A fabolous collection of short stories related by books, All the stories are excellent, some are even better like "Malice Domestic" (a great story with an exceptional surprising twist) and "A Man and His Mother-in-law" (I found it funny but with a chilling and darker undertone).
Martin Edwards did an excellent job in choosing the stories and can't wait to read the next anthology.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

An anthology of what the editor calls "bibliomysteries," Murder by the Book is a wonderful introduction to Golden Age detective fiction. Each short story is, of course, a mystery connected somehow to books or writers, and each one is an engaging read — though some mysteries are more straightforward than others. I thoroughly enjoyed it and will be seeking out more by the included authors, using Edwards's helpful introductory notes to find more titles.

My thanks to NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

This Golden Age murder mystery story collection from British Library Crime Classics will not disappoint you. The collection is based around info found with the pages of a book or something bookish. Of the 15 authors, a few were new to me - some like AA Milne and Ngaio Marsh were near and dear. My TBR list has expanded with these reprints as I trip down the rabbit hole of new old authors. Hooray!

4.0/5

A series of short stories about books, writers, publishers, detectives and bibliophiles from the British Library Crime Classics. Who wouldn't like a book like this? All I can say is count me in. Though I enjoyed it for the most part, there were a few I didn't care for, they didn't hold my attention that well.

The following is a short summary of each story in the book.

➡️A Lesson in Crime: A murder on a train takes place. Think of a locked room scenario. Quite good.

➡️Trent and the Ministering Angel: A deceased client leaves a clue to his demise. It was okay.

➡️A Slice of Bad Luck: Takes place during a dinner for writers of the detective genre. Will the PI there figure out how a murder took place? Enjoyed this one a lot.

➡️The Strange Case of the Megatherium Thefts: Books are being stolen from the private club library. Involves Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson. The clues will lead to the stealer. Enjoyed this one a lot.

➡️Malice Domestic: What's causing a writer's husband to have bouts of illness. The misdirection in this one was fantastic.

➡️Savage Game: You will need to pay attention to the details, if you want to solve this country house murder.

➡️The Clues in the Book: Clues to the identity of the murderer plays out in this one. It was just meh.

➡️The Manuscript: A writer is interviewing ex-cons to get their stories for a book. What happens when one falls in love with the writer? Just okay.

➡️A Man and His Mother-in-law: A Man marries and the woman doesn't want to be far from her 'mother'. He ends up gifting a book to the mother-in-law and makes a costly mistake. It was good.

➡️ Grey's Ghost: A ghostwriter and the writers lives blur together. I didn't care for this one at all.

➡️Dear Mr. Editor: The writer is a bit mad in this one. Another good one.

➡️Murder in Advance: Read carefully, because the habits tell who the killer is. Good one.

➡️A Question of Character: Two writers marry each other. One becomes jealous of the others career and comes up with plot to kill the other. This one was great. I was laughing and figuring it out.

➡️The Book of Honour: A friendship forged over books for many years. My least favorite in the whole collection.

➡️We Know You're Busy Writing: When a writer keeps getting interrupted, anything might happen to his guest. I think everyone can relate to this story. It was good.

➡️Chapter and Verse: What extreme will someone go to, when their true identity may be revealed? It was good.

Publishes on September 6, 2022.

Thanks to Netgalley, and Poison Pen for the Kindle Version of the book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

📚 Happy Reading ☺️📚

It's not you, it's me.

#shortstory and #murdermystery lovers will really enjoy this #britishlibrarycrimeclassics collection of bibliomysteries, out tomorrow from @poisonedpenpress

But for me it was more:
Books? Yes!
Murder? Yes!
Mystery? Yes!
Short stories? Eh.

I'm not usually a big fan of short stories, but figured if there were any that I'd like it would be murder mysteries from some of the best mystery writers.

I was half right.

Half of these were pretty darn good, but the other half felt like they were the Cliff's Notes version of a real story.

