Bodies from the Library 4: Forgotten Stories of Mystery and Suspense by the Queens of Crime and Other Masters of the Golden Age

by Tony Medawar (Editor), Ngaio Marsh, Christianna Brand, Edmund Crispin

Overview

This annual anthology of rare stories of crime and suspense brings together tales from the Golden Age of Detective Fiction for the first time in book form, including a short novel by Christianna Brand.

Mystery stories have been around for centuries—there are whodunits, whydunits and howdunits, including locked-room puzzles, detective stories without detectives, and crimes with a limited choice of suspects.

Countless volumes of such stories have been published, but some are still impossible to find: stories that appeared in a newspaper, magazine or an anthology that has long been out of print; ephemeral works such as plays not aired, staged or screened for decades; and unpublished stories that were absorbed into an author’s archive when they died . . .

Here for the first time are three never-before-published mysteries by Edmund Crispin, Ngaio Marsh and Leo Bruce, and two pieces written for radio by Gladys Mitchell and H. C. Bailey—the latter featuring Reggie Fortune.

Together with a newly unearthed short story by Ethel Lina White that inspired Hitchcock’s The Lady Vanishes, and a complete short novel by Christianna Brand, this diverse mix of tales by some of the world’s most popular classic crime writers contains something for everyone.

Complete with indispensable biographies by Tony Medawar of all the featured authors, the fourth volume in the series Bodies from the Library once again brings into the daylight the forgotten, the lost and the unknown.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780008380984
Publisher:	HarperCollins Publishers
Publication date:	09/30/2021
Series:	Bodies from the Library Series , #4
Sold by:	HarperCollins Publishers
Format:	eBook
Pages:	416
Sales rank:	465,533
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

Editor Tony Medawar is a detective fiction expert and researcher with a penchant for tracking down rare stories. In addition to the Bodies from the Library series, he has edited anthologies including While the Light Lasts (Agatha Christie), The Avenging Chance (Anthony Berkeley), The Spotted Cat (Christianna Brand), A Spot of Folly (Ruth Rendell) The 9.50 Up Express (Freeman Wills Crofts), and the book Murder, She Said: The Quotable Miss Marple.

Dame Ngaio Marsh was born in New Zealand in 1895 and died in February 1982. She wrote over 30 detective novels and many of her stories have theatrical settings, for Ngaio Marsh’s real passion was the theatre. She was both an actress and producer and almost single-handedly revived the New Zealand public’s interest in the theatre. It was for this work that the received what she called her ‘damery’ in 1966.

Robert Bruce Montgomery was born in Buckinghamshire in 1921, and was a golden age crime writer as well as a successful concert pianist and composer. Under the pseudonym Edmund Crispin, he wrote 9 detective novels and 42 short stories. In addition to his reputation as a leader in the field of mystery genre, he contributed to many periodicals and newspapers and edited sci–fi anthologies. After the golden years of the 1950s he retired from the limelight to Devonshire until his death in 1978.

Editorial Reviews

★ 12/13/2021

The bulk of the 17 selections in Medawar’s excellent fourth anthology of traditional crime fiction were either unpublished or never collected. Highlights include Shadowed Sunlight, a brilliant Christianna Brand novel unavailable for more than 75 years, and the previously unpublished script of a radio play by H.C. Bailey, “The Only Husband,” featuring his series sleuth Reggie Fortune, who inspired S.S. Van Dine’s better-known Philo Vance. Every story is top-notch, including six originally published in a British newspaper from authors who had to base short mysteries linked to cryptic drawings containing clues, such as an image of a goblet on top of an anvil. But the standout is a never before seen gem from Edmund Crispin, “Child’s Play,” in which the four charges of a newly hired governess include an orphan who recently moved in with her three cousins after her parents died. The crime at its heart—and Crispin’s way of disclosing it—is a genuine gut punch that will linger long after the book’s finished. This is a treasure trove for golden age fans. (Oct.)

Publishers Weekly

‘In this trip down memory lane, familiar names from the golden age, such as Ngaio Marsh, Gladys Mitchell and Edmund Crispin, share the honours with lesser lights claiming their overdue recognition as gifted contributors to classic crime. The centrepiece is a novella by Christianna Brand who, after years of neglect, is now enjoying a revival. Other snappier tales of criminal intent, gathered for the first time in book form, testify to Tony Medawar’s skill as an excavator of lost treasures of crime fiction. This, the fourth in the series of Bodies From The Library, is the best yet.’—Daily Mail

'An annual treat – almost like the summer version of a Christie for Christmas.'—Kate Jackson, author of The Pocket Detective and Cross Examining Crime

‘One of the best mixed anthologies I’ve come across … If you’re already a vintage crime fan, then this is one to grab; and if you’re new to the genre, then you’ll find this a very enjoyable way to introduce yourself to some of the greats. Highly recommended!’—FictionFanBlog

From the Publisher