Golden Age Detective Stories

by Otto Penzler (Editor)

Sometimes, the police aren’t the best suited to solve a crime. Depending on the case, you may find that a retired magician, a schoolteacher, a Broadway producer, or a nun have the necessary skills to suss out a killer. Or, in other cases, a blind veteran, or a publisher, or a hard-drinking attorney, or a mostly-sober attorney… or, indeed, any sort of detective you could think of might be able to best the professionals when it comes to comprehending strange and puzzling murders. 


At least, that’s what the authors from the Golden Age of American mystery fiction would have you think. For decades in the middle of the twentieth century, the country’s best-selling authors produced delightful tales in which all types of eccentrics used rarified knowledge to interpret confounding clues. And for even longer, in the decades that have followed, these characters have continued to entertain new audiences with every new generation that discovers them. 


Edgar Award-winning anthologist Otto Penzler selects some of the greatest American short stories from era. With authors including Ellery Queen, Mary Roberts Rinehart, Cornell Woolrich, Erle Stanley Gardner, and Anthony Boucher, this collection is a treat for those who know and love this celebrated period in literary history, and a great introduction to its best writers for the uninitiated.


Includes discussion guide questions for use in book clubs.

Genres: Mystery, Short Stories, Fiction, Anthologies, Golden Age Mystery, Mystery Thriller, Crime

430 pages, Hardcover

First published July 13, 2021

About the author

Otto Penzler is an editor of mystery fiction in the United States, and proprietor of The Mysterious Bookshop in New York City, where he lives.

Otto Penzler founded The Mysteriour Press in 1975 and was the publisher of The Armchair Detective, the Edgar-winning quarterly journal devoted to the study of mystery and suspense fiction, for seventeen years.

Penzler has won two Edgar Awards, for The Encyclopedia of Mystery and Detection in 1977, and The Lineup in 2010. The Mystery Writers of America awarded him the prestigious Ellery Queen Award in 1994, and the Raven--the group's highest non-writing award--in 2003.

Reviews

[Carolyn Walsh · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wish to thank NetGalley, WW. Norton and special thanks to Otto Penzler for compiling this great anthology of detective stories. This was a nostalgic journey into the past. I was familiar with most of the authors and I read and enjoyed their puzzles decades ago. There are biographies of each author added before their short story with mention of their major works and any resulting movie adaptations.

These stories make us realize how much detective work and the world has changed since these crime stories were written. There was no DNA evidence available, no computers with databases on crimes and criminals. The lack of cell phones had the detectives scrambling and looking for payphones, and waiting for crime photos to be developed. There were no surveillance cameras to capture the criminal acts. These crimes were solved through the detective's intuitive reasoning, intelligence, finding clues, and interviewing suspects and witnesses. Women seemed to be readily accepted in their role of investigators, at least in these stories.

In the time before TV, living rooms were centred around a huge radio where the family listened to popular detective programs. I was delighted to find a short story that included sleuths, Mr. and Mrs. North. My baby sister was actually named Pamela after Pamela North from the weekly radio show. Many of my favourite authors of the era have been included in this anthology: among them, Erle Stanley Gardner, Ellery Queen, Mignon Eberhart, Charlotte Armstrong, and Patrick Quentin.
There was a short story by John Dickson Carr listed, but unfortunately, it was missing from my ebook version. Also, it was necessary to read the stories in the order they were presented. With no index, it was impossible to skip around and read the stories out of order. This would not be a problem in the printed book.

I hope this great collection from the Golden Age of mystery writing will inspire readers to seek out some past works by these groundbreaking authors of detective and crime fiction.

[Jill H. · Rating 4 out of 5]

When you find a book that is edited by Otto Penzler you can bet it will be worth reading. He is the "go to" man for all things Golden Age mystery and his Mysterious Bookshop in NYC is one of the first places I have visited when in the city.

In this anthology of 14 short stories, he presents tales by such giants as Ellery Queen, Craig Rice, and Cornell Woolrich. I was particularly pleased to see that he included Clayton Rawlinson whose Great Merlini books are almost unknown today (he only wrote four) but are still so very enjoyable.

