Detective Stories-Peter Washington (Editor)

Detective Stories
Peter Washington (Editor)
Everyman’s Library (Knopf), Oct 5 2009, $15.00
ISBN: 9780307272713

These are sixteen great short stories written as early 1844 (Edgar Allan Poe’s The Purloined Letter starring M. Dupin) to an early Sara Paretsky’s Warshawski. In between there is a Holmes’ entry as well as Bret Harte (if you have not read this great short story nineteenth century author you are missing one of the all time best), Chesteron’s Father Brown, Hammett’s prototype tough guy, Chandler’s Mason, and Christie’s Miss Marple. There are no clinkers as not only are the authors a virtual who’s who, their detectives are for the most part household names as the superstars of sleuthing. Although some of the selections will have been read previously such as the WWI era still timely morality classic A Jury of Her Peers by Susan Glaspell, readers will fully relish each choice as we can compare Poe to Borges and Simenon’s Maigret to Rankin’s Rebus in what is a super compilation.

Harriet Klausner