65 Great Murder Mysteries

[franklinmarsh]

Mary Danby (ed.) - 65 Great Murder Mysteries

Margery Allingham - Evidence in Camera
Eric Ambler - The Case of the Emerald Sky
Margot Arnold - Acid Test
Robert Arthur - Eyewitness
Arnold Bennett - The Murder of the Mandarin
Phyllis Bentley - Nemesis
Anthony Berkeley - The Avenging Chance
Robert Bloch - Sweets to the Sweet
Frederic Brown - Nightmare in Yellow
Thomas Burke - The Hands of Mr Ottermole
Ramsey Campbell - Baby
Sidney Carroll - A Note for the Milkman
G.K. Chesterton - The Hammer of God
Agatha Christie - Accident
Marc Connelly - Coroner's Inquest
Rupert Croft-Cooke - Banquo's Chair
John Keir Cross - Esmeralda
Roald Dahl - Lamb to the Slaughter
Charles Dickens - The Trial for Murder
Dick Donovan - The Corpse Light
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle - The Veiled Lodger
Roger F. Dunkley - Surprise! Surprise!
Lord Dunsany - The Two Bottles of Relish
Peter Fleming - The Kill
Miriam Allen de Ford - Something to Do with Figures
C.S. Forester - The Turn of the Tide
Celia Fremlin - The Blood on the Innocents
Mrs Gaskell - The Squire's Story
Robert Graves - Earth to Earth
Stephen Grendon - Mrs Manifold
L.P. Hartley - The Two Vaynes
W.F. Harvey - August Heat
Francis Iles - Dark Journey
W.W. Jacobs - The Well
P.D. James - Moment of Power
Michael Kent - Another Shot in the Locker
Rudyard Kipling - The Return of Imray
Maurice Leblanc - The Lady with the Hatchet
Jack London - A Thousand Deaths
John D. MacDonald - Homicidal Hiccup
William P. McGivern - The Sound of Murder
W. Somerset Maugham - An Official Position
Guy de Maupassant - Vendetta
Andrea Newman - Such a Good Idea
Baroness Orczy - The Regent's Park Murder
Barry Perowne - The Blind Spot
Edgar Allan Poe - The Cask of Amontillado
Sapper - The House by the Headland
Dorothy L. Sayers - Suspicion
Margery Sharp - The Second Step
Georges Simenon - The Case of Arnold Schuttringer
Pauline C. Smith - The People Next Door
Nancy Spain - The King of Spades
Muriel Spark - The Portobello Road
Daniel Steele - Blue Murder Wilbur
John Steinbeck - The Murder
Robert Louis Stevenson - Markheim
Bram Stoker - The Secret of the Growing Gold
Julian Symons - A Theme for Hyacinth
William Trevor - Miss Smith
Edgar Wallace - The Treasure Hunt
Hugh Walpole - The Snow
H.G. Wells - The Cone
Dennis Wheatley - In the Fog
Anthony Wynne - The Cyprian Bees


Thanks to Dem, Rip and Bob Rothwell for flagging this up elsewhere. Picked up a copy at the hospital yesterday because there's a few familiar tales and a raft of interesting authors - susequently flew through the first few stories -

Margery Allingham - Evidence in Camera

Mad strangler is bumping off women of similar appearance and circumstance, whilst pursued by a press pack. One rather shabby cameraman seems to have something to hide. Rather good of it's time tale.

Eric Ambler - The Case of the Emerald Sky

It's an open and shut case until a Czech 'tec turns up with some intriguing artistic evidence to ruin the Yard's case.

Margot Arnold - Acid Test

The highlight so far. Wicked black humour - a woman has battered her husband to death but, despite encasing him in lime in the cellar, his bones are steadfastly refusing to melt and the time for him to return from his 'trip abroad' is fast approaching. What's a girl to do? Approaching the local museum and securing a part time job with a leering boffin who needs an assistant to help him with specialist acids that are required to bring a stone-age skeleton out from it's preservative casing might help. He's even got a crushing machine that can dispose of teeth which the acids won't touch. The ending isn't great but a good journey.

Robert Arthur - Eyewitness
Downright odd tale - film noir setting in Hollywood - 'tec knows husband has murdered his wife but can't prove it until he enlists the aid of The Master - a psychic magician who studied under Houdini. The husband, detective and psychic go for a ride in the pouring rain, after the cop has claimed the wife's body has been found and they need hubby to identify it.

[dem]

Oct 12, 2015 10:09:19 GMT franklinmarsh said:

Thanks to Dem, Rip and Bob Rothwell for flagging this up elsewhere.

It's Bob who deserves the credit for bringing our attention to this one. I love the '65' series, but always turned my nose up at this volume, thinking it was another murder/ crime compendium, when really it's a horror anthology in all but name. Another fantastic Mary Danby selection!

[franklinmarsh]

A nice little tiptoe through a few favourite authors...

Robert Bloch - Sweets to the Sweet
Was this in House Of The Hatchet? Instantly familiar to anyone who's seen The House That Dripped Blood, the story is much more American, and much more nasty, especially in the father's treatment of the 'little witch' and the denouement more in keeping with the story's title

Ramsey Campbell - Baby
Odd tale (as you might expect) involving several near destitutes who's alcohol intake somewhat blurs events. Did it happen or was Billy inebriated?

Sidney Carroll - A Note for the Milkman
Good old fashioned murders. A rather elaborate plan for an expected outcome.

Agatha Christie - Accident
Can't go wrong here. An old sea captain and an old copper are discussing a woman in their village who the cop is sure got off with murder. When he encounters the woman's new husband posting an insurance policy he just has to get involved despite the old salt's warnings. You know how it's going to end, but the Queen of Crime has a nifty bit of sleight of hand just before the finish

Roald Dahl - Lamb to the Slaughter
Another classic, impossible to read without imagining Susan George and Brian Blessed if you're of a certain age and nationality.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle - The Veiled Lodger
More downright peculiarity. Not Holmes' most well-known case. What is the veil concealing? The circus setting gives it that weird sheen.

Lord Dunsany - The Two Bottles of Relish
A long haul for that end line, but it keeps you guessing.

Peter Fleming - The Kill
Ian's brother? He's no David Case but I like the setting and atmosphere of this one.

L.P. Hartley - The Two Vaynes
Mad little tale of a dodgy sculpture. Most enjoyable.

Dennis Wheatley - In the Fog
No wonder The Duke recommended it! Very short but engaging story of a chap enjoying a stroll in a London fog until he begins to recall some sad events last time he was encased in similar atmospheric conditions, which ultimately led to death. What are those footsteps behind him...?

[ripper]

The 'Lamb to the Slaughter' episode of 'Tales of the Unexpected' was one of the classics of that series and I remember seeing it upon its first transmission. Brian Bleesed is always great value and Susan George is gorgeous as ever. 'Alfred Hitchcock Presents...' also did a version, not as memorable, but with AH himself in great form bookending the episode.

[franklinmarsh]

vaultofevil.proboards.com/thread/3031/mary-danby-great-murder-mysteries


Apologies to Allthingshorror.

[dem]

Anon [Mary Danby?] - Murder Most Foul (Octopus, 1984)

Stuart Bodek

Illustrated by Angela Barrett

Ray Bradbury - The Fruit at the Bottom of the Bowl
Arnold Bennett - Murder!
Maurice Level - The Kennel
Edmund Crispen - 'We Know You're Busy Writing ...'
Jack London - A Thousand Deaths
John Collier - Back for Christmas
W. Somerset-Maugham - Before the Party
Edgar Allan Poe - The Tell-tale Heart
Guy de Maupassant - The Hand
Simon Brett - Tickled to Death
Agatha Christie - Miss Marple Tells a Story
A. M. Burrage - Browndean Farm
Mann Rubin - A Nice Touch
Isaac Asimov - Light Verse
Eddy C. Bertin - Composed of Cobwebs
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle - The Boscombe Valley Mystery
Dorothy L. Sayers - The Man Who Knew How
Thomas Burke - The Hands of Mr. Ottermole
Robert Bloch - You Got to Have Brains
Amelia B. Edwards - How the Third Floor Knew the Potteries
G. K. Chesterton - The Invisible Man
William Faulkner - The Hound
Margery Allingham - Three is a Lucky Number
Algernon Blackwood - First Hate
P. D. James - The Victim
Freeman Wills Croft - The Mystery of the Sleeping Car Express
Ambrose Bierce - Moxon's Master
Winston Graham - The Basket Chair
Mor Jokai - The Drop of Blood

Acknowledgements

Blurb:
Tales of murder and mayhem have fascinated readers since time immemorial.
This versatile collection of intrigues, mysteries and cold-blooded killings by some of the greatest names in thriller-writing combines to create a classic compendium of crime.

World famous sleuths such as Agatha Christie’s Miss Marple and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes feature in puzzling tales full of ingenuity and tortuous twists.

Other household names include G. K.Chesterton‘s unlikely detective, Catholic priest Father Brown, and Georges Simenon‘s pipe-smoking police inspector Maigret.

World-famous SF writer Isaac Asimov describes the macabre results of destroying a favourite robot in 'Light Verse,' while Algernon Blackwoods 'First Hate' explores the sinister world of violent obsession.

From the cool, calculated success of the protagonist of 'Murder!' by Arnold Bennett to the self-destructive guilt of the killer in William Faulkner's 'The Hound,' this anthology explores the whole range of homicidal motives and methods. At one end of the scale, a fine example of black humour is Edmund Crispin's offbeat story 'We Know You're Busy Writing ....' at the other is Thomas Burke's macabre masterpiece ‘The Hands of Mr. Ottermole.'

This exciting new collection of puzzlers and spinechillers, characterized by suspense and spiced with humour, will make compelling reading for connoisseurs and new readers alike.

Another Octopus murder-horror-supernatural Omnibus, picked up for 50p at this morning's market. Several stories recycled from the Fontana Ghost and Horror series', Maurice Level's The Kennel and Eddy C. Bertin's Composed of Cobwebs ransacked from Hugh Lamb anthologies.

[andydecker]

Nice cover. Rather graphic for this kind of book. Good for them.