I dipped into this wonderful old anthology over the past couple of weeks. I once actively collected the Modern Library series, and this book was on those shelves, though it’s in far from collectible condition. It does have a fun old gift inscription and a big old crease through the front board, which somehow makes the book look more friendly.
Earlier I read an essay about how the story The Case of Oscar Brodski, one of the Dr. Thorndyke mysteries by R. Austin Freeman was revolutionary for being the first We See Who Commits the Crime, Will They Be Caught style of stories. In old essays about crime fiction, this is often called an Inverted Detective Story. I had nev
er read Dr. Thorndyke and was not familiar at all with The Case of Oscar Brodski. Then, VOILA, springing forth from my own shelves, there it was. I think Freeman’s story holds up and was pretty good, even to this modern reader.
However, also in this book, the real treat was Cornell Woolrich’s short story The Dancing Detective. Wow! For suspense, menace, and just a straight-up creepy story, what a knockout! The narrator’s voice was so enjoyable, with just the right amount of dark humor. The contemporary slang, also very well done and hilarious. This short story exceeds a lot of stuff coming out today, but then again, Cornell Woolrich is still considered a master of the genre.
The stories included in this edition (earlier editions had slightly different contents):
Bailey, H.C. The Yellow Slugs
Bentley, E.C. The Little Mystery
Chesterton, G.K. The Blue Cross
Christie, Agatha The Third-Floor Flat
Dickson, Carter The House of Goblin Wood
Doyle, A. ConanThe Red-Headed League
Freeman, R. Austin The Case of Oscar Brodski
Futrelle, Jacques The Problem Of Cell 13
Poe, Edgar Allan The Purloined Letter
Post, Melville Davisson The Age of Miracles
Queen, Ellery The Adventure of the African Traveler
Sayers, Dorothy L. The Bone of Contention
Stout, Rex Instead of Evidence
Woolrich, Cornell The Dancing Detective
About the Author: Benjamin L. Clark writes and works as a museum curator.