Great Murder Mysteries [Hardcover]

Mary Danby (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover
• Publisher: Book Sales (August 1988)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1555212492
• ISBN-13: 978-1555212490
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6.2 x 1.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #8,915,713 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars 66 MURDER STORIES -- BUT NOT NECESSARILY MYSTERIES, December 19, 2003

By 

Loren D. Morrison "amateur_reviewer" (Los Angeles County, U.S.A.) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Great Murder Mysteries (Hardcover)

An anthology of short stories, 66 in number, ranging in literary time from the beginnings of the murder mystery -- Edgar Allan Poe's "The Cask of Amontillado" to the modern era, the editors have chosen stories from several genres, not just traditional mystery. All 66 stories do have one thing in common, a murder was committed, or at least attempted. Some are traditional mysteries involving some sort of sleuth putting together various clues and solving the crime. Others fall into the category of ghost stories or horror tales. Yet others could be rightly called science fiction tales, or even very traditional fiction where a murder just happens.

Authors range from traditional mystery writers such as Agatha Christie and Arthur Conan Doyle to more contemporary authors such as P. D. James, Dorothy Sayers, and John D. McDonald, and to writers better known for significantly different styles of writing such as John Steinbeck, Rudyard Kipling, and Bram Stoker.

Steinbeck's story, "The Murder," is, as it's title implies, about a murder but it isn't what one thinks of as a mystery. Bram Stoker's "The Secret of Growing Gold" is an old fashioned horror tale. I don't quite know how to describe Robert Graves' "Earth to Earth" other than to say, it is well worth reading.

There are also a great number of stories by less well-known authors, but the editors have been thoughtful in selecting , for the most part, high quality , highly readable works.

As is the case with many anthologies, this one has the advantage of being a book that one can pick up for a half an hour, or so, and read a complete story or two. Occasionally, it's kind of nice to be able to put a book down, and go back to it later without needing to back up two or three pages in order to figure out just what was happening when you put it down.

I felt that the stories here were both good mystery and good literature. I can't say that for a lot of books.