When acclaimed mystery writer Dorothy L. Sayers first began compiling anthologies of the best crime stories in the 1920s and ’30s, the genre was in the flush of its first golden age. While it is hard to imagine today—after every possible mystery plot has been told, retold, subverted, and played straight again by hundreds of writers over nearly a century—in Sayers’s day there were still twists that had never been seen, and machinations of crime that would shock even jaded Jazz Age readers. Now today’s fans of mystery and crime can experience a handpicked collection featuring 26 outstanding stories from this era, originally chosen by Sayers and newly introduced by Otto Penzler. As a prolific writer of the genre, Sayers understood the balance between solvability and obfuscation that is the defining feature of great crime stories—and these are some of the greatest. This is a treasure trove for fans of classic mystery stories! Contents: Lord Chizelrigg’s missing fortune / Robert Barr—The ordinary hair-pins / E. C. Bentley—The biter bit / William Wilkie Collins—The mystery of the sleeping-car express / Freeman Wills Croft—Blind Gap Moor / J. S. Fletcher—The Regent’s Park murder / Baroness Orczy—Miss Bracegirdle does her duty / Stacy Aumonier—Cut-throat Farm / J. D. Beresford—The Damned Thing / Ambrose Bierce—Secret worship / Algernon Blackwood—No. 17 / Mrs. E. Bland—The open boat / Stephen Crane—Riesenberg / Ford Madox Ford—The prayer / Violet Hunt—The well / W. W. Jacobs—Mr. Justice Harbottle / J. S. Le Fanu—The haunted and the haunters / Sir Edward Bulwer-Lytton, Lord Lytton—The great return / Arthur Machen—The story of the Greek slave / Frederick Marryat—Anty Bligh / John Masefield—The bell-tower / Herman Melville—Rose Rose / Barry Pain—Berenice / Edgar Allan Poe—Sredni Vashtat / “Saki” (H. H. Munro) — Called to the rescue / Henry Spicer—The inexperienced ghost / H. G. Wells