For classic murder mystery readers; a scintillating anthology of lost treasures to read alongside Edgar Allan Poe and Sherlock Holmes A Penguin Classic For The Penguin Book of Murder Mysteries; writer and anthologist Michael Sims did not summon the usual suspects. He sought the unfamiliar; the unjustly forgotten; and little-known gems by writers from outside the genre. This historical tour of one of our most popular literary categories includes stories never before reprinted; features rebellious early “lady detectives;" and spotlights former stars of the crime field—Austrian novelist Auguste Groner and prolific American Geraldine Bonner among them. For twenty-first century connoisseurs of crime; The Penguin Book of Murder Mysteries celebrates how the nineteenth century added a fierce modern twist to the ancient theme of bloody murder.