Sixteen salty seadogs sallying seaward in search of scurrilous…stuff, that’s what you’ll more or less find in Deep Waters [ss] (2019), another anthology of short fiction in the British Library Crime Classic series edited by the some-might-say-too-knowledgeable Martin Edwards.
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#1483: “You’ve got a bee in your bonnet about murder.” – Cyanide in the Sun and Other Stories of Summertime Crime [ss] (2025) ed. Martin Edwards
As Northern Hemisphere summers get increasingly sweltering — I wrote this post during the heatwave that the U.K. underwent in late June 2026 — let’s enjoy 18 tales of people murdering, cheating, lying to, and generally mistreating each other, selected for our enjoyment once more by the fabulously knowledgeable Martin Edwards.
Continue reading#1468: “The big idea is murder…” – Guilty Creatures: A Menagerie of Mysteries [ss] (2021) ed. Martin Edwards
The idea of a collection of Golden Age short stories based around a theme of animals seemed like an unusual one, until I remembered that one of the genre’s foundational short stories and one of its most famous novels both have animals in fairly central roles. So that’s all right, then.
Continue reading#1456: “Perhaps They Did Not Hear,” I Said – My Ten Favourite In GAD We Trust Episodes
I thought I would have done a few more episodes of my increasingly-occasional podcast In GAD We Trust by now, but a couple fell through and I didn’t want to rush out something to replace them that didn’t have my heart in it. Instead, to ward off the dark nights, let’s cast our minds back over a few favourites already available to you, in case you missed them first time around.
Continue reading#1453: “The police are bound to be about the place somewhere.” – Lessons in Crime: Academic Mysteries [ss] (2024) ed. Martin Edwards
Featuring fifteen felonious fables from phrontistery factions, Lessons in Crime [ss] (2024) is another collection in the British Library Crime Classics range edited by the acme of appreciation of this era, Martin Edwards.
Continue reading#1422: “Same old game, what?” – Settling Scores: Sporting Mysteries [ss] (2020) ed. Martin Edwards
Fifteen tales of murder and mystery centring around various athletic pastimes would, you imagine, be a fairly difficult undertaking to assemble, and so Martin Edwards is to be commended for finding enough to fill the pages of Settling Scores [ss] (2017) for the British Library Crime Classics series.
Continue reading#1398: “It’s goin’ to take a bit o’ thinkin’ out…” – As If by Magic: Locked Room Mysteries and Other Miraculous Crimes [ss] (2025) ed. Martin Edwards
A second anthology of impossible crimes from the British Library Crime Classics range, As If by Magic [ss] (2025) is another genre-spanning collection from editor and Detection Club President Martin Edwards that does much to highlight the depth and breadth of classic crime and detective fiction.
Continue reading#1390: “Circumstances might arise when a murder would be the only way out of a difficulty.” – Continental Crimes [ss] (2017) ed. Martin Edwards
Christmas is done for another year, and so my mind turns to the summer holidays and the possibilities of Europe. Yeah, it’s early to be planning this sort of thing, but I like to be prepared. And so naturally it is the British Library’s collection Continental Crimes [ss] (2017) that I crack open for research
Continue reading#1363: “I have a dozen fresh people call on me every month with queer stories…” – Capital Crimes: London Mysteries [ss] (2015) ed. Martin Edwards
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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