The Penguin Book of Gaslight Crime: Con Artists, Burglars, Rogues, and Scoundrels From the Time of Sherlock Holmes *
Ed. Sims, Michael
Penguin Books 2009
ISBN 978-0-14-310566-4
248pp
Date finished: 2009-09-29
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A great collection of stories from the 1890s to the 1920s. This era was a high point for detective fiction, and there was a contrasting tradition of gentlemanly criminals, skilled burglars such as E.W. Hornung's Raffles or con-men such as Grant Allen's Colonel Clay. At the time some people were concerned that this was setting a bad example, teaching that "crime pays", but today they're charming time capsules. Stories I especially liked:
- William Hope Hodgson's "The Diamond Spy", with a ship's captain who takes a cruel and sly revenge on an undercover agent.
- O. Henry's "The Chair of Philanthromathematics" features narration with hilarious malapropisms, but the ending lacks any punch.
- Robert Barr's "Mystery of the Five Hundred Diamonds", which I'd previously read in a collection of his Eugene Valmont stories, is an exciting chase story in which Valmont tries to catch up with a thief.
- Grant Allen's "Episode of the Diamond Links" is part of a series, in which the same South African millionaire is swindled again and again by the same audacious con-man.