The Lock and Key Library: Classic Mystery and Detective Stories: Modern English

Project GutenbergProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

Rating 3.2
Word count
682K words
Chapters
69

Tags

English Originals Mystery and Suspense Suspense ThrillerClassic PuzzlesBritish SuspenseLocked-Room MysteryMystery StoriesEerie AtmosphereCriminal PsychologyDetective FictionBrain TeasersCase Reading

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.The Lock and Key Library: Classic Mystery and Detective Stories: Modern EnglishAuthor: ,Language: English, Class: PR: Language and Literatures: English literature, Release Date: Jun 4, 2005

Editor's review

This book is an anthology of classic mystery and detective stories compiled and published by Project Gutenberg. The subtitle identifies it as the "Modern English" portion, gathering several short suspense and detective stories from the English-speaking world; it is an introductory reader in the genre. Its value lies in presenting, in public-domain ebook form, the common motifs of detective fiction's development: the locked room, misdirection, the surprise ending, and the figure of the cool-headed reasoner, allowing readers to experience the narrative conventions and pleasures of the genre in one place. The selections are mainly short stories of moderate length, suited to reading in spare moments and to extensive reading in English genre fiction. Note that the anthology is assembled from public-domain texts with brief version information; readers should not expect an editor's introduction or author background for each story. For course use or research, verify the contents and sources independently.

Who it's for

A good fit for

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Reading tips

  1. Read story by story, jotting brief notes on clues and ending design after each.
  2. Read one or two stories first to get a feel for the style, then choose stories of interest for close reading and comparison.
  3. English learners can read for plot first, then return to organize vocabulary and typical reasoning sentences.
  4. Reading groups can take one story per session and discuss clue placement and whether the ending holds up.

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
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  11. 11
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  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
  58. 58
  59. 59
  60. 60
  61. 61
  62. 62
  63. 63
  64. 64
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FAQ

Does this book contain full-length novels or short stories? This is an anthology of classic mystery and detective stories, mainly short stories, suited to reading in sessions. For the specific contents and authors, refer to the table of contents in the ebook text; different compiled versions may arrange them differently. Readers can check the contents first and choose by interest rather than reading straight through.
Is the English original difficult to read? The selected stories are mostly modern English short stories with clear narration and strong plot momentum, making the overall difficulty moderate. Some stories contain period language or longer descriptive passages; beginning readers can focus first on dialogue and plot progression, skip unfamiliar words that do not impede understanding, and look them up after finishing, which makes it easier to keep reading momentum than word-by-word close reading.
Can it be used as a textbook for the history of detective fiction? It can serve as supplementary reading but is not suitable as a standalone textbook. It is a compilation of public-domain texts lacking systematic editorial introductions, author biographies, and version notes, so it cannot present a complete picture of the genre's development. For course use, pair it with literary-history materials and reliable annotated anthologies, and supplement the background and author information yourself.

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.