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The Resource Victorian tales of mystery and detection : an Oxford anthology, selected and introduced by Michael Cox

Victorian tales of mystery and detection : an Oxford anthology, selected and introduced by Michael Cox

Contributor
Summary
Like ghost stories, short tales of mystery and detection were part of the Victorian reader's staple diet. But where the ghost story often cautioned against too great a faith in reason and showed men and women being persecuted by the inexplicable, the detective story celebrated the human ability to explain and comprehend. Edgar Allan Poe's stories concerning the investigations of the brilliant but eccentric Chevalier C. Auguste Dupin form the fountainhead of the detective-story tradition. Thereafter the detective story developed within the framework of mid-Victorian sensation fiction, with its emphasis on crime in contemporary settings and ingeniously devised plots. Then, in 1891, the first series of Sherlock Holmes stories began to appear in the Strand magazine and the detective story was never the same again. In this entertaining anthology Michael Cox has assembled a wide ranging selection of 31 stories from authors such as J. S. Le Fanu, Charles Dickens, Mary Elizabeth Braddon, Mrs. Henry Wood, Wilkie Collins, Grant Allen, L. T. Meade and Robert Eustace, Fergus Hume, Arthur Morrison, M. P. Shiel, Baroness Orczy, Sax Rohmer, Robert Barr, and - inevitably - Arthur Conan Doyle. There are police detectives, gentleman amateurs, lady detectives (such as Catherine Pirkis's Loveday Brooke), professional consulting detectives, even an 'anti-detective' (Guy Boothby's Klimo, who devises a crime for himself to solve), and a psychic detective. The villains against whom they pit their wits are equally various, as are their crimes - from fraud and forgery to theft, abduction, and of course murder most foul, whether by poison, bullet, or blade. These stories offer hours of enjoyable escape for all lovers of crime fiction. They also bring alive the Victorian age - its social distinctions, its language and domestic surroundings and, most typically, the sights and sounds of its streets - and together provide an outline of the Victorian detective story from the 1840s to the early years of the twentieth century
Language
eng
Work
Publication
Extent
1 online resource (xxvi, 578 pages)
Contents
  • The purloined letter / Edgar Allan Poe
  • The murdered cousin / J. S. Le Fanu
  • Hunted down / Charles Dickens
  • Levison's victim / Mary Elizabeth Braddon
  • The mystery at number seven / Mrs Henry Wood
  • The going out of Alessandro Pozzone / Richard Dowling
  • Who killed Zebedee? / Wilkie Collins
  • A circumstantial puzzle / R. E. Francillon
  • The mystery of Essex stairs / Sir Gilbert Campbell
  • The adventure of the blue carbuncle / Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
  • The great ruby robbery / Grant Allen
  • The sapient monkey / Headon Hill
  • Cheating the gallows / Israel Zangwill
  • Drawn daggers / C. L. Pirkis
  • The greenstone god and the stockbroker / Fergus Hume
  • The arrest of Captain Vandaleur / L. T. Meade and Robert Eustace
  • The accusing shadow / Harry Blyth
  • The ivy cottage mystery / Arthur Morrison
  • The Azteck opal / Rodrigues Ottolengui
  • The long arm / Mary E. Wilkins
  • The case of Euphemia Raphash / M. P. Shiel
  • The tin box / Herbert Keen
  • Murder by proxy / M. McDonnell Bodkin
  • The duchess of Wiltshire's diamonds / Guy Boothby
  • The story of the Spaniards, Hammersmith / E. and H. Heron
  • The lost special / Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
  • The banknote forger / C. J. Cutcliffe Hyne
  • A warning in red / Victor L. Whitechurch and E. Conway
  • The Fenchurch Street mystery / Baroness Orczy
  • The green spider / Sax Rohmer
  • The clue of the silver spoons / Robert Barr
Link
Instance
Label
Victorian tales of mystery and detection : an Oxford anthology
Title
Victorian tales of mystery and detection
Title remainder
an Oxford anthology
Statement of responsibility
selected and introduced by Michael Cox
Contributor
Subject
Language
eng
Summary
Like ghost stories, short tales of mystery and detection were part of the Victorian reader's staple diet. But where the ghost story often cautioned against too great a faith in reason and showed men and women being persecuted by the inexplicable, the detective story celebrated the human ability to explain and comprehend. Edgar Allan Poe's stories concerning the investigations of the brilliant but eccentric Chevalier C. Auguste Dupin form the fountainhead of the detective-story tradition. Thereafter the detective story developed within the framework of mid-Victorian sensation fiction, with its emphasis on crime in contemporary settings and ingeniously devised plots. Then, in 1891, the first series of Sherlock Holmes stories began to appear in the Strand magazine and the detective story was never the same again. In this entertaining anthology Michael Cox has assembled a wide ranging selection of 31 stories from authors such as J. S. Le Fanu, Charles Dickens, Mary Elizabeth Braddon, Mrs. Henry Wood, Wilkie Collins, Grant Allen, L. T. Meade and Robert Eustace, Fergus Hume, Arthur Morrison, M. P. Shiel, Baroness Orczy, Sax Rohmer, Robert Barr, and - inevitably - Arthur Conan Doyle. There are police detectives, gentleman amateurs, lady detectives (such as Catherine Pirkis's Loveday Brooke), professional consulting detectives, even an 'anti-detective' (Guy Boothby's Klimo, who devises a crime for himself to solve), and a psychic detective. The villains against whom they pit their wits are equally various, as are their crimes - from fraud and forgery to theft, abduction, and of course murder most foul, whether by poison, bullet, or blade. These stories offer hours of enjoyable escape for all lovers of crime fiction. They also bring alive the Victorian age - its social distinctions, its language and domestic surroundings and, most typically, the sights and sounds of its streets - and together provide an outline of the Victorian detective story from the 1840s to the early years of the twentieth century
Cataloging source
DLC
Dewey number
823/.08720908
Index
no index present
LC call number
PR1309.D4
LC item number
V49 1992
Literary form
fiction
Nature of contents
  • dictionaries
  • bibliography
http://library.link/vocab/relatedWorkOrContributorDate
1948-2009
http://library.link/vocab/relatedWorkOrContributorName
Cox, Michael
http://library.link/vocab/subjectName
  • Detective and mystery stories, English
  • English fiction
Label
Victorian tales of mystery and detection : an Oxford anthology, selected and introduced by Michael Cox
Link
Instantiates
Publication
Bibliography note
Includes bibliographical references (p. [576]-578)
Contents
The purloined letter / Edgar Allan Poe -- The murdered cousin / J. S. Le Fanu -- Hunted down / Charles Dickens -- Levison's victim / Mary Elizabeth Braddon -- The mystery at number seven / Mrs Henry Wood -- The going out of Alessandro Pozzone / Richard Dowling -- Who killed Zebedee? / Wilkie Collins -- A circumstantial puzzle / R. E. Francillon -- The mystery of Essex stairs / Sir Gilbert Campbell -- The adventure of the blue carbuncle / Sir Arthur Conan Doyle -- The great ruby robbery / Grant Allen -- The sapient monkey / Headon Hill -- Cheating the gallows / Israel Zangwill -- Drawn daggers / C. L. Pirkis -- The greenstone god and the stockbroker / Fergus Hume -- The arrest of Captain Vandaleur / L. T. Meade and Robert Eustace -- The accusing shadow / Harry Blyth -- The ivy cottage mystery / Arthur Morrison -- The Azteck opal / Rodrigues Ottolengui -- The long arm / Mary E. Wilkins -- The case of Euphemia Raphash / M. P. Shiel -- The tin box / Herbert Keen -- Murder by proxy / M. McDonnell Bodkin -- The duchess of Wiltshire's diamonds / Guy Boothby -- The story of the Spaniards, Hammersmith / E. and H. Heron -- The lost special / Sir Arthur Conan Doyle -- The banknote forger / C. J. Cutcliffe Hyne -- A warning in red / Victor L. Whitechurch and E. Conway -- The Fenchurch Street mystery / Baroness Orczy -- The green spider / Sax Rohmer -- The clue of the silver spoons / Robert Barr
Extent
1 online resource (xxvi, 578 pages)
Form of item
online
Specific material designation
remote
System control number
(OCoLC)1036912292
Label
Victorian tales of mystery and detection : an Oxford anthology, selected and introduced by Michael Cox
Link
Publication
Bibliography note
Includes bibliographical references (p. [576]-578)
Contents
The purloined letter / Edgar Allan Poe -- The murdered cousin / J. S. Le Fanu -- Hunted down / Charles Dickens -- Levison's victim / Mary Elizabeth Braddon -- The mystery at number seven / Mrs Henry Wood -- The going out of Alessandro Pozzone / Richard Dowling -- Who killed Zebedee? / Wilkie Collins -- A circumstantial puzzle / R. E. Francillon -- The mystery of Essex stairs / Sir Gilbert Campbell -- The adventure of the blue carbuncle / Sir Arthur Conan Doyle -- The great ruby robbery / Grant Allen -- The sapient monkey / Headon Hill -- Cheating the gallows / Israel Zangwill -- Drawn daggers / C. L. Pirkis -- The greenstone god and the stockbroker / Fergus Hume -- The arrest of Captain Vandaleur / L. T. Meade and Robert Eustace -- The accusing shadow / Harry Blyth -- The ivy cottage mystery / Arthur Morrison -- The Azteck opal / Rodrigues Ottolengui -- The long arm / Mary E. Wilkins -- The case of Euphemia Raphash / M. P. Shiel -- The tin box / Herbert Keen -- Murder by proxy / M. McDonnell Bodkin -- The duchess of Wiltshire's diamonds / Guy Boothby -- The story of the Spaniards, Hammersmith / E. and H. Heron -- The lost special / Sir Arthur Conan Doyle -- The banknote forger / C. J. Cutcliffe Hyne -- A warning in red / Victor L. Whitechurch and E. Conway -- The Fenchurch Street mystery / Baroness Orczy -- The green spider / Sax Rohmer -- The clue of the silver spoons / Robert Barr
Extent
1 online resource (xxvi, 578 pages)
Form of item
online
Specific material designation
remote
System control number
(OCoLC)1036912292

Subject

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