Capital Crimes: London Mysteries

 Capital Crimes: London Mysteries (2015) by Martin Edwards (ed)

Martin Edwards and the British Library Crime Classics team take on the Big Smoke in this collection of mysteries set in England's capital city. We have stories set in the late Victorian period through the 1940s and a range of authors from the well-known Sir Arthur Conan Doyle to those less well-known for mysteries such as E. M. Delafield (whom I had never heard of) and Hugh Walpole (whom I don't associate with mysteries). I have to say that this is one of the strongest collections of short stories I've read yet. The weakest--and this is purely in their attraction for me--are Doyle's non-Holmesian story which is just plain cruel, the Walpole story (I just wanted to shake some sense into the heroine), and the Delafield (where no real crime happens on the page even though it's heavily implied). But overall a very strong selection. ★★★★

"The Case of Lady Sannox" by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle: A non-Holmesian tale of diabolical revenge exacted by a cuckolded husband upon his beautiful wife and her lover.

"A Mystery of the Underground" by John Oxenham: A serial killer takes aim at lone travelers riding the underground each Tuesday night. Our intrepid newspaper reporter and a Scotland Yard man join forces to run him to ground. (five shot; one fell from height)

"The Finchley Puzzle" by Richard Marsh: A woman who works at a deaf school and who is proficient in lip-reading finds herself the target of a murderous plot. The villain believes that she has "overheard" a conversation he had with a confederate and her knowledge of it isn't healthy for anyone. (three snake bite)

"The Magic Casket" by R. Austin Freeman: The discovery of an abandoned handbag leads Dr. Thorndyke into a mystery of stolen jewels, a mysterious casket, and a murderous Japanese thief, (one stabbed; one natural; one shot)

"The Holloway Flat Tragedy" by Ernest Bramah: Mr. Poleash comes to Carlyle with a story of a jealous lover of a shop girl he (Poleash) has flirted with and spurned when she pressed him for marriage. (He's married.) He's sure the man is out to get him. When Poleash is found dead, Carrados suspects a much deeper plot. [one beaten to death; one shot]

"The Magician of Cannon Street" by J. S. Fletcher: Paul Campenhaye meets up with his old friend Tregarthen in an attempt to capture a killer who got away from them once. [one shot; one poisoned]

"The Stealer of Marble" by Edgar Wallace: The mystery of a woman caught stealing a suitcase full of marble. Who knew that marble could be used like that? [one poisoned

"The Tea Leaf" by Robert Eustace & Edgar Jepson: In which the daughter of a disagreeable man proves her ex-fiancé innocent of her father's murder--through the evidence of a tea-leaf and the help of a dream. [one stabbed]

"The Hands of Mr. Ottermole" by Thomas Burke: Burke manages to tell a fine tale of a serial killer who gets away with murder in a story of just 17 pages or so. In shortened form, you would expect to find less tension and less room for the true horror of multiple killings. After all, the author can't build things up and taunt the reader with victim after victim. And he can't spend a lot of time letting you become attached to the victims as they're casually strangled one by one. [four strangled--plus four more not named]

"The Little House" by H. C. Bailey:  Reggie Fortune decides to look into the case of the lost Persian kitten--a "crime" too small to interest the police--and discovers a dreadful world of dope and revenge. [one died of exposure]

"The Silver Mask" by Hugh Walpole: An older woman falls prey to a young confidence man. Sometimes it is a kind heart that kills.

"Wind in the East" by Henry Wade: Burglary and murder go hand-in-hand in this Inspector Poole short story.  [one hit on head]

"The Avenging Chance" by Anthony Berkeley: A box of poisoned chocolates--sent to one man and brought home by another--kills Joan Beresford. Who was the intended victim? [one poisoned]

"They Don't Wear Labels" by E. M. Delafield: Sometimes appearances can be deceiving, but the landlady doesn't know that. Not really a crime story--that is no crime is detected. The reader knows what's going on though.

"The Unseen Door" by Margery Allingham: A very short locked room mystery in a gentleman's club. How could a man be killed in the billiard room when the the doorman swore there had been only one visitor--a man he knew well and who hadn't the strength for the crime? [one strangled]

"Cheese" by Ethel Lina White: A young woman fresh up from the country is set as bait to catch a nasty killer. If she survives, she'll earn a 500 pound reward....[one strangled]

"You Can't Hang Twice" by Anthony Gilbert: An unassuming man can offer testimony to help Arthur Crook's client escape the hagman. If he can stay alive long enough... [one strangled; one hit on head]

First line (1st story): The relations between Douglas Stone and the notorious Lady Sannox were very well known both among the fashionable circles of which she was a brilliant member, and the scientific bodies which numbered him amon their most illustrious confrères.

Last line (last story): And they tell you animals are a lower order of creation!