I was unfamiliar with a couple of the authors and one of them wrote a story with a ridiculous premise and an even more ridiculous amateur detective. (I won't point fingers). Otherwise, it is a great read for the fan of the Golden Age and its authors.

[Helga · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

This is a collection of American golden-age detective stories.
My favorite was The Mystery in Room 913 by Cornell Woolrich.

[Riju Ganguly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Otto Penzler is the best person to select some of the most enjoyable entries from amongst all those 'Golden Age' stories. This anthology proves that once again.
The book contains fourteen works, several of which are of novella length. Collectively they establish the traits of 'Golden Age' detection, making a sharp contrast with the hardboiled genre as well as the British style.
My favourites were~
1. Anthony Boucher's "The Stripper";
2. Clayton Rawson's "From Another World";
3. Craig Rice's "Good-bye, Good-bye!"
Overall, this is a solid collection that makes those time and crimes come alive.
Recommended.

[Bandit · Rating 4 out of 5]

The main mystery here seems to be why isn’t anyone reading this book? I’m delighted to be the first to rate and review this excellent collection. May it get the attention and readership it deserves.
The sheer definition of Golden Age presupposes a lot, at the very least a certain kind of quality and sure enough this collection makes good on that promise. Otto Penzler, a man who really, really, really knows mystery, put together a lovely roster of stories that represent some of the very best that era had to offer.
I’m a fan of mysteries, irrespective of their age, just love a good mental puzzle. And while I’ve read some Golden Era mysteries before, it probably wasn’t a large enough of a sample to formulate real passions or opinions. This one just might do the trick, though.
You gotta love a well put together anthology, a cleverly selected and curated one. Each one of these stories is preceded by an author’s bio, including historical data on both publications and cinematic adaptations (and of this there were many). It seems that back in the day a lot more moviemaker drew their inspirations from books than they do now, another age when mystery genre thrives. Interesting…
Anyway, in this book you’ll find a number of longer short stories by all the genre luminaries of the day. Most of the names are well known and easily recognizable, from the strikingly productive Gardner to the gloomy Woolrich. It was nice to finally read some of these authors, having watched movie and tv adaptations of their stories and being aware of who they are.
But the greatest kudos and main credit go to the editor for putting together such a notably undated collection, all things considered. Barely a trace of the rampant casual sexism, racism and chauvinism that were so prevalent back then…this is as close as one gets to all things being equal by the social standards of the time. In fact, many of the authors and protagonists of these stories are women and they acquit themselves marvelously.
It’s impossible for this collection to be completely undated, of course, times change and all that, but mainly it is reflected in the language, mores and morals. All the sinister and murderous intentions are still there, but in a much cleaner format. Presumably this will appeal enormously to the readers who inexplicably (to me) complain about adult language in fiction. But anyway, it’s just an altogether more innocent of a production, at least superficially and there is a certain undeniable elegance to that.
Plot wise, mystery fans will be pleased, there are lots of fun puzzles here to solve. Almost all of the stories were above average in concept and execution and, of course, the twist of it all.
So all in all, a lovely collection. A delight for genre fans and a good way to drum up some new ones. It reads strangely long for me, but it isn’t that long at all, so no idea what that’s all about. Maybe I was too busy playing along. Anyway…a very enjoyable read. Recommended. Thanks Netgalley.

This and more at https://advancetheplot.weebly.com/

[Werner]

Oct. 4, 2025
Since I'm reading this collection piece-meal, when I'm between other books, I'm likewise writing this review piece-meal. I'll edit it into a coherent whole when I finish the book.

Otto Penzler is one of the best-known anthology editors in the English-language mystery genre, with over 70 of them to his credit (among other things, he's editor of the long-running Best American Mystery Stories of 19/20__, one of the more well-regarded annual collections in the field). Here, he's brought together 14 tales, each by a different writer or writing team, published in the U.S. mystery pulp magazines from 1925-1953 (the dates are shown in the acknowledgements). But though the publication venues and the authors were in America, the style of all or at least nearly all of the stories appears to be that of the comparable British mysteries in the same period: that is, traditional, cerebrally-oriented yarns that tone down the violence and lurid elements, as opposed to the rougher, more violent and often morally cynical "hard-boiled" mysteries that were also largely represented in the American pulps of that day. Each story features a series sleuth, apparently in all or most cases an amateur detective rather than a professional. Penzler provides a helpful short bio-critical introduction to each selection. Published in 2021, this collection was a thrift store purchase for me (and one I was glad to stumble on).

