So far I've loved all the British Library Crime Classic short story collections, but unfortunately this was my first disappointment. I found it a drag to get through, and none of the stories really stood out to me. I might blame that on the first two stories, which in most collections are the best and set the tone for what follows, but in this one were just terrible. Even the Arthur Conan Doyle story felt like a throwaway, and I usually love his work.

I'd say it's still worth giving it a try and seeing if you enjoy the first few stories more than I did, but overall, if you have to choose between any of the other BLCC short story collections and this one, I would pass on this one.

The British Library Crime Classic The Edinburgh Mystery and Other Tales of Scottish Crime with an introduction by Martin Edwards is published in the US by Poisoned Pen Press. I enjoy these books: both the novels and the collections of short stories. Although the majority of the pieces were first published between 1920 and 1960, there are some outliers. In this collection of seventeen short stories, we have one from 1885 by Robert Louis Stevenson through to a 1974 one by Jennie Melville. There is also a very short Sherlock Holmes piece that was never issued in Conan Doyle’s five books of short stories. It’s available on the Internet, but I’m pleased to have an “official” copy in a book.

I don’t know whether to be disappointed or impressed with myself. For once, I was familiar with several of the stories, including the Holmes story mentioned above and GK Chesterton’s Father Brown story, The Honour of Israel Gow. That’s unusual for me: the British Library collections normally contain very few, if any, stories that I’ve read before. However, I was very happy to read and enjoy them again.

Some (Most? All?) of the stories evoke the times in which they were written. John Ferguson’s 1929 story, The White Line, is set on board a fast Atlantic liner where the passengers dress for dinner. (Oh, I did enjoy the line “[T]here was a hush on the ship that reminded McNab of a Sunday afternoon he once had to pass in Tunbridge Wells.” – that did make me snigger in sympathy!) The Body of Sir Henry, by Augustus Muir and first published in 1929 has a young unsupported brave rural policeman as its protagonist. Some of the stories have an interesting denouement, e.g. the 1933 story, The Man on Ben Ne Garve, by H.H. Bashford and Bill Knox’s 1965 story, The Alibi Man. I really didn’t expect those outcomes. But some others are, I’m afraid, rather predictable. Perhaps the author struggled with the confines of the word count or perhaps their heart wasn’t in it, but the answer to whodunnit in both Margot Bennett’s The Case of The Frugal Cake (1955) and J.J.Connington’s Before Insulin (1936) is “The obvious suspect, obviously!”. That said, Connington’s explanation of HOW theydunnit is superb, even if the WHO is predictable.

If you enjoy mysteries, with or without Scottish characters / settings / authors, I can whole-heartedly recommend this book. Although I cannot guarantee there will be unfamiliar stories for you, I am really really confident some will be new to you.

The Edinburgh Mystery contains Golden Age short stories with a Scottish connection in one way or the other. Some authors include wonders such as G. K. Chesterton, Anthony Wynne, Josephine Tey (Elizabeth MacKintosh is one of my favourite Golden Age authors ever), Margo Bennett, Cyril Hare, Michael Innes and Jennie Melville. Of course the theme is murder but we also read about theft, old bones, burglaries, coffins, jewels, envelopes and cake! Not to mention nefarious characters, of course.

The stories are varied from a very short few pages to some a bit longer . The mysteries aren't all necessarily puzzling or challenging but a joy to read nevertheless. I love that the stories offer a tiny taste of the writing style of the authors and give inspiration to explore them further. Some wrote one or two works and others were prolific but all interesting. To preface each story there is an author introduction and blurb which adds personality and context.

While not my favourite short story mystery collection ever, it was thoroughly engrossing and delightful. Every time a new collection by Martin Edwards comes out, it is an automatic read for me. They never, ever fail to engage and entertain.

My sincere thank you to Poisoned Pen Press and NetGalley for providing me with an early digital copy of this fascinating mystery collection.

It was really refreshing to pick up a collection of short stories which are all Scottish in some way or another. I enjoyed the variety although I must admit that I had to skip a couple. My particular favourites were A Medical Crime and The White Line. Overall, I thought the collection was well balanced and I enjoyed the variety.

I really couldn't help myself when it came to assigning a star rating for this collection of short stories. This one earned a full five stars in spite of containing a story that ended before it had really gotten going. Still five stars even when several of the stories contained such a tiny connection to Scotland that readers have to look outside the story to find an association. There is such a wonderful mix of authors who have long been favorites of mine, authors I know of but have never "collected" and authors new to me. Martin Edwards has done a great job of selecting such a balanced group of stories that covered a wide assortment of works that kept me interested in what I was reading and yet looking forward to the story coming up just to see how different it would be. In fact, I liked it so much I've already read it again.

