Having loved, “The Golden Age of Murder,” by Martin Edwards, I was keen to read his latest discussion of Golden Age crime – “The Story of Classic Crime in 100 Books.” Edwards looks at the period 1901 – 1950 and he does not only list one hundred books, but throws in lots of other titles and themes, which he explores as he explains the development of the genre. I have always enjoyed Golden Age crime novels and so I was fascinated to read this and it has added an awful lot of titles and authors to those I would like to read!

The book begins with “The Hound of the Baskervilles,” before moving on to the birth of the Golden Age, the importance of the First World War, and the formation of the Detection Club. One of the reasons why British Golden Age crime fiction developed in such a different way from that in the United States (where ‘hard boiled’ crime thrillers became popular) was the public appetite for puzzles, entertainment and escapism. There was little desire for violent realism after the war – a body laid decorously on a hearth rug, with clues to solve, was much more to the public taste at the time. Indeed, there was an emphasis on fair play and on mysteries readers could work out for themselves. This even included novellas where the pages were deliberately printed in the wrong order as a challenge, which proved so difficult it was discontinued.

This book covers the ‘Great Detectives,’ that emerged post WWI. Poirot, Wimsey and their authors – Agatha Christie, Dorothy L. Sayers; plus Margery Allingham, Gladys Mitchell and many others. There are locked door mysteries, novels set in villages, country houses, London and on the Continent. Others set around workplaces, holidays, or in schools and universities. Police detectives and amateur sleuths, courtroom drama, the author equivalent of the ‘One Hit Wonder,’ and much more.

If you enjoy Golden Age crime then this will give you lots to enjoy and to explore. I love reading about books, and authors, and this has just given me lots of ‘new’ authors that I want to try. With more and more classic crime novels being re-printed, many of these books – which were previously so hard to find – have now re-appeared on kindle at reasonable prices. It is a great time to be a fan of the genre and, if you are just beginning to read these kind of crime novels, this will help guide you to find the types of books, and authors, you might like. I received a copy of this book from the publisher, via NetGalley, for review.

If, like me, you are an avid reader of classic crime novels from The Golden Age (1901-1950), then this is an absolute must for any bookshelf. Be warned though, once you read about many of the 100 titles featured, you will be ordering more books and spending a lot of money.
Perhaps this book is not one to read cover to cover but to dip into when you are looking for something new to read. I did not read the 24 chapters chronologically, but rather dipped into the ones that took my dance at the time.. For example, after reading the introduction and chapter one, "A New Era Dawns" I then skipped to chapter five, "Miraculous Murders" as I am a huge John Dickson Carr fan, but then read about "Murder Of A Lady" by Anthony Wynne which I then had to track down.
I really like the chapters on "Sepents in Eden" and "Making Fun of Murder."
All in all, after reading all 24 chapters I found I had then added 23 books to my "to be read" pile and am greatly looking forward to getting stuck into them.
This is really a delight of a book, and even though I was sent an ARC have now physically bought the hardback as I have to have it on my shelves!

I received an e-ARC of this book through NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press. Thank you.

The crime stories written during the Golden Age of crime have proven their ability to remain entertaining and even addictive among modern readers of crime fiction. These books are different in many ways from the modern novels but if you look closely you will recognize an aspect in the modern book which mirrors a theme or technique which was once considered brand new. Martin Edwards has once again given me a method for studying the classic crime novel and the authors who paved the way for all the changes which have taken place within the genre. This book confines itself to the first half of the last century, between 1901 and 1950, and is a companion to the series of the British Library's series of crime classics. If you've enjoyed reading any of those reprints, this work will go far toward filling out your knowledge of the authors, titles, and themes which moved the classic crime fiction stories forward as they continued to change and evolve.

There is simply too much information in this book to give anything like a list of authors or even a list of book titles. I can tell you that there are twenty-four chapters, each dealing with a different aspect of the novels from miraculous murders (also called impossible murders) to the lure of the countryside, the English manor house, the amateur detective, the educated sleuth, the backlash against politicians and on and on. In each chapter Edwards explains the theme, gives a brief synopsis of the examples of the novels he has chosen to illustrate the theme and a brief biography of the author. Each chapter discusses four or five novels. The book as a whole moves in a more or less chronological order, at least in the easiest way for the format to do that.

