This week I finished reading Murder by the Book, a short story anthology edited by Martin Edwards. It is a part of the British Library Crime Classics series, published in the US by Poisoned Pen Press.
In early March, I read and reviewed the first six stories in this book. In that post I listed all the stories and authors.
I liked most of the remaining 11 stories in the book. The introductions that precede each story were excellent, providing some titles the author has written and other interesting facts related to the story or the author.
I have two favorites in the most recent batch of stories I read. Both of them would be easy to spoil so I am keeping the description of each brief.
"A Question of Character" by Victor Canning
(published in 1960)
Victor Canning is one of my favorite authors. He wrote a lot of books, some general fiction, some children's fiction and some spy fiction. I have stuck with the spy fiction so far, but I want to try some of his general fiction too.
In Canning's story, a man and his wife are both authors. The husband wants a divorce, but he decides to kill his wife instead because she has become a more successful writer than he is.
"A Book of Honour" by John Creasey
(published in 1965)
John Creasey has written even more books than Victor Canning and written under many pseudonyms. I read some of his fiction when I was much younger and enjoyed it, but haven't read any recently.
"A Book of Honour" is the story of an English bookseller in India who becomes friends with an Indian man who sells books on a much smaller scale. There is no murder, but a serious crime is involved, and the story is more about the friendship of the two men. I enjoyed Creasey's short story so much I will be seeking out more of his books to read.
This book also fits into the Bookish Books Reading Challenge at Bloggin' 'bout Books.
18 comments:
I"m a big fan of Martin Edwards's short story anthologies. I've enjoyed every one I've read including this one! His introductions to the stories are brilliant!
Like George, I'm a Martin Edwards fan, Tracy. He's a really skilled writer and editor, I think. And stories about (and for) bibliophiles are winners as far as I'm concerned. I'm glad you mentioned Victor Canning, too. I really need to read more of his work!
Martin Edwards has certainly been responsible for a lot of reading material in the last decade.
George, I have not read that many of the British Library short story anthologies. Two with a Christmas theme are the only ones I remember. But I do have Foreign Bodies, Golden Age crime fiction short stories translated from foreign languages, and I should get to that soon.
Margot, I have enjoyed everything I have read by Victor Canning so far. I need to read more of Martin Edward's novels. I have read one Harry Devlin novel and one Lake District novel, but haven't tried the Rachel Savernake series yet.
Yes, Patti, I don't see how he has the time for all the fiction and nonfiction work he has been doing.
I loved both of these stories too, but haven't read anything else by either author yet. Every time I read one of these anthologies I add a name or two to my list of authors to explore, completely ignoring the fact that I'll never find the time to actually read them all!
FictionFan, I have the same problem with discovering new authors I want to try, but not having time to actually get to reading anything by them. I really would like to read more by Creasey, but I am not sure where to start and I would rather not have to get an old paperback. Some are available in ebook format but cost more than I usually pay for that format. Maybe I will wait until the book sale and do some research before then.
Such a good anthology this one. I forget which were my favourite stories but to be honest I think it was one of those rare books where pretty much every story was good and a few were really excellent.
I agree, Cath, a very good anthology. I found two of the stories disappointing, but both were short so it did not matter.
Indeed, Tracy, disagreeing with the taste (or the completist urge! or the desire to give some "marginal" choices a chance to perhaps connect with a new audience) on two entries in an antho is still a pretty good average. Edwards is a seemingly indefatigable writer of fiction and nonfiction as well as editor, and though I haven't yet read it, his nonfiction item winning the Edgar this year is both unsurprising and almost certainly deserved...his blog is a considerable and consistently added-to pleasure.
I have only read THE RAINBIRD PATTERN and perhaps a short story or two from Canning, and nothing new in decades...didn't know (shame!) that he had published a notable amount of contemporary mimetic fiction to go with his crime fiction, and might've just vaguely remembered he wrote also for children, but am very sure I've never read any. (The Award mass-market paperback of RAINBIRD was remaindered [!--but Award was collapsing] when I picked it up for something like a quarter, published in wake of the last completed Hitchcock film, FAMILY PLOT.)
Creasey indeed did write more than nearly (or simply) everybody, or at least was cited by the GUINESS BOOK folks for more than a decade and perhaps still as the most prolifically published writer they were aware of. Certainly must remain among the very most-productive. Some of that very good indeed. Try Creasey's Gideon stories/mostly novels. I like them and I'd say they are the default favorites among his series work (and might well've been his own favorite among his work). (Robert Silverberg and a number of others who have been ridiculously prolific for at least notable spans have also produced a lot of good work...and some that they have been just as happy to leave out of print.)
And thanks for setting the good example of actually coming back and completing one's run-through of a given book or similar project! I keep finding New Shiny Objects rather than finishing too many of my own posts to my own satisfaction.
Also, reading wartime fiction from my old favorite Wilma Shore reminds me of the discussion we were having about espionage fiction...the mixed feelings of the battleground and particularly the medical support personnel, to say the least, but none of it un-felt by anyone involved. War fiction as a whole can overlap with crime fiction, readily, but also is a slightly different animal, despite the crime writ way the hell too large that war is. Hence also some of the special character, of course, of espionage fiction.
I did love The Rainbird Pattern by Canning, and I recently read The Mask of Memory, and it was not as good, but still a very good read.
When I was reading books by Creasey I think my favorites were the Gideon novels and the Inspector West series.
I do remember your comment (at my last SSW post) about espionage fiction being "more about doing bad things for a supposedly good cause" and have been thinking about that. There is certainly that element. I have never known why I like espionage fiction so much; it seems like both sides are bad, in some ways.
Certainly the more realistic examples, or for that matter the more neo-romantic (in the artistic rather than amatory sense) examples as well--all sides being at least bad enough.
I'm not a short story fan, but this anthology is tempting! I might have to give it a go. I'm glad you enjoyed it overall.
Susan, I sympathize about short stories. I read them in my late teens, early twenties, then stopped enjoying them. I did not start reading short stories again until about ten years ago. This anthology had a higher percentage of stories I really liked than most I read.
I read this one last year and A Question of Character was also one of my favourites. I did find the quality varied a lot - some felt very flimsy (especially the first one in the collection).
https://bookertalk.com/murder-by-the-book-by-martin-edwards-leafing-through-classic-crime/
BookerTalk, Percentage-wise I liked more stories in this anthology than most of the other anthologies from the British Library Crime Classics series. On the other hand I haven't read that many of them and I want to find more of them. I will be checking out your review, thanks for including the link.
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