All of the authors represented were well known and popular in their field during the period when these stories were penned. Most still have reputations as genre writers today; there were only four names on the list that were new to me. But I hadn't previously read any of these stories, and had read work by only four or five (depending on how you count; ''Ellery Queen" was actually the pen name of the team of Frederic Dannay and Manfred B. Lee) of the writers. In this first stint of reading, I finished four stories, all of which I liked.

Though I'd previously read all of Anthony Boucher's speculative short fiction (Boucher and Erle Stanley Gardner are probably the two biggest names here), "The Stripper" was my first exposure to his mystery writing. (The title character's occupation isn't what you're probably thinking it is.) I generally don't like the idea of serial killer fiction and try to avoid it; this story, featuring Sister Ursula, a smart and observant nun who originally wanted to be a policewoman and who frequently works with LA police detective Lieutenant Marshall to solve homicides, was an exception to that rule. (Reflecting Boucher's Catholic background, a crucial clue in this selection depends on a detail of terminology relating to the Catholic liturgical year.)

Two of the other series detectives whose adventures I sampled so far are also female. Okay, technically Peter and Iris Duluth, whose 1946 case of "Puzzle for Poppy" I read out of order because it's relatively short, are a husband-and-wife team, but movie star Iris is the brains of the pair; her naval officer husband (here not yet demobilized from World War II, but home on shore leave) serves as narrator and foil much the way Dr. Watson did for Holmes. (This pair were created by Hugh Callingham Wheeler and Richard Wilson Webb, the collaborators behind the pen name Patrick Quentin; both were British born, but had emigrated to the U.S. before these characters were created.) Mystery writer Susan Dare, whom we might think of as a young and attractive version of Jessica Fletcher, was one of two popular series characters created by prolific genre writer Mignon [the g is silent, and the on pronounced as "yon"] G. Eberhard. She's represented here by "Postiche" (1935), a Gothic-flavored tale of possible murder set in a forbidding old mansion near Washington DC. Susan functions here in damsel-in-distress mode at one point; but she's also clever enough to cause considerable distress for evil-doers.

Both Miss Dare and the Duluths were totally new to me (as was Patrick Quentin, though I'd heard of Eberhart). Similarly, the name of protagonist Mike Russell in Charlotte Armstrong's 1951 tale "The Enemy" was also one I hadn't previously heard (though I was aware of Armstrong). It's not clear if Russell is a professional detective or not (Armstrong presumably established his background in earlier stories), but here he falls into investigating the case of the possible poisoning of a boy's dog more or less by proximity and accident. In this outing, he has the assistance of a capable and caring lady schoolteacher (making all four of these stories refreshing departures from the stereotypical character portrayals of females in fiction from that era, where they were often depicted as inept and brainless!).

These selections all proved to be well-constructed and involving mysteries, with solutions that I did not deduce until the reveal. I'm looking forward to reading more in the collection before the end of this year!

[Judy Lesley · Rating 4 out of 5]

I just can't resist an anthology assembled by someone as knowledgeable in the subject of golden age mysteries as Otto Penzler. With all the anthologies I've read he has still managed to put this one together featuring detectives I'm familiar with yet stories that were new to me. There are 14 stories presented here and they are all different in their primary subject matter (well, aside from murder, that is). I read a collection like this literally from cover to cover because there is so much information included that is interesting to me. From the beginning Penzler had me reading the introduction to pick up revelations about these 14 authors and their careers. He went on to providing publication and print/film facts with each of the stories. I liked 13 of the stories very much (only 1 was a fizzle for me) and was surprised to find later that my favorite three were the final three in the collection. Goodbye, Goodbye! by Craig Rice (detective John J. Malone), Locked Doors by Mary Roberts Rinehart (detective Hilda Adams), and The Mystery of Room 913 by Cornell Woolrich (detective Striker) were my top three but they only shaded out others by a cat's whisker.

