After completing my short story collection reading challenge last year, I decided it might be fun to do a ranked list of the anthologies I have read from the British Library Crime Classics series. To date I think they have published 24 of them (please correct me if I have got this wrong!) and I was surprised to discover that I have read 17 of them.
Determining the position of each collection was quite the task, as some of these were read as early as 2016 (which is a very long time for my memory!). Consequently, I have been relying on my blog reviews to direct me. Final positions were selected based on the number of stories I loved or disliked and how strongly I felt either of these two emotions. More than once when writing this post I have swapped books around. So, perhaps treat this as a rough guide and look at my individual reviews for more details. That said, it was really interesting seeing which titles made the top of the list and hopefully it might help you find some new fun short story collections to try.
17th Place: Guilty Creatures: A Menagerie of Mysteries (2021)
Before I read this anthology, I had high hopes, as I am really interested in the role of animals in crime fiction. Moreover, the collection featured stories by crime writers such as Clifford Witting and Christianna Brand, whose novels I have enjoyed. However, I found I was rather disappointed by some of the stories, with some requiring a lot of explanatory backstories, others withholding pertinent information from the readers and there were a few which could only be more loosely described as crime stories rather than ones with detection in.
Authors included: Arthur Conan Doyle, Arthur Morrison, Headon Hill, F. Tennyson Jesse, G. K. Chesterton, Edgar Wallace, Vincent Cornier, H. C. Bailey, Garnett Radcliffe, Clifford Witting, Mary Fitt, Josephine Bell, Penelope Wallace and Christianna Brand.
Favourite Story: ‘The Yellow Slug’ (1935) by H. C. Bailey
As I mentioned in my 2024 Reading Goal summary post, I felt Bailey’s story was the best put together mystery and I found its solution to be engagingly dark.
16th Place: Capital Crimes: London Mysteries (2015)
I ended up reading this anthology for book group in 2022, so you could say I was a little late to the party on this one. This collection did not work for me, for a variety of reasons, such as not warming to the protagonists (be they crook, victim or sleuth), the endings being too severely truncated, the plot hinging upon excessive coincidence and foolish Had-I-But Known behaviour and sleuthing occurring off the page too much.
Authors included: Arthur Conan Doyle, John Oxenham, Richard Marsh, R. Austin Freeman, Ernest Bramah, J. S. Fletcher, Edgar Wallace, Robert Eustace and Edgar Jepson, Thomas Burke, H. C. Bailey, Hugh Walpole, Henry Wade, Anthony Berkeley, E. M. Delafield, Margery Allingham, Ethel Lina White and Anthony Gilbert.
Favourite Story: ‘The Avenging Chance’ (1929) by Anthony Berkeley
As many of you will know this story by Berkeley was the basis for his novel, The Poisoned Chocolates Case (1929) and both are great tales. Although the initial crime is the same, the poisoning of Joan Beresford, the short story focuses on how Roger Sheringham solved the case, rather than on the multiple meanings clues can have (which is the emphasis of the novel that has more than one sleuthing character). ‘The Avenging Chance’ has some nice comedy in it and it was adapted for a 1960s TV anthology series called Detective.
15th Place: A Surprise for Christmas: And Other Seasonal Mysteries (2020)
One of the key weaknesses I noted in some of the stories in this collection was the tendency from some authors to place too much emphasis on their story setup, which means their endings have to be rushed through. Nevertheless, this anthology gave me the opportunity to try stories from writers I am less familiar with, and it concludes on a feel-good note. In addition, at least one author surprised me, as I enjoyed ‘On Christmas Day in the Morning’ by Margery Allingham more than I thought I would. I liked its unusual setup, and the denouement is mixed with comedy and poignancy.
Authors included: Catherine Louisa Pirkis, G. K. Chesterton, Ngaio Marsh, Carter Dickson, E. R. Punshon, Ernest Dudley, Victor Canning, Cyril Hare, Margery Allingham, Anthony Gilbert, Julian Symons and Barry Perowne.
Favourite Story: ‘A Surprise for Christmas’ (1956) by Cyril Hare
This tale is brilliant in several ways. The ending is pitch perfect, particularly in what it leaves unsaid, and I love how the reader is anticipating events, waiting for an innocent idea to blow up in someone’s face due to unforeseen circumstances.
14th Place: Crimes of Cymru: Classic Mystery Tales of Wales (2023)
Whilst the stories could have leaned into the “Wales” theme more strongly, the variety of mystery styles in collection was good, including an enjoyable inverted mystery by Ethel Lina White, which is strong on characterisation. More than one tale had an unorthodox ending, which I felt on occasion balanced out the fact that these mysteries were easier to solve. There were some stories which failed to excite or branched into the supernatural, which is not my cup of tea, but I found it interesting that this anthology demonstrated the challenges of writing a very short crime short story; some authors overcame these obstacles, whilst others did not.
Authors Included: Frank Howel Evans, Ethel Lina White, Francis Brett Young, Arthur Machen, Carter Dickson, G. D. H. and Margaret Cole, Ianthe Jerrold, Berkely Mather, Cledwyn Hughes, Jack Griffth, Rhys Davies, Christianna Brand and Michael Gilbert.
Favourite Story: ‘The Way Up to Heaven’ (1954) by Roald Dahl
This story certainly helped this collection in its final placing in the list, as it was one that I thoroughly enjoyed. In 1980, Road Dahl, on BBC Radio 4, when discussing his story, The Twits, remarked that: “I love writing and reading about horrible people. They are much more fun than nice people.” I feel this sentiment is demonstrated in ‘The Way Up to Heaven’ as Dahl really brings this married couple to life and depicts well, how Mr Foster torments his wife through a veneer of politeness and reasonableness (meaning his actions are hard to argue against). The way Mr Foster dies is so interesting, and I would say his wife’s involvement, if you can call it that, becomes a crime of negation. The ending brings the macabre to 1950s American domesticity.
13th Place: Final Acts: Theatrical Mysteries (2022)
The selection of stories chosen certainly demonstrated some creativity in how they incorporated the theatrical theme, with crimes taking on and off the stage, as well as behind the scenes. Even the formation of the idea for a murder mystery play becomes the basis for Barry Perowne’s ‘The Blind Spot’ (1945), which I feel is worth an honourable mention. It was interesting to note in one tale, which structurally operates like a monologue, that a consequence of this narration choice was a difficulty in differentiating the voices of other characters. Last year a few of the collections that I read featured stories by Christianna Brand, and it surprised me that I was less satisfied with her shorter work than I am with her novels. This collection reinforced this ambiguous standpoint, as I feel that Brand can try to cram a novel’s plot into an extended short story, which means that the plot becomes too dense, although in this instance there were some well-placed clues in ‘After the Event’ (1958).
Authors included: Baroness Orczy, A. E. W. Mason, Anthony Wynne, Marguerite Steen, Dorothy L. Sayers, Brandon Fleming, Ernest Dudley, Barry Perowne, Ngaio Marsh, Roy Vickers, Bernard J. Farmer, John Appleby, Julian Symons and Christianna Brand.
Favourite story: ‘Blood Sacrifice’ (1936) by Dorothy L. Sayers
When I read this anthology last year, this tale by Sayers was a re-read and I was very glad that I did, as my second reading of ‘Blood Sacrifice’ gave me a greater appreciation and enjoyment of what Sayers was doing in the story, and I felt I got more out of the characterisation.
12th Place: Who Killed Father Christmas? And Other Seasonal Mysteries (2023)
Perhaps due to the yuletide theme, I felt there was less variety in the types of crimes included in this collection of stories. There were a couple of genre slippery stories, which I was less keen on, but overall, I would say there was better consistency in the stories being well-written, which in some cases helped to balance out some weaknesses, such as easy to anticipate solutions (although the endings could still be surprising). Two stories worth honourable mentions are Catherine Aird’s ‘Gold, Frankincense, and Murder’ (1995), which is particularly good at deploying gentle humour and ‘The Bird of Dawning’ (1956) by Michael Gilbert, which had some great dialogue.
Authors included: Garnett Radcliffe, Frank Howel Evans, Anthony Gilbert, Vincent Cornier, Catherine Aird, J. Jefferson Farjeon, Patricia Moyes, Glyn Daniel, John Dickson Carr, Michael Gilbert, Will Scott, Gerald Verner, Michael Innes, Peter Todd and Ellis Peters.
Favourite Story: ‘A Present for Ivo’ (1958-59) by Ellis Peters
Peters’ story was the longest in this anthology and as such had the greater page count to produce a more extensive plot. I felt the author made good use of this space to make a dynamic and tense Christmas theft mystery, with bonus kidnappings.
11th Place: The Edinburgh Mystery and Other Tales of Scottish Crime (2022)
Out of all the short story collections that I read for my anthology reading challenge last year, this one came in first place, so it is quite interesting to note its lower ranking in this list. One thing which did not help it was the inclusion of weak stories, simply because they were from well-known authors. One of these barely even had a plot. The collection is a bit of a mixed bag with some stories dragging, being too obvious or being backstory heavy, but I was surprised by how much I enjoyed the more thriller-styled mystery by Augustus Muir and a number of the stories concluded with good stings in their tails.
Authors included: Robert Louis Stevenson, Arthur Conan Doyle, Baroness Orczy, G. K. Chesterton, J. Storer Clouston, Anthony Wynne, John Ferguson, Augustus Muir, Josephine Tey, H. H. Bashford, J. J. Connington, Margot Bennett, Cyril Hare, Bill Knox, Michael Innes, P. M. Hubbard and Jennie Melville.
Favourite Story: ‘The Honour of Israel Gow’ (1911) by G. K. Chesterton
It was tough picking just one favourite here, as there were a couple which had endings that packed a punch (see ‘Thursday’s Child’ (1959) by Cyril Hare and ‘The Case of the Frugal Cake’ (1955) by Margot Bennett), but in the end I went for Chesterton’s Father Brown story, as it had the most developed plot and I liked how the tale is a wonderful send-up of Holmesian deduction, with Father Brown producing new theories to explain the bizarre clues, only to show they are nonsense.
10th Place: Blood on the Tracks: Railway Mysteries (2018)
Given that the stories from this collection range over several decades it was interesting to see how the focus changes, as the earlier tales are largely more puzzle/mechanics orientated, meaning the writing style did not always appeal as much, whilst the later tales contain more drama and characterisation interest.
The stories featured in this anthology are good at utilising the railway theme in a variety of ways, including theft and mysterious disappearances onboard trains, as well as incorporating the physical structures involved in the railway system and different railway jobs. I can see why so many classic crime writers set their stories on trains, as they were of the moment, a sign of modernity and faster travel opened up opportunities for people, some of which were good (jobs and holidays), and some of which were bad, such as new ways of killing people or establishing alibis. The variety in these stories even extends to the types of clues used, as one of the mysteries features a raw egg as a significant clue.
Authors Included: Arthur Conan Doyle, L. T. Meade and Robert Eustace, Matthias McDonnell Bodkin, Baroness Orczy, Victor L Whitechurch, R. Austin Freeman, Roy Vickers, Ernest Bramah, Dorothy L. Sayers, F. Tennyson Jesse, Sapper, Freeman Wills Crofts, Ronald Knox, Michael Innes and Michael Gilbert.
Favourite Story: ‘The Unsolved Puzzle of the Man with No Face’ (1928) by Dorothy L. Sayers
This story encompasses a lot of themes and ideas that Sayers deployed in her novels, such as the effects of WW1 on soldiers’ minds, a beach murder with no evidence of another person’s presence and an advertising company milieu. Lord Peter Wimsey is in fine form in this mystery.
