The Minerva Club: The Department of Patterns and Others

Daring Heists, Impossible Patterns and Deadly Mysteries Victor Canning (1911-1986) created three unique series chronicling the mysteries of some of the most original characters in detective fiction. This collection begins with the misadventures of the Minerva Club, an exclusive club comprised of England's criminals. Whether trying to break into a prison to retrieve a stash of diamonds stowed during a previous incarceration, resolve a faux kidnaping gone wrong, or figure out a way to heist all of the materials needed for a wedding, the Minerva Club always manages to achieve their goal...often in the most surprising of ways. Also included are the enigmatic cases of the Department of Patterns, a French police agency who look for clues and connections between seemingly irrelevant events. Under the guidance of the jovial and hard-nosed Papa Grand, new recruits are taught to see patterns in even the most obscure of places. Finally, follow the journeys of Dr. Kang who finds mystery in his travels around the world. Never one to hide from trouble, Dr. Kang proves his talent for attracting death is surpassed only by his talent for avoiding it. The Minerva Club collects 24 stories, and is the 27th offering in the Lost Classics series -- new collections by great writers of traditional mysteries.

Crippen & Landru again rescues an author from undeserved obscurity with the 27th volume in its Lost Classics series. This collection includes representative stories from Canning's three series, which vary widely in setting and tone. P.G. Wodehouse fans will be delighted with the five Minerva Club tales, centering on an exclusive London club of hapless excons, whose misadventures will have many readers chuckling. The seven stories featuring the Department of Patterns will remind John Dickson Carr admirers of that author's Department of Queer Complaints; Canning's department is a mysterious branch of the French police devoted to combing through mounds of data to figure out, for example, why six trucks have been robbed of one case of tinned chicken breasts each. The nine very short stories featuring Dr. Kang, a Peking University philosophy Ph.D., that close the book are well written but less engaging than the others.
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