The Mammoth Book of Historical Crime Fiction (Mammoth Books 173)

Ever since Sir Arthur Conan Doyle delighted readers with the fictional genius detective, Sherlock Holmes, crime fiction has been plumbed by mystery writers everywhere. This volume of 12 stories spans crime from the Bronze Age to World War II, and will appeal to the current readers of The Mammoth Book of New Sherlock Holmes Adventures and Best British Mysteries. Our dark past brought to life by leading contemporary crime writers A new generation of crime writers has broadened the genre of crime fiction, creating more human stories of historical realism, with a stronger emphasis on character and the psychology of crime. This superb anthology of 12 novellas encompasses over 4,000 years of our dark, criminal past, from Bronze Age Britain to the eve of the Second World War, with stories set in ancient Greece, Rome, the Byzantine Empire, medieval Venice, seventh-century Ireland and 1930s' New York. A Byzantine icon painter, suddenly out of work when icons are banned, becomes embroiled in a case of deception; Charles Babbage and the young Ada Byron try to crack a coded message and stop a master criminal; and New York detectives are on the lookout for Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Deirdre Counihan, Tom Holt, Dorothy Lumley, Richard A. Lupoff, Maan Meyers, Ian Morson, Anne Perry, Tony Pollard, Mary Reed and Eric Mayer, Steven Saylor, Charles Todd, Peter Tremayne From a new generation of writers, inspired by C.J. Sansom, Boris Akunin and others: darker, more realistic historical crime fiction. No longer stuck in medieval Wales, these stories are set in 3BC Syracuse, fourteenth-century Venice, 1930s'New York and other more vibrant times and places. These 12 new, pieces of short historical crime fiction are sufficiently long to place a stronger emphasis on realism of character and on the psychology of crime. Includes stories that are set in 3BC Syracuse, fourteenth-century Venice, 1930s' New York and other vibrant times and places.