Thank you to NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for an e-galley of this anthology.

Editor Martin Edwards did a bang up work on this anthology.

This collection of short stories are mostly set in Scotland or are written by Scottish authors. He goes from famous authors like Robert Louis Stevenson and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle to fresher and less known authors and stories. All the stories are different, with different paces and tones. I enjoyed some stories more than others, but I never left bored or felt like I needed a break, which usually happens when I read anthologies.

I felt like the middle of the book has the most intriguing stories and it was impossible to put down at that point. That's the section of the Golden Age of crime fiction, which is right up my alley, so no surprises there.

I particularly like the introduction to the author in the beginning of each story. It's a great summary of who each author is and where each story was first published.

From all the stories, some of my favourites were Markheim by R. L. Stevenson, A Medical Crime by J. Storer Clouston, Footsteps by Anthony Wynne, Madame Ville D'Aubier by Josephine Tey, The Fishermen by Michael Innes, The Running of the Deer by P. M. Hubbard, and Hand in Glove by Jennie Melville.

I found this a great read and I enjoyed discovering different authors and their works. Recommend it to the fans of crime fiction.

The British Library's line of Golden Age (and earlier) crime "classics" includes quite a few books of short stories, all organized around a theme. This one is Scotland. Not all the stories take place there, although most do; sometimes they are included simply because the author was Scottish.

The authors in this collection are Robert Louis Stevenson, Arthur Conan Doyle, Baroness Orczy, G.K. Chesterton, J. Storer Clouston, Anthony Wynne, John Ferguson, Augustus Muir, Josephine Tey, H.H. Bashford, J.J. Connington, Margo Bennett, Cyril Hare, Bill Knox, Michael Innes, P.M. Hubbard, and Jennie Melville. They are presented in chronological order. All the stories were new to me except Connington's "Before Insulin," which also appears in the first Bodies from the Library book.

Overall, I'd say this was a middling collection. The short story is an awkward form for the traditional whodunit because there isn't enough time for the author to develop characters and situations out of which the mystery arises. And only five of the stories here can be called that. But a number of the others are very good—just not a lot of them.

One of the reasons to read short story collections is that they often introduce you to authors who are new to you. In fact, after reading Hubbard's "The Running of the Deer," I immediately bought Kindle editions of two of his novels—not because the story was so good but because I very much enjoyed his writing.

Thanks to British Library Publishing and NetGalley for a preview of this book.

"From the Highlands to the borders, the bustling cities to the remote isles in cold seas, the unique landscapes and locales of Scotland have long inspired writers of the very best Golden Age mysteries. Beginning with the adventures of Sherlock Holmes from Edinburgh-born Arthur Conan Doyle, this new collection includes the ingenious scientific mysteries of Anthony Wynne, the dark and sardonic work of Margot Bennett and contributions from neglected yet brilliant authors such as Scobie Mackenzie and R. T. Campbell."

I just finished a highland mystery and need more, thankfully Poisoned Pen Press is here!

Anthology of stories based in Scotland or related somehow. You have to get back into an antiquated way of writing, where 10 words are better than one....a bit of a mixed bag. Some good stuff, some not so much.
Interesting selection, some are great, some I confess I skipped.
Nice change of pace.

An irresistible anthology of Scottish short stories full of murderous shenanigans and suspicious deaths and the perfect tool to discover an interesting list of unknown authors who have left their unforgettable marks on Scottish crime fiction throughout the 20th century.

Highly recommended and to be enjoyed without any moderation whatsoever!

Many thanks to Poisoned Pen and Netgalley for this terrific ARC!

This book just renewed my love of mysteries and ignited a love of Scottish mysteries. There were a wide range of stories within this anthology, all of them standing out from one another. Looking forward to delving deeper into some of the featured authors' other novels.

Another classic mystery which was a refreshing and immersive read which I couldn't put down. I need to purchase a physical copy.

Excellent collection of short story mysteries by Scottish writers or set in Scotland. The stories cover a broad range of writers and styles and are uniformly good.

Oddly enough, "stories set in Scotland" turns out to be a less unifying theme than I had expected, and the result is that this collection feels a bit more scattered than others in the series. That should not, however, be taken to mean that it isn't good. Martin Edwards has still assembled an entertaining and historically varied group of tales from the mid-19th century through the mid-1970s, and that alone is well worth the price of admission. Tales by well-remembered authors (Baroness Orczy, SIr Arthur Conan Doyle, Robert Louis Stevenson) are cheek-by-jowl with forgotten masters, with Margot Bennett heading my personal list of authors I must read more by immediately. The middle of the book has the strongest stories on the whole, but that's also the section that covers the Golden Age of crime fiction, so no surprises there. It may not be the most striking collection in the series, but it is still well worth your time, especially if you're a fan of mid-century mysteries.

