Tuesday, February 9, 2021

Short Story Wednesday: Detective Stories, chosen by Philip Pullman


This week I finished reading all of the short stories from Detective Stories: Chosen by Philip Pullman. I did not realize that I had already discussed three stories from this book here on the blog. I have found this book a treasure trove of stories by authors I had read or heard of but had not sampled their short stories. There were a few stories I did not care for at all but that is fairly common when reading short story anthologies. After all, each of us has different tastes in stories.

This book of short stories is aimed at introducing younger readers (9-11 years old) to mystery stories. Many of them are not detective stories, despite the title. I enjoyed many of the stories; most of them were originally written for adult readers. Some were published before 1960, and most of the rest were published between 1961-1980.


Of the final six stories in the book, this was my favorite:

"The Newdick Helicopter" by Leslie Charteris

This story stars the Saint, Simon Templar. It originally appeared in Empire News on October 15, 1933, as "The Inventions of Oscar Newdick." Later it was published in these collections: Boodle, Stories of the Saint; The Fantastic Saint; and The Saint Intervenes.

In this story, a con man has relieved the Saint's friend, Monty Hayward, of a good bit of money. After Monty complains to Simon Templar, and gives him the details, the Saint goes off to see what he can do about it. He cleverly solves the problem in a very intriguing way. 


Other stories from this book that have featured on the blog are:

"The Adventure of the Egyptian Tomb" by Agatha Christie

"Butch Minds the Baby" by Damon Runyon

"The Cross of Lorraine" by Isaac Asimov



10 comments:

pattinase (abbott) said...

I would never guess from the cover it was aimed at kids.

George said...

I started getting interested in THE SAINT in the 1960s when Roger Moore showed up on American TV with his series about Simon Templar. Around the same time, a series of THE SAINT paperbacks--TV tie-ins--where also published. I bought the books, read them, and discovered THE SAINT had been around for over 30 years! I've picked up volumes of THE SAINT whenever I come across them. Fun reading!

Margot Kinberg said...

It's nice to see a broad collection like that, Tracy. And I'm especially happy to see that it's aimed at getting young people interested in reading. I think that's so important! Some great names there, too. Glad you enjoyed it.

Rick Robinson said...

I like The Saint, and it's been too long since I read any.

TracyK said...

Patti, I bought this book at the Planned Parenthood book sale a few years ago, and I did not realize it was aimed at school age kids. I was attracted by the cover. The book has illustrations for each story, which I enjoyed.

TracyK said...

George, I have only read one book (of three novellas) by Charteris since I started blogging. I need to find some more to read. I enjoyed this story more than I expected to.

TracyK said...

I agree, Margot, it is a good selection of stories, and since I have not always been a short story reader, it introduced me to some authors I had not tried, or not read much of.

TracyK said...

Rick, I really thought I had read more of the Saint novels. Maybe years ago, but nothing recently. I know I can find affordable books online and on the Kindle but I will check around see which books I want to try first.

col2910 said...

Pullman was a favourite of my son's growing up. Darkling Light? Scratching my memory banks

TracyK said...

I haven't read anything by Pullman, Col, and I don't know if my son has. But I was surprised to see his expertise on choosing stories for a mystery fiction anthology. I thought it was a good cross-section of stories for anyone, adult or younger.