Generous Maggie Mason sent me this wonderful, supersized (1126 pages!) collection of novels from the Roaring Twenties. Leslie Klinger’s annotated edition of these classic crime novels is a reader’s delight! Not only does this old-fashioned Dictionary size book deliver some of the best American mystery fiction of that decade, it provides plenty of additional information on the texts. My favorite novel of this group is Dashiell Hammett’s Red Harvest. Hammett’s tale of violence and corruption set the template for future crime novels. Next, I enjoyed rereading Ellery Queen’s The Roman Hat Mystery. I prefer the early Ellery Queen puzzle novels to the later ones. Some experts consider The Roman Hat Mystery to be one of the very best of the Ellery Queen novels. I’m not a big fan of Earl Derr Biggers’ The House Without a Key or S. S. Van Dine’s The Benson Murder Case but both novels have historical significance. Little Caesar by W. R. Burnett, an underrated novel, morphed into an iconic movie.
If you’re interested in classic crime novels, Classic American Crime Fiction of the 1920s is a must-buy. If you have a casual interest in older mysteries, this group offers plenty of entertainment and detailed information. I know plenty of mystery fans who would love to find em>Classic American Crime Fiction of the 1920s under their tree! Have you read these classic crime novels? Thanks again, Maggie! GRADE: A
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Introduction / by Otto Penzler — v
Foreword / by Leslie S. Klinger — ix
A note on the texts — xxvii
The house without a key / by Earl Derr Biggers (1925) — 2
Appendix: The House without a Key on film — 250
The Benson Murder Case / by S. S. Van Dine (1926) — 252
Appendix: S. S. Van Dine sets down twenty rules for detective stories — 497
The Roman Hat Mystery / by Ellery Queen (1929) — 502
Red Harvest / by Dashiell Hammett (1929) — 778
Little Caesar / by W. R. Burnett (1929) — 970
Appendix: Introduction by W. R. Burnett — 1115
Bibliography — 1123
Acknowledgements — 1126
The Hammett is probably the best here. I’ve never read any Earl Derr Biggers. or W. R. Burnett. Never liked Ellery Queen. Always found them poorly written but particularly bad dialogue. Ditto Vance.
Steve, I know what you mean by Ellery Queen’s clunky dialogue. But I read Ellery Queen for the puzzles so I just put up with dialogue issues.
How intrusive are the annotations? I like getting extra info, but I don’t like it when you can’t read the text without the other stuff being in the way.
Jeff, I didn’t find the annotations intrusive. I learned a lot about these books I didn’t know before. But, once again, the format (and weight!) of this book will require you read it at a table. This has been the year of Big Books!
Interesting selection. I’m thinking Klinger was focused on popular writers of that time who are remembered –if not still popular — today.
Dan, both Otto Penzler and Leslie Klinger give their opinions about these books in their essays. You might be right about the popularity of these books at the time being a factor in their selection.
I’ve read some of Klinger’s earlier annotations and am looking forward to this one. I’ve all of the books in this one except LITTLE CAESAR — not sure why I did not get around to that one since it’s been on my shelf for five decades!
Jerry, same here. I’ve had LITTLE CAESAR on my shelves for years, too. Somehow seeing the movie version took away the urgency to read the book. But, the book differs from the movie in significant ways.
Good one. I agree that RED HARVEST would be at the top of my list too. Great book. I read one Van Dine and it was a chore to get through. The early Queens are artificial,but that was the style of the day, and the puzzles and well worked-out solutions make them worth reading. Never read LITTLE CAESAR either.
Jeff, like you I struggled to finish the Van Dine. The writing style of the 1920s might put some people off this book. But, RED HARVEST feels like a modern crime novel. Ellery Queen is…well, Ellery Queen.
I just saw the review of this in Mystery Scene and you already have it, and have read it. Goodness. There will supposedly be a next volume for the 1930s.
I like Biggers and that’s the first of the Chan novels, which I enjoy. They are straight mysteries, as opposed to the (mostly awful) movies. I haven’t read that Queen, but agree the earlier ones are better. I haven’t read the Burnett, so I’ll join the group on that, except I don’t even have a copy and don’t feel deprived. As for the heft of this thing, there is an ebook version.
Rick, thanks to Maggie Mason, I’ve had CLASSIC AMERICAN CRIME FICTION OF THE 1920s for a month. It took me a while to read these 1100+ pages. I’d be interested in CLASSIC AMERICAN CRIME FICTION OF THE 1930s if that gets published.
I haven’t read any of these classic crime novels, George. But I’m glad they’re available in this anthology (now one too many on my list).
Prashant, on Dec. 12, Asia’s richest man — oil-and-telecom tycoon Mukesh Ambani — gave away his daughter Isha to billionaire Ajay Piramal’s son, Anand. I’m impressed that this week-long extravaganza cost about $100 million! Were you invited?
No, I wasn’t, George! The mega wedding is doing the rounds on social media but most ordinary Indians are going about their daily life. This one is probably bigger than some big corporate-politico-celebrity weddings we’ve had in the past. Hillary Clinton and John Kerry were among the guests.
Prashant, Beyoncé performed at that mega-wedding, too!
Totally OT:
That wedding was even in the Hungarian news – my wife told me right now!
It’s a crazy, crazy world …
I must admit that I didn’t like those “old” crime novels from the 20s and 30s – I started essentially with the post WW2 novels which maybe summed up the experience of the authors in the war.
Hadn’t known that Ellery Quenn started so early …
Wolf, Ellery Queen produced mysteries for over 50 years. The later Ellery Queen mysteries were ghost-written by various writers.
John Grant reviews one of Jack Vance’s “Ellery Queen” novels in another FFB this week:
Friday’s Forgotten Books…and November’s Underappreciated Music