If you are new to the exploration of short mystery/crime stories written during this time, these selections are a great place to begin your journey. Readers who are already familiar with the authors or if you see a name you would like to explore, give this anthology a read. Many thanks to NetGalley and Penzler Publishers for an e-galley of this anthology.

[Graham Powell · Rating 3 out of 5]

A number of great stories in here, but also a few that are of historical value only. The Woolrich is a great one, as is the one by "Patrick Quentin".

[Tara · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Enemy by Charlotte Armstrong, Detective Mike Russell: 3 stars.
A neighborhood gang of young boys, aided by their teacher and a well-meaning stranger, set out to prove who murdered the dog of one of the boys. I'm generally not a fan of stories centered around kids, although this story had an interesting twist at the end.

The Stripper by Anthony Boucher, Detective Sister Ursula: 3 stars
A contemporary take on Jack the Ripper, this was a story I had previously read as part of the Big Book of Jack the Ripper, also edited by Otto Penzler. It is an interesting twist as Boucher managed to turn it into a locked room mystery, narrowing down the suspect list to only three. There really aren't any clues that allow the reader to guess the identity of the killer themselves, but I could see enjoying this story more as a fleshed out full length novel.

Postiche by Mignon G. Eberhart, Detective Susan Dare: 4 stars
Was there a murder or just an unfortunate, natural death? Miss Dare is on the case, and a mystery writer makes for an excellent amateur detective. The story is good enough to inspire me to read more from this author.

The Case of the Crimson Kiss by Erle Stanley Gardner, Detective Perry Mason: 4 stars
It is impossible to read a Perry Mason story without picturing Raymond Burr, who inhabited the role on the TV series for many years. The mystery seemed a bit obvious, but I also think I either read it before or watched an episode based upon it. You can see why Gardner was the most popular mystery writer for many decades.

The Enchanted Garden by H.F. Heard, Detective Mr. Mycroft: 2 stars
This story just couldn't keep my attention. Clearly Mr. Silchester was meant to be modeled after the Holmes/Watson, Poirot/Hastings variety, but he was simply unlikable and obnoxious. I would have preferred experiencing the Mycroft Detective character from his own perspective.

5-4=Murderer by Baynard Kendrick, Detective Captain Duncan Maclain: 4 stars
Captain Duncan Maclain is rather impressive for his feats as a blind man, and I would have trouble believing their verisimilitude if not for the fact that Kendrick worked with the blind his entire adult life. The story only would have been improved by the presence of one or both of his seeing eye dogs.

There's Death for Remembrance by Frances & Richard Lockridge, Detectives Mr. & Mrs. North: 2 stars
An okay mystery with nearly no character development of the detective duo. The motive and killer also seemed pretty obvious.

The Monkey Murder by Stuart Palmer, Detective Hildegarde Withers: 4 stars
The only thing missing from this story is a more detailed description of Hildegarde's outrageous hats.

The Adventure of the African Traveler by Ellery Queen, Detective: Ellery Queen: 3 stars
One of the better EQ mysteries I've read. He makes for quite the good instructor, and that's a class I would have loved to take in college.

Puzzle for Poppy by Patrick Quentin, Detectives Peter & Iris Duluth: 4 stars
An obvious mystery, but I rather enjoyed the detective couple and the puppy Poppy. This is my first encounter with a famous actress cum detective, but she proves a likeable character.

From Another World by Clayton Rawson, Detective The Great Merlini: 3 stars
Locked room mystery with the slight of hand skills of a magician. A solid, if not page turning mystery.

Good-bye, Good-bye! by Craig Rice, Detective John J. Malone: 3 stars
The story resembles a down on his luck private eye, scrapping by from case to case, but in this instance it's a sleazy lawyer. But at his core he's still a good person, and that makes him someone you want to root for.

Locked Doors by Mary Roberts Rinehart, Detective: Hilda Adams: 4 stars
My favorite story with Hilda Adams that I've read to date. The story was effective in generating suspense and creepiness, and would be great on film.

