Oxford Book of English Detective Stories

This collection of thirty-three stories shows the scope, vigour, and enduring fascination of the detective story, as well as indicating its importance as a barometer of social attitudes and literary practices. It gathers together a wide range of stories, many unfamiliar, by writers including Julian Symons, Michael Gilbert, P.D. James, and Ruth Rendell, which are among the very best examples of English detective writing of the twentieth century--the cream of crime.