Victorian Literature: Tales of Mystery and Detection

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Victorian Tales of Mystery and Detection, selected by Michael Cox

For my October reading, I thought it would be fun to read this Oxford collection of Victorian mystery stories that my mother-in-law gave me several years ago. The stories were all published in magazines and few of them are known now, although there are many famous names included. Besides the expected Edgar Allan Poe and Arthur Conan Doyle, the table of contents lists Le Fanu, Dickens, Wilkie Collins, Baroness Orzcy, Mary Elizabeth Braddon, and Mrs. Henry Wood. And, of course, quite a few people I've never heard of.

It's a nice collection, and good reading. This picture is of the original dust cover, which I don't have--the book is 20 years old and there aren't many images of it available.

I just realized that I've read more Victorian literature than I thought (thanks to the Feminist Classics challenge). This is my 12th book, which puts me past the "Great Expectations" level and well into "Hard Times." Goodness, maybe I should aim for the final level of "Desperate Remedies," which calls for 15 or more!

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