I love the cover of Guilty Creatures: A Menagerie of Mysteries. It’s one of the most recent collections from British Library Crime Classics. As always, Martin Edwards edited the collection, and wrote the introduction to this anthology of stories involving the animal kingdom. As Edwards says, animals may be “victims, witnesses, even detectives” in the stories. And, occasionally they are the villains of the piece as well. But, neither Edwards nor I will point readers in the direction of the animal as villain. You’ll have to read the stories yourself.
Edwards provides a short biography of each author as well as the background of the publication of each story. Many of the authors wrote during the Golden Age of Mysteries, the 1920s and ’30s. Martin Edwards not only introduces each author, but also provides an introduction to the detectives in the stories.
“The Adventure of the Lion’s Main” by Arthur Conan Doyle is an unusual story, told by Sherlock Holmes himself. He’s retired, and seldom sees Watson, so he provides his own narration for this story. I must have read it somewhere before, because I remembered the killer. F. Tennyson Jesse’s “The Green Parakeet” features a female amateur sleuth who detects evil. And, of course there’s one of my favorite detectives from this period, G.K. Chesterton’s Father Brown in “The Oracle of the Dog”. Along with the Holmes mystery, my favorite story in the book might have been “Pit of Screams” by Garnett Radcliffe. It’s set in India, and has a surprise ending.
Whether you want to read about horses or dogs, cats or parakeets or jackdaws, there’s a story here for anyone who wants a mystery featuring animals. How can you go wrong with another intriguing collection featuring authors such as H.C. Bailey, Edgar Wallace, Josephine Bell, Christianna Brand, and, of course, Doyle and Chesterton? And, of course, there are always those excellent tidbits discovered through Martin Edwards’ research, the bits and pieces he shares with readers.
Martin Edwards’ website is https://martinedwardsbooks.com/
Guilty Creatures: A Menagerie of Mysteries edited by Martin Edwards. Sourcebooks/Poisoned Pen Press, 2022. ISBN 9781464215841 (paperback) 301p.
FTC Full Disclosure – The publisher sent a copy of the book, with no promises of a review.
Thanks, Lesa. My library has one e-book available (though someone just beat me to it!) so it is on my hold list.
You’re welcome, Jeff. I really enjoy these collections. Some stories are better than others, naturally, but I like the variety. Well, darn. I don’t know how someone beat you to it!
I went on the library’s site, and when I saw they had a copy, I assumed there would be a wait list. But when I went to put it on hold, I saw that it said “available to download.” But when I tried to do it, I got “Oops! Someone beat you to it.”
Ny guess is, the book was probably checked out since the library had closed the day before and it hadn’t been updated until I tried to get it.
That’s OK. I’m already reading three other story collections.
Hi Lesa! I also love that cover. This sounds like an interesting collection.
I haven’t been near a computer for several Thursdays and haven’t checked in. This Thursday I will be helping my mom have a garage sale and won’t be able to check in either. Hope your summer is going well! Sorry if this comes through twice, it didn’t seem to take the first time.
Only once, Gretchen. I hope the garage sale goes well.
Oh, that’s okay. Sometimes life comes before blogs and computers. We’ll look forward to your return when you have time. In the meantime, enjoy life and your mom!