Seventeen scenarios of skulduggery, stealing, and slaughter in the British Library Crime Classics range, all centred on London, the finest city on god’s green Earth, and selected by the ne plus ultra of classic crime appreciation, Martin Edwards.
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#1286: Little Fictions – ‘The Final Problem’ (1893) by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
#1283: Little Fictions – ‘The Naval Treaty’ (1893) by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
The key facet of most crime and detective fiction is that we, the reader, should find ourselves in sympathy with the person who is the victim — or, more rarely, the perpetrator — of, some crime. Sometimes, though, that’s simply not possible.
Continue reading#1280: Little Fictions – ‘The Greek Interpreter’ (1893) by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
The original antepenultimate case for the world’s first consulting detective; the perfect time to introduce some new lore, what?
Continue reading#1277: Little Fictions – ‘The Resident Patient’ (1893) by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
#1274: Little Fictions – ‘The Crooked Man’ (1893) by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Five Tuesdays in April should allow me to finish off the last five stories in The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes (1894). Right?
Continue reading#1236: “A Christmas crime, a cheery, cosy, English middle-class crime.” – Silent Nights [ss] (2015) ed. Martin Edwards
I’ve been planning this for over a year, since reviewing the British Library’s fifth collection of Christmas short stories last November. Finally, then, December will see me reviewing Christmas-themed books for perhaps the first time since starting this blog in 2015, with a second BL collection coming in the weeks ahead.
Continue reading#1220: “About ghosts in particular he was a blatant and contemptuous sceptic.” – Wicked Spirits [ss] (2024) ed. Tony Medawar
Let’s take a moment to reflect on what Tony Medawar has done in recent years for GAD fans, with Wicked Spirits (2024) being the eighth collection of lost, forgotten, and so-rare-they-doubt-their-own-existence stories by GAD luminaries Medawar has edited under the …from the Library label. Whether we get any more after this or not, and I sincerely hope we do, it’s a wonderful body of work, and only the tip of an iceberg of effort he has been putting in for decades now.
Continue reading#1200: Little Fictions – ‘The Reigate Squires’ (1893) by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Sometimes the Holmes canon surprises me; I have very fond memories of certain stories, while others are almost a complete blank.
Continue reading#1197: Little Fictions – ‘The Musgrave Ritual’ (1893) by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Is this the the best title in the Sherlock Holmes canon? I don’t mean the best story, but rather the most intriguing combination of words put together to entice you in.
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