few enjoyable stories, though often as much for seeing how these famous authors started out than as polished articles in their own right. I’m sure real vintage crime fans will find enough of interest to make reading the collection worthwhile, as I did, but for newcomers or more casual fans I’d recommend the earlier book, Bodies from the Library 2, as a more entertaining collection overall. I haven’t mentioned the first book in the series because I haven’t yet read it.
NB This book was provided for review by the publisher, HarperCollins.
www.fictionfanblog.wordpress.com
As with the previous books in the series, this is a collection of stories that have rarely or never been included in a collection before. There are twelve stories, plus a fun collection of very short shorts where several writers were challenged to come up with a story all using the same object – an orange. There’s the usual mix of well known authors like Dorothy L Sayers, Agatha Christie and Ngaio Marsh, alongside some that have recently come back to prominence during the current revival, like Christopher St John Sprigg and Josephine Bell, and a few from authors entirely unfamiliar to me.
The problem with these “never before collected” collections is that there is bound to be a finite number of great stories that fall into that category. I read and loved the second book in the series, and was surprised at the high quality of the stories in it. I’m afraid this one feels rather like the leftovers – the ones that weren’t good enough to be included in the earlier books. Only one achieved a five-star rating from me and a few got four stars, but I found the rest disappointing and not really worth the bother of collecting. I feel the series has probably run its course, in this format at least.
Here’s a flavour of some of the better stories:
The Incident of the Dog’s Ball by Agatha Christie – although this story was only discovered many years after Christie’s death, it has certainly been collected before since I had already read it! A woman writes to Poirot for advice, but the letter doesn’t arrive till some months later. Poirot discovers the woman died just after she had written the letter, a death put down to accident. But the letter makes Poirot think that there may have been a darker cause, so he sets out to investigate. This story forms the nucleus of the plot of what would become the novel, Dumb Witness.
The Case of the Unlucky Airman by Christopher St John Sprigg – it’s sad that Sprigg died so young, since the little I’ve read of his stuff suggests he had a lot of talent. This one involves an airman who lands to get an oil leak fixed. He taxies into an empty hangar, there is the sound of a shot and he is found dead. An intriguing take on a “locked room” mystery – well told and quite fun.
The Riddle of the Black Spade by Stuart Palmer – a man is killed on a golf course, apparently by a ball with a black spade trademark. At first, his son is suspected, until it turns out the ball was one of the victim’s own. The police captain investigating the death is “assisted” by a spinster lady, Hildegard Withers, who apparently was the star of a series of novels and stories, and popular in her day. This story is light-hearted and entertaining, with some surprises and a clearly explained howdunit solution.
Grand Guignol by John Dickson Carr – written while he was at University, this story formed the basis of his early novel It Walks By Night. The basic plot and solution are the same but it’s done differently, and the dénouement here is all a bit silly and unbelievable. But it’s an interesting look at the beginnings of the style he would later develop into the decadent horror feel of the Bencolin novels.
So a few enjoyable stories, though often as much for seeing how these famous authors started out than as polished articles in their own right. I’m sure real vintage crime fans will find enough of interest to make reading the collection worthwhile, as I did, but for newcomers or more casual fans I’d recommend the earlier book, Bodies from the Library 2, as a more entertaining collection overall. I haven’t mentioned the first book in the series because I haven’t yet read it.
NB This book was provided for review by the publisher, HarperCollins.
www.fictionfanblog.wordpress.com
January 7, 2024
Another delightful collection of forgotten treasures by Golden Age detective writers. We have everything from disappearing Scotland Yard men, to possible factory espionage to gang leaders trying to do away with rival thugs. We have murders committed by scarecrows and through the use of oranges. We have murders that originate with letters to the editor and, of course, the age-old motive of greed. I love how Tony Medawar manages to track down these hidden gems--from stories that were never published to those which may have appeared only once as a serial in a newspaper or magazine. I know he's found enough material for three more collections and can only hope that he'll find even more. My favorites from this collection are "The Murder at Warbeck Hall" (even though I know it contains the scaffolding for one of Hare's novels), "The Riddle of the Black Spade," "A Torch at the Window," and "And the Answer Was" by Ethel Lina White. ★★★★
"Some Little Things" by Lynn Brock (Alister McAlister): When a Scotland Yard Inspector goes missing while investigating a necklace robber, Colonel Gore follows up on a few "little things" about the case. Those little things lead him to the Inspector--and the necklace.
