Metropolitan Mysteries, A Casebook of London’s Detectives

Metropolitan Mysteries, A Casebook of London’s Detectives is another fine British Library Crime Classic. This compilation features 18 vintage mystery stories from 1908 through 1963. What I love about compilations like this one, is that you get a wide variety of popular mystery authors in different time periods, using different skills and different methods of detection.

Metropolitan Mysteries includes writing masters Dorothy L. Sayers, Arthur Conan Doyle, John Dickson Carr, Josephine Belle, Patricia Moyes, Henry Wade and many others.

You’ll also find a unique assortment of cases and crimes. There’s a story of corruption in contract bidding involving a prime minister. Another story of a blackmailer who extorted both rich and poor and was the most hated man London.

John Dickson Carr, noted for his locked room mysteries, gives us The Locked Room featuring his prominent detective, Dr. Gideon Fell. This time Gideon is working with the Superintendent of the C.I.D. to solve the case of a brutal attack and an emptied safe.

We also find a short story by Arthur Conan Doyle reuniting Sherlock Holmes with his brother , Mycroft, involving the suicide of a government junior clerk – but was it really suicide? Were government plans and secrets involved? Mycroft needs to know!

Carter Dickson gives us a tale of a drunken man who goes home only to find a dead man wearing an inside out raincoat in his flat. When the corpse vanishes, the case gets seriously complex.

Metropolitan Mysteries involves crimes against innocent victims and not-so-innocent victims. It features blackmailers, stolen necklaces, disappearing rooms, a murder in a train station, the disappearance of a foreign secretary and more, all wrapped up in one neat and tidy package.

It also gives you an opportunity to read short stories by these well-known and stellar authors who are gone, but not forgotten. You’ll have a chance to pick out your favorite authors and pursue other short stories or even full books they may have also written.

Compilations are also great for those with a hectic schedule and can’t seem to find the time to read a long full length novel. Short stories are easy to fit into the busiest of lifestyles, allowing readers to be entertained at their convenience.

Metropolitan Mysteries is for mystery buffs who like to take a step back in time when things were surely a lot different than they are now. For those who relish mysteries and crime stories written decades ago, compilations like this one should not be missed!

A copy of this book and cover photo were provided by Poisoned Pen/Sourcebooks