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Serpents in Eden: Countryside Crimes Spiral-Bound | March 1, 2016

Martin Edwards (Edited by)

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‘The lowest and vilest alleys in London do not present a more dreadful record of sin than does the smiling and beautiful countryside.... Think of the deeds of hellish cruelty, the hidden wickedness which may go on, year in, year out, in such places, and none the wiser.’ – Sherlock Holmes Many of the greatest British crime writers have explored the possibilities of crime in the countryside in lively and ingenious short stories. Serpents in Eden celebrates the rural British mystery by bringing together an eclectic mix of crime stories written over half a century. From a tale of poison-pen letters tearing apart a village community to a macabre mystery by Arthur Conan Doyle, the stories collected here reveal the dark truths hidden in an assortment of rural paradises. Among the writers included here are such major figures as G. K. Chesterton and Margery Allingham, along with a host of lesser-known discoveries whose best stories are among the unsung riches of the golden age of British crime fiction between the two world wars.
Publisher: Sourcebooks
Original Binding: Trade Paperback
Pages: 272 pages
ISBN-10: 1464205752
Item Weight: 0.6 lbs
Dimensions: 5.3 x 0.7 x 8.0 inches
Thirteen short stories, mostly written between the two world wars, reveal the dark side of life in the English countryside. The earliest entries revolve around the fair of face and strong of limb, each with a signature detective who effortlessly unravels a not very knotty puzzle. In M. McDonnell Bodkin's "Murder by Proxy," "young, handsome, debonair" Eric Neville advises his equally attractive cousin John to wire Mr. Beck in London to help discover who shot their uncle, Squire Neville, at his Dorset estate. In G.K. Chesterton's "The Fad of the Fisherman," Horne Fisher solves the murder of Sir Isaac Hook at his West Country manor house. In E.C. Bentley's "The Genuine Tabard," Philip Trent helps George D. Langley, "the finest-looking man in the room," expose a dodgy deal. Perhaps the best of the early puzzles is Arthur Conan Doyle's "The Black Doctor," in which Mr. Humphrey comes to the aid of a landowner accused of murdering his neighbor. The fun doesn't really start, though, until Margery Allingham unmasks the shady side of the Garden Field competition at the village flower show in "A Proper Mystery." Gladys Mitchell adds her take on the perils of Morris dancing in "Our Pageant." The indomitable Sgt. Beef solves the murder of an elderly spinster in Leo Bruce's "Clue in the Mustard." And Ethel Lina White offers a chilling tale of a damsel in distress in "The Scarecrow." But far and away the funniest take on country manners is Leonora Wodehouse's mordant "Inquest," which turns murder into suicide into murder. A volume that may not persuade readers that there's menace in every meadow but certainly shows that English crime isn't confined to the Smoke. -Kirkus
MARTIN EDWARDS is an award-winning crime writer best known for two series of novels set in Liverpool and the Lake District. He is series consultant for British Library Crime Classics, the Vice Chair of the Crime Writers' Association, and President of the Detection Club. The Golden Age of Murder, his study of the Detection Club, was published in 2015 to international acclaim, and has been nominated for both the Edgar and Agatha awards for the year's best book about the genre.