The World of mystery fiction

by Elliot L. Gilbert

What and why is a mystery story? Who is a detective and where did he (or she) come front? In this collection of mystery classics, Elliot Gilbert maps the geography of the world of mystery fiction from England to France to Belgium to the United States.

Genres: Mystery, Fiction

441 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1978

Reviews

[Barbara Peters · Rating 4 out of 5]

an interesting anthology about how modern day mysteries have developed over the last several hundred years. Stories from many of the famous writers are included.

[Beverly · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very nice selection of 24 stories, from very early Dickens, Vidocq, and Poe to more recent selections of Hammett, Chandler, and Christie. It is sort of arranged as an evolution of the detective story through the ages. Indeed, the older stories seemed to have more philosophizing, while the newer stories seemed more focused on plot. For all mystery buffs.

[Constantine]

paperback

[Laura Verret · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was super-excited when I found The World of Mystery Fiction at a Goodwill. I grew up reading children’s mystery series and started in on Sherlock Holmes when I was thirteen. Of late my expeditions into classic detective fiction have expanded to greater realms – Sayers, Christie, Chesterton, etc. – and my enjoyment has been amply multiplied.

The World of Mystery Fiction, then, was a treasure indeed when I found it. For it is exactly what it calls itself – a world. And it introduces its readers to a world – a world of mysteries and their architects.

The World of Mystery Fiction begins with one of the earliest stories in the detective genre – Victims of My Craft, written in the early eighteen hundreds by Francois Eugene Vidocq, and moves forward from there. It includes stories by Dickens, Poe, Doyle, Chesterton and others as it moves into the 20th century. Commenting on the stylistic progressions and differences between each epoch of mystery writing, The World of Mystery Fiction winds its way through murders and puzzles, each written by a master of crime, and ends with the most modern detective writers, such as Agatha Christie and Jorge Luis Borges.

[Diane · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great collection of mystery fiction, from Vidocq to one by Jorge Luis Borges. Published in 1983, there obviously is a lot of updating to do, but for the classics it is good. There are stories by the obvious - Christie, Dickens, Doyle, Chandler, Poe. But there are a few by authors I wasn't familiar with, and were delightful. A satisfying read.

[Peter · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gilbert's collection consists of a sampling of the founders of mystery fiction as well as his own insightful introduction.