I'm afraid there is a dilemma here: for those of us who were attracted to this book because of its title, we are bound to be disappointed by what is inside. You grabbed our interest with "Agatha Christie", only the stories in this collection bear little resemblance to any stories she wrote. Leslie Klinger writes a lovely introduction giving a history of crime fiction, and I suppose she makes a case for these female writers paving the way for Agatha Christie in theory. It's a bit weak, though, in my opinion, that these stories being published by females made it easier for her to get published. That may be, but they are inferior, and none of them stand out as exemplary. If I had to choose one that is memorable, that would be Carolyn Wells' "The Adventure of the Clothes-line", where famous detectives of that time sit around and try to figure out the solution to a mystery, but even then the solution is kind of a let-down. It may be my fault, that having read so many well-plotted mysteries written in the present day, it is hard to appreciate these stories for what they were at the time. I would classify them mostly as suspense. Crime fiction is a stretch for some, but I claim responsibility for assuming "crime fiction" meant "mystery".

A really interesting book. And an important one. If you're a fan of Agatha Christie, and/or the era during which she wrote, then I think you'll find this book interesting: it highlights some of the other authors writing at the time. Hopefully you'll come away with a list of authors you want to read.

Firstly, I applaud the author for compiling a tremendous anthology and am fully appreciative of the work and, indeed, the labour of love that has gone into this book - an anthology which I would love to have compiled myself. Works of classic crime by female writers - forerunners of the Golden Age of Crime - from whom the great Dame herself must well have taken inspiration. Some of these pieces may not be to everyone's taste but each and every one is a milestone in the history of the genre. An excellent introduction from the author too completes this wholly satisfying book. Highly recommended.

If there’s one thing you need to know about me it’s that I ADORE Agatha. So when I was browsing netgalley recently and saw a novel with Agatha Christie in the title, obviously I pounced. This anthology is a collection of short stories from other female mystery novelists: Classic Crime Fiction by Forgotten Female Writers: 1850-1917. VERY cool, right?

Here’s the thing. Short story collections just aren’t for me. Jojo Moyes’ Paris for One and Other Stories couldn’t hold my interest; Rebecca Makkai’s Music for Wartime had its bright spots, but felt lackluster as a whole, Margaret Atwood’s Stone Mattress was a DNF. This one is totally on me, going in I KNEW short stories collection and anthologies just aren’t my thing, but I was so hopeful and excited that I didn’t care. ..and that led to another DNF. I read a few stories and felt my mind wandering. The one thing I remember about this book wasn’t from a story, but from one of the short bios: one of the authors, an Australian I believe, had over 500 stories to her name!

Although this collection invokes the name of Agatha Christie (in big letters on the cover), the stories themselves do not adhere to the typical Christie structure and style. Many of them are not even 'mysteries', but quite journalistic accounts of invented crimes, with a straightforward reporting of what happened, who did it and how the authorities solved it. This in itself was very interesting - what was the appetite for these stories in crime magazines, that read as if they are factual newspaper articles? Others are written to appear as if they are memoirs of a real-life detective or policeman, or extracts from a casebook.

As the collection progresses, the stories evolve from this early realism into ever more varied and modern styles, with greater emphasis on detection. There's even a Sherlock Holmes fanfiction!

The final story, Jury of Her Peers by Susan Glaspell is in a class of its own, surprising and very moving. After finishing that one, I immediately had to go back and reread it.

Great for a snapshot of early women crime writers, but probably not the thing if you're looking for a Christie readalike.

I was really surprised to see the 1850 start date. I kind of had in my head that detective fiction was a 20th century addition yet here are a number of stories all as clean and detail oriented as Christie at her best and all written long before Hercule Poirot started putting his famous little grey cells to work.

The forward by Leslie S. Linger is a fascinating lesson on the origins of the detective story and women authors in general. He provides context for the more unknown authors both in history and in influence and inspiration to the writers who came after them.

Each of the mysteries is very good full of deception, secrets, and murder. They are clean and exquisitely plotted even though at times the language can feel a little heavy and dated. The good thing about these being short stories is the few times I did start to grow restless the mystery came to a conclusion and I was starting a new mystery by a new author. Proceeding each story is a few short paragraphs regarding the author with a little biographical information as well as mentions of their best know writings. Each story was a delight and completely unique and I’m so glad I read some of the stories that influenced my favorite authors - Agatha Christie, Patricia Wentworth, Dorothy L. Sayers, and Ngaio Marsh.

What a wonderful anthology, starting with a great introduction discussing crime fiction and many female crime authors. The following stories are a great mix of authors, some better known than others but all with a unique take on the genres. Includes a couple of personal favorites by Baroness Orczy and Susan Glaspell.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for a free ARC copy of this book. I was intrigued by the thought of other women writers in the genre and times of Agatha Christie. However, I didn't find the stories quite as good as I thought they might be. However, this book is a great compilation of some fine authors who blazed the trail for women mystery writers.

