The Story of Classic Crime in 100 Books, Martin Edwards

This book can be a little difficult to read for any kind of extended period, because it’s basically a list of books, with each themed chapter prefaced by more books that aren’t part of the 100 list but are giving context to the list of 100. There’s a lot going on.

That said, it’s a really valuable resource if you’re interested in classic crime: some of the books are republished in the British Library Crime Classics series (edited by the author of this book), but many are not, and some are still easily available — making this a lovely way to pad out your wishlist.

So, not a super readable book, but a valuable one to have. Edwards tries not to totally spoil the stories, by the way, but if you don’t like having clues for mystery novels, this is best skipped.

Rating: 4/5