I requested Otto Penzler’s latest mystery anthology from the North Tonawanda Public Library instead of buying it like I did with Otto’s other recent anthology, The Black Lizard Big Book of Locked-Room Mysteries (highly recommended!). The reason is simple: I wasn’t sure a historical survey of 19th Century “mysteries” would be my cup of tea. Otto includes classics from Hawthorne and Poe that many readers will be familiar with. I could have done without Twain’s Tom Sawyer, Detective which isn’t a very good story. The best stories are Melville Davisson Post’s ”The Corpus Delicti,” L. Frank Baum’s ”The Suicide of Kiaro,”s and Robert W. Chambers’ ”The Purple Emperor.” Notice how the better selections are skewed towards the end of the 19th Century. GRADE: B-
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Introduction ix
1824 • Washington Irving The Story of the Young Robber 1
1827 • William Leggett The Rifle 8
1834 • Nathaniel Hawthorne Mr. Higginbotham’s Catastrophe 30
1841 • Edgar Allan Poe The Murders in the Rue Morgue 42
1845 • Edgar Allan Poe The Purloined Letter 73
1846 • Abraham Lincoln Remarkable Case of Arrest for Murder 90
1850 • Daniel Webster The Fatal Secret 97
1862 • Thomas Bailey Aldrich The Danseuse 100
1865 • Louisa May Alcott A Double Tragedy: An Actor’s Story 112
1875 • Allan Pinkerton The Two Sisters; Or, The Avenger 132
1882 • Frank Stockton The Lady, or the Tiger? and The Discourager of Hesitancy 182
1883 • Mark Twain A Thumb-print and What Came of It 194
1888 • Ambrose Bierce My Favorite Murder 207
1889 • Charles W. Chesnutt The Sheriff’s Children 215
1891 • Richard Harding Davis Gallegher 230
1892 • William Norr ’Round the Opium Lamp 256
1894 • Percival Pollard Lingo Dan 261
1895 • Rodrigues Ottolengui The Nameless Man and The Montezuma Emerald 270
1895 • Anna Katharine Green The Doctor, His Wife, and the Clock 292
1895 • William M. Hinkley A Very Strange Case 330
1895 • Mary E. Wilkins The Long Arm 343
1896 • Cleveland Moffett The Mysterious Card and The Mysterious Card Unveiled 371
1896 • Mark Twain Tom Sawyer, Detective 394
1896 • Melville Davisson Post The Corpus Delicti 445
1897 • L. Frank Baum The Suicide of Kiaros 470
1897 • Robert W. Chambers The Purple Emperor 482
1898 • Edward Bellamy At Pinney’s Ranch 501
1898 • Stephen Crane The Blue Hotel 514
1899 • Edith Wharton A Cup of Cold Water 541
1899 • Nicholas Carter The Detective’s Pretty Neighbor 565
1899 • Ellen Glasgow A Point in Morals 583
1899 • Jack London A Thousand Deaths 595
I have probably got a third of these in other collections in one way or another but always fascinating to see the primordial swamp from whence crime and mystery fiction sprung! Thanks George.
Sergio, I like historical collections. THE BEST AMERICAN MYSTERY STORIES OF THE 19TH CENTURY provides a good survey at a reasonable price.
George, I have read a few of these stories elsewhere although they stack up neatly in an anthology. I like Anna Katharine Green’s stories and “The Doctor, His Wife, and the Clock” was a particularly good one.
Prashant, I might have made other choices than Otto Penzler did, but readers of THE BEST AMERICAN MYSTERY STORIES OF THE 19TH CENTURY will come away satisfied with the selection.
I liked the stories I read in this one, but it’s so massive that I haven’t gotten to all of them yet.
Bill, Otto knows his stuff. This is a fairly representative collection.
I agree, George. The better stories – for the most part – are the ones towards the end of the century.
Jeff, when you have a survey format like THE BEST AMERICAN MYSTERY STORIES OF THE 19TH CENTURY the editor is forced to include stories that fit the format instead of concentrating on quality.
Based on the contents, I’d not even get it from the library. I’ve already read most of the stories I want to, and the few others aren’t worth the time to me. I guess I’m more of a 20th Century mystery reader.
Rick, I’ve enjoyed collections of 19th Century British mystery stories. But, like you, I prefer the 20th Century.
Rick, I agree. I got it from the library but only read those stories that really appealed to me.
On the other hand, I am currently going through the Locked-Room Mysteries book and reading everything.
Which I will do, Jeff, when I get my hands on it. The book did finally arrive, after (1) being sent media mail by my sister-in-law, (2) being mis-routed by the local Post Office, (3) being marked undeliverable by same when they had to replace our communal post box and no one had keys…don’t ask. So Barbara got it, thought since my birthday was over it would make a good Christmas gift, and it’s been spirited away until then. Sigh.
Meanwhile, I have plenty of 20th century short stories lined up, waiting for me to finish a novel today, including another fat collection, plus Andre Norton, Keith Laumer, and others.
I’m reading Craig Johnson’s collection of Longmire stories now, and have an old Westlake collection on deck. The locked room book is too big to read anywhere other than in the house on the couch.
Jeff, I had the same problem with THE NEW ANNOTATED H. P. LOVECRAFT that I had with THE BLACK LIZARD BIG BOOK OF LOCKED-ROOM MYSTERIES: they’re big, heavy, and unwieldy. I had to read them at a table.