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Settling Scores: Sporting Mysteries
Mystery crime fiction written in the Golden Age of Murder
"The detective story is a game between two players, the author…and the reader."—Ronald Knox
From the squash court to the golf links, the football pitch to the swimming pool and the race course to the cricket square, no court, grounds, stadium or stand is safe from skullduggery. Entering the arena where sport clashes with crime, this spirited medley of short stories showcases the greatest deadly plays and criminal gambits of the mystery genre.
With introductions by Editor Martin Edwards and stories by some of the finest writers in the field—including Celia Fremlin, Michael Gilbert, Gladys Mitchell, and Leo Bruce—this new anthology offers a ringside view of the darker side of sports and proves that crime, naturally, is a game for all seasons.
"The detective story is a game between two players, the author…and the reader."—Ronald Knox
From the squash court to the golf links, the football pitch to the swimming pool and the race course to the cricket square, no court, grounds, stadium or stand is safe from skullduggery. Entering the arena where sport clashes with crime, this spirited medley of short stories showcases the greatest deadly plays and criminal gambits of the mystery genre.
With introductions by Editor Martin Edwards and stories by some of the finest writers in the field—including Celia Fremlin, Michael Gilbert, Gladys Mitchell, and Leo Bruce—this new anthology offers a ringside view of the darker side of sports and proves that crime, naturally, is a game for all seasons.
338 pages, Kindle Edition
First published March 10, 2020
22 people are currently reading
205 people want to read
About the author
Martin Edwards
357 books802 followersMartin Edwards has been described by Richard Osman as ‘a true master of British crime writing.’ He has published twenty-three novels, which include the eight Lake District Mysteries, one of which was shortlisted for the Theakston’s Prize for best crime novel of the year and four books featuring Rachel Savernake, including the Dagger-nominated Gallows Court and Blackstone Fell, while Gallows Court and Sepulchre Street were shortlisted for the eDunnit award for best crime novel of the year. He is also the author of two multi-award-winning histories of crime fiction, The Life of Crime and The Golden Age of Murder. He has received three Daggers from the Crime Writers’ Association and two Edgars from the Mystery Writers of America and has also been nominated three times for Gold Daggers. In addition to the CWA Diamond Dagger (the highest honour in UK crime writing) he has received four other lifetime achievement awards: for his fiction, short fiction, non-fiction, and scholarship. He is consultant to the British Library’s Crime Classics, a former Chair of the CWA, and since 2015 has been President of the Detection Club.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 33 reviews
July 6, 2024
I was in the mood for some short stories and summertime makes me lean into those having to do with the outdoors or vacations. This one was centred on sports. Overall, a good compilation. My favourites were about sports I know well so it's not the collection's fault that I wasn't as drawn to the others.
The stories I really enjoyed:
The Boat Race Murder by David Winser - rowing
The Swimming Gala by Gladys Mitchell - swimming.
I, Said the Sparrow by Leo Bruce - archery and by one of my favourite authors.
Death at the Wicket by Bernard Newman - cricket, obvs.
The Wimbledon Mystery by Julian Symons - tennis, of course.
The Drop Shot by Michael Gilbert - squash is the sport and by another favourite author of mine.
Dangerous Sport by Celia Fremlin - this one is a great ender but isn't about traditional sport but the cunning between a mistress and her married man. Definitely one to remember.I will seek out more of her work.
The Rest:
The Loss of Sammy Crocket by Arthur Morrison
The Adventure of the Missing Three-Quarter by Arthur Conan Doyle
The Double Problem by F.A.M. Webster
Fisherman's Luck by J. Jefferson Farjeon
The Football Photograph by H.C. Bailey
The Red Golf Ball by Gerald Verner
The Case of the Man in the Squared Circle by Ernest Dudley
Four to One-Bar One by Henry Wade
Your mileage may vary but a good collection from the British Library Crime Collection. I'll continue the series.
The stories I really enjoyed:
The Boat Race Murder by David Winser - rowing
The Swimming Gala by Gladys Mitchell - swimming.
