The Book Of Extraordinary Historical Mystery Stories

Outstanding new crime fiction spanning centuries of history from Dagger winner Kate Ellis, Edgar winner Martin Edwards, and many more. Collected by Anthony and Dagger Award-winner and eminent editor Maxim Jakubowski, The Book of Extraordinary Historical Mystery Stories features never-before-seen stories by some of the most renowned American and British crime and thriller authors of today, offering a showcase of puzzling, adventurous, and atmospheric short fiction—set in eras ranging from prehistory to medieval, Victorian to World War II, and starring detectives both professional and amateur. Contributors include Linda Stratmann, Amy Myers, Lavie Tidhar, Jane Finnis, O’Neil de Noux, Ashley Lister, Eric Brown, Kate Ellis, A.K. Benedict, and others.

Outstanding new crime fiction spanning centuries of history from Dagger winner Kate Ellis, Edgar winner Martin Edwards, and many more. Collected by Anthony and Dagger Award-winner and eminent editor Maxim Jakubowski, The Book of Extraordinary Historical Mystery Stories features never-before-seen stories by some of the most renowned American and British crime and thriller authors of today, offering a showcase of puzzling, adventurous, and atmospheric short fiction—set in eras ranging from prehistory to medieval, Victorian to World War II, and starring detectives both professional and amateur. Contributors include Linda Stratmann, Amy Myers, Lavie Tidhar, Jane Finnis, O’Neil de Noux, Ashley Lister, Eric Brown, Kate Ellis, A.K. Benedict, and others.

In 1327, Brother William of Baskerville is sent to investigate charges of heresy against Franciscan monks at a wealthy Italian abbey but finds his mission overshadowed by seven bizarre murders.

A cornucopia of the best new whodunits, collected by one of the mystery scene’s eminent editors, “a giant of the genre” (Lee Childs). One of the best mystery books of the 21st century, this volume features outstanding new stories of crime, derring-do, fast-paced adventures, and puzzles, featuring hardy amateur detectives ranging from young to old and grizzled private eyes whose patches cover the city streets, all in the hallowed tradition of Sherlock Holmes, Miss Marple, Hercule Poirot, and Philip Marlowe. Jakubowski’s many anthologies, like The Book of Extraordinary Historical Mystery Stories, have attracted plenty of attention and awards. His newest collection, The Book of Extraordinary Amateur Sleuths and Private Eye Stories, features never-before-seen short fiction by some of the most renowned American and British crime and thriller authors of today. Whether the victim was done in at the party uptown or discovered in the other room of a particularly difficult woman or man, these mysteries will have you reading at the edge of your seat. Praise for Maxim Jakubowski and His Books “I have been a fan of Maxim Jakubowski for years. There just is no finer mystery writer and editor anywhere. Find a comfortable chair and a strong drink and prepare to be enthralled.” —Alexander Algren, author of Out in a Flash: Murder Mystery Flash Fiction “Maxim Jakubowski is deeply experienced in the field . . . Sometimes a brief zap of great writing is just what you’re in the mood for or have time for. That’s when anthologies like his are ideal . . . intellectually outstanding.” —New York Journal of Books

This anthology draws together some of the best new stories of mystery and murder—compiled by the Anthony Award–winning crime fiction editor. This anthology collects the most original stories of murder by some of mystery fiction's most inventive talents from the United States and United Kingdom. With innovative new takes on locked-room mysteries and impossible crimes, these short stories are full of vexing conundrums and reality-defying puzzles. A murder has been committed—but how could it have happened? Curated by Maxim Jakubowski, one of the crime genre’s most renowned editors, this volume features never-before-seen stories by acclaimed authors—including British Science Fiction Award–winner Eric Brown, Derringer Award–winner O'Neil de Noux, and multiple CWA Dagger Award–winners and nominees.

Holmes and Watson return in new detective stories by David Stuart Davies, Lavie Tidhar, Mark Mower, and more: “Highly recommended.” —Lee Child, author of the Jack Reacher novels This cornucopia of dark deeds, deduction, and derring-do contains never-before-published stories featuring Sherlock Holmes and other favorite Conan Doyle characters—written by some of today’s best mystery and thriller writers and collected by one of the genre’s eminent editors. Contributors include: Jon Courtenay Grimwood * Lavie Tidhar * David Stuart Davies * John Grant * Rose Biggins * David N. Smith * O’Neil De Noux * Rhys Hughes * Catherine Lundoff * Mark Mower * Matthew Booth * Martin Daley * Jan Edwards * Ashley Lister * Keith Brooke * Naching T.Kassa * Phillip Vine * Bev Vincent * Keith Moray * Nick Sweet “Lavie Tidhar provides a tantalizing puzzle in ‘The Adventure of the Milford Silkworms,’ in which a female client appeals for help understanding the connection between an assault on a botanist and goats acting oddly. Bev Vincent’s ‘Bloody Sunday’ posits a clever plot behind one of the most notorious real-life riots of the Victorian era.” —Publishers Weekly “Sometimes a brief zap of great writing is just what you’re in the mood for or have time for. That’s when anthologies like his are ideal...intellectually outstanding.” —New York Journal of Books “The best short mystery and crime fiction of the year.” —Leonard Carpenter, author of Lusitania Lost

Peter Tremayne is one of the best loved writers of historical mysteries, his novels and stories published in over a dozen countries around the world. An Ensuing Evil collects for the first time fourteen of his historical mysteries ranging in time and place from 7th-century Ireland (featuring his best known sleuth, Fidelma of Cashel) and 8th-century Scotland (featuring the real-life Macbeth) to the recent history of Victorian England and beyond. These fourteen tales of murder, mayhem and mystery each display Tremayne's usual mix of compelling historical detail about the time period and a baffling puzzle that will delight and confound his ever-growning legion of fans.

A century-old murder mystery A dangerous ghost An amateur historian... What binds them together? Cora Tozzi is a retired businesswoman who, after nursing her mother through her final illness, wishes only for a peaceful orderly world in her suburban Chicago home. When an angry spirit begins to leave cryptic messages on her computer and threatens those around her, Cora is forced to dig into the town's notorious past to uncover secrets that will free the bonds that tie her and the spirit. With the help of her husband and their friend, Frannie, Cora uses her skills as an amateur historian in a search that takes them into unexpected terrain including subterranean passages, an eerie graveyard, and shadowy paths in isolated forests where a sinister predator is awakened. As they battle unpredictable supernatural powers, the story takes a poignant turn: the spirit's life is revealed, and both women, a century apart, examine threads into the past and the future, their loss and longing linked across the generations.