The Oxford Book of Detective Stories

by Patricia Craig (Editor)

The Oxford Book of Detective Stories is a thorough, broad, and representative collection of short stories intended to reflect the best of detective fiction from around the world. Drawing on works dating from the middle 1800s up to the present, editor Patricia Craig shows us how different nationalities have imposed their own stamp on this highly popular and relatively young literary genre. Alongside English and American fiction by such acknowledged masters as Ellery Queen, Dashiell Hammett, Erle Stanley Gardner, and Agatha Christie, we find stories by Georges Simenon, Arthur Conan Doyle, Sarah Paretsky, and Ian Rankin. The anthology roams across Europe and Further afield to embrace Japan, Denmark, Holland, Italy, Argentina, Czechoslovakia, and other countries. This is a book that will delight any fan or student of detective fiction. Women detectives, police procedurals, the amateur sleuth, locked-room mysteries, and the classic or pioneering models of the genre are all represented here -- and in her perceptive and inclusive introduction Craig examines the figure of the detective in international literature.

Genres: Mystery, Anthologies, Short Stories

604 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2000

Reviews

[Jill H. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Now for something completely different. This is a compilation of 33 short detective stories written through the years up until the present (well, fairly present) time and what makes it different is that I never heard of many of these authors and some of the stories were not very well done. That doesn't make it a bad book, it just makes it a surprising book. With the thousands of short detective stories out there, I felt that the editor could have found some that were a little better and included some of the classic writers in the collection. It is always nice to find a new author to read but I found few here that particularly caught my eye. There was one story, however, by a Japanese author, which was so clever and well written (translated) that I intend to look for more of his works.

The quality of the stories is uneven but it is still a decent read for the mystery lover.

[Scott · Rating 3 out of 5]

I discovered through Goodreads that this anthology included a story by Sarah Caudwell that I hadn't read! (I've read everything I could find from her - she was fantastic!) As a fan of short stories, I decided to read the rest of them. And I also found a story by Garry Disher delightful. As in any collection, there were good stories and there were so-so stories, but it's always worth reading a variety and trying some that aren't to your taste to discover new gems. This collection also sometimes pushes the boundaries of "detective" stories... but I admire Patricia's willingness to risk that.

[James S. · Rating 1 out of 5]

I've noticed that there's an inverse relationship between how interesting an anthology's introduction is compared to how banal the contents are. This book proves it: an entertaining introduction is followed by the most dreary, numbing, soul-destroying collection of crime fiction probably ever compiled. Not worth the paper it's printed on.

[Davidg · Rating 4 out of 5]

On the whole, this is a very good selection of detective stories. The placing of Christie in the midst of hard-boiled US noir doesn’t do her more genteel cosy crime any favours. Only with the more recent selections does the book weaken. The editor had decided to go with knowing metafiction, rather than decent stories in their own right. A star docked for the last half dozen or so stories.

[Sandy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although there were a few stories that didn't interest me, on the whole this was an excellent collection. The only story I skipped was a fairly long Raymond Chandlor, though I did skim a later one that I had trouble following. It is arranged by date, and I know more of the earlier author than the recent ones and often like them better. There are a few stories in translation.

[Sue · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was ok ,that's all. A few stories were really good, a few mediocre. I thought it might introduce me to new authors that I would like to read but it wasn't very inspiring.

[BARBARA · Rating 4 out of 5]

not restricted to English or US writers; I can't assess the quality of translation for those originally in French or Spanish.

I discovered a dislike for the noir genre.