One thing I did love about this book was that I could read one for a break during the work day. Ten minutes before a meeting? I can read a story! Quick lunch break? Read a story!

Thank you to @netgalley for this #arc but I just don't think #shortstories are my thing 🤷🏻‍♀️

anthology, bibliomystery, short-stories, multiple-authors*****

I knew many of the authors, but I never knew that all of these mystery authors were capable of penning that most difficult of prose, the short story. Each one is a gem and well worth reading. I'm glad that author Martin Edwards assembled these unusual suspects together!
I requested and received a free e-book copy from Poisoned Pen Press via NetGalley. Thank you!

Terrific short story mysteries—many of them Golden Age. ones. Well chosen with good introducions and highly recommended!

These Bibliomysteries Are To Die For

↓ Other Bibliomysteries ↓
1. The Body in the Library by Agatha Christie
2. Buried in a Good Book by Tamara Berry
3. Murder, She Wrote (obvi)

What is a bibliomystery?
A mystery that involves a literary element or theme. Perhaps the murder victim is a librarian, or the amateur sleuth is a bookseller or a writer; maybe a key clue is found inside a book, or the crime is stealing a valuable manuscript. You get the gist. It’s a bibliophile mystery reader’s dream!

As someone who loves her mysteries brimming with metafictional references, this anthology feels as though it was made for me! And even though these stories fit under the same mystery subgenre, that is where their similarities end. There is a great variety in locations, crimes, and story structures. This collection also includes many writers who are new to me which is always super fun because it increases my TBR wish list tenfold.

I was most impressed by how often the writers experimented with their twists at the end and their choice in perspectives. Sometimes we found ourselves following the killer’s movements, other times we discovered that one of the victims was not a victim at all. I loved this book so much that I bought myself a physical copy because it’s one that I will definitely be returning to time and time again.

My favorite stories (among SO many brilliant ones):
“Malice Domestic” by Philip MacDonald
“Chapter and Verse” by Ngaio Marsh
“A Question of Character” by Victor Canning
“Dear Mr. Editor…” by Christianna Brand

Thank you so much to Poisoned Pen Press and #Netgalley for gifting me an ARC of Murder By The Book edited by Martin Edwards in exchange for this honest review!

This was my first time with something from the British library crime classics. And what a pleasant surprise it is.
I really appreciate a good theme anthology and considering this is a book theme I would say it is a must-have in my collection. Found some authors that I might wanna pick up more of their works from the past. Definitely wanna start making this collection and the beautiful covers are just a plus.
Not all stories are mind twisters but I feel they are all of good quality.
My favorites are:
A Lesson in Crime
Malice Domestic
and Dear Mr. Editor (was the extra favorite)
Thank you, Net Galley, for the opportunity to read this book in digital format.

(3.5 stars)

As a fan of mystery/detective novels, the name of the book immediately caught my eye.

Murder by the Book is filled with short stories about murder/mystery/deceit/crime from various authors famous in their own time and place with one central theme in common: books.

If you're a fan of Agatha Christie (I am) and want to take a tour of what mystery/crime/murder looked liked in the past (I did).... this book is for you.

Some of my favorites (in no particular order):
Trent and the Ministering Angel by E.C. Bentley
A Slice of Bad Luck by Nicholas Blake
Mailce Domestic by Philillip MacDonald
Dear Mr. editor by Chrstianna Brand

I am always so grateful whenever the latest British Library Crime Classics anthology crosses my desk. Having been raised in the fine tradition of sleuthing exemplified by the Golden Age of detective fiction – many if not most of whose practitioners were British – I always look forward to exploring the gems unearthed by Martin Edwards for his thoughtfully curated collections. Each book is a rich trove of short stories that haven’t seen the light of publication in ages, and are often new even to my rapacious reading habits.

This latest anthology of crime revolves around the world of books, collecting tales that the lively and illuminating introduction terms “bibliomysteries.” Each of the sixteen short stories either involves an author or the book trade, usually treated in a self-referential manner that is droll if not utterly delightful to the bibliophile. Nowhere is this more prominent than in the story that opens the proceedings. In A Lesson In Crime, written by the married couple GDH and M Cole, popular author Joseph Newton is harassed into conversation and worse by a fellow train passenger:

QUOTE
“I am not aware,” [Newton] said, “that we were talking of murders, or of anything else, for that matter.”

“There, you see,” said the other, “you did hear what I said the first time. What I mean to say is that, if you expect intelligent people to read your stories, you might at least trouble to make them plausible.”

Newton suppressed the rejoinder that rose instantly to his lips. It was that he had far too large a circulation among fools to bother about what intelligent people thought. He only said, “I doubt, sir, if you are likely to find my conversation any more satisfactory than my books,” and resumed his magazine.
END QUOTE

The other fifteen stories all use books and the book industry to equally excellent effect, with perhaps my favorite being Christianna Brand’s Dear Mr Editor… Ms Brand is, of course, one of the more famous of these authors, alongside Ngaio Marsh, whose contribution Chapter And Verse closes out the collection. And while that most famous of mystery writers Sir Arthur Conan Doyle is not represented in himself, his legendary creation Sherlock Holmes is ably recreated in S. C. Roberts’ The Strange Case Of The Megatherium Thefts, a short story that was likely inspired by the real-life theft of books from London’s Athenaeum Club. An author more famed for his other works is also featured with A Savage Game, one of the few mystery short stories he wrote in his otherwise varied and prolific career: perhaps A. A. Milne was too busy inventing more tales of Winnie-The-Pooh and the Hundred Acre Woods to regularly think up plots as fiendish as the one presented within these pages.

While I’d like to claim that all this biographical information had been squirreled away in my own trivia-loving brain prior to enjoying Murder By The Book, much of it was provided by the illuminating introductions written for each entry, rendering this volume more than merely diverting entertainment. As a scholarly document, it provides a wealth of detail in placing each work in its milieu. All of the stories are wonderful snapshots of detecting in and around the early 20th century, having been published for the most part between the 1890s and the 1960s. The technology detailed is, of course, of its time – there are precious few murders here which couldn’t have been solved with the use of 21st century science, though the application of the sleuth’s little grey cells is undoubtedly far more entertaining for we readers.

Another product of its time is the occasional turn of phrase that, at the very least, raises the eyebrows of the discerning modern mystery enthusiast. I greatly appreciated the notes from the publisher as to the possibility of uncomfortable reading, as here in the introduction to Julian Symons’ The Clue In The Book.

QUOTE
Throughout his life, Symons was a radical, politically on the left, but ideas about what is “progressive” keep changing. The British Library and Poisoned Pen Press wish to acknowledge that outdated language is used with regard to disability in this story.
END QUOTE

One cannot usefully appreciate history without also acknowledging with candor how societies and expectations change. The point of progressivism is, after all, to keep improving everyone’s living conditions for the better, with the understanding that this is an eternal process due to earthly perfection being unattainable, yet no less desirable for being elusive. The British Library Crime Classics series shows us, in one of the most entertaining ways possible, how far we’ve come as a society and how far we have still to go. After all, is not the point of mystery fiction to satisfy that universal hunger for justice, even for the lowest and meanest of us? For anyone who appreciates history as much as they do mystery fiction, this is an invaluable series, with this latest installment being one of its best yet.

Murder by the Book: Mysteries for Bibliophiles
Edited by Martin Edwards
.
Thank you Sourcebooks for this fantastic collection of short mysteries!
I read one or two each night before bed and enjoyed each one of them.
From poison to mysterious deaths to hidden wills, these were quick and fun to read.
If you love the great british mystery writers, then don’t miss this collection.
4⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Another collection put together by Martin Edwards, this one pulling together so-called bibliomysteries, stories that are literary adjacent. So they feature bookstores or libraries, maybe play off of a book, perhaps an author dies. A lovely little collection.