The Mystery in Room 913 by Cornell Woolrich, Detective Striker: 4 stars
A spooky, atmospheric mystery that was so good, I had to stay up late into the night to polish off in one sitting. The reader gets the feeling that supernatural forces are at play, driving several men to commit suicide, but is there something even more sinister behind it all? This must have been an inspiration for Stephen King's Room 1408, unless haunted hotel rooms was a more common trope than I am aware. The story takes on an additional interesting dimension when you know that Woolrich spent most of his time locked up in his hotel room; it makes you wonder if his own accommodations spooked him?

Overall rating: 3.5 stars, rounded up to 4
An excellent selection of Golden Age mysteries, and an introduction to many new authors I would love to read more of in the future. Would highly recommend.

[Roy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a fun read. 14 short stories or novelettes, one each featuring a famous detective in a story from their height of popularity in the 1930s and 1940s.

I'd heard of about 5 of these detectives and 8 of the authors, but I'd only read stories about two of them (Ellery Queen and Perry Mason). I really enjoyed all of them for the mystery plot -- usually a who-done-it, with a bit of how-did-they-pull-this-off. I liked four of them enough to hope I'll find others in the series (Striker, Peter and Iris Duluth, Mr. Mycroft, and The Great Merlini). OF the two where I knew and love the works, the Perry Mason was a genuine classic from the best period of those works, but the Ellery Queen was a disappointment. I'm a big fan of EQ, at least as written by the cousins, but this story was one of the weaker of Ellery's short stories. If this is your first introduction to EQ, try the other short stories in The Adventures of Ellery Queen or the novel The Dutch Shoe Mystery before judging the quality of the most influential American detective of the 20th Century,

All these stories do give you a strong feel for American or British culture in the time they were written, and they are all very fair mysteries for those of us who like the puzzle aspect of a good detective yarn. Penzler did a nice job bringing these out for a new audience.

Penzler, of course, is the expert on mystery fiction, as the proprietor of the famous Mysterious Bookshop in Manhattan. And he's found some great old EQs for me in that shop, so I'll forgive his one misstep here.

I also want to note that I picked up this book from a Little Free Library in Medora, North Dakota. I was wondering how to find something to read in a town of only 112 (in the offseason) with most stores closed, and then I stumbled onto this gem, clearly unread and untouched right in front of the Cowboy Hall of Fame! Thank goodness for Little Free Libraries.

[Randy Money · Rating 3 out of 5]

14 stories from the mid-1920s through the mid-1950s. During that era mystery writers focused mainly on plot, so these read quickly and efficiently as carriers of plot, and whether you like them or not probably depends on how you react to the writer's style and how tolerant you are toward the implausible. Of the 14 I didn't care for "The Enemy" by Charlotte Armstrong -- a bit too stylized, much too earnest, but given the premise she sticks the landing pretty well. Also, "Locked Doors" by Mary Roberts Rinehart which felt creaky in the telling, though the strong-willed heroine felt a bit more modern than most women in the fiction of the time. I enjoyed the shenanigans of Craig Rice's "Goodbye, Goodbye" with its quick-talking lawyer, the convoluted story in Erle Stanley Gardner's "The Enchanted Gardner," the sprightliness of "Puzzle for Poppy" by Peter Quentin, and the harsher, grungier world implied by Cornell Woolrich in "The Mystery in Room 913". The other stories were agreeable time passers.

[EuroHackie · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. A nice, consistently good collection of short stories from mid-20th century American writers. My personal favorite story was "5-4=Murderer" by Baynard Kendrick. His series detective, Captain John Maclain, is a blind WWI veteran, who uses his enhanced senses as part of his detective abilities.

The downsides were definitely the chosen Ellery Queen short (showcasing Ellery's horrid misogynism, ugh) and H.F. Heard's "The Enchanted Garden," which was heavy on the philosophizing and light on actual interesting events. It's the only one I DNFed.

Otto Penzler's anthologies tend to be more miss than hit for me, so it was a very pleasant surprise that this one had such a strong selection of consistently quality stories.

[Eric · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a most enjoyable selection of 14 short stories by some of the biggest names in American GAD fiction. It serves as a great way into the American Mystery Classics series, as each author here already has, or soon will have at least one full length novel published in that series. It comes with an entertaining general Introduction by expert Otto Penzler, as well as notes preceding each entry. One advantage of this anthology is that it is arranged alphabetically by author surname, rather than chronologically. This worked well for me.

