Twelve English Detective Stories

These twelve stories provide an entertaining exploration of this extensive and fascinating corner of English popular fiction, celebrating the detective's intellectual and intuitive powers when confronted with murder, theft, and other mysteries. The main focus of this collection is from the 1890s to the 1920s, the period when the classic English detective story was at its confident and original best, but it also offers examples from earlier and later periods. Presenting a balance of classic and more unusual stories, and featuring works by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, G. K. Chesterton, Dorothy L. Sayers, and Michael Innes, this anthology will appeal to both the newcomer and aficionado of the genre.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0192880969
• ISBN13: 9780192880963
• Release Date: March 1999
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
• Length: 272 Pages
• Weight: 0.50 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.1" x 7.7"
• Age Range: 6 years and up
• Grade Range: Grade 1 and higher

Customer Reviews

Murder and Mayhem and Grisly Thrills

Oxford University Press has enjoyed great success with their anthologies over the years, and the Oxford Twelves series is a shorter introduction to their collections of sensational fiction. The editors draw extensively from the golden age of the 19th century and find plenty of gems from the 20th to back them up. Michael Cox's volume of detective stories is a typically enjoyable example, with six stories from the period 1892-1923 and six later examples, including the relatively modern offering from Julian Symons dating from 1986 ("The Flaw", in which a man seeking to commit the perfect crime finds that he is not the only one with that objective in mind!). In my opinion, the newer stories in the collection are stronger (with the exception of "The Adventure of the Stockbroker's Clerk," a fine example of Sherlock Holmes at work). The tales by Dorothy L. Sayers, H.C. Bailey, E.C. Bentley and Michael Innes are quite spectacular.

nail biting experience

Reading this book was really a chilling experience. I really liked the book and I want each and every person interested in Detective stories to read this book.