In the Shadow of Agatha Christie
Classic Crime Fiction by Forgotten Female Writers: 1850-1917
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- 13,99 €
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- 13,99 €
Descripción editorial
Before Agatha Christie became the world’s Queen of Crime, she stood on the talented shoulders of the female crime authors who came before her. This splendid new anthology by Leslie S. Klinger brings these exceptional writers out of Christie’s shadow and back into the spotlight they deserve.
Agatha Christie is undoubtedly the world’s best-selling mystery author, hailed as the “Queen of Crime,” with worldwide sales in the billions. Christie burst onto the literary scene in 1920, with The Mysterious Affair at Styles; her last novel was published in 1976, a career longer than even Conan Doyle’s forty-year span.
The truth is that it was due to the success of writers like Anna Katherine Green in America; L. T. Meade, C. L. Pirkis, the Baroness Orczy, and Elizabeth Corbett in England; and Mary Fortune in Australia that the doors were finally opened for women crime-writers. Authors who followed them, such as Patricia Wentworth, Dorothy Sayers, and, of course, Agatha Christie would not have thrived without the bold, fearless work of their predecessors—and the genre would be much poorer for their absence. So while Agatha Christie may still reign supreme, it is important to remember that she did not ascend that throne except on the shoulders of the women who came before her—and inspired her—and who are now removed from her shadow once and for all by this superb new anthology by Leslie S. Klinger.
Featuring: Mary Fortune, Harriet Prescott Spofford, Ellen Wood, Elizabeth Corbett, C. L. Pirkis, Geraldine Bonner, Ellen Glasgow, L. T. Meade, Baroness Orczy, Augusta Großer, M. E. Graddon, Anna Katherine Green, Carolyn Wells, Susan Glaspell
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Klinger's stellar fourth In the Shadow Of reprint anthology (after 2015's In the Shadow of Edgar Allan Poe) educates readers about genre history and introduces them to talent that's mainly obscure today. Much more than quaint curiosities, the 16 entries from women crime writers who preceded Christie are enjoyable in their own right. Sherlockians, in particular, will appreciate Baroness Orczy's "The Regent's Park Murder," which appeared in 1901, two years before Conan Doyle's "The Empty House," and likewise features the baffling murder of a man who has won at cards. Other highlights include Ellen Wood's "Mrs. Todhetley's Earrings," about a theft case with an amusing O. Henry twist, and C.L. Pirkis's particularly well-done puzzle, "The Ghost of Fountain Lane," which features a female rival to Holmes, Loveday Brooke, and links manifestations of the spirit of Napoleon Bonaparte with a stolen check. Klinger burnishes his credentials as a diligent researcher by retrieving even uncredited work (Australian author Mary Fortune's "Traces of Crime"). This is a must-have volume for classic crime fans.
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