"Hot Steel" by Anthony Berkeley (Cox): Roger Sheringham points out that his pal Luscombe isn't as "hush-hush" about his wartime factory business as he thinks he is.
"The Murder at Warbeck Hall" by Cyril Hare (Alfred Alexander Gordon Clark): When the heir to Warbeck Hall is killed, Sergeant Rogers discovers a most interesting motive.
"The House of the Poplars" by Dorothy L. Sayers: Smith & Smith Removers will happily assist you in getting rid of any unwanted items...or people. (one suicide; one natural; one poisoned)
"The Hampstead Murder" by Christopher Bush (Charles Christmas Bush): A man murders his wife because of a letter to the editor in the Times.
"The Scarecrow Murders" by Joseph Commings: Senator Brooks U Banner has to solve the mystery of the scarecrow who committed murder.
"The Incident of the Dog's Ball" by Agatha Christie: Poirot receives a letter too late to prevent a murder. But the dog Bob and his little red ball helpt the great detective find the culprit.
"The Case of the Unlucky Airman" by Christopher St. John Sprigg: A daring airman loses his effort to break a flying record. He had said if he couldn't do it that he would shoot himself. To all appearances he did...but Charles Venables, crime reporter, doesn't believe it.
"The Riddle of the Black Spade" by Stuart Palmer: To all appearances, Ronald Farling has killed his foster father with a well-placed, powerful golf shot. But Miss Withers thinks not and tells Inspector Piper he better drain the pond on the golf green.
"A Torch at the Window" by Josephine Bell (Doris Bell Collier): When a nurse is killed on a night the hospital is plagued by a Peeping Tom, Inspector Coleridge has to determine how the two are connected.
"Grand Guignol" by John Dickson Carr: This the precursor to Carr's It Walks by Night, which I read last year. One of my complaints then was that there were scenes that seemed to go on for-ev-er. Here, things are much more condensed in this tale of a psychotic ex-husband out to wreak revenge on his former wife's brand new husband. Too condensed--we need a happy medium.
"A Knotty Problem" by Ngaio Marsh: Alleyn is in New Zealand again...and, of course, there's murder--this time at the grand opening of a new gallery. [I was struck by the similarity to the opening of a museum of art in R. T. Campbell's Swing Low, Swing Death--though what's behind the curtain varies.]
The Orange Plot Mysteries: What follows here is a group of stories written around the same plot: "One night a man picked up an orange in the street. This saved his life." These stories were commissioned by the Sunday Dispatch and were written by authors in the Detective Story Club (precursor to the Collins Crime Club) plus one by the publisher Collins himself.
"The Orange Kid" by Peter Cheyney: Parelli, the mobster sets up what he thinks is the perfect solution to keep the feds out of his hair...until that drunk drops an orange in the middle of the street.
"And the Answer Was" by Ethel Lina White: Timothy Rolls comes across proof of who the killer of young women in town is. But will he live long enough to see the person caught? Picking up an orange in the street will see that he does...
"He Stooped to Live" by David Hume (John Victor Turner): Sammy Prince is put into the frame for the shooting of Charlie Ross by a man who wants to get rid of both of them in one fell swoop. Lucky for Sammy, he stops to pick up an orange dropped by a Christmas Eve reveller.
"Mr. Prendergast & the Orange" by Nicholas Blake (Cecil Day-Lewis): Joe Prendergast is out of work and in need of money. He goes to see an aunt who has refused to see his side of the family. He's desperate and when she's found dead later, he's the obvious suspect. But Nigel Strangeways sees how the orange he picked up in the street might prove his innocence.
"The Yellow Sphere" by John Rhode (Cecil Street): A young man devises the perfect plan to get rid of the tiresome uncle who plans to disinherit him when he next sees his lawyer. If only uncle hadn't picked up that orange on his way to his boat moored in the harbor....
