Murder Through The Ages

Murder mystery fans who prefer their dirty deeds served up in small doses should pick up this new short story collection from ibooks. Editor Maxim Jakubowski has assembled a stellar collection of mystery scribes like Peter Tremayne, Kate Ellis, Susanna Gregory, Paul Doherty, