Murder in a Heatwave is a compilation of ten vintage crime short stories. I was attracted by the bookcover which was on display in a charity shop, so art deco.
The authors are: Dorothy L. Sayers, Rex Stout, Arthur Conan Doyle, Carter Dickson, Baroness Orczy, Michael Innes, Julian Symons, Ethel Lina White, Margery Allingham and surprisngly Ian Rankin.
I had read all of the authors before, except Baroness Orczy and although I’m not a huge fan of short stories I enjoyed most of them. I wasn’t massively taken with the Rex Stout story which is I think the longest, and I have a bit of a Conan Doyle phobia. I enjoyed The Mystery of the Russian Prince by Baroness Orczy, and I’ll definitely give one of her books a go. A Good Hanging by Ian Rankin features the Edinburgh Festival and Rebus, it seems strange that he should count as classic crime, but that probably says more about me than anything else.
I think that the back cover is more art deco than the front.
After reading these stories all set in summer heat I’ll soon be going on to my Christmas/Winter themed books that I’ve been hoarding throughout the year. Fingers crossed they get me into the festive mood!
This sounds great fun – I would have picked it up on the cover alone too, and all of those are authors I’ve read so I reckon I’d have been on a safe wicket!
kaggsysbookishramblings,
I’m sure you’d enjoy it!
This cover would also have caught my eye! I was at a book sale yesterday that actually had a table of themed Christmas books, mostly romance and a few mysteries. I was hoping something would be irresistible but I got distracted and bought some Christmas Carol CDs instead.
Constance,
Ah, I wouldn’t have been distracted by the Christmas Carol CDs as I already have enough of them – another way of trying to get myself into the Christmas mood!