I, Said the Sparrow by Leo Bruce - archery and by one of my favourite authors.
Death at the Wicket by Bernard Newman - cricket, obvs.
The Wimbledon Mystery by Julian Symons - tennis, of course.
The Drop Shot by Michael Gilbert - squash is the sport and by another favourite author of mine.
Dangerous Sport by Celia Fremlin - this one is a great ender but isn't about traditional sport but the cunning between a mistress and her married man. Definitely one to remember.I will seek out more of her work.
The Rest:
The Loss of Sammy Crocket by Arthur Morrison
The Adventure of the Missing Three-Quarter by Arthur Conan Doyle
The Double Problem by F.A.M. Webster
Fisherman's Luck by J. Jefferson Farjeon
The Football Photograph by H.C. Bailey
The Red Golf Ball by Gerald Verner
The Case of the Man in the Squared Circle by Ernest Dudley
Four to One-Bar One by Henry Wade
Your mileage may vary but a good collection from the British Library Crime Collection. I'll continue the series.
February 1, 2021
I usually enjoy Martin Edwards' collections for the British Library Crime Classics more than a three-star rating would indicate, but these stories, all based on some type of sport, include a number that seem to require more knowledge of a given sport that I have, especially given that they focus on sports that are popular in Great Britain. Some fine authors are represented, as well as some who are little known, but there's a plethora of specialized argots, and the stories would not be everyone's dish of tea.
April 29, 2020
Simply not cricket!
Another themed collection of mysteries from the Golden Age, this contains 15 stories, as usual with a mix of well-known and lesser known authors. As the title and cover imply, the theme in this instance is sport, and a different sport features in every story. There are the sports that are well known for skulduggery – horse racing and boxing, for example – and the sports which are usually, or were at that time, held to be the squeaky clean preserve of the English gentleman – rowing, rugby and, of course, cricket. In some of the stories the sport matters in terms of the plot, while in others it merely forms an interesting background to a more traditional mystery.
As always, I found the quality variable, although in this one most of the stories fell into the middling range for me, between average and good, with just a couple standing out as excellent and only one which I thought was so bad it didn’t really merit inclusion. There were only one or two where I felt my lack of understanding of the sport in question got in the way of my enjoyment of the story, and since I’m not very sports-minded this would probably be even less of a problem for most people.
Here’s a flavour of a few of the stories I enjoyed most:
The Boat Race Murder by David Winser – Set in the run up to the all-important annual race between Oxford and Cambridge Universities, this is a story of competitiveness and ambition taken to extremes. It’s very well written, told by a first-person narrator who was in the Oxford team. It does assume a bit more understanding of the technicalities of rowing than I possess, but it gives a great and very authentic feeling background to what it’s like to be an “Oxford Blue”, the hard work and teamsmanship, and all the pressures and celebrity that come with being at the top of an elite sport.
Death at the Wicket by Bernard Newman – During a match, a cricketer is struck by the ball and later collapses and dies. It appears to have been an accident, but was it? Our narrator is not convinced and sets out to investigate. The cricketing story here assumes the reader understands the dangers and ethical questions around “bodyline” bowling – a technique that came in the 1930s whereby the bowler deliberately aims the ball with the intention of intimidating the batsman, leading to many injuries. It was considered deeply unsporting. However, the story is well written and ultimately depends on human nature rather than cricketing shenanigans, so is enjoyable even for people who don’t know their googly from their silly mid-off.
The Drop Shot by Michael Gilbert – as two men watch a squash match, one tells the other of another match years earlier that resulted in the death of one of the players. This is very well told and doesn’t require any knowledge of squash to understand the plot. It’s not a mystery – more of a morality tale about greed and competitiveness, and how fate makes sure one gets one’s comeuppance in the end. I enjoyed it a lot.
