The Penguin Book of Gaslight Crime - Michael Sims [0]
penguinCLASSICS
Title Page
Copyright Page
Acknowledgements
Introduction
GRANT ALLEN
THE EPISODE OF THE DIAMOND LINKS
GUY BOOTHBY
THE DUCHESS OF WILTSHIRE’S DIAMONDS
E. W. HORNUNG
NINE POINTS OF THE LAW
ROBERT BARR
THE MYSTERY OF THE FIVE HUNDRED DIAMONDS
ARNOLD BENNETT
A COMEDY ON THE GOLD COAST
WILLIAM LE QUEUX
THE STORY OF A SECRET
O. HENRY
THE CHAIR OF PHILANTHROMATHEMATICS
GEORGE RANDOLPH CHESTER
GET-RICH-QUICK WALLINGFORD
FREDERICK IRVING ANDERSON
BLIND MAN’S BUFF
WILLIAM HOPE HODGSON
THE DIAMOND SPY
SINCLAIR LEWIS
THE WILLOW WALK
EDGAR WALLACE
FOUR SQUARE JANE
THE STORY OF PENGUIN CLASSICS
penguinCLASSICS
THE PENGUIN BOOK OF GASLIGHT CRIME
MICHAEL SIMS has edited two other collections for Penguin Classics: The Annotated Archy and Mehitabel and Arsène Lupin, Gentleman-Thief. His research for the latter inspired The Penguin Book of Gaslight Crime. His most recent nonfiction book is Apollo’s Fire: A Journey through the Extraordinary Wonders of an Ordinary Day, which National Public Radio chose as one of the Best Science Books of 2007. He is also the author of Adam’s Navel: A Natural and Cultural History of the Human Form, which was a New York Times Notable Book and a Library Journal Best Science Book; and Darwin’s Orchestra: An Almanac of Nature in History and the Arts. His writing has appeared in New Statesman, Gourmet, Orion, the Washington Post, and many other periodicals in the United States and abroad. Learn more at www.michaelsimsbooks.com.
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First published in Penguin Books 2009
Selection, introduction and notes copyright © Michael Sims, 2009 All rights reserved
library of congress CATALOGING in PUBLICATION DATA
The Penguin book of Gaslight crime : con artists, burglars, rogues, and scoundrels from the time of
Sherlock Holmes / edited with an introduction and notes by Michael Sims.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references.
eISBN : 978-1-101-02912-1
1. Criminals—Fiction. 2. Thieves—Fiction. 3. Detective and mystery stories, English. 4. Detective
and mystery stories, American. 5. English fiction—19th century. 6. English fiction—20th century.
7. American fiction—19th century. 8. American fiction—20th century. I. Sims, Michael, 1958-
PR1309.C7P46 2009
823’.0872—dc22 2008037363
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Acknowledgments
First I want to thank the anthologists and scholars who helped lure me into this entertaining subset of crime fiction, primarily Ellery Queen and Otto Penzler. Throughout my work on this collection, Otto advised and encouraged. I also especially want to thank anthologist Douglas G. Greene; Roger Johnson, BSI, editor of The Sherlock Holmes Journal in England; Steven Womack, detective novelist and always