Continental Crimes a cornucopia of mystery delights

Continental Crimes A British Library Crime Classic by ed. by Martin Edwards Poisoned Pen Press Historical Fiction , Mystery & Thrillers Pub Date 01 Aug 2017

Review

Continental Crimes is a panacea of intrigue, offering readers a variety of lesser known stories from mystery greats both famous and forgotten. The machinations of thieves, con artists and murderers are pitted against detectives both professional and amateur. What all have in common is their European setting - not a single cozy English village to be found. Like all of Poisoned Press’s anthologies, Continental Crimes prefaces each story with a short biography of the author and an explanation of their place in mystery history. I enjoyed the variety of puzzles, as as always liked learning about lesser known authors and their works. It is a bit like finding hidden treasure. These anthologies make for the perfect 10 minute escape - a story in the time it takes to relax with a cup of coffee or tea. Of course you can binge read them which is almost as fun.

5 / 5

I received a copy of Continental Crimes from the publisher and Netgalley.com in exchange for an honest review.

--Crittermom

Description

A man is forbidden to uncover the secret of the tower in a fairy-tale castle by the Rhine. A headless corpse is found in a secret garden in Paris – belonging to the city’s chief of police. And a drowned man is fished from the sea off the Italian Riviera, leaving the carabinieri to wonder why his socialite friends at the Villa Almirante are so unconcerned by his death. These are three of the scenarios in this new collection of vintage crime stories. Detective stories from the golden age and beyond have used European settings – cosmopolitan cities, rural idylls and crumbling chateaux – to explore timeless themes of revenge, deception, murder and haunting. Including lesser-known stories by Agatha Christie, Arthur Conan Doyle, G.K. Chesterton, J. Jefferson Farjeon and other classic writers, this collection reveals many hidden gems of British crime.

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