This new collection of short stories, edited by Leslie S. Klinger, features some of the lesser known women crime writers who came before Agatha Christie and could even have inspired her work. The book is subtitled Classic Crime Fiction by Forgotten Female Writers: 1850-1917 and although I wouldn’t personally describe all of these authors as ‘forgotten’, there were certainly quite a few whose names were new to me. Of the sixteen stories included in the book, I had already read one of them – A Jury of Her Peers by Susan Glaspell (1917), which shows the different ways in which men and women evaluate the same situation and the different clues they pick up on – but it’s such a good story I was happy to read it again. Other names who may be familiar to many readers are Victorian novelist Elizabeth Gaskell and Scarlet Pimpernel author Baroness Orczy, although the stories included here – The Squire’s Story (1853) and The Regent’s Park Murder (1901) – didn’t particularly stand out to me.

As a fan of Victorian sensation novels, I was intrigued to come across stories by Ellen Wood and Mary Elizabeth Braddon, two authors whose work I’ve loved in the past. The Braddon one, The Winning Sequence (1896), is more of a ghost story than a mystery and I found it disappointingly weak, but Wood’s story, Mrs. Todhetley’s Earrings (1873), was very enjoyable. It is narrated by her young hero, Johnny Ludlow, who is apparently the subject of a whole series of short story collections, although I had never heard of him until now.

Others that I think deserve a special mention include The Statement of Jared Johnson (1899) by Geraldine Bonner, a murder mystery with a twist, The Ghost of Fountain Lane (1893) by C.L. Pirkis, in which a link emerges between two seemingly unconnected mysteries, and The Case of the Registered Letter by the Austrian author Augusta Groner. There’s also A Point in Morals (1899) by Ellen Glasgow, an unusual story which considers whether murder is always morally wrong, The Blood-Red Cross (1902) by L.T. Meade which features a sinister villain called Madame Sara, and Anna Katherine Green’s Missing: Page Thirteen (1915), an eerie tale of a house with a secret room.

The other authors represented in the book, whose work made less impression on me, are Catherine Crow, Mary Fortune, Harriet Prescott Spofford, Elizabeth Corbett and Carolyn Wells – whose The Adventure of the Clothes-Line (1915) is a parody of a Sherlock Holmes story which I think a lot of readers would enjoy even though I didn’t. There’s nothing here, in my opinion, which resembles an Agatha Christie story in any way, so the title of this book could be slightly misleading if someone picked it up expecting a selection of Christie-style mysteries. I didn’t find any new authors here that I liked enough to want to explore further, but it was still interesting to read this collection and see how crime fiction has developed over the years.

When you think of a collection of mysteries you tend to think of those that are either current authors, or perhaps the ones in collections of stories similar to Doyle's Sherlock Holmes. However Leslie Klinger has done a truly masterful job at piecing together this collection of masterpieces that are not only influential and on par with Agatha Christie, but I'm sure of writers today. Each one has a unique voice, and has been seemingly shadowed by Ms. Christie. However, I do not think that is because they weren't as good, simply that they weren't as popular or perhaps published. During this time period women weren't exactly lauded for their creative writing skills. It is nice to see a diverse collection and that these women's stories are finally being given their credit.

In the Shadow of Agatha Christie highlights female writers of crime fiction from 1850-1917. These writers opened the door for the golden age, 1920-1939, of detective fiction led by many female authors like Christie, Margery Allingham, Ngaio Marsh, and Dorothy L. Sayers. The introduction gives a comprehensive history of pre-golden age female writers. Unfortunately, not all are represented in the sixteen stories in this book. Here is the list of stories and authors within this collection:

The Advocate’s Wedding Day by Catherine Crowe

The Squire’s Story by Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell

Traces of Crime by Mary Fortune

Mr. Furbush by Harriet Prescott Spofford

Mrs. Todhetley’s Earrings by Ellen Wood

Catching a Burglar by Elizabeth Corbett

The Ghost of Fountain Lane by C. L. Pirkis

The Statement of Jared Johnson by Geraldine Bonner

Point in Morals by Ellen Glasgow

The Blood-Red Cross by L. T. Meade and Robert Eustace

The Regent’s Park Murder by Baroness Orczy

The Case of the Registered Letter by Augusta Groner

The Winning Sequence by M. E. Braddon

Missing; Page Thirteen by Anna Katherine Green

The Adventure of the Clothes-Line by Carolyn Wells

Jury of Her Peers by Susan Glaspell

The quality and links to what is considered crime fiction today (murder, detective, ability to guess the solution) varies widely. The stories generally are presented in date order with the oldest first. The older stories are not necessarily the best stories but included mostly for seemingly historic reasons (the first female author's story, the first female detective, etc.) The best story is the last, Jury of her Peers, which alone is worth picking up this book.