9th Place: Settling Scores: Sporting Mysteries (2020)
I am not really interested in sports, but this collection shows it is an apt theme for a mystery story, as certain aspects of the activity lend itself to crime in terms of things like motivation and murder methods. One weakness which cropped up a few times in some of these stories was a tendency to withhold important information from the readers, meaning they stand no chance of piecing anything together and instead have to be told everything. Nevertheless, there was one story which surprised me with its ending that was darker than I had anticipated.
Authors included: Arthur Morrison, Arthur Conan Doyle, F. A. M. Webster, J. Jefferson Farjeon, H. C. Bailey, Gerald Verner, David Winser, Gladys Mitchell, Ernest Dudley, Leo Bruce, Henry Wade, Bernard Newman, Julian Symons, Michael Gilbert and Celia Fremlin.
Favourite Story: ‘Dangerous Sport’ (1976) by Celia Fremlin
Fremlin is one of my favourite authors, so it should come as no surprise that her story was my favourite in the collection. The story is in the third person but is structured around the experiences of a woman named Stella, who is fed up with her married lover. Realising that he is lying to her, but knowing she cannot openly anger him, she decides to play psychological games with him, to reel him back. But will she push him too far? Fremlin unfolds the concept deftly in a small number of pages and concludes her tale with a chilling pain. I think she is one of those rare writers who is strong at both writing novels and short stories.
8th Place: Continental Crimes (2017)
I would say the writing style was mostly of high quality in this collection and it really added to my reading experience. Some stories were wonderfully atmospheric or had subtle characterisation and I found that these skills helped to balance out issues with the mystery aspects of some of these stories’ plots. Chesterton’s prose was a delight to read, and I loved the twists and turns of Aumonier’s short story ‘The Perfect Murder’ (1926). Looking through my notes it seems like the weaker stories, for me, were nearer the end.
Authors included: Arthur Conan Doyle, Arnold Bennett, G. K. Chesterton, E. Phillips Oppenheim, Ian Hay, F. Tennyson Jesse, Marie Belloc Lowndes, Stacy Aumonier, J. Jefferson Farjeon, H. de Vere Stacpoole, Agatha Christie, H. C. Bailey, Josephine Bell and Michael Gilbert.
Favourite Story: ‘Petit-Jean’ (1931) by Ian Hay
This story is set within WW1, and although it was published in 1931 under the penname of Ian Hay, Major General John Hay Beith wrote it during the war itself, making it quite an unusual story. The action takes place in and around a farm occupied by the British Army, named Cow Corpse farm by the British Army Ordnance department. Given the slaughter occurring at the time it is not surprising that the mystery element in this story concerns the disappearance of a number of provision parcels and espionage. Death aside from the cow, is kept to the background. Nonetheless this was an enjoyable piece, with an effective use of setting and a strong ending to boot.
7th Place: The Measure of Malice: Scientific Mysteries (2019)
This was a surprising collection as unlike my usual self, I enjoyed the stories by Freeman Crofts and H. C. Bailey more than the one by Edmund Crispin. Not all these stories are overly surprising, but I think that is because their focus is on building up a chain of evidence to prove a solution. Due to the emphasis on scientific investigation, I feel these stories were also interesting from a historical point of view in how they depicted culture and science at the time.
Authors included: Arthur Conan Doyle, L. T. Meade and Clifford Halifax, C. J. Cutcliffe Hyne, L. T. Meade and Robert Eustace, Anthony Wynne, C. E. Bechhofer Roberts, R. Austin Freeman, J. J. Connington, H. C. Bailey, Dorothy L. Sayers, Ernest Dudley, John Rhode, Edmund Crispin and Freeman Wills Crofts.
