The Detection Collection - Hardcover

The Detection Club

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 031235763X ISBN 13: 9780312357634

Publisher: Minotaur Books, 2006

Synopsis

The Detection Club is the oldest and most exclusive crime writing organization and it has always represented the cream of British crime writing talent. The founding and early members were amongst the most famous and best loved figures in the golden age - Agatha Christie, G. K. Chesteron, Dorothy Sayers, John Dickson Carr (the only American ever to be a member) among others - and membership remains by invitation only.

     Now to celebrate the impending seventy-fifth anniversary of The Detection Club, its members have produced The Detection Collection - a collection of eleven new stories from the best and the brightest in the British crime field. This original volume includes never-before-published stories from Lindsey Davis, P.D. James, Robert Barnard, Colin Dexter, John Harvey, Reginald Hill, Peter Lovesey, and others, as well as an introduction and history of the Detection Club from the current Club president Simon Brett.  This outstanding collection is a true must-have volume for mystery lovers around the world.

About this title

About the Author

Simon Brett is the current president of The Detection Club and has been a radio producer, actor and writer. As a crime writer, he's the author of numerous acclaimed novels and stories, perhaps best known for those featuring Mrs. Pargeter. He lives in England.

Reviews

Britain's Detection Club, founded in 1930 by such legends of the genre as Agatha Christie and Dorothy Sayers, celebrates its 75th anniversary with an all-original anthology whose strongest entries are by two living legends, P.D. James and Colin Dexter. The volume opens with James's "The Part-time Job," an ironic and concise tale of vengeance narrated from beyond the grave by the victim of a childhood bully. Inspector Morse's creator weighs in with "Between the Lines," a twisty exercise in deception related through correspondence between two friends who may have witnessed a theft on a train. Weaker stories include H.R.F. Keating's "A Toothbrush," which has a marvelous setup—a man returns home to find a strange toothbrush has mysteriously appeared in his bathroom—but a disappointingly prosaic payoff. Editor Brett provides a brief history of the Detection Club. (May)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The UK's invitation-only Detection Club boasts the cream of British crime writers; its early members included Agatha Christie, G. K. Chesterton, Dorothy Sayers, and John Dickson Carr (the only American ever to be awarded membership). In celebration of the club's seventy-fifth anniversary, its current president, Simon Brett (of the Charles Paris, Mrs. Pargeter, and Fethering series), has assembled 11 never-before-published stories from current members P. D. James, Robert Barnard, Colin Dexter, Reginald Hill, and H. R. F. Keating, among others. Besides the star power, this collection offers an impressive range of stories. Readers can move, for example, from the paranoia induced by the cruel games of corporate role-playing in Michael Ridpath's "Partnership Track" to Clare Francis' devastating character study, "The Holiday," to P. D. James' knockout account of obsession, "The Part-Time Job." Brett provides an introduction to the stories and an urbane account of the Detection Club's history. A quality anthology for fans of the crime short story. Connie Fletcher
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Edition details

• Publisher: Minotaur Books
• Publication date: 2006
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 031235763X
• ISBN 13: 9780312357634
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 208
• Editor: Brett Simon