Overall, In the Shadow of Agatha Christie is more suited for readers interested in the history of female crime authors than Agatha Christie fans. 3 stars.

Thanks to the publisher, Pegasus Books, and NetGalley for an advance reader's copy.

Excellent anthology of mystery shorts written by female authors of the latter nineteenth century. All were terrific, but a couple were standouts (Carolyn Wells and Susan Glaspell). Absolutely fantastic! More anthologies like this, please.

It is not often that I enjoy a foreword, but this book has probably one of the best forewords ever. Klinger clearly has researched the field of female crime fiction writers in great detail and is incredibly knowledgeable. Yet, overall, the book suffered from the anthology curse: It rises or falls with the weaker stories and there are quite a few week stories. Clearly not Klinger's fault, after all, the output of those ladies is not his responsibility and I think, he will have chosen the stories that are in his opinion the strongest. So all in all, an interesting journey, but the sights were so-so. I would love to read more on this topic though, so I hope he will continue publishing books about forgotten female writers.

A good collection of stories that inspired many authors to come forth with spell bounding books. The collection has stories that cover a variety of plots that will interest any mystery lover. Many thanks to the people who put this collection together.

This collection of classic crime fiction by forgotten authors, from 1850-1917, highlights some of the female authors of that period who were the forerunners of the great Golden Age crime authors – not only Agatha Christie, but Dorothy L. Sayers, Ngaio Marsh, Margery Allingham and others. Each of the featured authors is given a potted biography, putting them and their work in context, which is followed by a short story, which is representative of their writing.

Some of these authors will be familiar – such as Elizabeth Gaskell and Baroness Orzy. However, others are now out of print and largely forgotten. Likewise, some of the early ‘crime’ stories in this collection are not necessarily familiar in terms of what we think of crime fiction today. For example, “The Advocate’s Wedding Day,” by Catherine Crow (1900-1876) features a story set shortly after the French Revolution; involving a feud between two men – one a former member of the gentry, with the other a member of the lower classes. This involves a court case and has a more supernatural feel to it. Other stories though involve events that we associate with crime novels from the later period – crime foggy London streets, roving tramps, murder in fashionable hotels and stolen jewels.
Overall, this is an interesting collection, which will appeal to anyone interested in the history of crime writing.

The stories and authors contained in this collection are:

The Advocate’s Wedding Day: Catherine Crowe
The Squire’s Story: Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell
Traces of Crime: Mary Fortune
Mr Furbush: Harriet Prescott Spofford
Mrs Todhetley’s Earrings: Ellen Wood
Catching a Burglar: Elizabeth Corbett
The Ghost of Fountain Lane: C.L. Pirkis
The Statement of Jared Johnson: Geraldine Bonner
Point in Morals: Ellen Glasgow
The Blood-Red Cross: L.T. Meade and Robert Eustace
The Regents Park Murder: Baroness Orczy
The Case of the Registered Letter: Augusta Groner
The Winning Sequence: M.E. Braddon
Missing: Page Thirteen: Anna Katherine Green
The Adventures of the Clothes-Line: Carolyn Wells
Jury of Her Peers: Susan Glaspell

Thank you to NetGalley and Pegasus Books for the digital ARC.

I think the title of this might mislead some readers as there is nothing remotely Agatha Christie-like about these stories. They are interesting in themselves as a demonstration of the kind of crime fiction that existed before World War One, whether written by men or women: I do not think that there is a particularly feminine slant to these.

Nor are some of these authors as neglected as the editor and some reviewers have asserted. Certainly in Britain, Elizabeth Gaskell, CL Purkis, LT Meade, Baroness Orczy, Anna Katherine Green and Carolyn Wells are still read and I have heard some of their stories dramatised by the BBC.

In any collection there will be some entries which are stronger and more memorable than others. Here the standout story by a long way was “Jury of Her Peers".

Below is a list of the tales with some of my notes which may be of interest.

1.The Advocate’s Wedding Day-Catherine Crowe ( English 1800-76)- Interesting tale of justice done with a slight supernatural twist.(1850)

2. The Squire’s Story- Elizabeth Gaskell (Biography is too dismissive)- Well-written conscience crime story.(1853)

3.Traces of Crime-Mary Fortune (Australian 1833-1910) Detective finds clues to solve cases of assault and murder in the goldfields (1865)

4.Mr Furbush- Harriet Spofford (American 1835-1921) Detective solves murder with help of magnified photo.(1865)

5.Mrs Todhetley’s Earrings-Ellen Wood (Mrs Henry Wood 1814-1887)A Johnny Ludlow story of an earring lost and found.(1873)

6.Catching a Burglar-Mrs George (Elizabeth) Corbett (English 1846-1930) Lady private detective Dora Bell helps catch burglars.(1892)

