THE TIMES OF LONDON ANTHOLOGY OF DETECTIVE STORIES

Ten tales selected from over a thousand submitted to a detective story competition in the London Times — generally of a conventional frame with a saving squiggle of surprise. Most of the writers are lower-echelon writers and middle-aged although one sprout from Oxford produced a prizewinning study of theft and anti-Semitism at a boys' school. First prize was awarded to a closed room mystery which boasts a disgracefully casual detective and an elegant University murder placed. There are stories about the fanciful disposition of victims, occult-based mischief, a brace of Chinese sibling sleuths and a murderer who resembles Dame Christie. The authors enjoyed themselves, obviously, and devotees of the traditional will too.