In the spirit of Umberto Eco’s The Name of the Rose and Ellis Peters’ acclaimed Brother Cadfael mysteries, here is a collection of historical detective stories, written by contemporary authors and featuring a gallery of offbeat sleuths from the past. In a wry send-up of the classic “locked room” puzzle, an Egyptian sage ponders the mystery of a locked tomb. In another tale, a Roman slave’s investigation of a theft leads him to people in very high places. Edgar Allan Poe’s Auguste Dupin has been resurrected for a new adventure, as have historical figures, from William Shakespeare—hot on the trail of Christopher Marlowe's murderer—to Samuel Johnson, with Boswell playing his Dr. Watson! These 23 tales comprise a mixed bag of delicious crime capers designed to tickle the fancy of any dedicated mystery buff.
Contents: The locked tomb mystery / Elizabeth Peters — The thief versus King Rhampsinitus / Herodotus — Socrates solves a murder / Brèni James — Mightier than the sword / John Maddox Roberts — The treasury thefts / Wallace Nichols — A Byzantine mystery / Mary Reed and Eric Mayer — He came with the rain / Robert van Gulik — The High King’s sword / Peter Tremayne — The price of light / Ellis Peters — The confession of Brother Athelstan / Paul Harding — The witch’s tale / Margaret Frazer — Father Hugh and the deadly scythe / Mary Monica Pulver — Leonardo da Vinci, detective / Theodore Mathieson — A sad and bloody hour / Joe Gores — The Christmas Masque / S. S. Rafferty — Murder lock’d in / Lillian de la Torre — Captain Nash and the Wroth inheritance / Raymond Butler — The Doomdorf mystery / Melville Davisson Post — Murder in the Rue Royale / Michael Harrison — The gentleman from Paris / John Dickson Carr — The Golden Nugget poker game / Edward D. Hoch — The case of the Deptford horror / Adrian Conan Doyle — Five rings in Reno / R. L. Stevens — Afterword : Old-time detection / Arthur Griffiths
In the spirit of Umberto Eco’s The Name of the Rose and Ellis Peters’ acclaimed Brother Cadfael mysteries, here is a collection of historical detective stories, written by contemporary authors and featuring a gallery of offbeat sleuths from the past. In a wry send-up of the classic “locked room” puzzle, an Egyptian sage ponders the mystery of a locked tomb. In another tale, a Roman slave’s investigation of a theft leads him to people in very high places. Edgar Allan Poe’s Auguste Dupin has been resurrected for a new adventure, as have historical figures, from William Shakespeare—hot on the trail of Christopher Marlowe's murderer—to Samuel Johnson, with Boswell playing his Dr. Watson! These 23 tales comprise a mixed bag of delicious crime capers designed to tickle the fancy of any dedicated mystery buff.
Contents: The locked tomb mystery / Elizabeth Peters — The thief versus King Rhampsinitus / Herodotus — Socrates solves a murder / Brèni James — Mightier than the sword / John Maddox Roberts — The treasury thefts / Wallace Nichols — A Byzantine mystery / Mary Reed and Eric Mayer — He came with the rain / Robert van Gulik — The High King’s sword / Peter Tremayne — The price of light / Ellis Peters — The confession of Brother Athelstan / Paul Harding — The witch’s tale / Margaret Frazer — Father Hugh and the deadly scythe / Mary Monica Pulver — Leonardo da Vinci, detective / Theodore Mathieson — A sad and bloody hour / Joe Gores — The Christmas Masque / S. S. Rafferty — Murder lock’d in / Lillian de la Torre — Captain Nash and the Wroth inheritance / Raymond Butler — The Doomdorf mystery / Melville Davisson Post — Murder in the Rue Royale / Michael Harrison — The gentleman from Paris / John Dickson Carr — The Golden Nugget poker game / Edward D. Hoch — The case of the Deptford horror / Adrian Conan Doyle — Five rings in Reno / R. L. Stevens — Afterword : Old-time detection / Arthur Griffiths