Detective Duos (1997) Anthology

Sleuthing twosomes have long made their mark on detective fiction. From the unnamed narrator in Edgar Allan Poe's "The Purloined Letter" who adroitly recounts the virtuosity of the Parisian detective, C. Auguste Dupin; to Dorothy L. Sayers's beloved Lord Peter Wimsey and Mr. Bunter; to Lillian Jackson Braun's interspecies partnership between Phut Phat (an investigative genius who happens to be a cat) and one of its owners; detective duos have come in all guises. Indeed, there are almost as many variations of compatriot crimefighters as there are types of mystery and detective fiction.In this marvelous anthology, a real-life detective duo--married mystery novelists Marcia Muller and Bill Pronzini--have brought together 25 of the best paired puzzle-solvers in short stories of remarkable range and scope. Here are traditional tandems: Sherlock and his admiring Watson, in a devilish puzzler "The Adventure of the Empty House," alongside Nero Wolfe and his (less fawning) employee, Archie Goodwin, in "Fourth of July Picnic." Husband and wife teams are well represented by Frances and Richard Lockridge's Mr. and Mrs. North, Kelley Roos's Jeff and Haila Troy, and Patrick Quentin's Peter and Iris Duluth. Amateurs work alongside professional crimesolvers in such stories as Julie Smith's never-before-published "The End of the Earth," featuring Skip Langdon and Steve Steinman, and the clue-seeking precursors to television's Quincy appear as partnered forensic pathologists Dr. Daniel Coffee and Dr. Motilal Mookerji in Lawrence G. Blochman's "The Phantom Cry-Baby." Sleuthing tandems come in different sexes, so we find Marcia Muller's Sharon McCone and Rae Kelleher alongside Fredric Brown's Ed and Am Hunter, as well as Bill Pronzini's Sabina Carpenter and John Quincannon, where crime solving crosses barriers of both gender and time. And here too is a treasure chest of detective fiction styles: pure deduction, the impossible crime, the cozy, the dark comedy, espionage, the procedural, and more, in locales as varied as the crimes themselves, from England, to Antarctica, to fast-moving trains crossing America.Spanning more than a century of crime fiction, including both classic tales by the greats of mystery writing as well as gems from lesser-known writers, Detective Duos will captivate the sleuth in all of us.Includes the following 25 stories:Introduction - Bill Pronzini, Marcia MullerThe Purloined Letter - Edgar Allan PoeThe Adventure of the Empty House - Sir Arthur Conan DoyleDeath at the Excelsior - P. G. WodehouseThe Puzzle Lock - R. Austin FreemanThe Love Detectives - Agatha ChristieThe Sealed House - Hulbert FootnerThe Footsteps That Ran - Dorothy L. SayersPattern for Murder - Frances and Richard LockridgeFourth of July Picnic - Rex StoutTwo Over Par - Kelley RoosOne Morning They’ll Hang Him - Margert AllinghamPuzzle for Poppy - Patrick QuentinOnce Upon a Train - Stuart Palmer and Craig RiceThe Phantom Cry-Baby - Lawrence G. BlochmanPhut Phat Concentrates - Lilian Jackson BraunBefore She Kills - Fredric BrownAnd Start With a Blonde - Jack WebbThe Road to Damascus - Michael GilbertDalziel’s Ghost - Reginald HillInterpol : The Case of the Modern Medusa - Edward D. HochThe Holes in the System - Marcia MullerThe Desert Limited - Brill PronziniStop, Thief! - Barbara D’AmatoThe Adventure of the Perpetual Husbands - Ellen DearmoreThe End of the Earth - Julie Smith