"The 'Eat More Fruit' Murder" by William A. R. Collins: Mr. Silvercat can't understand why his partner has suspected him of carrying on with his wife for the last six months, but he's certainly glad that Gallery has come to his senses and they've made up over a dinner where Silvercat drank a bit too much. The next day he can't understand why the police insist that he followed his partner home and shot him. But lucky for Silvercat that he picked up that orange in the road...
First posted on my blog My Reader's Block.
"Some Little Things" by Lynn Brock (Alister McAlister): When a Scotland Yard Inspector goes missing while investigating a necklace robber, Colonel Gore follows up on a few "little things" about the case. Those little things lead him to the Inspector--and the necklace.
"Hot Steel" by Anthony Berkeley (Cox): Roger Sheringham points out that his pal Luscombe isn't as "hush-hush" about his wartime factory business as he thinks he is.
"The Murder at Warbeck Hall" by Cyril Hare (Alfred Alexander Gordon Clark): When the heir to Warbeck Hall is killed, Sergeant Rogers discovers a most interesting motive.
"The House of the Poplars" by Dorothy L. Sayers: Smith & Smith Removers will happily assist you in getting rid of any unwanted items...or people. (one suicide; one natural; one poisoned)
"The Hampstead Murder" by Christopher Bush (Charles Christmas Bush): A man murders his wife because of a letter to the editor in the Times.
"The Scarecrow Murders" by Joseph Commings: Senator Brooks U Banner has to solve the mystery of the scarecrow who committed murder.
"The Incident of the Dog's Ball" by Agatha Christie: Poirot receives a letter too late to prevent a murder. But the dog Bob and his little red ball helpt the great detective find the culprit.
"The Case of the Unlucky Airman" by Christopher St. John Sprigg: A daring airman loses his effort to break a flying record. He had said if he couldn't do it that he would shoot himself. To all appearances he did...but Charles Venables, crime reporter, doesn't believe it.
"The Riddle of the Black Spade" by Stuart Palmer: To all appearances, Ronald Farling has killed his foster father with a well-placed, powerful golf shot. But Miss Withers thinks not and tells Inspector Piper he better drain the pond on the golf green.
"A Torch at the Window" by Josephine Bell (Doris Bell Collier): When a nurse is killed on a night the hospital is plagued by a Peeping Tom, Inspector Coleridge has to determine how the two are connected.
"Grand Guignol" by John Dickson Carr: This the precursor to Carr's It Walks by Night, which I read last year. One of my complaints then was that there were scenes that seemed to go on for-ev-er. Here, things are much more condensed in this tale of a psychotic ex-husband out to wreak revenge on his former wife's brand new husband. Too condensed--we need a happy medium.
"A Knotty Problem" by Ngaio Marsh: Alleyn is in New Zealand again...and, of course, there's murder--this time at the grand opening of a new gallery. [I was struck by the similarity to the opening of a museum of art in R. T. Campbell's Swing Low, Swing Death--though what's behind the curtain varies.]
The Orange Plot Mysteries: What follows here is a group of stories written around the same plot: "One night a man picked up an orange in the street. This saved his life." These stories were commissioned by the Sunday Dispatch and were written by authors in the Detective Story Club (precursor to the Collins Crime Club) plus one by the publisher Collins himself.
"The Orange Kid" by Peter Cheyney: Parelli, the mobster sets up what he thinks is the perfect solution to keep the feds out of his hair...until that drunk drops an orange in the middle of the street.
"And the Answer Was" by Ethel Lina White: Timothy Rolls comes across proof of who the killer of young women in town is. But will he live long enough to see the person caught? Picking up an orange in the street will see that he does...
"He Stooped to Live" by David Hume (John Victor Turner): Sammy Prince is put into the frame for the shooting of Charlie Ross by a man who wants to get rid of both of them in one fell swoop. Lucky for Sammy, he stops to pick up an orange dropped by a Christmas Eve reveller.
"Mr. Prendergast & the Orange" by Nicholas Blake (Cecil Day-Lewis): Joe Prendergast is out of work and in need of money. He goes to see an aunt who has refused to see his side of the family. He's desperate and when she's found dead later, he's the obvious suspect. But Nigel Strangeways sees how the orange he picked up in the street might prove his innocence.
