The Mammoth Book of Best British Mysteries 10

by Maxim Jakubowski (editor)

42 fantastic stories from Britain's best mystery writers.

shares ISBN with another edition.

Genres: Anthologies, Mystery

588 pages, Paperback

First published May 7, 2013

About the author

Maxim Jakubowski is a crime, erotic, and science fiction writer and critic.

Jakubowski was born in England by Russian-British and Polish parents, but raised in France. Jakubowski has also lived in Italy and has travelled extensively. Jakubowski edited the science fiction anthology Twenty Houses of the Zodiac in 1979 for the 37th World Science Fiction Convention (Seacon '79) in Brighton. He also contributed a short story to that anthology. He has now published almost 100 books in a variety of areas.

He has worked in book publishing for many years, which he left to open the Murder One bookshop[1], the UK's first specialist crime and mystery bookstore. He contributes to a variety of newspapers and magazines, and was for eight years the crime columnist for Time Out and, presently, since 2000, the crime reviewer for The Guardian. He is also the literary director of London's Crime Scene Festival and a consultant for the International Mystery Film Festival, Noir in Fest, held annually in Courmayeur, Italy. He is one the leading editors in the crime and mystery and erotica field, in which he has published many major anthologies.

His novels include "It's You That I Want To Kiss", "Because She Thought She Loved Me", "The State Of Montana", "On Tenderness Express", "Kiss me Sadly" and "Confessions of a Romantic Pornographer". His short story collections are "Life in the World of Women", "Fools for Lust" and the collaborative "American Casanova". He is a regular broadcaster on British TV and radio and was recently voted the 4th Sexiest Writer of 2,007 on a poll on the crimespace website.

Reviews

[Larry · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one of those popular omnibuses (omnibi?) that should always be at arms each on the bedside table. While not a mystery reader most of the time I picked this up at the local library book sale to help fill the bag! This is a fun gathering of mostly good with some very good quick reads, for palate cleansing or in between the bigger projects. With just a few of the authors sounding familiar I just randomly choose whatever page opened and most of the time I was pleasantly surprised by the ability to encapsulate a mystery in such a few short pages. I will be keeping my eye open for another such offering as this was a fun experience! Three and half enthusiastic stars rounded to four!

[Peter Mac · Rating 5 out of 5]

Short stories make for great time killers. I kept this one in the car and pulled it out whenever I was stuck waiting.  It’s also a great way to see if you like a writer without committing to a novel.  This one had some big names I’ve never tried before, Lee Childs, Neil Gaiman and Ann Cleeves.  My favourites were “Big Guy”, “The Curious Affair of the Deodand”, Who Killed Skippy”, “Turning the Tables” and “A Case of Death and Honey”.  Overall a great book.

[Dawn · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good collection of short mysteries. Of course some are better than others. I couldn't get much out of "Ten Bells At Robbie's" as it was written in a weird phonetics.

[Kate · Rating 3 out of 5]

wasn't as good as #9 the last three or four stories were excellent the rest were kind of blah. Brits trying to write as Yanks and it just doesn't work.