Inevitably not every story will suit the taste of every reader, but overall this is a strong set of tales. I have read novels by 12 of the 14 writers and admit that I am not a fan of Mignon Eberhart or of Mary Roberts Rinehart, but even their contributions were tolerably good.

Of the rest I thought "The Enemy" by Charlotte Armstrong both gripping and chilling, and the others which stood out were by Craig Rice, Clayton Rawson, Patrick Quentin and Erle Stanley Gardner.

Highly recommendable.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for the digital review copy.

[Tyler Burnette · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was great I loved all the different stories and mysteries that were in this book.

[Kate · Rating 4 out of 5]

For my full review click on the link below:
https://crossexaminingcrime.wordpress...

[Annie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Originally posted on my blog: Nonstop Reader.

Golden Age Detective Stories is an anthology of American crime fiction from the first half of the 20th century (1925 - 1955) collected and curated by crime fiction historian Otto Penzler. Released 13th July by Penzler on the American Mystery Classics imprint, it's 312 pages and is available in hardcover, paperback, and ebook formats.

This is a selection of 14 short works from very well known golden age authors from Charlotte Armstrong to Anthony Boucher, Cornell Woolrich, Ellery Queen, and Mary Roberts Rinehart, et.al. All the authors are very well known and will be familiar to most readers. Of the stories selected, only half were previously familiar to me (and provided a welcome re-read, I had forgotten most of the denouements).

The detectives are selected from the authors' best known, and all of the stories are of a very high quality. Especially considering the addition of the information rich story notes, it's a very satisfying read overall.

In the introduction and story notes, we are gifted a multitude of plum trivia and factoids which are delightfully obscure and lift the whole to another level of wonderfully nerdy and edifying. Background such as Mr. Penzler provides really enhances the overall enjoyment of the stories themselves and I always (always!) look forward to reading his insightful commentary. This volume also provides guided reading notes for classroom or bookclub discussion which will come in handy for more formal discussion (or solo rumination).

Along with the classic and engaging stories, the background info and notes, and the discussion content, this is one of a series with coordinated cover art and layouts which provide a worthy service by protecting these early stories and presenting them to newer generations of readers.

Five stars. The stories themselves are solidly 3.5 - 5 stars, weighted toward the higher end of the scale. Despite being pretty firmly an e-reader prejudiced reader at this point (sorry, not sorry), I have acquired these in physical copies as well, and I love the way they look on my bookshelves. This would make a good selection for library acquisition, book club & classroom use, or plain reading enjoyment.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

[Brenda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Edgar Allan Poe is credited with writing the first detective short story with his wonderful Murders in the Rue Morgue and other authors followed shortly after. Many of my personal favourites are British authors but this kaleidoscope of American-authored stories is stellar! It can be challenging to get one's hands on these treasures, even from libraries and used book sales, so I am thrilled to see stories here I was aware of and longed to read and others I did not know existed. Dare I say this was more fun than a kid in a candy store?!

Writing everything a good short story mystery requires must not be easy with parameters. But I am so grateful to the Golden Age authors who did...and did brilliantly. Though there are talented contemporary authors there is something original and special about the Golden Age, a different time, different mores and values. Some of these authors were prolific, others not. I love the descriptions and information about each at the beginning of the chapters.

From quirky Charlotte Armstrong's The Enemy with the ending I didn't see coming to Mignon Eberhart's clever Postiche to The Enchanted Garden by H. F. Heard (my first time reading him!) where the farfetched happens but completely unexpected to the attention-grabbing There's Death for Remembrance by Frances & Richard Lockridge (that first line!!), this is a splendid variety! I had read very little by Patrick Quentin and loved Puzzle for Poppy...his wit made me chuckle. Mary Roberts Rinehart's Locked Doors is one of my favourites in this collection. Brilliant, as always. This story is my wheelhouse. Thankfully, nothing is as it seems in these stories.

Choosing this selection must have been difficult. How does one even begin? Anyone even remotely interested in this era ought to read this special book.

My sincere thank you to Penzler Publishers and NetGalley for the privilege of reading this fabulous book! I thoroughly enjoyed it and am thrilled this compendium was knit together so seamlessly. Much appreciated.