"The Yellow Sphere" by John Rhode (Cecil Street): A young man devises the perfect plan to get rid of the tiresome uncle who plans to disinherit him when he next sees his lawyer. If only uncle hadn't picked up that orange on his way to his boat moored in the harbor....
"The 'Eat More Fruit' Murder" by William A. R. Collins: Mr. Silvercat can't understand why his partner has suspected him of carrying on with his wife for the last six months, but he's certainly glad that Gallery has come to his senses and they've made up over a dinner where Silvercat drank a bit too much. The next day he can't understand why the police insist that he followed his partner home and shot him. But lucky for Silvercat that he picked up that orange in the road...
First posted on my blog My Reader's Block.
July 14, 2021
A genuine mixed bag of stories, despite all the bigwigs in the author list. What sets this apart from others in the collection, are a few theme-based stories that are pretty fun to read. And before you ask, the theme is "oranges".
Not sure this book this worth its price though, but if on sale, it would be a great read on lazy summer afternoons.
My rating - 3/5
Not sure this book this worth its price though, but if on sale, it would be a great read on lazy summer afternoons.
My rating - 3/5
September 19, 2020
For my full review click on the link below:
https://crossexaminingcrime.wordpress...
https://crossexaminingcrime.wordpress...
July 24, 2020
Despite the starry list of authors, this third collection of stories and scripts failed to set the heather alight for me: it was some of the less stellar names who made the impact here.
The Agatha Christie story which was later revised to become “Dumb Witness’, has been published before. The Cyril Hare play is the origin of “An English Murder”. The Ngaio Marsh script was pretty awful, but I am not a fan anyway. Nor do I appreciate Berkeley’s Roger Sheringham. JD Carr’s novella saved me the bother of trying again to read “It Walks by Night”.
I do like Lynn Brock, having read half-a-dozen Colonel Gore novels, and I and enjoyed the DL Sayers immensely. It was interesting to read Christopher Bush without Ludo Travers, and to encounter Charles Venables in a short story by the underrated Christopher St John Sprigg.
All the pieces are enhanced by Tony Medawar’s biographical information and I know that many readers will be less picky than I am and will gain much pleasure from the collection. For me, it has been the least enjoyable of the three. I also continue to think these anthologies pricey compared to others.
3.5 stars.
The Agatha Christie story which was later revised to become “Dumb Witness’, has been published before. The Cyril Hare play is the origin of “An English Murder”. The Ngaio Marsh script was pretty awful, but I am not a fan anyway. Nor do I appreciate Berkeley’s Roger Sheringham. JD Carr’s novella saved me the bother of trying again to read “It Walks by Night”.
I do like Lynn Brock, having read half-a-dozen Colonel Gore novels, and I and enjoyed the DL Sayers immensely. It was interesting to read Christopher Bush without Ludo Travers, and to encounter Charles Venables in a short story by the underrated Christopher St John Sprigg.
All the pieces are enhanced by Tony Medawar’s biographical information and I know that many readers will be less picky than I am and will gain much pleasure from the collection. For me, it has been the least enjoyable of the three. I also continue to think these anthologies pricey compared to others.
3.5 stars.
September 2, 2024
I'm enjoying being introduced to various authors from the Golden Age of Detective Fiction. Some short stories are stronger than others, and it does seem that the first two volumes contained many of the best works. Nonetheless, I will certainly be reading the next volume! Sometimes my favourite part is actually the short author biographies - it's interesting to hear what people did with their lives and how they fell into writing detective fiction.
September 4, 2022
This anthology might be running out of steam. One of the stories is not so much a mystery as a short piece of wartime propaganda/education. There’s an unpublished Sayers but sometimes there’s a reason why some stories stay unpublished. The Orange Plot series is a fun exercise.
July 30, 2020
Rating for the collection 3
Rating for the individual stories between 2.5 and 3
Lynn Brock/Gore: an okay story with Gore involved in searching for a missing police officer. the reason for the kidnapping and essentially torture of the officer must have been new to readers at the time of original publication. the ending had no visible retribution of the guilty or was it implied? not really sure myself.
Berkeley/Sherringham: of historical interest only as this very short story was a careless talk information message.
Hare/Warbeck Hall: only really of interest to see where the novel 'An English Murder' came from. the ending is even more sudden that the extended novel, but that is definitely due to the length. probably worked better as an atmospheric radio broadcast.
