The Prizewinners

Book 18 of my 2020 Reading Challenge

read from February 28 - March 15

Masterpieces of Mystery: The Prizewinners

by multiple authors

selected by Ellergy Queen

Summary (excerpt from the introduction)

published 1976

*the stories chosen were published between 1910 and 1956

Volume Two of Masterpieces of Mystery contains stories of crime, detection, mystery, and suspense written by nine Nobel Prizewinners and twelve Pulitzer Prizewinners.  You didn't know that some of the most famous figures in literature wrote tales of crime and detection? You will be delightfully surprised.

My Opinion

4 stars

I was specifically looking for the story "A Jury of Her Peers" which led me to this collection of stories.  Although this collection was published in 1976 the stories themselves range in publication date from 1910 - 1956.  Each author was a Nobel or Pulitzer Prize winner (hence the title of the book) and the little author bios and picture at the beginning of their story was a nice touch.  This was Volume Two and since my library carries more volumes I might give them a try as well.

I'm rating it 4 stars overall because I enjoyed pretty much all of the stories but as with any collection featuring multiple authors, I liked some more than others.  I have a few notes on each story that I will include.

"The Return of Imray": good story. I was a little lost on the mistake that led to his death but I think that was due to the time passed since the story was published (they were able to spot the imposter due to a cultural reference that completely went over my head).

"The Curse of the Fires and of the Shadows": short but descriptive.

"The Miraculous Revenge": very wordy but fine.

"The Willow Walk": one of my top 3 favorites.  It had a psychological twist of "was it all an act?" that kept me thinking after it was over.

"The Neighbors": this was ok but it's a stretch to call it a mystery story since the mystery didn't happen until the end and was followed immediately by a confession.

"Ransom": one of my top 3 favorites.  I read it nervously as I had no idea what was going to happen.

"An Error in Chemistry": one of my top 3 favorites.  This was a true mystery where you could go back and see the missed clues after the conclusion was revealed.

"The Corsican Ordeal of Miss X": my least favorite one. I had to stop reading it twice (not a good sign for a short story) and it was so many words only to be summed up by a convenient confession at the end.

"The Murder": creepy but can't explain why.

"Coroner's Inquest": short and unexpected.

"A Jury of Her Peers": the reason that I picked the book, it was good. 

"It Takes a Thief": good writing but confusing ending.  Another one where the cultural changes since it was published could be part of the reason I didn't get it.

"The Murder in the Fishing Cat": this story gave me the most emotional reaction so far because his singular point of view sucked me into his desperation but I'm not listing it among my favorites because the ending was abrupt.

"Tabloid News": good writing with the extra random shock of the prisoner being taken to jail in Mitchellville (MO, as the story later specifies).  I grew up in Mitchellville (IA) and we have a prison in our small town.

"The Amateur of Crime": this one used one of the more expected mystery scenarios (dinner party of strangers followed by murder) but it was effective.  Well-written start to finish with a natural but not completely predictable conclusion.

"A Daylight Adventure": it was fine but I'm glad it was short because the speech patterns were a little difficult to follow.

"Goodbye, Piccadilly": ugh, nothing against the author because it was the times but the gender stereotypes (such as the reasons a woman couldn't be a spy) are eye-rolling.  The story was long but really good with lots of details and actual crime solving using context clues.

"Only on Rainy Nights": this one didn't make much sense to me.

"Clerical Error": short with an unexpected ending.

"The Hunting of Hemingway": lots of scenes and characters for a short story but it was fine.

"The Bottle Mine": the writing was good but the topic didn't interest me so I didn't get much out of the story.