[Michael Reilly · Rating 3 out of 5]

Otto Penzler has been doing a great public service by releasing, in handsome paperback format, great neglected detective stories from the 30s and 40s in his American Mystery Classics series. He has rescued writers like Craig Rice, Anthony Boucher, Clayton Rawson, and Stuart Palmer from obscurity.

He has released 37 novels so far, by my count, and at least 30 of them are very good or better. He has ignored, by and large, the hard-boiled school pioneered by Chandler and Hammett. Those have been frequently reprinted by others.

Penzler has focused on the classic American detective story. Ellery Queen is the best American example. We tend to get a detective with some quirk or twist, a baffling crime and a solution which follows fairly from the clues. The trick is as much, or more, in the story telling, style and wit, as in the mystery.

This book is a collection of short stories by authors who have previously had novels released in the series. More than half of them originally appeared in "The Ellery Queen Magazine" in the 1940s. They are all well constructed professional stories. Some of the plots are very clever. A few are pretty obvious.

This is a good solid collection, but I would recommend sampling the novels. Here is five of them which I particularly enjoyed;

"Home Sweet Homicide" by Craig Rice

"The Bride Wore Black" by Cornell Woolrich

"The Case of the Baker Street Irregulars" by Anthony Boucher

"The Red Right Hand" by Joel Towsley Rogers

"Ride the Pink Horse" by Dorothy B. Hughes

(My quibble- I do not understand Penzler's fondness for the book of Mary Roberts Rinehart. He has included four of them in his series. He admits that she is the queen of the "had-I-but-known" school of thrillers where young innocent girls keep getting themselves in perils that they need to be rescued from. Her books were best sellers from 1908 into the 1950s. I find them unreadable)

[Darius Ostrowski · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Golden Age Detective Stories”, a collection compiled by Otto Penzler, is a sampling of short mystery stories from the 1920s – 1940s(?), all of which feature private detectives. The common element here is that these are not your typical private eyes: we see hotel detectives, nurses, Broadway producers, blind veterans, attorneys, and even a magician to name a few, helping the police solve the crimes.

Like most of these collections, the stories can be a mixed bag, and some of the writing has not aged particularly well. But this is one book where patience is rewarded, as the stories seem to get better as one reads further. There are some great gems here, mostly by the names that most mystery fans will be familiar with.

My favorites? Erle Stanley Gardner shows why he’s the most popular American author of all time, as his Perry Mason solves a murder whilst in the middle of his client’s trial. Baynard Kendrick’s blind detective Captain Duncan Maclain solves a murder that he heard in a diner. Stuart Palmer has the police turn to Hildegarde Withers to catch a husband who murdered his wife. Ellery Queen brings along three college students to teach them how to solve mysteries. Clayton Rawson’s Great Merlini is called upon to solve a locked room riddle. Craig Rice has John Malone sober up enough to figure out whether someone is trying to kill Doris Dawn or is she just a suicidal girl looking for attention? Mary Roberts Rinehart has nurse Hilda Adams locked in a house watching the children while the parents are terrified of something they won’t discuss. And Cornell Woolrich has the hotel detective Striker investigating suicides that all take place in room 913…. But are they really suicides?

I requested and received a free advanced electronic copy from Penzler Publishers / American Mystery Classics via NetGalley. Thank you!

[Michael DuCharme · Rating 2 out of 5]

Maybe it’s that tastes change

The Golden Age Detective Stories presents adventures about well-known characters penned by famous crime authors. The stories were written from 1925 to 1955, ranging up to almost 100 years ago. Over such a lengthy period, literature style, like other forms of entertainment, evolves to meet an audience’s changing tastes. I kept this style evolution in mind while reading these stories, trying to place myself back decades ago to better appreciate how these mysteries were written. I did that because I found some of the stories unbelievable bordering on ludicrous. The Mystery in Room 913 is a good example with its bizarre series of deaths or the planting of a big red kiss on the victim’s forehead in Earl Stanley Gardner’s Perry Mason story. What killer does that? I surmised that smooch was something that a 1940s or ‘50s reader would like, a dramatic, theatrical send off to the victim.

