"Resorting to Murder: Holiday Mysteries"

Here we are in late Spring, when a young man's (or woman's) fancy turns to thoughts of...vacation. Or "holidays," as our British cousins would put it. So what better way to prepare for a summer's pleasure and leisure than by reading a new release from the British Library's Crime Classics series called Resorting to Murder: Holiday Mysteries, selected and edited by British mystery writer and critic Martin Edwards (and published in the U. S. by the Poisoned Pen Press, which made a copy available to me for this review). It is a collection of 14 classic mystery stories about holidays – and, for that matter, about sleuths and criminals on holidays - and it is the subject of today's audio review on the Classic Mysteries podcast; you can listen to the entire review by clicking here.

Many of the stories in Resorting to Murder date from the Golden Age of detective fiction, those years between the two world wars, although a couple of the stories, while written in that period, have never been published, at least in book form, until this volume. There are familiar authors - Arthur Conan Doyle, G. K. Chesterton, Anthony Berkeley, R. Austin Freeman - and some far less familiar: M. McDonnell Bodkin anyone? But all the stories are cleverly written and plotted, and even the better-known author are represented by stories that don't often get reprinted. Edwards contributes a lively and informative introduction to the book as well as supplying excellent introductory essays to each story. It's perfect for your holidays - the stories are light and the right length for summer reading.

I'm on vacation myself this week, so I'll direct you to the podcast (linked above), where you'll find my summary of the stories that are contained in this delightful volume. Try it. You'll  like it. 

Comments

[D]

In my opinion, Les, you can't go wrong when Martin Edwards is at the editing helm...

[Les Blatt]

Agreed completely. I hope to finish reading his non-fiction book on Golden Age authors very soon, and I'll have a post about it when I do. It - and he - are really wonderful resources.