Favourite Story: ‘The Boscombe Valley Mystery’ (1891) by Arthur Conan Doyle
I think this was the first Holmes short story to feature murder and Holmes is in fine fettle in this outing. It’s interesting to see in this early story many of tropes and themes Doyle would continue to work with in later cases and I liked how Holmes goes about proving a key character’s innocence.
6th Place: Deep Waters: Mysteries on the Waves (2019)
I would say more than one story in this anthology is a howdunnit and how cases are worked out is a theme which came up quite a bit in my notes for this collection, as a feature I was enjoying from these stories. The mysteries in Deep Waters contain a lot of satisfying endings, due to their originality, the sting in their tails, or their engagingly dark tone.
Authors included: Arthur Conan Doyle, L. T. Meade and Robert Eustace, E. W. Hornung, Hope Hodgson, R. Austin Freeman, Gwyn Evans, Christopher St John Sprigg, C. S. Forester, H. C. Bailey, Phyllis Bentley, Josephine Bell, Edmund Crispin, Kem Bennett, James Pattinson, Andrew Garve and Michael Innes.
Favourite Story: ‘The Turning of the Tide’ (1936) by C. S. Forester
It was difficult picking my favourite here, as Crispin and Sprigg’s stories were big contenders for the slot. This short story is an inverted mystery, in that the culprit is shown from the outset. A key theme of the story is being able to dispose of a body successfully, but has our murderer got the solution to the problem? The ending is deliciously dark and highly original.
5th Place: Serpents in Eden: Countryside Crimes (2016)
This short story collection was another instance where I had a better reading experience with H. C. Bailey and R. Austin Freeman than I anticipated. The variety of settings and types of crimes in these tales made this a strong anthology, although there were 2-3 mysteries which really hit it out of the park for me.
Authors included: Arthur Conan Doyle, M. McDonnell Bodkin, G. K. Chesterton, E. C. Bentley, Herbert Jenkins, R. Austin Freeman, Margery Allingham, Anthony Berkeley, Lenora Wodehouse, Ethel Lina White, Leo Bruce and Gladys Mitchell
Favourite Story: ‘The Scarecrow’ (1937) by Ethel Lina White
This story shows White doing what she does best, deploying tension like an expert knitter who never drops a stitch. Even though some familiar tropes are used, White thrills us with them, nonetheless. Moreover, this story has the best opening line of the collection: ‘THIS is death!” thought Kay.’
4th Place: Silent Nights: Christmas Mysteries (2015)
I think this was the first anthology in the British Library Crime Classic series (correct me if I am wrong!), and it was certainly the first Christmas themed one. It sets out the blueprint that future collections would adopt, with its inclusion of well-known names mixing with more obscure ones. For example, Ralph Plummer’s story had never been printed since its publication in a 1930s holiday annual. Something else that I noticed was that the theft theme was quite prevalent in this collection. My track record with Edgar Wallace is somewhat mixed but his story ‘Stuffing’ (1926), in this anthology, seems to have gone down a treat, as I found he effectively used the short space of the tale to maximise his plot effects, to balance writing about three different groups of characters, which need to interconnect, and to end on a twist.
Authors included: Arthur Conan Doyle, Ralph Plummer, Raymond Allen, G. K. Chesterton, Edgar Wallace, H. C. Bailey, J, Jefferson Farjeon, Dorothy L. Sayers, Margery Allingham, Ethel Lina White, Marjorie Bowen, Joseph Shearing, Nicholas Blake, Edmund Crispin and Leo Bruce
Favourite Story: ‘A Problem in White’ (1949) by Nicholas Blake
Prior to reading this story I was only familiar with Blake’s novels, but I was impressed with this festive tale, which has the makings of a Christmas classic. The train setting is used well with the snowy weather conditions, and I think Blake offers the reader a clever puzzle to solve, and in fact it even includes a challenge to the reader.
