Vintage Crime is a CWA anthology with a difference, celebrating members' work over the years. The book brings together stories from the mid-1950s until the twenty-first century by great names of the past, great names of the present, with a few hidden treasures by less familiar writers. The first CWA anthology, Butcher's Dozen, appeared in 1956, and was co-edited by Julian Symons, Michael Gilbert, and Josephine Bell. The anthology has been edited by Martin Edwards since 1996, and has yielded many award-winning and nominated stories in the UK and overseas.
This new edition includes an array of incredible and award-winning authors: Robert Barnard, Simon Brett, Liza Cody, Mat Coward, John Dickson Carr, Marjorie Eccles, Martin Edwards, Kate Ellis, Anthea Fraser, Celia Fremlin, Frances Fyfield, Michael Gilbert, Paula Gosling, Lesley Grant-Adamson, HRF Keating, Bill Knox, Peter Lovesey, Mick Herron, Michael Z. Lewin, Susan Moody, Julian Symons and Andrew Taylor.
'For the Dear Lord's sake go down and deal with Mallet direct' said Mr. Crane, senior partner of Horniman, Birley and Crane Solicitors, of Lincoln's Inn, to his young partner, Mr. Bohun. MONEY IS HONEY BY MICHAEL GILBERT
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(@flametreepress, 27 August 2020, 256 pages, ebook, #ARC from the publisher via # NetGalley and voluntarily reviewed, #BlogTour 12 August via @RandomTTours, edited by Martin Edwards)
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I have mixed feelings about this anthology. First, the good stuff. This is quite a broad and diverse collection, which features stories set between 1950's until now. A wide range of subjects feature in the stories and the characters are just as wide-ranging. If old-fashioned mysteries are you're thing, then this collection has plenty to offer. Like a lot of anthologies, this is a mixed bag, some stories work a lot better than others. I preferred the more recent stories to be honest. Then we have the not so good. The stories are very British and nice. If that's your thing then you'll love this anthology. I don't mind this but not so many times in succession. I would have liked a bit of variety. I do like darker fiction and this collection lacked these type of stories. Still, I did enjoy the stories just not quite as much as I hoped.