A Lesson in Crime by GDH and M. Cole
A mystery author is riding a train when a man joins him in his compartment. The man then proceeds to let the author know all the ways in which his last book failed. Instead, the man exhorts the author that he should write simpler murders and then proceeds to demonstrate exactly how that might work.

Trent and the Ministering Angel by E. C. Bentley
The story opens with two men, Trent and Selby, sitting in their club talking about an unusual client that Selby has recently had. Usually the man, Landell, works with one of Selby's associates but the associate was laid up with a broken leg so Selby goes to visit Landell when the man's wife, a termagent who keeps her husband under her thumb, sends a letter. He is not sure why he goes but this story raises Trent's antennae and the two are off on a mystery to look for a secret will.

A Slice of Bad Luck by Nicholas Blake
Nigel Strangeways is the guest of honor at an Assassins dinner, a sendoff of the Detectives' Club. Everyone there is a mystery writer or related to crime somehow. An author who has only two novels under his belt, Herbert Dale, remarks that it would be a marvelous setting for a murder. Then the lights go out and a man is murdered.
The murderer seems to come out of nowhere but an interesting story.

The Strange Case of the Megatherium Thefts by S. C. Roberts
A Watson and Holmes story, again told from the viewpoint of Dr. Watson. Professor Wiskerton comes from the Megatherium where a number of books from the lending library have been lost from circulation.
Short story with an interesting finish.

Malice Domestic by Philip MacDonald
Carl Borden is a writer of middling fame whose marriage with his wife Annette has been on the rocks lately. And he is having stomach cramps. After his wife feeds him. But he is not the one who dies.
A lovely little short story with a twist.

A Savage Game by A. A. Milne
A wealthy man dies leaving his money to two people -- his niece who has taken care of him and his nephew (her brother) who is a test driver for racing cars. The three of them had been together the day he died along with a man who translates books. They each had some tea which caused two of them to fall asleep in front of the fire. When the scholar wakes up, the uncle is dead; stabbed through the heart.

The Clue in the Book by Julian Symons
Warnings for outdated language about disabilities.
Francis Quarles appeared in many short stories as a detective. In this book, an Quarles is visiting the family of Silas Brinn. He has had a stroke but is surviving thanks to the care of his daughter, Mary, and hsi indefatigable secretary, Sam Clemens.
After dinner, Silas is found dead by an apparent suicide but Quarles thinks things might not be so cut and dried.

The Manuscript by Gladys Mitchell
A girl is dead. It seems that she may have been killed by a man who has a habit of trying to rehabilitate criminals. Though, to be fair, he usually collects their stories to write about in his collection.
REALLY short.

A Man and His Mother-In-Law by Roy Vickers
Arthur Penfold is a businessman. He married once and, after six months, his wife left a note behind. He has married again but this time, his mother-in-law stands in the way of his happiness. It's just too bad he buys her a book that leads to his downfall.

Grey's Ghost by Michael Innes
"Grey's ghost is black." At a gathering, people are talking about different engimatic phrases that people have called at said on the telephone. This particular phrase sets up a story wherein Appleby is able to decipher it's meaning.

Dear Mr. Editor... by Christianna Brand
An epistolary short story that was hard to understand at first but with a fantastic twist.

Murder in Advance by Marjorie Bremmer
A popular playwright is killed. But the man seems to have no enemies and his plays are highly enjoyed. At least the ones that have been released so far.

A Question of Character by Victor Canning
A look at toxic masculinity in action: Geoffrey Gilroy isn't going to kill his wife because he's in love with another woman (though he is). No, he is going to kill her because she is better at everything than he is, including being an author. Lovely twist.

A Book of Honour by John Creasey
The first person narrator makes the acquaintance of a man named Baburao, a book seller. Baburao is an incredibly good salesman who works his way up from selling books on the street to owning many bookstores. His biggest sadness in life is that his oldest son, Krishna, seems to be on the path to evil. It is with the narrator's help that the boy is brought to justice.

