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The stories have been arranged in developmental, roughly chronologic, sequence. We begin with an appearance by Sherlock Holmes, still the beacon by which all that happens in the English Country House Mystery is guided. Then follow some early accounts, showing the influences of Walpole, Burns, and other romantic novelists. Then several classical accounts, from the rivals of Sherlock Holmes through the work of one of the last great ladies of the English mystery, Christianna Brand. Some important variants are interspersed, most notably: the inverted story, in which the perpetrator and his methods are known, and the means of detection alone engages us; the Country House Mystery as humor and satire, with P.G. Wodehouse's Jeeves as the pluperfect servant ensnared in the crime; the English Country House Gothic thriller, in which whodunit and how are subordinated to scaring the stuffing out of the poor reader. At the conclusion, there are few end-of-the-cycle Country House mysteries where the postwar realities assert themselves quite strongly. And then, a sweet to conclude: Holmes again, in a final bow to the tradition. - Introduction.
22 stories by Agatha Christie, Ngaio Marsh, Dorothy L. Sayers, Margery Allingham, G.K. Chesterton, Wilkie Collins, Arthur Conan Doyle, P.D. James, and others.… (más)
Thomas Godrey has edited and introduced a volume of "classic crime fiction of Britain's upper crust." English country house murders is the best of the genre with stories beginning with Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes and ending with James Miles' Sherlock Holmes with all the usual suspects in between. Christie is represented by her detective, the mysterious Mr. Quin; Chesterton by Father Brown; Wodehouse by Wooster and Jeeves; Sayers by Lord Peter Wimsey; and many more. The main introduction by Godfrey is hilarious and gets the idea across. The house has to be huge and in the country. The crime needs to be murder but theft will do, especially of jewelry or paintings. For murder, poison or a bop on the head preferred although defenestration is not used enough (throwing a person out of a window). Servants must be present but the butler is best; however the butler shouldn't do it, unless he really isn't a butler. Characters need not be bel;evable, just identifiable. There is so much more in the introduction to be enjoyed. Each story has its own introduction in the grand style and is full of information on author and story.
I thoroughly enjoyed this set of short stories and can highly recommend them. ( )
If you enjoy the classic English murder that is commemorated in the game of Clues you will probably enjoy this collection of short stories that spans the history of the genre. Works by well known authors such as Doyle, Christie and Sayers are included as well as lesser known writers such as Cyril Hare, Ethel Lina White and James Miles. Good introduction. ( )
"English Country House Murders: Classic Crime Fiction of Britain’s Upper Crust," edited by Thomas Godfrey, is just what the title suggests, an anthology of 22 mystery stories, all set in the country houses of the aristocracy in Britain, and all involving murder in one form or another. The nice thing about this anthology is the range of authors: we start with none other than Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and read chronologically up through Ruth Rendell and P.D. James, a period spanning as much as 150 years or so! In between there are stories by Wilkie Collins, Dame Agatha Christie, Dorothy Sayers, Ngaio Marsh, John DIckson Carr, P.G. Wodehouse, Margery Allingham and G.K. Chesterton, to name but a few. An excellent selection of stories to read on cold winter nights; recommended! ( )
The stories have been arranged in developmental, roughly chronologic, sequence. We begin with an appearance by Sherlock Holmes, still the beacon by which all that happens in the English Country House Mystery is guided. Then follow some early accounts, showing the influences of Walpole, Burns, and other romantic novelists. Then several classical accounts, from the rivals of Sherlock Holmes through the work of one of the last great ladies of the English mystery, Christianna Brand. Some important variants are interspersed, most notably: the inverted story, in which the perpetrator and his methods are known, and the means of detection alone engages us; the Country House Mystery as humor and satire, with P.G. Wodehouse's Jeeves as the pluperfect servant ensnared in the crime; the English Country House Gothic thriller, in which whodunit and how are subordinated to scaring the stuffing out of the poor reader. At the conclusion, there are few end-of-the-cycle Country House mysteries where the postwar realities assert themselves quite strongly. And then, a sweet to conclude: Holmes again, in a final bow to the tradition. - Introduction.
22 stories by Agatha Christie, Ngaio Marsh, Dorothy L. Sayers, Margery Allingham, G.K. Chesterton, Wilkie Collins, Arthur Conan Doyle, P.D. James, and others.
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I thoroughly enjoyed this set of short stories and can highly recommend them. (