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Golden Age Detective Stories
Series: An American Mystery Classic
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Check link for latest rating. ( 220 ratings, 59 reviews)
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Format: Paperback / softback
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The greatest detectives of the Golden Age investigate the most puzzling crimes of the era.
Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and
still learning, it may not be perfect - your
feedback is welcome!
Description
Sometimes, the police aren't the best suited to solve a crime. Depending on the case, you may find that a retired magician, a schoolteacher, a Broadway producer, or a nun have the necessary skills to suss out a killer. Or, in other cases, a blind veteran, or a publisher, or a hard-drinking attorney, or a mostly-sober attorney… or, indeed, any sort of detective you could think of might be able to best the professionals when it comes to comprehending strange and puzzling murders.
At least, that's what the authors from the Golden Age of American mystery fiction would have you think. For decades in the middle of the twentieth century, the country's best-selling authors produced delightful tales in which all types of eccentrics used rarified knowledge to interpret confounding clues. And for even longer, in the decades that have followed, these characters have continued to entertain new audiences with every new generation that discovers them.
Edgar Award-winning anthologist Otto Penzler selects some of the greatest American short stories from this era. With authors including Ellery Queen, Mary Roberts Rinehart, Cornell Woolrich, Erle Stanley Gardner, and Anthony Boucher, this collection is a treat for those who know and love this celebrated period in literary history, and a great introduction to its best writers for the uninitiated.
Golden Age Detective Stories includes discussion guide questions for use in book clubs.
Series: An American Mystery Classic
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Golden Age Bibliomysteries
Of crime fiction's many sub-genres, none is so reflexive and intriguing as the "bibliomystery": stories that involve crimes set, somehow, in the world of books. In Vincent Starrett's A Volume of Poe, a bookseller is murdered; in Ellery Queen's The Adventure of the Three R's, the detective tracks the disappearance of a local Missouri author; and a killer stalks the...Paperback$5100Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 2-3 weeks -
The Great Mistake
In an elaborate house known as the Cloisters, Maud Wainwright rules supreme. The queen of society in the small town of Beverly, she has a table long enough to seat one hundred, and she keeps an iron grip on the guest list. Her right-hand woman is Pat Abbott, a local girl who is beautiful, innocent, and kind. Pat has no...Paperback$4600Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 2-3 weeks -
Headed for a Hearse
Robert Westland's date with the executioner is just around the corner when he finally decides to fight the murder rap sending him to the electric chair. Framed for his wife's grisly demise, Westland is in a bind, and his last hope is Bill Crane, a booze-soaked detective who's as ruthless with a quip as he is when trawling the streets...Paperback$4500Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 2-3 weeks -
The Alarm of the Black Cat
A strange encounter with a little girl named Claudia and a dead toad sparks elderly detective fiction fan Rachel Murdock's obsessive curiosity, and she winds up renting the house next door just to see how things play out. But soon after she and her cat Samantha move in, Rachel realises they've landed right in the middle of a deadly love...Paperback$4700Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 2-3 weeks -
The Widening Stain
For the staff of the library at the centre of The Widening Stain, it's easy enough to dismiss the death of a woman who fell from a rolling ladder as nothing more than an unfortunate accident. It's more difficult, however, to explain away the strangled corpse of a man found inside a locked room, surrounded by rare and obscure erotica....Paperback$4700Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 2-3 weeks -
Vultures in the Sky
The journey of the Mexico City-bound Pullman seems ill-fated from the outset, with engine troubles and the threat of an impending railway strike. However, no one aboard expects the terror that will descend upon the luxury train between Laredo and its destination. First, a man dies as the vehicle passes through a dark tunnel, and then, just as United States...Paperback$4600Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 2-3 weeks -
Golden Age Bibliomysteries
Of crime fiction's many sub-genres, none is so reflexive and intriguing as the "bibliomystery": stories that involve crimes set, somehow, in the world of books. In Vincent Starrett's A Volume of Poe, a bookseller is murdered; in Ellery Queen's The Adventure of the Three R's, the detective tracks the disappearance of a local Missouri author; and a killer stalks the...HardbackSold Out -
Golden Age Detective Stories
Sometimes, the police aren't the best suited to solve a crime. Depending on the case, you may find that a retired magician, a schoolteacher, a Broadway producer, or a nun have the necessary skills to suss out a killer. Or, in other cases, a blind veteran, or a publisher, or a hard-drinking attorney, or a mostly-sober attorney… or, indeed, any...PaperbackSold Out
Book Hero Magic summarised reviews for this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! HOW HAS THIS BEEN REVIEWED?
Golden Age Detective Stories attracts both long-time fans revisiting familiar authors and newcomers discovering classic mystery writers. It features well-known names like Ellery Queen and Erle Stanley Gardner, alongside lesser-known contributors who helped shape the genre. The collection is deemed a must-have for any mystery enthusiast and praised as exemplary by Kirkus, with Publishers Weekly highlighting its role as an accessible introduction to further exploration.
Book Details
INFORMATION
ISBN: 9781613162163
Publisher: Penzler Publishers
Format: Paperback / softback
Date Published: 13 July 2021
Country: United States
Imprint: American Mystery Classics
Contributors:
- Edited by Otto Penzler
Audience: General / adult
DIMENSIONS
Spine width: 33.0mm
Width: 132.0mm
Height: 203.0mm
Weight: 398g
Pages: 312
About the Author
Otto Penzler, the creator of American Mystery Classics, is also the founder of The Mysterious Press (1975); MysteriousPress.com (2011), an electronic-book publishing company; and New York City’s Mysterious Bookshop (1979). He has won a Raven, the Ellery Queen Award, two Edgars (for the Encyclopedia of Mystery and Detection, 1977, and The Lineup, 2010), and lifetime achievement awards from NoirCon and The Strand Magazine. He has edited more than 70 anthologies and written extensively about mystery fiction.
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