We Know You're Busy Writing by Edmund Crispin
As the title suggests, there is folly in interrupting an author at work.

Chapter and Verse by Ngaio Marsh
A bookseller tries to contact Roderick Alleyn about a Bible that is related to his town. Troy is on hand to talk to the man and she is the one to let Roderick know that she thinks the man's death is not an accident.

Four stars
This book comes out September 6, 2022
ARC kindly provided by Poisoned Pen Press and NetGalley
Opinions are my own

This collection of stories is tied together by books. There are crime novelists, collectors, and so forth, or sometimes it’s a case of some important information hiding within the pages of a book. It’s a good batch, some familiar authors, some not so familiar, at least to me. We have traditional detective stories and others told through the eyes of the bad guy. I enjoyed the whole thing. There wasn’t a real stand out to me, but there also weren’t any that I disliked.

As with any collection of stories, some stand out more than others. However, with the various collections edited by Martin Edwards for British Library Crime Classics, I can always count on one thing. Edwards’ introductions will provide the needed background for reading all of the mysteries in the book. In the case of Murder by the Book, Edwards provides a short history of bibliomysteries. This collection of book-related stories is an “Assortment of mysteries linked by a literary theme of one kind or another”. Edwards provides that history as an introduction to the book, and then, before each story in the anthology, he introduces the author. The stories range from original publication dates in the 1890s to Ngaio Marsh’s concluding story, “Chapter and Verse”, originally published in 1973.

Readers will recognize many of the authors included. There’s Philip MacDonald, A.A. Milne, Julian Symons, Gladys Mitchell, Michael Innes, John Creasey. One of the most interesting stories was by the author Edwards refers to as “the most obscure author in this book”, Marjorie Bremmer. Her story features a Scotland Yard Inspector, Dacre, and deals with the death of a playwright. Christianna Brand’s mystery was clever, “Dear Mr. Editor”.

My favorite story, though, was Ngaio Marsh’s “Chapter and Verse”. It was a complicated story, and it featured Detective Inspector Roderick Alleyn’s wife Troy before he and Inspector Fox ever make an appearance. It’s also the most contemporary story with a little more character and plot development than the other stories. It makes me want to go back and read other stories by Marsh. I’ve read some, but I’m certainly not an expert. Her short story entices me.

I once had an English teacher who told me I did exactly what a teacher longs to see. Assigned one book, I went on to read everything by that author. Edwards’ books for the British Library Crime Classics always entice me to read other stories and books by the authors. I hope that’s exactly what the editor of Murder by the Book hopes for with this anthology.

Given the book cover and title, I expected the stories in this collection to have strong connections to books and/or libraries. Some of them do, while many have tangential connections, at best.

All the stories do share the crime theme. Some are lightweight, where we get few details and the barest investigation, while others are relatively dark. Most fall somewhere in between.

I enjoyed several of the stories, though I wasn’t wowed by anything in this collection. Still, it’s interesting to read the type of crime fiction that was popular more than a half-century ago.

A wonderful set of short stories - all of which feature both murder and books! This is the perfect volume to keep for the moment when you need a quick and entertaining read. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. For short story and murder mystery fans.

Murder by the Book is one of the excellent British Library Crime Classics, published in the US by Poisoned Pen Press. It’s a collection of short stories: some by famous authors such as Ngaio Marsh and some by lesser known ones, e.g. S.C. Roberts. The common theme of this collection is that all the stories are what Otto Penzler called “bibliomysteries”, i.e. they involve books, book collectors, bookshops, booksellers, etc.. The full list in this collections is:

G.D.H and M. Cole: A Lesson in Crime. This story starts on a steam train from London to Cornwall – what more could a happy reader want? An unpleasant author is joined by someone who has read his books. I loved the dialogue in this one: “Are you aware, sir, that you are being excessively rude?” I was reading another book by GDH Cole last week as it happens: Trade Unionism on the Railways, published in 1917. The Coles were economists and social historians but their non-fiction isn’t as much fun!

