The Penguin Book of Murder Mysteries, Michael Sims
The Penguin Book of Murder Mysteries, Michael Sims
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The Penguin Book of Murder Mysteries

Author: Michael Sims

Narrator: Steve Hendrickson, Brian Thomas Abraham, Matthew Lloyd Davies, Rupert Degas, Vas Eli, Peter Forbes, Billie Fulford-Brown, Jerome Harmann-Hardeman, John Keating, Gabra Zackman

Unabridged: 12 hr 56 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Penguin Audio

Published: 11/21/2023

Synopsis

For classic murder mystery readers, a scintillating anthology of lost treasures to read alongside Edgar Allan Poe and Sherlock Holmes

A Penguin Classic

For The Penguin Book of Murder Mysteries, writer and anthologist Michael Sims did not summon the usual suspects. He sought the unfamiliar, the unjustly forgotten, and little-known gems by writers from outside the genre.  This historical tour of one of our most popular literary categories includes stories never before reprinted, features rebellious early “lady detectives," and spotlights former stars of the crime field—Austrian novelist Auguste Groner and prolific American Geraldine Bonner among them. For twenty-first century connoisseurs of crime, The Penguin Book of Murder Mysteries celebrates how the nineteenth century added a fierce modern twist to the ancient theme of bloody murder.

About The Author

Michael Sims is the author of Arthur and Sherlock, which was a finalist for the Edgar from the Mystery Writers of America, the Gold Dagger from the Crime Writers Association of Great Britain, and numerous other awards; Adam’s Navel, which was a New York Times Notable Book and a Library Journal Best Science Book; The Story of Charlotte's Web, which was chosen by the Washington Post and several other venues as a Best Book of the Year; and In the Womb: Animals, the companion book for the popular National Geographic Channel series. For Penguin Classics he has edited several anthologies, including The Annotated Archy and Mehitabel; Arsene Lupin, Gentleman-Thief; and The Penguin Book of Victorian Women in Crime. He writes regularly for the New York Times and other periodicals, and his work is widely translated around the world.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Erin

See my review on www.mysteryandsuspense.com Expected publication date: Jan. 24, 2024 The Penguin Book of Murder Mysteries by Michael Sims is an anthology of crime stories, most featuring a crime-fighting detective, with a dead body (or two) and a murderer on the loose. Most of the novels f......more

Goodreads review by Jiapei

Taking it slow series. I'm a sucker for murder mysteries. As the editor Michael Sims wrote in his introduction, murders fascinate us because they are the ultimate crime, and mysteries are like magician's tricks, where the endings keep shifting until the big reveal. I'm excited to explore some new wr......more

Goodreads review by Zeke

I was fairly disappointed by this anthology. The title is misleading: the stories within are not all murder mysteries. Only an extremely broad definition of the genre would suffice to qualify Charles W. Chesnutt’s “The Sheriff’s Children,” and no definition could possibly be broad enough to qualify......more

Goodreads review by sahra

Thanks to Netgalley and PENGUIN GROUP Penguin Books, Penguin Classics Publishers for the Arc! This is a great collection of stories showcasing some classic mystery writers over the last 100 or so years. I'm not going to comment or review the original stories, rather the introduction by Michael Sims......more

Quotes

"Vintage gems. . . . Overlooked and underappreciated mystery stories from the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries."
—Sarah Weinman, The New York Times Book Review

★ "Stellar collection of 13 classic stories from lesser-known authors. . . . Throughout, Sims’s choices, which showcase his encyclopedic knowledge of mystery fiction, range from good to great, and place welcome focus on the historic contributions of women to the genre. Even the most well-read mystery fans have good reason to check this out."
—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"Little-known whodunits, several of them published long before Sherlock Holmes first appeared...Sims is a kind of literary archaeologist, unearthing half-buried treasure."
—Michael Dirda, Washington Post

"A must-read for any classic murder mystery fan."
—Town & Country

"A deliberately broad cross-section . . . including a near-equal mix of male and female authors of varied backgrounds. . . . These contemporaries of Poe, Collins, and Doyle . . . created clever, memorable characters who employed the technologies of their era, thrilling readers with the awful crime, the cat-and-mouse chase, and the triumph of order over chaos."
—Chris Scott, Chapter 16

"Entertaining, wide-ranging anthology . . . . Includes stories never before reprinted, rebellious early female detectives, and spotlights former stars of the crime field.”
—Pamela Brown, The North Salem Post

“All the stories are by writers who, for the most part, remain either overlooked or underappreciated. . . . . Some stories are especially obscure and appear here in print for the first time since their original publication. . . . All show how the genre developed, with each writer introducing key ingredients that have become standard components. . . . Tension and excitement build to a neat denouement that brings, if not justice, then some semblance of resolution. . . . [Authors include] Pulitzer Prize winner Ellen Glasgow and pioneer black writer Charles W. Chesnutt. Both are welcome but surprise additions, as neither author is associated with the crime genre. Their respective stories — one examining ethical killing, the other the consequences of race murder — constitute fascinating forays into new territory.”
—Malcolm Forbes, Washington Examiner

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