Sayers/House of Poplars: a very good short story that works well mainly due to the dream-like passages describing the protagonists path to the offices of Smith & Smith.
Bush/Hampstead Murder: not an idea that i have seen before and as a result rather enjoyed this short.
Commings/Scarecrow: an okay story that despite having a detective new to me, and an american setting still felt familiar - no idea why. but as a result less enjoyable to me.
Christie/Dog's Ball: had read this story before. a basic plot that seems to have Poirot solving with very few clues really, the expanded version that forms 'Dumb Witness' is much better.
St John Sprigg/Airman: an average story, nothing special about it for me. The conclusion ws another very sudden one.
Palmer/Black Spade: a better than average short story but I think you really need to have encountered the protagonists before to appreciate them. the actual crime and solution was okay and worth reading.
Bell/Torch at Window: not a bad story as such, but it seemed too busy to me. too many characters, attempts at red herrings etc might have been better expanded to novella length instead.
Dickson Carr/Guignol: Only reason for me to read was see where the expanded novel came from. Really do not like his first detective and generally find the author very hit and miss.
Marsh/Knotty Problem: can see how this would have worked as a tv episode, but as a screen play just didn't for me.
Orange Stories: Quite good short-short stories that generally worked. admittedly reading them in sequence meant the similarities between them were obvious, whereas originally reading week or more apart they wouldn't.
Overall the collection wasn't a bad one, and had slightly more average/better stories than i was expecting.
Rating for the individual stories between 2.5 and 3
Lynn Brock/Gore: an okay story with Gore involved in searching for a missing police officer. the reason for the kidnapping and essentially torture of the officer must have been new to readers at the time of original publication. the ending had no visible retribution of the guilty or was it implied? not really sure myself.
Berkeley/Sherringham: of historical interest only as this very short story was a careless talk information message.
Hare/Warbeck Hall: only really of interest to see where the novel 'An English Murder' came from. the ending is even more sudden that the extended novel, but that is definitely due to the length. probably worked better as an atmospheric radio broadcast.
Sayers/House of Poplars: a very good short story that works well mainly due to the dream-like passages describing the protagonists path to the offices of Smith & Smith.
Bush/Hampstead Murder: not an idea that i have seen before and as a result rather enjoyed this short.
Commings/Scarecrow: an okay story that despite having a detective new to me, and an american setting still felt familiar - no idea why. but as a result less enjoyable to me.
Christie/Dog's Ball: had read this story before. a basic plot that seems to have Poirot solving with very few clues really, the expanded version that forms 'Dumb Witness' is much better.
St John Sprigg/Airman: an average story, nothing special about it for me. The conclusion ws another very sudden one.
Palmer/Black Spade: a better than average short story but I think you really need to have encountered the protagonists before to appreciate them. the actual crime and solution was okay and worth reading.
Bell/Torch at Window: not a bad story as such, but it seemed too busy to me. too many characters, attempts at red herrings etc might have been better expanded to novella length instead.
Dickson Carr/Guignol: Only reason for me to read was see where the expanded novel came from. Really do not like his first detective and generally find the author very hit and miss.
Marsh/Knotty Problem: can see how this would have worked as a tv episode, but as a screen play just didn't for me.
Orange Stories: Quite good short-short stories that generally worked. admittedly reading them in sequence meant the similarities between them were obvious, whereas originally reading week or more apart they wouldn't.
Overall the collection wasn't a bad one, and had slightly more average/better stories than i was expecting.
June 25, 2022
Rating overall - 2 1/2 stars. I listened to this on audio and while there was nothing wrong with the narrators, they weren't astounding, either. The stories themselves were a mixed bag.
Lynn Brock 'Some Little Things' - Forgettable.
Anthony Berkeley 'Hot Steel' - Forgettable.
Cyril Hare 'The Murder at Warbeck Hall' - Forgettable.
Dorothy L. Sayers ‘The House of Poplars’ - Very good; one of the best of this collection. The story of a man who is in debt but married to a wealthy older women... if only she would be removed as an obstacle...
