The Long Arm of the Law

October 15, 2017
Tired of newspaper headlines that accuse cops of malfeasance or worse? Veteran editor Edwards (Continental Crimes, 2017, etc.) has the perfect antidote: 15 reprints of stories from 1908 to 1966 showing English police officers at (generally) their most sterling. By their very nature, police procedurals unfold over an extended period. These authors haven't got much time; their investigations generally focus on tightknit family groups instead of casting a wider net. Alice and Claude Askew's melodramatic tale of poisoning and George R. Sims' account of a child whose throat has been cut are of mostly historical interest. John Creasey's heartfelt tale of Chief Inspector Roger West questioning a young boy who's the best and only witness to the circumstances surrounding his mother's murder has room for exactly one surprise, and Freeman Willis Crofts' miniature inverted tale even less than that. But although readers may not expect much ingenuity in these generally stolid unravelings, the anecdote one Deptford Police Constable tells about another delivers a reliable snap in Edgar Wallace's entry; Lawrence W. Meynell provides a clue worthy of the most brilliant amateur sleuth; Leonard R. Gribble constructs and deconstructs an inventive fraud with panache; Henry Wade supplies a workmanlike killer and an even more workmanlike pair of coppers; Nicholas Blake briskly links the death of a guide dog to a more consequential murder; and Christianna Brand's witty, heartless tale of Inspector Cockrill solving a murder among a family of thespians is predictably just as clever, page for page, as her Cockrill novels. As a bonus, Roy Vickers' matter-of-fact tale of a bigamist brought to summary justice and Michael Gilbert's unearthing of a long and shocking chain of murders really do carry something like the cumulative weight of a roman policier. A collection of curiosities best spaced out over several sessions but still a most civilized anecdote to contemporary stories about the police, fictional or non-.

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November 6, 2017
Drawing on his encyclopedic knowledge of mystery fiction’s golden age, Edwards (Continental Crimes) has put together an anthology of 15 lost gems focused on the often-maligned official British detectives rather than the typically more eccentric and brilliant private investigators. The breadth of Edwards’s expertise is demonstrated in the first entry, “The Mystery of Chenholt,” by Alice and Claude Askew from The Adventures of Police Constable Vane M.A., on Duty and off, a 1908 volume so rare that even the British Library lacks a copy. This clever tale establishes atmosphere and characterizations in just a few pages, as a constable named Reggie is dispatched to the quiet Surrey countryside to recover from a traumatic night in “the mummy house,” only to be called upon by a butler desperate to save his employer’s wife from her husband, whom he believes is poisoning her. Also notable are Christianna Brand’s ingenious “After the Event,” in which her series sleuth, Inspector Cockrill, investigates a murder during a production of Othello, and Freeman Wills Crofts’s inverted mystery, “Fingerprints.” Edwards also includes lesser-known tales by authors such as Michael Gilbert and Nicholas Blake.

January 1, 2018

Following an introduction that covers the history of police procedurals from the mid-1800s to authors of the 20th century, including Colin Dexter, Ruth Rendell, P.D. James, and Lynda La Plante, the 15 short stories collected here spotlight some forgotten gems, as well as tales that were based on actual cases. While John Creasey and Michael Gilbert may be recognizable names to avid readers, the now-forgotten clever tales by Edgar Wallace, Roy Vickers, and Christianna Brand will come as delightful discoveries to mystery buffs. The police detectives range from the silently observant to the clever officers who reveal their discoveries. Edgar Award-winning Edwards, author of The Golden Age of Murder and series consultant for British Library Crime Classics, is the perfect editor for this anthology of classic procedurals. VERDICT Knowledgable background introductions along with stories that have been long out of print make this a must-read for aficionados of golden age mysteries.--Lesa Holstine, Evansville Vanderburgh P.L., IN

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