3rd Place: The Christmas Card Crime and Other Stories (2018)
A strength which stands out in this collection of stories is their ability to unfurl twists at the reader and subvert reader expectations about characters. There were a number of excellent endings, which I feel is really important in a short story and I also like how this anthology overturned my expectation that Ronald Knox’s story would be dry and dull. It was not. Even in stories I did not enjoy so much, there were still elements of interest such as Orczy’s decision to eschew a romance subplot in ‘A Christmas Tragedy’.
Authors included: Baroness Orczy, Selwyn Jepson, Donald Stewart, Ronald Knox, Carter Dickson, Francis Durbridge, Cyril Hare, E. C. R. Lorac, John Bude, John Bingham, Julian Symons.
Favourite Story: ‘Crime at Lark Cottage’ by John Bingham
I was sorely tempted to pick Cyril Hare’s ‘Sister Bessie’, as it is a firm favourite which I have read several times, and even when I discounted this story there were still other contenders. But in the end, I decided to go with Bingham’s tale because I liked how it plays upon the expectations readers might have about men and women in particular narrative setups.
2nd Place: The Long Arm of the Law (2017)
Reviewing my notes for this collection brought me an unexpected development as I realised that one of the stories is present in another British Library short story anthology. That story was ‘After the Event’ (1958) by Christianna Brand. When I read the story in The Long Arm of the Law I really enjoyed it, but a few years later when I unknowingly re-read it in Final Acts, I had a less fun time. I still liked the interaction between Inspector Cockrill and the “Great Detective” but I had found the plot more dense upon the second read. It’s funny how our reading tastes and experiences can change over time.
Authors included: Alice and Claude Askew, Edgar Wallace, George R. Sims, Laurence W. Meynell, Gerald Verner, Roy Vickers, Leonard R. Gribble, Freeman Wills Crofts, E. C. R. Lorac, Henry Wade, Christianna Brand, Nicholas Blake, John Creasey, Michael Gilbert and Gil North.
Favourite Story: ‘The Chief Witness’ (1957) by John Creasey
It was an exceptionally tough call to decide which story to pick, so in the end I went for a tale which was not just clever and well-written (something many of the stories in this collection share), but which was also moving. ‘The Chief Witness’ features his serial sleuth Roger West and opens from a child’s point of view, initially hearing his parents arguing and then failing to rouse his mother in the morning. There is an obvious theory for what has taken place, yet West is not so convinced and begins to probe more deeply, with the important evidence coming from the child themselves. The child’s role in the story is well-handled and, in my opinion, it is this character which gives this tale its’ impact.
1st Place: Foreign Bodies (2017)
This collection contains stories from Hungary, Japan, Demark, India, Germany, Mexico, Belgium, Netherlands, Russia and France. I really engaged with the different types of mystery being offered, and I enjoyed seeing the cultural and societal details emerging through the narratives. It is the sort of anthology I would be happy to see a second volume of. Sinister and chilling atmospheres seem to have been a common strength running through several of the tales in this collection. Locations vary hugely in this group of stories, which is another asset of the anthology, as it helps to maintain reader interest. The stories take place in urban domestic spaces, rural and isolated areas, vulnerable to the elements, desert islands and even scientific laboratories.
Authors included: Anton Chekhov, Palle Rosenkrantz, Balduin Groller, Maurice Level, Maurice Leblanc, Ivans, Paul Rosenhayn, Koga Saburo, Sharadindu Bandyopadhyay, Jean-Toussaint Samat, Keikichi Osaka, Pierre Very, John Flanders, Havank and Maria Elvira Bermudez.
Favourite Story: ‘The Kennel’ (1920) by Maurice Level
I think this story is a good example of how a writer can create big effects with a small number of materials. The stormy weather matches the turbulent marriage which is at the centre of this tale, and I found this was a reading experience in which I enjoyed every page.
Which are your favourite anthologies from the series? What themes would you like to see next?
Here are the collections I currently have on my TBR pile:
And later this year the British Library will be adding this anthology to their series:
