Martin Radcliffe

This is a collection of Victorian and Edwardian short stories. Overlooking the shortcomings of the era (various -isms), I found this to be a nice work to dip into in the evenings, or when I had a short amount of free time. I enjoyed reading stories featuring the characters we've come to know through reference and Netflix, but haven't experienced in their original setting. Characters like Father Brown, Lupin, and Raffles. The editor says that the collection features the most influential detective stories of the era. I definitely recognized some names (Dickens, Chesterton, Collins) but many were completely unfamiliar. So that was interesting, too.

The writing style is a bit stilted and expository, which is characteristic of the era. Many of the stories are what we would now consider cliched--untraceable South American poison, anyone? (But don't forget, these were the originals). And as I said already, there are some shockingly racist/sexist/classist statements which would never pass muster today. All that being said, I still enjoyed visiting the roots of a genre which I take so much pleasure in reading.… (mehr)