The Best English Detective Stories of 1928

 The Best English Detective Stories of 1928 (1929) by Father Ronald Knox & H. Harrington (eds)

This is a real mixed selection of Golden Age short stories. Those that are good are very, very good--see "Through the Window," "The Poison Bottle," "Drops That Trickle Away," and "The Secret of the Mountain." There are a couple that are nearly as good: "Trial by Ordeal" and "The Tuesday Night Club." Even if I hadn't read the Christie story several times in the past, I still wouldn't rate it as one of her absolute best shorts. The rest are okay--nothing spectacular and not really terrible. I'm glad to have read the entire collection but I do wish there had been a greater percentage of really top-tier stories. ★★★ for the collection.

"Trial by Ordeal" by F. Britten Austin: David Kinlan, actor extraordinaire, learns of an old friend's murder and decides to take on one more role to help bring the killer to justice. (one shot)

"A Race for Life" by Marie Belloc-Lowndes: Mrs. Brantwood asks French detective Hercules Popeau to save her husband from a certain death. One of the few stories where the detective is actually successful at preventing a murder....

"The Artificial Mole" by J. D. Beresford: When Miss Hannah Gray goes missing, her sister asks for help from our narrator Hatton. And when he learns that Miss Gray was middle-aged and rather plain with her own income and that she was last seen in the company of a younger man claiming to be her husband, he fears the worst. (one strangled)

"The Secret of the Mountain" by C. Bobbett: Inspector Travers, on holiday from the Yard in the mountainous Lake District, is asked to investigate the apparent accidental death of one Mr. Watson. His wife is sure that a rival has engineered the death, but there doesn't seem to be any way he could have done so. (one fell from height)

"The Master Touch" by Christopher B. L. Booth: The Revenue Service has been the track of Slippery Jim, well-known jewel smuggler, for quite some time. They just haven't been able to catch him with the goods. But this time, Mr. Conklin & Mr. January are sure they've got him....do they?

"Through the Window" by K. R. G. Browne: A lovely little story about the death of a loan shark. Told in the manner of P. G. Wodehouse and the reader is definitely on the side of the killer. (one neck broken)

"The Poison Bottle" by Bernard Capes: When the young heir is poisoned with cyanide used in his new hobby of butterfly collection, the death is ruled an accident. He was young and just didn't know what he was about. But the housemaid is sure it was murder. (one poisoned; one hanged)

"The Tuesday Night Club" by Agatha Christie:  Sir Henry Clithering tells the story of poisoning. Three people sat down to a dinner and it seems that all three ate the same things. But only one of them dies of arsenic poisoning (or even gets sick). How was it done? And who did it? Miss Marple knows. [one poisoned; two natural]

"The Diary of Death" by Marten Cumberland: When a beautiful woman dies in poverty, she leaves behind a diary vilifying her friends for not helping her in her time of need, someone begins killing the people mentioned--leaving the relevant pages of the diary beside the bodies. But how is the killer getting to their victims? [one natural; one shot two stabbed]

"Under a Thousand Eyes" by Charlotte Dockstader: An actor plots to kill his rival--his rival onstage and in love--but can he act his way out of a guilty verdict? [one poisoned]

"Mr. Leggatt Leaves His Card" by J. S. Fletcher: The Reverend Mr. Leggatt puts on a deerstalker to hunt down the thief who stole his church's famous Hislip Chalice.

'Who Killed Castelvetri?" by Gilbert Fankau: A man is on trial for killing his brother-in-law. He says it was self-defense, but one woman in the gallery believes it to be cold-blooded murder. Can she get the evidence to convince the jury? (one shot)

"The Late Edition" by Kelman Frost: How a newspaper proves that an apparent suicide must be murder.  (one gassed)

"The Night of the Garter" by Arthur Hougham: A man comes to Rappley Hall to purchase the fabled "Luck of Rappley" (a garter of fine rubies). He encounters the ghost of Sir Ridley Rappley and finds another treasure. (one shot)

"The Sign of Seven" by John Hunter: A tale of the end of a great crime syndicate known as "The Seven." A tale of bluff and double-bluff. (two shot)

"Drops That Trickle Away" by Maurice Leblanc: Jim Barnett investigates the mystery of the intruder in Baroness Valerie Assermann's boudoir--an intruder who, though he made noise and left clues in the room, left no traces of how he got in or out and seemed to have taken nothing. But when her priceless pearls are proven to be mere substitutes, she isn't certain that she wants Barnett to finish the investigation. (one natural)

"An Artist in Crime" by Denis Mackail: Long Hobson, artist, is called upon to identify a safe (painted prop) used in a robbery. He isn't able to help the officer at the time, but later chance leads him to the artist in question.

"Blackman's Wood" by E. Phillips Oppenheim: The beaters for Sir Richard Carnell's pheasant hunt are good steady lads--loyal and willing to obey their master in anything. Except one...they won't they won't enter Blackman's Wood where the ghost of Barney Middleton waits for anyone foolish enough to enter.  (two strangled; one shot)

"Overwhelming Evidence" by Baroness Orczy: A case of the long-lost heir showing up to stake his claim to the de Momerie manor house and fortune. But is he real or an imposter? (two natural)

"The Langdon Case" by Gladys St. John-Loe: Did John Langdon commit murder when he shot Anthony Roche? Or was it really just an unfortunate accident as Julian Harcourt, one of the principal witnesses maintained? (one shot; two natural) [last line below is a spoiler...be warned]

First line (1st story): In front of the curtain, already raised and dropped half a dozen times upon the finale of the last act, old David Kinlan bowed his acknowledgments of the tumultuous vociferation, the storm of ever-renewed hand-claps, which would be stilled in the crowded house dark beyond the dazzling row of footlights.

Last line (last story): "No I never knew the truth about that. All I can say positively is that Langdon never intended to shoot Roche.