As you expect from a collection of short stories, each story from a different author and all different lengths, not all stories are going to everyone’s taste. Some you will enjoy, others not so much. And because I took a long time to read the collection, I did a me thing and didn’t make any notes on the stories I liked the stories I wasn’t a fan of. I did hugely enjoy the titled story – The Edinburgh Mystery by Baroness Orczy, as well as Josephine Tey’s Madame Ville d’Aubier.

A little uneven in quality, but this does make me intrigued and excited over the other British Library Crime Classic titles I have on my TBR and a few others on my radar… hopefully, will get round to reading them soon!

mysteries, crime-fiction, detective-fiction, short-stories, Scotland, anthology, British-crime-classics, Scottish-noir, historical-fiction*****

I'm quite happy to let Mr Edwards hunt up new old stories for me to enjoy. He has excellent taste! Some are a bit longer, some more terse, some are authors I've never heard of, some are well known (perhaps under a pseudonym), all are very interesting and of earlier eras. Thanks for the snippets of authors and styles!
I'm glad that author Martin Edwards assembled these unusual suspects together!
I requested and received an EARC from Poisoned Pen Press via NetGalley. Thank you!

Anything that brings more visibility to lesser-known Golden Age mystery writers is good thing, although I have found that my taste differs a bit from Martin Edwards's when it comes to the British Library Crime Classics anthologies. "The Edinburgh Mystery" is no exception, although overall, I did enjoy it. The stories are either by Scottish authors, set in Scotland, or have some other connection to Scotland.

There are stories from better-known authors, such as Conan Doyle, Chesterton, Stevenson, Tey, and Innes., as well as the titular tale by Baroness Orczy. The Holmes story isn't one of the better ones, I think, but it has the virtue of being short. I should like Chesterton better than I do, and this story is one of his sillier ones.

Cyril Hare's "Thursday's Child" was my favorite of the bunch, as I always enjoy his writing. Augustus Muir's "The Body of Sir Henry" is one I feel as though I've read before. If not, I've read something similar and figured out the twist before the end, but it was an enjoyable little tale of a country policeman outsmarting "his betters."

Some of the stories are set or were published during the Golden Age, but some are from decades later, which makes for a somewhat unevenness to the collection. If you've enjoyed the other anthologies in the series, you won't be disappointed.

3.5 out of 5 stars, rounded up.

I received an advance copy from Poisoned Pen Press via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

Anthologies are often a mixture of disappointment and delight, and this one is as well. Another installment in the British Library Crime Classics series, The Edinburgh Mystery and Other Tales of Scottish Crime treats us to a variety of mysteries threaded together by their (sometimes tenuous) connections to the highlands. The draw for many will be the inclusion of a Sherlock Holmes short story, ultimately a somewhat dissatisfying turn by a titan of detective fiction, and the remainder of the collection feels rather uneven. Several of the stories feel dated to the point where enjoyment is off the table. But the marvelous thing about anthologies is that they afford the reader an opportunity to discover heretofore unknown authors and unexpectedly delightful new favorites. 'Edinburgh' meets the mark in this respect, and there are enough gems to warrant a read for fans of Golden Age mysteries. Of particular note is the titular entry, a well-conceived bonbon of a mystery from the author of The Scarlett Pimpernel.

A nice collection of entertaining stories. Edwards is an experienced author and knows his sweet spots. This is a pretty high quality set of short tales, and I look forward to more.

Thanks very much for the free ARC for review!!

Editor Martin Edwards does not disappoint in his latest crime anthology. Mostly set in Scotland (although a few are the products of Scottish authors but set elsewhere), there’s not a bum short story in the bunch. The authors range from famous authors Arthur Conan Doyle, Baroness Orczy and Robert Louis Stevenson (although their short stories are among the least clever) to virtual unknowns.

My favorites were J. Storer Clouston’s “A Medical Crime,” G.K. Chesterton’s “The Honour of Israel Gow,” Cyril Hare’s “Thursday’s Child,” Michael Innes’ “The Fishermen,” P.M. Hubbard’s dark “The Running of the Deer” and Jennie Melville’s “Hand in Glove,” with its surprising twist ending. I’m so impressed with Clouston’s private eye, F.T. Carrington, that I will definitely be checking out Carrington’s Cases, and I’ll be picking up some of Hubbard’s thrillers and Melville’s Charmain Daniels series. I also enjoyed H.H. Bashford’s “The Man on Ben Na Garve,” which, sadly, was one of his few mysteries.
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In the interest of full disclosure, I received this book from NetGalley and Atria Books in exchange for an honest review.