Dangerous Sport by Celia Fremlin – the sport here is really incidental to the story, being merely that a school sports day provides the backdrop to one of the major events. It’s the story of a mistress who is tired of her lover lying to her, especially since he’s not very good at it. She likes to catch him out in his lies, but has gradually come to realise that his wife and family will always be more important to him than she is. So she decides to do something about it. This suspense story has an almost noir feel to it, in that no one is likeable and there’s no hope for a happy ending. It’s extremely well told and psychologically convincing, especially of the thoughts and feelings of the mistress. I shall look out for more from this new-to-me author.
And it also has a Holmes story, which seems to be a regular feature of these collections, certainly for the last several anyway. This time it’s The Adventure of the Missing Three-Quarter (rugby) – not a particularly strong mystery but, as always, a very well told and interesting story.
So plenty of variety and lots to enjoy, and a great way of participating in some strenuous sports without leaving the sofa. Recommended.
NB This book was provided for review by the publisher, the British Library.
www.fictionfanblog.wordpress.com
Another themed collection of mysteries from the Golden Age, this contains 15 stories, as usual with a mix of well-known and lesser known authors. As the title and cover imply, the theme in this instance is sport, and a different sport features in every story. There are the sports that are well known for skulduggery – horse racing and boxing, for example – and the sports which are usually, or were at that time, held to be the squeaky clean preserve of the English gentleman – rowing, rugby and, of course, cricket. In some of the stories the sport matters in terms of the plot, while in others it merely forms an interesting background to a more traditional mystery.
As always, I found the quality variable, although in this one most of the stories fell into the middling range for me, between average and good, with just a couple standing out as excellent and only one which I thought was so bad it didn’t really merit inclusion. There were only one or two where I felt my lack of understanding of the sport in question got in the way of my enjoyment of the story, and since I’m not very sports-minded this would probably be even less of a problem for most people.
Here’s a flavour of a few of the stories I enjoyed most:
The Boat Race Murder by David Winser – Set in the run up to the all-important annual race between Oxford and Cambridge Universities, this is a story of competitiveness and ambition taken to extremes. It’s very well written, told by a first-person narrator who was in the Oxford team. It does assume a bit more understanding of the technicalities of rowing than I possess, but it gives a great and very authentic feeling background to what it’s like to be an “Oxford Blue”, the hard work and teamsmanship, and all the pressures and celebrity that come with being at the top of an elite sport.
Death at the Wicket by Bernard Newman – During a match, a cricketer is struck by the ball and later collapses and dies. It appears to have been an accident, but was it? Our narrator is not convinced and sets out to investigate. The cricketing story here assumes the reader understands the dangers and ethical questions around “bodyline” bowling – a technique that came in the 1930s whereby the bowler deliberately aims the ball with the intention of intimidating the batsman, leading to many injuries. It was considered deeply unsporting. However, the story is well written and ultimately depends on human nature rather than cricketing shenanigans, so is enjoyable even for people who don’t know their googly from their silly mid-off.
The Drop Shot by Michael Gilbert – as two men watch a squash match, one tells the other of another match years earlier that resulted in the death of one of the players. This is very well told and doesn’t require any knowledge of squash to understand the plot. It’s not a mystery – more of a morality tale about greed and competitiveness, and how fate makes sure one gets one’s comeuppance in the end. I enjoyed it a lot.
Dangerous Sport by Celia Fremlin – the sport here is really incidental to the story, being merely that a school sports day provides the backdrop to one of the major events. It’s the story of a mistress who is tired of her lover lying to her, especially since he’s not very good at it. She likes to catch him out in his lies, but has gradually come to realise that his wife and family will always be more important to him than she is. So she decides to do something about it. This suspense story has an almost noir feel to it, in that no one is likeable and there’s no hope for a happy ending. It’s extremely well told and psychologically convincing, especially of the thoughts and feelings of the mistress. I shall look out for more from this new-to-me author.
And it also has a Holmes story, which seems to be a regular feature of these collections, certainly for the last several anyway. This time it’s The Adventure of the Missing Three-Quarter (rugby) – not a particularly strong mystery but, as always, a very well told and interesting story.
