cinaed

The Dead Witness (edited by Michael Sims) is, as the title suggests, a collection of Victorian detective stories. Stories include, naturally, Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Murders in the Rue Morgue,” the first chapter or so of the first Sherlock Holmes novel, and works by Mark Twain and G.K. Chesterton, but it also includes a few more obscure stories as well as a few that have never been re-published before.

I’m about halfway through and so far I’ve enjoyed and/or am looking forward to reading:

"The Murders in the Rue Morgue" by Edgar Allan Poe — I had read this during my Poe class in undergrad, but now you guys! the case is ridiculous because seriously? but then you get G—— (Gisquet) as the prefect, and the story was published in 1941 and talks about the past and so is presumably set at least seven-ten years earlier, and I just— thanks, now I really want a crossover where Javert really, really dislikes Dupin.
"The Diary of Anne Rodway" by Wilkie Collins — This is an epistolary mystery where a poor laundress’s best friend dies mysteriously, and she sets out to discover what really happened. Why I love this one: a) it’s just a very good, extremely interesting story, with a compelling main character and multiple female friendships and b) Anne was so in love with Mary, like, guys, GUYS. She wears flowers from Mary’s grave on her bosom on her wedding day because she can’t forget her.
"The Dead Witness: or, The Bush Waterhole" by W.W. aka Mary Fortune — This is the one I’m about to read, and is apparently the first known detective story written by a woman. Also, it’s set in Australia in the 1860s, a time period I know nothing about, so it should be an interesting read!