Christopher Bush 'The Hampstead Murder' - Very good. The story snags the reader with the opening sentence: A man in Scotland wrote a letter to The Times and, by chance, The Times found it interesting enough to print. Because of that letter, which had nothing whatever to do with murder, a woman was strangled in a London suburb. A story about a man writing a detective story and decides he should actually visit a detective's office and give him something to investigate and report on to give his writing authenticity. So he has the detective follow a friend... and this leads to a murder. I listened to this twice to connect all the dots.
Joseph Cummings 'The Scarecrow Murders' - Average/forgettable.
Agatha Christie 'The Incident of the Dog’s Ball' - Very good; perhaps the best of this collection. A Poirot mystery on which 'Dumb witness' was based.
Christopher St John Sprigg 'The Case of the Unlucky Airman' - Not bad. The story of a man who is attempting to fly a plane and break a record, but must land halfway through ()
Stuart Palmer 'The Riddle of the Black Spade' - Quite good. The mystery of a man who dies after seemingly being struck on the head by a golf ball.
Josephine Bell 'A Torch at the Window' - Quite good. The mystery of a nurse who is murdered after a light is seen outside a hospital ward window.
John Dickson Carr 'Grand Guignol' - This is a novella and my gosh was it boring! It ruined the whole collection.
Ngaio Marsh 'A Knotty Problem' - this is a tv play and I DNF. It didn't interest me, and my dedication to finishing this collection was ruined after the previous.
Lynn Brock 'Some Little Things' - Forgettable.
Anthony Berkeley 'Hot Steel' - Forgettable.
Cyril Hare 'The Murder at Warbeck Hall' - Forgettable.
Dorothy L. Sayers ‘The House of Poplars’ - Very good; one of the best of this collection. The story of a man who is in debt but married to a wealthy older women... if only she would be removed as an obstacle...
Christopher Bush 'The Hampstead Murder' - Very good. The story snags the reader with the opening sentence: A man in Scotland wrote a letter to The Times and, by chance, The Times found it interesting enough to print. Because of that letter, which had nothing whatever to do with murder, a woman was strangled in a London suburb. A story about a man writing a detective story and decides he should actually visit a detective's office and give him something to investigate and report on to give his writing authenticity. So he has the detective follow a friend... and this leads to a murder. I listened to this twice to connect all the dots.
Joseph Cummings 'The Scarecrow Murders' - Average/forgettable.
Agatha Christie 'The Incident of the Dog’s Ball' - Very good; perhaps the best of this collection. A Poirot mystery on which 'Dumb witness' was based.
Christopher St John Sprigg 'The Case of the Unlucky Airman' - Not bad. The story of a man who is attempting to fly a plane and break a record, but must land halfway through ()
Stuart Palmer 'The Riddle of the Black Spade' - Quite good. The mystery of a man who dies after seemingly being struck on the head by a golf ball.
Josephine Bell 'A Torch at the Window' - Quite good. The mystery of a nurse who is murdered after a light is seen outside a hospital ward window.
John Dickson Carr 'Grand Guignol' - This is a novella and my gosh was it boring! It ruined the whole collection.
Ngaio Marsh 'A Knotty Problem' - this is a tv play and I DNF. It didn't interest me, and my dedication to finishing this collection was ruined after the previous.
November 30, 2024
I gave the first anthology of this series 5*, the second 4*...unfortunately this continues the downward slide to 3*. I suppose that we are necessarily picking out the best of "rarely-anthologised mystery stories" each time, leaving a poorer quality in the bucket to draw from in subsequent volumes.
The ones I did enjoy were generally by the usual suspects in terms of authors: the Agatha Christie story The Incident of the Dog's Ball (but I was going to have the opportunity to read it soon as I am tackling Agatha Christie's Complete Secret Notebooks in parallel, which published that story for the first time); the Dorothy L. Sayers story was a bit of a departure from her usual oeuvre featuring a "removals firm" (assassins for hire) and published here for the first time. The Cyril Hare I'd already read, but it stood up to a re-read. The Anthony Berkeley story was a "Loose Lips Sink Ships" type propaganda story from WWII that was short and fun to read. There is also a Roderick Alleyn TV script from Ngaio Marsh that was interesting for its format, but the mystery itself was meh.