The book also contains an Introduction, Select Bibliography, Index of Titles, and an Index of Authors which all provide a tremendous amount of detail on the subject. This is a book to savor, a book to keep as a reference guide, a book to help you find authors you aren't familiar with but want to try to track down. Even the most well known authors may have a novel mentioned in this collection which you have missed. I was equally surprised at how many of the authors and stories I was familiar with as well as how many authors I knew nothing about. Even though I initially read this book in digital format I already know I will have to get the print edition so it can go on my shelf of Classic Age crime fiction reference books. How could I resist?

Of course most crime novels are ephemeral, even among the best of them, belonging, as they do, to a particular moment; where the chief engine is the plot, good writing is not always easy to find. It might be remembered that the Stockholm series by Sjöwall and Wahlöö were out of print for years, eventually resuscitated by expanding acceptance of translated books. The British Library’s brave initiative to bring back lost authors has, therefore, unusual merit. They have had the great good sense to issue print books of good quality and to create recognizable cover pictures, which attract the eye of browsers looking for a good read. They are relatively inexpensive. The BL have advantages: the most outstanding collection of British (and some American) crime fiction imaginable. Changes to copyright in the last few years means that the five great deposit libraries in Britain are now receiving electronic copies rather than the print books they used to get for free—so much more convenient, it’s said, for storage. But it’s not clear what will in fact be reliable in, say, ten years’ time, when changes in platforms will risk making those e-copies legible. As it is, readers have to sit at designated terminals in the various libraries to read the e-books. Foreign fiction is another story, since the deposit libraries, like everyone else, have to stump up and buy them. Soon, then, it won’t be so easy to pick and choose among long lost fictions of any kind. Much depends upon memory and experience.
Enter Martin Edwards, who has been a consultant for the BL crime series since 2014. Given the breadth and depth of his knowledge, having him there to write prefaces in several of the BL’s series is an extra bonus. He has recently published a survey of crime fiction. His title alludes to Neil MacGregor’s History of the World in 100 Objects. So not quite a ‘history’, but a large number of potted plots which nevertheless manage not to give much away. There is no guiding argument about why which books made the cut, no criteria for inclusion. Nor are there reflections on the changing face of crime fiction, not even a glance at gender, race, nationalism, codes for the gay, or the insidious face of anti-semitism, taken for granted throughout the first half of the 20th century. Subgenres are not labelled or discussed. Women are mostly victims, except when they’re murderers. The creation of a place—which Edwards is good at in his own fictional Liverpool—is mostly generic countryside, country houses, and a plethora of locked rooms. The volume contains two useful indices, which will be helpful for navigation. It also contains a bibliography which will make Edwards popular among those who might want to read more on the subject. Me, for example.

The subjects of this British Library Crime Classic book are the 100 novels Martin Edwards considers benchmarks in crime writing from the late 19th century to 1950. He divides his choices into categories:

Chapter One A New Era Dawns
Chapter Two The Birth of the Golden Age
Chapter Three The Great Detectives
Chapter Four ‘Play Up! Play Up and Play the Game!’ (not about sports, but about playing by the rules of detective fiction)
Chapter Five Miraculous Murders (locked room mysteries and impossible crimes)
Chapter Six Serpents in Eden (the idyllic village)
Chapter Seven Murder at the Manor
Chapter Eight Capitol Crimes (London)
Chapter Nine Resorting to Murder (holiday crimes)
Chapter Ten Making Fun of Murder
And thirteen more chapters with equally delightful topics.

At the beginning of each chapter Martin examines the subject and shows how it has been handled by various authors, both famous and little known. Here he is like the owner of the best candy shop in town, displaying his titles like so many treats. Before he discusses in depth six or seven novels, he mentions at least fifteen or twenty novels that are significant but did not make the cut. I kept making lists to check authors on Project Gutenberg, hoping that these often rare titles would be available in the public domain. And some were!

This is a must have reference book for mystery lovers, if for nothing more than the 20+ page bibliography with the list of every book mentioned. I had so much fun reading this and I am pleased that a hardback, as well as the paperback, will be issued since the book is definitely a keeper.

The perfect history of crime books, from the beginning till now, because it gave me a lot of suggestions for new books to read and old authors to explore further!