7.The Ghost of Fountain Lane- C L Purkis (English 1839-1910) Loveday Brooke investigates a stolen cheque and a ghost. How are they connected?(1893)

8.The Statement of Jared Johnson-Geraldine Bonner (American 1870-1930) Reporter saves a man accused of murder. Highly original method of killing.(1899)

9.Point in Morals-Ellen Glasgow (American1873-1945) Odd tale. Was he a murderer?(1899)

10.The Blood-Red Cross-L T Meade (English 1844-1914) and Robert Eustace- Neat little story of evil adventuress thwarted by detectives.(1902)

11. The Regent’s Park Murder-Baroness Orczy (1865-1947) Polly Burton and the Old Man in the Corner story.Solution of a murder but no proof. (1901)

12. The Case of the Registered Letter-Augusta Groner (Austrian 1850-1929) Detective Muller investigates a strange murder case. Too long. Dull.(1910?)

13. The Winning Sequence-Mary Bradden (1835-1915)Ghost story and a crime. Weak. (1896)

14.Missing Page Thirteen- Anna Katherine Green (1846-1935) Violet Strange story of a page of a formula gone missing and a past ghost laid (1915)

15.The Adventure of the Clothes-Line- Carolyn Wells (1870-1942) Amusing send-up of the famous members of the Society of Infallible Detectives. (1915)

16.Jury of her Peers-Susan Glaspell (1876-1948) Women work out the motive for a crime-from trifles (1917)

Highly recommended.

A great book for the crime loving reader. The author gives an excellent introduction and mentions authors that I had not even heard of before, some I'd heard of but had never read any of their books. Klinger has put together an excellent compilation of crime stories, a book definitely worth reading.

Thank you to NetGalley and Pegasus Books for a digital galley of this book.

From the standpoint of learning about the roles women played in writing crime fiction published between 1850 and 1917 this book was interesting and successful. On a personal level the stories were not quite as engaging as a whole for me. I did not reach for pen and paper even once to jot down the name of an author I wanted to explore further. The premise of this book is to show that the successes of Agatha Christie have cast the writings of the authors presented here into a shadowy area so their work isn't given as much attention and credit for advancing the female crime fiction writers efforts. In other words, Christie would not have been so successful without the efforts of those women whose work came before her. My take on this collection is that now I understand just how well the Christie books are written. Granted each Agatha Christie novel isn't a literary masterpiece, but taken as a whole I have no trouble settling myself down to read any of the Christie books again and again. All of this doesn't mean that I didn't enjoy some of the stories collected in this volume, because I did, just not as many as I would have expected.

There is an Introduction by Leslie S. Klinger which provides background information for the state of crime fiction publication by women from 1850 through 1917. In this introduction many female authors are discussed, not just those who have a story presented in the collection. Each story has a brief biographical segment about the author, some historical information regarding her novel and story publication and usually a publication date for the featured story. So many of the women wrote their stories under one or more pseudonyms so that information is provided also. The following is a list of the author and their story included in this book:

Catherine Crowe - The Advocate's Wedding Day
Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell - The Squire's Story
Mary Fortune - Traces of Crime
Harriet Prescott Spofford - Mr. Furbush
Ellen Wood - Mrs. Todhetley's Earrings
Elizabeth Corbett - Catching A Burglar
C. L. Pirkis - The Ghost of Fountain Lane
Geraldine Bonner - The Statement of Jared Johnson
Ellen Glasgow - Point in Morals
L. T. Meade and Robert Eustace - The Blood-Red Cross
Baroness Orczy - The Regent's Park Murder
Augusta Groner - The Case of the Registered Letter
M. E. Braddon - The Winning Sequence
Anna Katherine Green - Missing: Page Thirteen
Carolyn Wells - The Adventure of the Clothes-Line
Susan Glaspell - Jury of Her Peers

Sixteen stories are presented from authors you may not be familiar with. If you are interested in reading stories from female authors who made a difference in the history of crime fiction, this will be a great place to begin your exploration of that subject.

A very good collection of short stories of women mystery writer who wrote before Agatha Christie. Most of them are unknown to most of people but their stories are an interesting reading.
A good way to rediscover some female writers who are unfortunately forgotten.

Every great crime writer and reader loves Agatha Christie - she is the Queen of Crime,and many writers today are still inspired by her.But what about the writers who came before her and helped her to be able to write as she did? The women who paved the way for MsChristie. Well, this was a lovely set of stories,a good collection of some cosy ones, police led ones, and a variety of crimes and victims too. I hadn't heard of all the writers in the book but that's the delight of a selection box of goodies like this - some you know you're going to like and others you discover and now have more things to enjoy! a great idea to have just female writers and those who helped pave the way for Agatha and every (female) crime writer since. This would make a lovely present for all crime readers!