E.C. Bentley: Trent and the Ministering Angel. Mrs Landell doesn’t let anyone see her husband alone and now he’s dead. His will leaves everything to her. Again, some exquisite viciousness in the dialogue.

Nicholas Blake: A Slice of Bad Luck. A club for detective fiction writers has a dinner. “What a marvellous setting this would be for a murder.” Oh, dear… I’d rate this one as OK but not outstanding.

S.C. Roberts: The Strange Case of the Megatherium Thefts. Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson ride again. The style is a very good attempt at Conan Doyle but the story is weak, in my opinion.

Phillip MacDonald: Malice Domestic. Set in California, where MacDonald lived. Very good.

A.A. Milne: A Savage Game. There are three suspects for the murder of Mr Gaye – another unpleasant man. The clue’s in plain sight for us to see, but I bet you don’t see it either! Short but very clever.

Julian Symons: The Clue in the Book. Francis Quarles was Symons’ series detective and this very short story features him. Again, we could have solved this with the clue and, smugly, I did for once. I’m afraid, though, it was all a bit too obvious, so I’d rate it as OK, but no higher than that.

Gladys Mitchell: The Manuscript. First published in an evening newspaper and very short indeed. A maid has burnt the manuscript of her master’s magnum opus and is killed. Nothing clever.

Roy Vickers: A Man and his Mother-in-Law. One of Vickers’ Department of Dead Ends stories. The murderer couldn’t leave well alone. Excellent.

Michael Innes: Grey's Ghost. This story, from the published collection Appleby Talks Again, is silly but entertaining.

Christianna Brand: Dear Mr. Editor. This was originally entitled “Dear Mr. MacDonald” in a 1958 anthology edited by John D. MacDonald. This is supposed to be a letter written to the editor by someone who erroneously received the letter meant for Miss Brand. It is far better than the wording leads you to expect. Remember, the letter was written by an expert writer (Brand) in the style of an ill-educated woman. Excellent.

Marjorie Bremner: Murder in Advance. As Martin Edwards admits, “Marjorie Bremner is by some distance the most obscure writer to feature in this anthology.” Lewis Maynard, one of the few likeable victims in this collection, is murdered after announcing at a dinner party that he’s going to write a play a deceased friend whom he believes was being blackmailed. I felt this was fairly pedestrian

Victor Canning: A Question of Character. This is one of Canning’s Minerva Club stories. Highly enjoyable but perhaps a little predictable.

John Creasey: The Book of Honour. What on earth is the story doing in this collection? Although there is a bookseller, there is no murder. Mildly interesting but no tension. Disappointing, given it’s by John Creasey.

Edmund Crispin: We Know You're Busy Writing. The subtitle continues “But We Thought You Wouldn’t Mind if We Just Dropped in for a Minute”. Any writer, interrupted when trying to meet a deadline will fist-pump the air after reading this, shouting “YES!” Beyond excellent, but for its humour rather than a Whodunnit mystery.

Ngaio Marsh: Chapter and Verse. This features Marsh’s series detective, Roderick Alleyn, in the village where he lives. Mr Bates is visiting the UK from New Zealand and has a Bible with curious inscriptions that he wants Alleyn to see. Alleyn is away for a few days, so Mrs Alleyn hosts Bates. Very good indeed.

What a delight to travel the pages of classic bibliomysteries. Yes, they speak to their times such as in the 1930's but that is part of the charm. Moreover, before each short story, a snippet of history is included about the author and their place in the crime genre.
I'd recommend to anyone that enjoys a solid murder mystery involving books in anyway or just a classics crime fan.

A solid anthology of mysteries. There are already lots of helpful ratings and review for this, so I'll just recommend it to crime and mystery fans. Good stuff.

Thanks very much for the free ARC for review!!