Deadly Pleasures

Inspector Ian Rutledge #15.6 - The Wrong Man

by Martin Edwards, Peter James (Foreword)

To celebrate the Crime Writers’ Association Diamond Jubilee, a collection of original stories from distinguished members of the CWA especially commissioned for this volume
An eclectic collection of short stories from the following members of the SIMON BRETT ANN CLEEVES LIZA CODY LINDSEY DAVIS MARTIN EDWARDS RUTH DUDLEY EDWARDS CHRISTOPHER FOWLER JOHN HARVEY DAVID HEWSON ALISON JOSEPH PETER LOVESEY CLAIRE McGOWAN MICHAEL RIDPATH PETER ROBINSON CATH STAINCLIFFE ANDREW TAYLOR CHARLES TODD MARGARET YORKE

Genres: Short Stories, Mystery, Anthologies

256 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2010

About the author

Martin Edwards has been described by Richard Osman as ‘a true master of British crime writing.’ He has published twenty-three novels, which include the eight Lake District Mysteries, one of which was shortlisted for the Theakston’s Prize for best crime novel of the year and four books featuring Rachel Savernake, including the Dagger-nominated Gallows Court and Blackstone Fell, while Gallows Court and Sepulchre Street were shortlisted for the eDunnit award for best crime novel of the year. He is also the author of two multi-award-winning histories of crime fiction, The Life of Crime and The Golden Age of Murder. He has received three Daggers from the Crime Writers’ Association and two Edgars from the Mystery Writers of America and has also been nominated three times for Gold Daggers. In addition to the CWA Diamond Dagger (the highest honour in UK crime writing) he has received four other lifetime achievement awards: for his fiction, short fiction, non-fiction, and scholarship. He is consultant to the British Library’s Crime Classics, a former Chair of the CWA, and since 2015 has been President of the Detection Club.

Reviews

[Margaret · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent anthology of crime and mystery stories.

An enjoyable read.

[Deanne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some good short stories, some average and some so so. Lots of the authors are well known and could do better.

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

There is a lot of talent in this book of short stories - so my expectations were pretty high for it. Most of the stories are quick reads, and many feature famous detectives ( which was both a good and bad thing). This was a good sampler, if you’re looking to get a feel for a writer’s work. However, a few of these writers were dialing it in. The main reason I picked this up was for The Polar Bear Killing, which did not disappoint. Worth checking out if you like mysteries and are looking for new writers to check out.

[AVANTI KUMAR · Rating 2 out of 5]

Pretty hit and miss on the whole. A couple of effective stories.

[Jean]

too many surprise endings for my pleasure

[Linda Watson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Deadly very enjoyable Pleasures

Some of my favorite authors. Excellent short stories . Fun way to spend an afternoon. I can not think of anymore words

[Liette · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nice way to discover authors.

The whole book is filled with various length short stories by mystery authors and, apart from the first story, the whole book was a great read.

[Jeff · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good collection of stories. Anthologies can be fun.

[miteypen · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was obviously a showcase for writers affiliated with the Crime Writer's Association. Not that that's necessarily a bad thing, but in this case, I don't think it does the writers any favors. I hate to think that these stories represent their best efforts.

Also, the cover is totally misleading. It makes it look like there are three times as many authors included as there really are. And the book is only 240 pages divided among 18 stories, which means that most of them are not much more than brief tastes of the individual writers' works.

I enjoyed some of the stories but not enough to have paid for the "pleasure" of reading them. I'm glad I got this out of the library instead.

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

Merely okay. In all fairness, I prefer novels to short stories but several of my favorite authors were represented so I

[Ayla · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some good stories, some were meh. Probably won't read again though.

[Trea · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF I thought this was a great concept for a book, but the stories were dreadfully boring. Life is too short for this. Moving on.