On the other side of the coin: the John Dickson Carr story The Grand Guignol was longer, novella-length, and I didn't enjoy it - it was overly dramatic. Similarly there were a couple of gangster-type stories, both very stereotypical, that weren't my cup of tea. One of them was in a grouping of stories written around the theme of "One night a man picked up an orange in the street. This saved his life." It was interesting to see how different authors approached it, but otherwise the stories were utterly forgettable.
The one new author to me that I might seek out a bit more of is Stuart Palmer, whose story "The Riddle of the Black Spade" wasn't too bad (although I'm not sure how one can confuse ). I liked the detail in the biographical sketch that he had two cats named Psmith and PJones. I liked the Miss Withers sleuth character.
The ones I did enjoy were generally by the usual suspects in terms of authors: the Agatha Christie story The Incident of the Dog's Ball (but I was going to have the opportunity to read it soon as I am tackling Agatha Christie's Complete Secret Notebooks in parallel, which published that story for the first time); the Dorothy L. Sayers story was a bit of a departure from her usual oeuvre featuring a "removals firm" (assassins for hire) and published here for the first time. The Cyril Hare I'd already read, but it stood up to a re-read. The Anthony Berkeley story was a "Loose Lips Sink Ships" type propaganda story from WWII that was short and fun to read. There is also a Roderick Alleyn TV script from Ngaio Marsh that was interesting for its format, but the mystery itself was meh.
On the other side of the coin: the John Dickson Carr story The Grand Guignol was longer, novella-length, and I didn't enjoy it - it was overly dramatic. Similarly there were a couple of gangster-type stories, both very stereotypical, that weren't my cup of tea. One of them was in a grouping of stories written around the theme of "One night a man picked up an orange in the street. This saved his life." It was interesting to see how different authors approached it, but otherwise the stories were utterly forgettable.
The one new author to me that I might seek out a bit more of is Stuart Palmer, whose story "The Riddle of the Black Spade" wasn't too bad (although I'm not sure how one can confuse ). I liked the detail in the biographical sketch that he had two cats named Psmith and PJones. I liked the Miss Withers sleuth character.
September 28, 2021
I gave the first Bodies from the Library short shrift, I think. I’d assumed, when I read it uncarefully, that the stories in that volume were all second class and lower material, and I thought no more about it. But as a huge fan of impossible crime stories I picked up this third volume specifically for the Joseph Commings story, “The Scarecrow Murders.” (Which you can’t find anywhere else, along with a handful of other Senator Banner stories.) I was shocked to also find not only a “new” Roger Sheringham story by Anthony Berkeley but also the radio play upon which one of my all-time favorite country house murder mysteries was based on: “An English Murder,” by Cyril Hare. I love that book. I love the Russian film adaptation. I’ve always wanted to listen to the radio play and this is the next best thing.
Tony Medawar is an angel, I now think, doing God’s work. He seems to be Indiana Jones-ing his way into GAD temples to rescue holy relics from oblivion. Who knows what he may uncover next?! There are so many gems considered lost. I hope he finds Hake Talbot’s third novel! Or some John Dickson Carr. I hope this series continues indefinitely. And maybe I’ll give a closer look to the stories by authors I’m not already addicted to.
And I’m very happy these weren’t published by Crippen & Landru, as much as that pains me to say, because there is no wacky formatting issues or preponderance of typos.
Tony Medawar is an angel, I now think, doing God’s work. He seems to be Indiana Jones-ing his way into GAD temples to rescue holy relics from oblivion. Who knows what he may uncover next?! There are so many gems considered lost. I hope he finds Hake Talbot’s third novel! Or some John Dickson Carr. I hope this series continues indefinitely. And maybe I’ll give a closer look to the stories by authors I’m not already addicted to.
And I’m very happy these weren’t published by Crippen & Landru, as much as that pains me to say, because there is no wacky formatting issues or preponderance of typos.
August 10, 2023
Review of the audiobook narrated by Philip Bretherton.
As usual, a mixed bag of stories, including some I had not heard of from authors I like. I like Philip Bretherton's narration in this and the earlier books.
And because neither the publishers, nor Amazon, nor Audible ever give you the Table of Contents, I have copied it below.