It was the oldest story, however - Mary Roberts Rinehart’s Hilda Adams tale -that I liked best. Hilda Adams, nurse detective, increases the suspense to an almost unbearable level with her telling of the fear gripping a young family that is waiting for who knows what to happen.

[Katie · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a fan of Agatha Christie, it is somewhat surprising that I haven't read many of the authors in this book. The short stories selected were very engaging and kept me guessing until the end. I must admit that there was more than one story that I thought I had figured out only to find that I was completely wrong! These are truly the best detective authors that have ever been, and it is wonderful to have a sampling of so many in this book. I have found many authors that I will now read more of. There were a couple of stories that I didn't like, but that was just my personal taste. I thought that Mr. Penzler did a wonderful job of collecting mysteries that were engaging, quick, yet clever, and I also appreciated the bit of information about the author's before the selection. This book is a must for anyone who appreciates the old time detective stories!

Thanks to the editor, publisher and NetGalley for providing a review copy in exchange for honest feedback.

[Verity Halliday · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a fun collection of American Golden Age detective stories from the likes of Ellery Queen and Craig Rice. I’m a big fan of UK Golden Age detective fiction, but don’t have as much experience of our American cousins’ work, and I’m glad I gave this book a try.

My favourite story was 5-4=Murderer, where a blind man solves a murder which takes place in a diner in the middle of a storm. Ingenious detection, unexpected killer and a protagonist to really root for.

Recommended for all lovers of mystery fiction.

Thanks to the editor, publisher and NetGalley for providing a review copy in exchange for honest feedback.

[An · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 stars

A very solid collection of mysteries written during the so-called Golden Age of American detective stories—the early to mid-1900s. Before every story, the editor Otto Penzler provides a brief description of the author, which adds some interesting context as to how popular these writers used to be back in their time.

All the stories were entertaining and twisty, and kept me turning the pages to find out the culprit. I personally loved the Perry Mason story the most, and it made me eager to read more from that series.

[Leyla Johnson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love these compilations of golden age detective stories, many of the authors of this era are, these days hard to discover. This book and many like it introduces us to the writer of this era with wonderful short stories to enjoy and maybe find another new favorite.
Otto Penzler has put together an anthology of some great stories- many I have not read before and all I enjoyed very much. His short bio are really interesting and make the writer and story come to life. These books are all by authors of the" American Golden Age" era, there is even an early Perry Mason. absolutely a great read.

[Deirdre · Rating 3 out of 5]

Oh, this was entertaining enough. I must have read another collection of Golden Age American detective stories at some point, because some of the stories were vaguely familiar. Others were new.

Something striking me as I read these anthologies of stories is just how much literature there is in the world, or used to be in the world - all these people who wrote hundreds of books that I have never heard of and will likely never read! So much evanescence and obscurity to those who were the best-selling authors of their days.

Sounds like Ecclesiastes ;)

[Heather Daughrity · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent assortment of old-school detective stories. I really appreciated that the collection features a fair number of women writers as well. Good, classic mysteries full of hard-boiled detectives and smart and savvy secretaries, as well as a few pleasantly surprising characters (don't mess with nuns).

[Sandy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quite a good collection with no real losers and selections that showed why the 'golden age' was golden even on this side of the Atlantic. Reading a Perry Mason reminded me of how much my father liked them and I enjoyed a few in my youth. Discovered a couple of authors to explore, including Ellery Queen.

[Lulu · Rating 4 out of 5]

Always entertaining to read old mysteries tho I usually avoid short stories as they are generally too short. But in this case most of the stories wrapped up to my satisfaction.
Tho I love to read mysteries with female/male partnerships, I do abhor the depiction of scatterbrain or excessive eccentricities.
And of course, he saved the best for the last.

[Diane · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 Excellent collection of short story mysteries. I usually skip or skim some in a collection of this size but not this time. Each classic story was more fascinating than the last and despite being written nearly a hundred years ago, the mysteries of locked rooms and who-done it’s were classic excellence.

[Melissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a well rounded collection of stories from the golden age of detective fiction, mainly from the 1930s through the 1950s. Like any short story collection, some tales are stronger and more interesting than others. Also, some of the mysteries are more intriguing and page-turning than others. But, overall, not a bad collection.