Bodies from the Library 5
Selected Lost Stories of Mystery and Suspense by Masters of the Golden Age
ed. Tony Medawar (Collins Crime Club, 2019); audiobook read by Philip Bretherton (HarperCollins, 2022)
The written equivalent of a b-sides collection. Anthony Boucher and Julian Symons are worth reading, but mostly the author biographies prove more diverting than the stories. John Bude’s (only ever) novella ‘Murder in Montparnasse’ is a laborious slog through the patently obvious.
Bodies from the Library 2: Forgotten Stories of Mystery and Suspense by the Queens of Crime and other Masters of Golden Age Detection
ed. Tony Medawar (Collins Crime Club, 2019)
audiobook read by Philip Bretherton (HarperCollins, 2019)
A collection of unpublished or obscurely published and never before reprinted detective stories from some famous names in the genre. While these include pieces featuring, respectively, Gervase Fen and Lord Peter Wimsey, most of these tales have gathered dust for good reason.