Bodies from the Library 1 (MbD’s Deal-me-in Challenge)

Rather than create a separate post for each short story, I’m appending them under the anthology title as I read them.  Older short stores will be behind the ‘read more’.

Bodies from the Library 1
by Tony Medawar (editor)
Rating: ★★★★
isbn: 9780008289225
Publication Date: January 1, 2018
Pages: 324
Genre: Fiction, Mystery
Publisher: Collins Crime Club

This anthology of rare stories of crime and suspense brings together 16 tales by masters of the Golden Age of Detective Fiction for the first time in book form, including a newly discovered Agatha Christie crime story that has not been seen since 1922.
At a time when crime and thriller writing has once again overtaken the sales of general and literary fiction, Bodies from the Library unearths lost stories from the Golden Age, that period between the World Wars when detective fiction captured the public’s imagination and saw the emergence of some of the world’s cleverest and most popular storytellers.

Each of these 16 forgotten tales have either been published only once before – perhaps in a newspaper or rare magazine – or have never before appeared in print. From a previously unpublished 1917 script featuring Ernest Bramah’s blind detective Max Carrados, to early 1950s crime stories written for London’s Evening Standard by Cyril Hare, Freeman Wills Crofts and A.A. Milne, it spans five decades of writing by masters of the Golden Age.

Most anticipated of all are the contributions by women writers: the first detective story by Georgette Heyer, unseen since 1923; an unpublished story by Christianna Brand, creator of Nanny McPhee; and a dark tale by Agatha Christie published only in an Australian journal in 1922 during her ‘Grand Tour’ of the British Empire.

With other stories by Detection Club stalwarts Anthony Berkeley, H.C. Bailey, J.J. Connington, John Rhode and Nicholas Blake, plus Vincent Cornier, Leo Bruce, Roy Vickers and Arthur Upfield, this essential collection harks back to a time before forensic science – when murder was a complex business.

The Inverness Cape by  Leo Bruce: ✭✭✭½  (12 March, 2023)

I’ve read at least one other full-length Leo Bruce novel (Death on Allhallowe’en) and liked it quite a bit.  This short story was clever, although not complex.  Told as a memory of a past case, but still structured as a mystery (the guilty party isn’t named until the end).  I liked the subtle tip-o-the-hat to Doyle and Holmes.  Well, maybe it’s not subtle, but it’s a tip-o-the-hat to his existence and eminence, and perhaps it’s done in a sly sort of way.  As I said, it’s not a complicated mystery, but it’s a short-short story and it’s done well for the few pages it occupies.

Bread Upon the Waters by A.A. Milne, ✭✭✭✭✭ (19 Feb, 2023)

I loved this – chalk it up to it perfectly fitting my mood, or just that it was a delightful and incredibly well-written story.  Either way, a perfect little anecdote of a murder.  NOT a mystery, but a murder told in retrospect; it’s always known who the murderer was, but the why and the who and the how come together with a twist at the end, that, again – chalk it up to end-of-day-fatigue, or Milne’s genius – either way it surprised a chuckle out of me and there it ended, proving that Milne really did know when to quit when he was ahead.

The Fool and the Perfect Murder by Arthur Upfield, ✭✭✭ (12 Feb, 2023)

Not a favorite.  Upfield was an Australian novelist, and I’ve always had a problematic relationship with most of Australian fiction.  In this case though, it’s less content than style.  The writing is atmospheric, but … choppy?  I’m not sure that’s the right word, but it’s what comes to mind.  The plotting, too, is far from Fair Play, as the MC ‘Napoleon Bonaparte’, an aboriginal tracker and detective, doesn’t share his knowledge with the reader.  I suppose that’s irrelevant though, as the reader knows from the start who the murderer is.  It’s a very straight forward story that is, in its way, well-written.  Just not my thing.

The Elusive Bullet by John Rhode, ✭✭✭✭ (5 Feb, 2023)

In spite of 90% of the solution being screamingly obvious from the start, I enjoyed this story.  Dr. Priestly and his secretary are a very Holmes and Watson-esque duo, with Dr. Priestly relying, it seems, entirely on mathematics to solve his crimes.  It was well-written and flowed easily, with the action moving at a nice pace, allowing a quick read before bed.  An excellent way to be introduced to this anthology.