[Christine PNW]

Stories read:

The Ravine by Paolo Levi (translated from Italian): 9/23/24

[Jeff Hobbs]

Read so far:

Emile Gaboriau, Missing--2
*John Charles Dent, The Gerrard Street Mystery
Conan Doyle, The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle--3
R. Austin Freeman, A Mystery of the Sandhills--2
*Maurice Leblanc, The Bridge that Broke
*Palle Rosenkrantz, A Sensible Course of Action
*William MacHarg, Murder Makes it Worse
Jacques Futrelle, The Stolen Rubens--2
*Harvey J. O'Higgins, The Marshall Murder
*Raymond Chandler, No Crime in the Mountains
Erle Stanley Gardner, The Case of the Irate Witness
Agatha Christie, The Adventure of the Egyptian Tomb--3
Dashiell Hammett, Death & Company
James Thurber, The Macbeth Murder Mystery--3
Jorge Luis Borges, Death and the Compass--2
Georges Simenon, from Maigret's Memoirs
*Ellery Queen, My Queer Dean
Seicho Matsumoto, The Cooperative Defendant--2
Robert van Gulik, The Murder on the Lotus Pond--2
Paolo Levi, The Ravine
Gwendoline Butler, Bloody Windsor
Josef Skvorecky, The Classic Semerak Case
Amanda Cross, Arrie and Jasper--2
*James Melville, Santa-San solves it
*Janwillem Van De Wetering, The Deadly Egg
*Ted Wood, Pit Bull
*Stuart Kaminsky, Find Miriam
Shizuko Natsuki, Divine Punishment--3
Sarah Caudwell, An Acquaintance with Mr Collins--3
*Sue Grafton, A Little Missionary Work
Vincent Banville, Body Count
Pentti Kirstila, Brown Eyes and Green Hair
*Ruth Dudley Edwards, Father Brown in Muncie, Indiana
Gary Disher, My Brother Jack
Sara Paretsky, Dealer's Choice
Peter Robinson, Summer Rain
Ian Rankin, The Dean Curse

[Brendan · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Oxford Book of Detective Stories aims not for complete coverage nor for pure idiosyncrasy. Instead, it treads a line down the middle, including some notable early stories but not all of them or not the usual suspects. She does hit a few classics, but not the ones you'd expect--we get a Doyle story, but it's "The Blue Carbuncle," an amusing story but not usually noted as one of the best. In that vein, the collection includes quite a few clever gems, and a good collection of international crime stories, which are not usually well-represented in such books.

At the same time, Craig makes no effort to divide the stories into subgenres of any kind. Since both the previous anthologies did this, I have to admit that I got used to having an extra set of dividing lines to lean on, for discussion and scheduling purposes. Nor does Craig make much effort to represent female writers very well. She attributes this lack of diversity to quality, arguing that she was just looking for the best stories, but I'm not convinced.

My favorite tales from the book are: "Pit Bull," about an old codger whose dog gets stolen and goes on his own undercover operation to recover it from a dog fighting ring; "Death and the Compass," a classic twisty story about a detective investigating a series of murders a bit too close for comfort; "A Little Missionary Work," a solid hard-boiled story about a kidnapping and ransom adventure.

It's a decent collection, but not much more.

[JDK1962 · Rating 2 out of 5]

I can't believe I actually finished this (it's a wonder what being ill and couch-ridden will do for your reading discipline). But I slogged through this whole thing and I think I actually enjoyed only one of the stories, the Raymond Chandler. The Sherlock Holmes story I had read before, and it was one of the throwaways (i.e., that did virtually nothing to tell you who Sherlock Holmes was, or why he's an interesting character). I had zero interest in reading any more by any of these authors, and in some cases (e.g., Blue Eyes and Green Hair), the work was so mediocre, I had no idea why the editor had chosen to include it.

Completely unimpressed. Off to the used book store with it.

[Nat · Rating 4 out of 5]

Decent collection of short detective stories. The most engaging story concerns some ordinary Canadian guy whose dog gets dognapped by a gang of dog fighting gangsters and he has to confront them to get the dog back.

[Carrie Hannigan · Rating 1 out of 5]

Although I did not read all of the stories, the stories overall did not meet the standards I was expecting, especially from the well-known authors included in the anthology. Most stories lacked character depth, theme, or plot development beyond the basic crime + resolution.

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

Part of the search for Sarah Caudwell stories, lots of new authors in here (and her).