Library of the World‘s Best Mystery and Detective Stories

Project GutenbergProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

Rating 3.8
Word count
565K words
Chapters
57

Tags

English Originals Mystery and Suspense Suspense ThrillerMystery CaseBattle of WitsHeroismComplex HumanityCriminal PsychologyBrain TeaserScreen AdaptationExotic Culture

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Library of the World's Best Mystery and Detective Stories by Alarcón et al.Author: ,Language: English, Class: PN: Language and Literatures: Literature: General, Criticism, Collections, Release Date: Jun 28, 2004

Editor's review

This Library of the World's Best Mystery and Detective Stories is an English-language anthology of short mystery and detective fiction published by Project Gutenberg, credited to Alarcón and other authors and classified under general literature and collections. Its core value lies in gathering an early body of mystery and detective short stories from around the world in a free public-domain eBook, letting readers observe at low cost the thematic preferences and narrative techniques of the genre in its formative years. As an anthology, the pieces vary in style: some emphasise deduction, others atmosphere and the uncanny, so read each on its own terms rather than expecting continuity. Since the source provides no detailed table of contents or translator information, rely on the actual contents and avoid assuming a fixed style for any one author. Suitable as expanded reading for genre enthusiasts and as close-reading material in English for learners. Read one or two stories at a time and afterwards recall how the clues were planted and the ending revealed, to appreciate the structure of early detective fiction.

Who it's for

A good fit for

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Reading tips

  1. Read the table of contents first and sample stories by country or author to get an overall impression
  2. After each story, jot down the central puzzle and how it is solved, comparing techniques across pieces
  3. Mark unfamiliar words or period expressions and look them up after finishing a story rather than interrupting the flow
  4. Choose two stylistically different stories for comparative close reading to appreciate the variety of early detective shorts

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

Contents

  1. 1
  2. 2
  3. 3
  4. 4
  5. 5
  6. 6
  7. 7
  8. 8
  9. 9
  10. 10
  11. 11
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  18. 18
  19. 19
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  24. 24
  25. 25
  26. 26
  27. 27
  28. 28
  29. 29
  30. 30
  31. 31
  32. 32
  33. 33
  34. 34
  35. 35
  36. 36
  37. 37
  38. 38
  39. 39
  40. 40
  41. 41
  42. 42
  43. 43
  44. 44
  45. 45
  46. 46
  47. 47
  48. 48
  49. 49
  50. 50
  51. 51
  52. 52
  53. 53
  54. 54
  55. 55
  56. 56
  57. 57

FAQ

Which authors are included in this book? The available information credits Alarcón and other authors but gives no complete contents list. The actual scope should be checked against the eBook's table of contents. As a public-domain anthology, contents may differ between editions or sources, so browse the contents before planning your reading order.
With no contents information, how should I plan my reading order? Browse the table of contents first and plan by length or author grouping. If you only want a taste of the genre, start with shorter stories with clear puzzles; for close reading in English, choose pieces of moderate difficulty and study them repeatedly. You need not read straight through in the original order.
Is it suitable as an introduction to detective fiction? It works as an expanded introduction but is not the easiest starting point. Early short stories differ considerably from contemporary detective fiction in pacing and idiom, and beginners may find them slow. Read a few contemporary works first to build interest, then return to this anthology to trace the origins, or read it alongside introductory materials.

This site is an index: you start “Search all sources” in your browser, and the entries it lists all point to third-party sites; please judge their availability yourself.

About the author

Project Gutenberg Author

Project Gutenberg is not a single author but a nonprofit digital library founded by Michael Hart in 1971 and one of the world's earliest free ebook platforms. It relies on volunteers to digitize, proofread, and freely distribute public-domain works and is now operated by the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Its collection contains 2,692 works, mainly religious texts, epics, and story collections, including the King James Bible and the Douay-Rheims volumes, the epic Mahabharata, a literal translation of the Arabian Nights, and Danish editions of the Old and New Testaments. Public information is limited, and its nature is closer to a public-interest compiling and dissemination body; these texts are open to the public, easy to consult and circulate, and have had a profound influence on the spread of ebooks and the preservation of public-domain resources.