Contents
Some little things / Lynn Brock --
Hot steel / Anthony Berkeley --
The murder at Warbeck Hall / Cyril Hare --
The house of the poplars / Dorothy L. Sayers --
The Hampstead murder / Christopher Bush --
The scarecrow murders / Joseph Commings --
The incident of the dog's ball / Agatha Christie --
The case of the unlucky airman / Christopher St John Sprigg --
The riddle of the black spade / Stuart Palmer --
A torch at the window / Josephine Bell --
Grand guignol / John Dickson Carr --
A knotty problem / Ngaio Marsh --
The orange plot mysteries --
The orange kid / Peter Cheyney --
And the answer was... / Ethel Lina White --
He stooped to live / David Hume --
Mr Prendergast and the orange / Nicholas Blake --
The yellow sphere / John Rhode --
The 'eat more fruit' murder / William A. R. Collins.
January 6, 2024
The best story is by a writer everyone thinks of as a hack—Peter Cheyney. And the most disappointing comes from the writer esteemed by fans of vintage crime fiction as one of the greats—John Dickson Carr. Carr overcomplicates: he tries too hard to be ingenious (I read the solution twice and still don’t see how the detective figured it out) while Cheyney along with five other writers takes a simple premise (“One night a man picked up an orange in the street. This saved his life.”) and makes it into a nifty, artfully simple story. The highlight of the collection is this sub-section of six stories fashioned from the orange premise (especially those by Nicholas Blake and Ethel Lina White). Other stories stand out, too (the ones by Dorothy L. Sayers, Christopher Bush, Agatha Christie, Anthony Berkeley, and Josephine Bell). Editor Tony Medawar puts thought and development into the informative author biographies so that even the seven lesser stories (of a total of eighteen) acquire some historical interest.
November 26, 2023
The stories themselves are fairly average (although I enjoyed the orange-based mysteries at the end), but the book is still interesting in terms of its windows into genre development, with excellent author bios from Tony Medawar. It was especially interesting to read William Collins's only known foray into crime writing.
June 2, 2025
2 and a half stars. This collection was a bit hit and miss for me. I enjoyed The Incident of the Dog’s Ball by Agatha Christie, although I'd read it before. I also quite liked House of Poplars by Dorothy L Sayers and The Riddle of the Black Spade. Some stories fell quite flat and there were a couple that I DNF'd.
January 13, 2021
I enjoyed this anthology, the third in this series. Am really enjoying the bits of history and information about the authors after each one.
I really enjoyed the Poirot story in this, and I thought the final six stories that each used the premise were really good, quite a good variety.
I really enjoyed the Poirot story in this, and I thought the final six stories that each used the premise were really good, quite a good variety.
July 11, 2022
This is a collection of 18 'lost stories' by authors who went on to write better works. Inevitably some could well have stayed lost, but others are worth reading.
There is a short collection of 'Orange Plot' mysteries which are interesting.
There is a short collection of 'Orange Plot' mysteries which are interesting.
May 18, 2024
Interesting mix of short stories, novellas and a TV script from the Golden Age of crime writing. My favourite was the 1960s New Zealand TV script from one of my favourites - Ngaio Marsh. Never published before.
August 17, 2021
Different authors and thus different rating for each story. Good to have the first version of “It walks by night” by John Dickson Carr and an unknown LRM by Joseph Commings.
September 23, 2022
There is a reason why the stories in this anthology are unknown or unremembered. They are largely dated, or not the best examples of the authors work.
September 30, 2024
Some good, some forgettable.
January 7, 2025
Via audible
Love this series and will continue with them. So excited to see there is a “Ghosts from the Library” too.
Love this series and will continue with them. So excited to see there is a “Ghosts from the Library” too.
April 18, 2025
A girl has to fall asleep somehow!
July 11, 2025
Unfortunately the stories in this volume missed the mark for me; I feel like there's a reason they were lost. Also three stories written as plays were too many and very tedious to read.
September 27, 2025
This is an interesting collection of stories which have not been collected before with a bit of information about each author by the editor. Unfortunately most of the stories are not up to much.
January 17, 2021
A good mixture of Golden Age murder stories. Many new and not published in over 40 years. Great reading. Unlike the other two in the series it didnot have the more well know sherlock Holmes and Agatha christie stories.
Would recommend.
Would recommend.
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