Guilty Creatures

 Guilty Creatures: A Menagerie of Mysteries

edited by Martin Edwards

published by British Library

ISBN: 978-0-7123-5344-1

This book is part of the British Library Crime Classics series, which consists of republications of 'classic crime' books that have gone out of print. These books were written by authors who may have been well known at the time, but who have been forgotten. I've discovered many authors via this series, but I don't think I was aware that they also published short story collections. Short stories, classic mysteries, new-to-me authors--what's not to love? This kind of thing is right up my street. 

This is a fun collection in which each story has something to do with critters of one kind or another. There are a few more well-known authors included, like Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (a Sherlock Holmes story), G.K. Chesterton (a Father Brown story), and Christianna Brand, but I had never heard of most of the authors in the book. Many of these were happy surprises and I would love to read more of their work. In my opinion, the Sherlock Holmes story that opens the book was the weakest in the collection. It seemed very obvious. However, one of the interesting things about this collection is seeing the scientific views of the time as understood by the authors. In the case of the Holmes story in particular, the scenario might not have seemed so obvious at the time. The rest of the stories were stronger and the ending of one had me wondering what was going on right up until the last sentence, which made me gasp.

I really enjoyed reading this and I look forward to reading more of these short story collections. I highly recommend this and other British Library Crime Classics if you're someone who likes classic mysteries, 'forgotten' authors, and/or short stories. 

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