Bodies from the Library: Lost Tales of Mystery and Suspense by Agatha Christie and other Masters of the Golden Age

Bodies from the Library: Lost Tales of Mystery and Suspense by Agatha Christie and other Masters of the Golden Age
Agatha Christie

Georgette Heyer

Nicholas Blake

Christianna Brand

Tony Medawar

A. A. Milne

This anthology of rare stories of crime and suspense brings together 16 tales by masters of the Golden Age of Detective Fiction for the first time in book form, including a newly discovered Agatha Christie crime story that has not been seen since 1922.At a time when crime and thriller writing has once again overtaken the sales of general and literary fiction, Bodies from the Library unearths lost stories from the Golden Age, that period between the World Wars when detective fiction captured the public’s imagination and saw the emergence of some of the world’s cleverest and most popular storytellers.This anthology brings together 16 forgotten tales that have either been published only once before – perhaps in a newspaper or rare magazine – or have never before appeared in print. From a previously unpublished 1917 script featuring Ernest Bramah’s blind detective Max Carrados, to early 1950s crime stories written for London’s Evening Standard by Cyril Hare, Freeman Wills Crofts and A.A. Milne, it spans five decades of writing by masters of the Golden Age.Most anticipated of all are the contributions by women writers: the first detective story by Georgette Heyer, unseen since 1923; an unpublished story by Christianna Brand, creator of Nanny McPhee; and a dark tale by Agatha Christie published only in an Australian journal in 1922 during her ‘Grand Tour’ of the British Empire.With other stories by Detection Club stalwarts Anthony Berkeley, H.C. Bailey, J.J. Connington, John Rhode and Nicholas Blake, plus Vincent Cornier, Leo Bruce, Roy Vickers and Arthur Upfield, this essential collection harks back to a time before forensic science – when murder was a complex business.

Copyright (#u74d070d4-130a-5514-a4b5-8d55e05dbe66)

COLLINS CRIME CLUB

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Published by Collins Crime Club 2018

Selection, introduction and notes © Tony Medawar 2018

For copyright acknowledgements, see Acknowledgements

Cover design by Holly Macdonald © HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd 2018

Cover illustrations © Shutterstock.com (https://www.shutterstock.com)

A catalogue copy of this book is available from the British Library.

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Source ISBN: 9780008289225

Ebook Edition © July 2018 ISBN: 9780008289232

Version: 2018-07-04

Table of Contents

Cover (#u74272432-c694-58d5-aefe-dc3d10b45a76)

Title Page (#u42e6eb5a-e380-5eb1-a606-30a0e1ff4d90)

Copyright (#ud43a37c1-28e4-59b2-add7-bbe0edaf0b20)

Introduction (#uf02eea90-de71-5b36-a335-3d0e017ff452)

Before Insulin (#ud0f297f2-db13-5b17-991b-64fe0d2baaeb)

J. J. Connington (#u95e17cd0-ef42-574b-9e26-d4e9007675c5)

The Inverness Cape (#u5d11b7a5-5b9d-53bc-8107-3b1ce52220b7)

Leo Bruce (#u127fc414-ca94-5d1d-818f-31f8477ff681)

Dark Waters (#u43ae077e-8e45-51a5-9527-c52906345077)

Freeman Wills Crofts (#u1732695a-649a-5b43-bf3f-7593df3bb69b)

Linckes’ Great Case (#u9e533e4a-e619-5109-99e7-5c38722e328c)

Georgette Heyer (#u4a5ddd63-86b7-59a5-a442-63356dbf72ea)

‘Calling James Braithwaite’ (#ub2827ef3-0b65-5695-8162-3e38f3b867ed)

Nicholas Blake (#litres_trial_promo)

The Elusive Bullet (#litres_trial_promo)

John Rhode (#litres_trial_promo)

The Euthanasia of Hilary’s Aunt (#litres_trial_promo)

Cyril Hare (#litres_trial_promo)

The Girdle of Dreams (#litres_trial_promo)

Vincent Cornier (#litres_trial_promo)

The Fool and the Perfect Murder (#litres_trial_promo)

Arthur Upfield (#litres_trial_promo)

Bread Upon the Waters (#litres_trial_promo)

A. A. Milne (#litres_trial_promo)

The Man With the Twisted Thumb (#litres_trial_promo)

Anthony Berkeley (#litres_trial_promo)