So plenty of variety and lots to enjoy, and a great way of participating in some strenuous sports without leaving the sofa. Recommended.
NB This book was provided for review by the publisher, the British Library.
www.fictionfanblog.wordpress.com
September 12, 2022
This was a good collection of golden age mystery short stories. I was kind of meh about reading this, though it was part of a readalong I'm doing. But I thought I might as well. I wasn't interested in sports, per se, as part of a mystery, but then you have to consider that it is English sports, so we get a lot of cricket and it is simply different. But then it also wasn't as if the sport part was the main part of most of the stories.
Some of the stories didn't even actually feature sports. There are games of all sorts. I really liked the final story, The Dangerous Game. And I especially liked the Wimbledon story. It was perhaps the longest story in the collection, so was more fully developed than some of the others.
But even some of the very short ones had a nice snap to them.
Each story also has a little intro by Martin Edwards (and if you haven't read his overview of the 100 BLCC titles yet, go do that!), with a little bio of the author and a little background info. There wasn't a dud in the bunch, and this made for a very interesting mix of authors. It was interesting to see too where some of these stories first appeared. Wouldn't it be nice if we still had fiction markets like that?
So I'm glad I didn't skip it, even if my ILL is 12 days overdue. I am loving all the BLCC books so far!
Some of the stories didn't even actually feature sports. There are games of all sorts. I really liked the final story, The Dangerous Game. And I especially liked the Wimbledon story. It was perhaps the longest story in the collection, so was more fully developed than some of the others.
But even some of the very short ones had a nice snap to them.
Each story also has a little intro by Martin Edwards (and if you haven't read his overview of the 100 BLCC titles yet, go do that!), with a little bio of the author and a little background info. There wasn't a dud in the bunch, and this made for a very interesting mix of authors. It was interesting to see too where some of these stories first appeared. Wouldn't it be nice if we still had fiction markets like that?
So I'm glad I didn't skip it, even if my ILL is 12 days overdue. I am loving all the BLCC books so far!
January 14, 2022
2.5 stars. This was a truly mediocre collection, unfortunately. The overarching point of this collection is that men take sports - especially college sports - way too seriously, and apparently have for the last two centures, at least. Also: reading back-to-back collections featuring stories about the awful Doctor Morelle and the supremely irritating Reggie Fortune was aggravating. I hope these two don't feature in every short story collection in the British Library Classic Crime series, because UGH. There's a reason both of those authors have fallen out of favor.
On the plus side, "The Wimbledon Mystery" by Julian Symons was *chef's kiss* perfection, with "I, Said the Sparrow" by Leo Bruce a close second.
On the plus side, "The Wimbledon Mystery" by Julian Symons was *chef's kiss* perfection, with "I, Said the Sparrow" by Leo Bruce a close second.
December 15, 2020
Not the best collection of the British Library reissues, but (as usual) a couple of good ones mixed in with a lot of the middle of the road short stories, plus a Sherlock Holmes thrown in for the fans. The connection to sports can be slight for some of the stories, while others feature sports which really aren't popular here in the US (rowing, squash) or can be very confusing to us (cricket). The Wimbledon story was fun, as were some of the others.
But as with all short stories, if you don't like it don't worry, it will be over soon and you can move on to the next one. A fun way to wile away some time.
But as with all short stories, if you don't like it don't worry, it will be over soon and you can move on to the next one. A fun way to wile away some time.
May 2, 2024
This was a great collection of mystery short stories with each one themed around a different sport. Some authors I was already familiar with and some not so much. A really enjoyable read
April 4, 2024
Had this book in my "to read" shelf, saw the mixed bag of reviews and thought I
would give it a go. I do like this series and found this one pretty good. I'm not a
keen sports person but I didn't find the terms or descriptions too technical to
understand (maybe "Death at the Wicket" (about cricket) "Four to
One - Bar One" (to do with horse racing) and "The Boat Race Murder" probably
because the author was a keen rower himself). Some of the stories ("The Adventures of the Missing Three Quarter" by Arthur Conan Doyle) the sports were lightly touched
on - he could have been a missing fireman instead of a footballer!! "The Football
Photograph" from 1930 was interesting and touched on the celebrity of sportsmen
- a cocky villain hides behind his footballing popularity in the hope of getting away
with murder!!
would give it a go. I do like this series and found this one pretty good. I'm not a
keen sports person but I didn't find the terms or descriptions too technical to
understand (maybe "Death at the Wicket" (about cricket) "Four to
One - Bar One" (to do with horse racing) and "The Boat Race Murder" probably
because the author was a keen rower himself). Some of the stories ("The Adventures of the Missing Three Quarter" by Arthur Conan Doyle) the sports were lightly touched
on - he could have been a missing fireman instead of a footballer!! "The Football
Photograph" from 1930 was interesting and touched on the celebrity of sportsmen
- a cocky villain hides behind his footballing popularity in the hope of getting away
with murder!!
May 25, 2020
The poorest selection in this series, so far. I have complained to both seller and publisher that the end of the Henry Wade story is missing and, more than two months later, have been told nothing.
There are a few good moments in this, but for the most part, the tales are shoehorned into the theme, many of them only tangentially, "sporting". This means that the marketing, or branding, is impinging on the quality of the stories chosen, and this does not bode well for the future.
I have been loyal to this series since it began, purchasing paperbacks at first and now ebooks. I have read most, and reviewed many. It is partly because of the imprint that I became involved in reading and reviewing GAD. However there are other red herring to fry!
Disappointing on all sorts of levels.
There are a few good moments in this, but for the most part, the tales are shoehorned into the theme, many of them only tangentially, "sporting". This means that the marketing, or branding, is impinging on the quality of the stories chosen, and this does not bode well for the future.
I have been loyal to this series since it began, purchasing paperbacks at first and now ebooks. I have read most, and reviewed many. It is partly because of the imprint that I became involved in reading and reviewing GAD. However there are other red herring to fry!
Disappointing on all sorts of levels.
March 21, 2023
The collected short mysteries that Martin Edwards has put together (along themes) dealing with sports is one I found really enjoyable. There are always a few that I find aren't faves but none here were really duds for me. There are some that deal with sport specifically, and some that deal with sport in a peripheral way (betting, or people watching the sport.). Or the "sport" of race tracks (for me the horses generally are doing the work and none were criminals.)
The title of the collection is probably the most telling and accurate description of the type of crimes that were being committed. Also the range of time frame here really was interesting, from WW1 through after WW2. Also contained authors I have not read before and some that I come across once in a long while. There were also some fave authors (like Michael Gilbert) which were interesting to see writing a short story (I'm sure he has but I don't get to read many of them.)
The title of the collection is probably the most telling and accurate description of the type of crimes that were being committed. Also the range of time frame here really was interesting, from WW1 through after WW2. Also contained authors I have not read before and some that I come across once in a long while. There were also some fave authors (like Michael Gilbert) which were interesting to see writing a short story (I'm sure he has but I don't get to read many of them.)
June 11, 2022
Another compilation in the British Library Crime Classics series. As usual with these compilations you get a mix of well known authors (e.g. Arthur Conan Doyle, Gladys Mitchell) and less well known or unknown authors (e.g. Henry Wade, F A M Webster).
Most of the stories work very well, some work well, and some.....But these books are always an interesting read and this one is no exception. Like me I wouldn't expect anyone else to like all of the stories but I suspect that there are enough stories to make it worth people's time to read this. And maybe you'll find a new favourite, unknown author.
Most of the stories work very well, some work well, and some.....But these books are always an interesting read and this one is no exception. Like me I wouldn't expect anyone else to like all of the stories but I suspect that there are enough stories to make it worth people's time to read this. And maybe you'll find a new favourite, unknown author.
February 9, 2024
Published in 2020, 'Settling Scores' is an anthology of mystery short stories, all with a sporting theme and originally published between 1894 and 1976, although most fall onto the 1920-1950 period. Like other themed collections in the series, most are tales that have rarely seen the light of day since their original publication date - the Sherlock Holmes story is at least one obvious exception. Most will be new to the reader, and most are written in an older style gives them in my opinion a great sense of period. Most of the stories are very short, with the exception of a novella by Julian Symons. Not too demanding , but great fun.
April 20, 2022
Another brilliant read from the British Library Crime Classics series.i have got all these books now and I don't remember a single bad one.they are just so enjoyable and easy to read.i definitely prefer the writing styles of the golden age of crime fiction than contemporary novels.This collection all have a sporting theme which was an interesting idea and works well.it was a lovely surprise to find that I hadn't read the majority of these too!so all in all a fab easy read ...
September 29, 2020
A bit of a mixed bag, this collection of stories from the Golden Age of Crime. The central theme is "sports", ranging from angling, to darts, to rowing, cricket, etc. There are some wonderful stories in this collection, but some I had to skip, as the author gets very technical, using nothing but jargon (especially stories on rowing and cricket), making it almost unreadable.
April 3, 2025
Sporting yarns. Got to be worth a punt you'd think.
Sadly this a lower league 0-0 draw on a wet Tuesday night with a 200 mile drive home afterwards.
One of the stories isn't even printed in full, something the ref really should have spotted! I can only guess other readers were already heading for the exits at this stage and didn't notice this unintentional offside trap.
The best part of this experience was the orange at half time.
Seriously, stick your money on the 12.30 favourite at Aintree, or buy a new shuttlecock or ...
Foul.
Sadly this a lower league 0-0 draw on a wet Tuesday night with a 200 mile drive home afterwards.
One of the stories isn't even printed in full, something the ref really should have spotted! I can only guess other readers were already heading for the exits at this stage and didn't notice this unintentional offside trap.
The best part of this experience was the orange at half time.
Seriously, stick your money on the 12.30 favourite at Aintree, or buy a new shuttlecock or ...
Foul.
September 20, 2020
On balance a moderate collection....some of the writing is mediocre and mannered and generally the stories far from gripping. Three stars is perhaps being generous but there are a couple of tales that raise it to that level. No need for a tie-breaker.
March 28, 2025
i enjoyed some of the stories in this book and others sadly didn't hold my attaion. i am not in sports at all but still it was great to see the differant styles of writing from lots of differant writers from across the decades. i love forward to the next one.
April 15, 2020
It’s ok there were some good stories and others well a bit less so. Not too bad but not great either.
May 7, 2020
Lost interest, started skimming. As you'd expect, the only true standout in these stories is Doyle's.
February 3, 2021
Interesting collection of short stories. Some enjoyable, some intriguing in writing style but some just average. A pleasure to read BCLC series though, as always.
July 28, 2021
An enjoyable collection of short stories with some real gems and one or two that you wonder how they ever got published in the first place.
August 16, 2022
Not as good a selection of stories here compared to other volumes in this series. But still some fun ones. The best being set at Wimbledon.
December 31, 2022
Don't care about sports, but did enjoy these short stories anyway!
November 4, 2023
A very interesting and enjoyable miscellany.
January 20, 2024
Enjoyable
A very enjoyable read. Some of the stories were very good and most, thankfully, ended properly and didn't leave you hanging.
A very enjoyable read. Some of the stories were very good and most, thankfully, ended properly and didn't leave you hanging.
February 25, 2024
Good selection of tales from the Boat Race to Wimbledon to school sports.
Well worth a read.
Well worth a read.
August 1, 2025
The British Library re-prints are a great addition to the literary canon but this is not one of the best.
April 28, 2020
Not my favourite of these collections, but there are some good stories here from some familiar names.
March 10, 2025
Interesting collection of sports-themed British crime stories where a lesser Sherlock Holmes story, Conan Doyle's "The Adventure of The Missing Three-Quarter," stood out among the best of this litter.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 33 reviews