Il perfetto libro sulla storia del giallo dall'esordio fino ai giorni d'oggi, che ti offre numerosi nuovi spunti e suggerimenti per approfondire autori "vecchi".

THANKS TO NETGALLEY FOR THE PREVIEW!

This book is huge. There is so much information and so many authors that I just haven't yet read.
I found the book very interesting, but initially confusing until I got used to the way the information flowed, having said that, I really enjoyed the book. It isn't a book to read in one sitting, but something to dip, search and find a new favourite author.
The biographies were very interesting, so many author who did it hard and/or died young. Their skill were not recognized, yet they wrote with such skill and imagination. We must make up for that now by reading, enjoy, and celebrating these very talented writers.

Probably 3.5 stars
Martin Edwards’ Introduction sets out the limitations of this book. It is a “story” and not a “history”. It “serves as a companion to the British Library’s Crime Classics series, covering only the first half of the twentieth century.It does not try to define the best books nor is it a selection of his own favourites, being highly selective and not an encyclopaedia. It is “unashamedly idiosyncratic” and simply a launch point for the readers’ voyage of discovery through the waters of classic crime fiction.

The book has 24 themed chapters for example “Making Fun of Murder” and “Scientific Enquiries”and runs from “The Hound of the Baskervilles”(1902) to “The 31st of February” and “Strangers on a Train”(1950), although references are made to earlier and later publications.There are also a Select Bibliography and Index of Authors, the latter without page references.

Each chapter follows a pattern. First, there is a general survey of the chapter theme, then a summary of the plots (without spoilers) of at least three and up to eleven of the relevant books, each summary ending with a brief biography of the author.

Chapter Six ,“Serpents in Eden”, for example, surveys books set in rural Britain from Wilkie Collins’ “The Moonstone” (1868) to Ann Cleeves’ Shetland series taking in authors well- and lesser-known such as Agatha Christie and John Ferguson (1871/3-1952).Summarised are “The Secret of High Eldersham” (my least favourite Miles Burton),”Death under Sail” ‘(an early C P Snow), John Bude’s “The Sussex Downs Murder”,(a good methodical detective yarn) and “Sinister Crag” by Newton Gayle (the pen name of Muna Lee and Maurice Guiness ), which I had not encountered before. So a nice mixture of familiar and unfamiliar, the often- read and the to-be-explored.

There will be something here for all but the most expert of classic crime buffs. Endless debate will had on which books and authors should/should not have been be included.My own particular favourites, E R Punshon and George Bellairs, are mentioned, but only briefly.

I did not much enjoy this book, finding the format rather repetitive. It may be that it is better used as a dip-into rather than a read from cover-to-cover.It will certainly appeal to list-addicts and to fans of the British Library series who will find some of the chapter headings familiar.In a lot of ways it read to me rather like a cobbling together of the sort of information found in the introductions to books and stories from the B.L. Crime Classics.
Thank you to NetGalley and Poisoned Pen for the ARC

The book’s focus is to show the development of British Detective Fiction genre from 1901 – 1950. It does this excellently through 24 themes (chapters) and by using 100 crime fiction books that represent these themes (e.g. Crime Scenes – Country Houses). The books help to describe how the genre expanded to incorporate hitherto unused settings & investigation techniques as well as keeping up with political and administrative changes (e.g. Police Force & new laws) within the UK. Although the book focuses on UK authors, it does have two chapters that cover briefly the US and Continental European scene during that period. As Edwards states: his choice is subjective and that the books that he has chosen are not necessarily the best of the period or his favourites. In my opinion this book will be a great asset for all keen readers and collectors of classical crime fiction books published between 1901 – 1950 (note that 17 out of 100 books mentioned are very difficult/costly to obtain – this book however may lead to them to being re-issued). Edwards has really made the genre popular again and has contributed heavily towards researching authors and themes within the genre which greatly add to our understanding. He has also been very influential in getting many of the rarer unobtainable novels re-issued for our enjoyment. My only criticisms of the book would be that the chapter headings could reflect the themes being discussed in a more precise manner. Also, the two chapters on none UK Crime Fiction I don’t think belong in the book and I would have rather seen two other aspects such as: historical crime fiction and the double identity theme covered. Overall this is an excellent study of the genre and I would give the book 9 out of 10.