Saturday, May 23, 2015

Capital Crimes: London Mysteries A British Library Crime Classic by Martin Edwards

This is a lovely anthology of England's crime authors stories.  I love short stories and couldn't wait to dip into this one.  

Poisoned Pen Press and Net Galley allowed me to read this book for review (thank you).  It will be published June 2nd, so you can grab a copy then.

This is a variety of tales.  I had read some of these in the past because I subscribe to the Ellery Queen mystery magazine and they highlight "classic" tales.  I had also read some of them because they were in collections I'd read in the past.  Some of these relative unknown authors were actually friends of mine.  Or, I should say, their stories were.  It was a pleasure to read either a new story or a reread of an old story I'd read before.

I found several stories I'd never had the pleasure of reading before.  Some are the staid almost formal British voice of their authors.  The ones that gave me pleasure where the ones where the characters were unusual, outspoken or misbehaved.  I find them entertaining reads.

There were no bad stories in this collection.  The editor did a good job of picking substantial stories for this collection.  You also get a mini biography about the writer.  Some women wrote with a male name.  Some men used pen names.  It's amazing how far we've come and how much farther we have to go in the world of authors.

I found this collection to be a real treat.  If you like mystery stories, you'll like this collection.  If you're not sure, the stories are short and you'll get a good taste of what a good mystery is like.  Try it, I bet you'll like it.

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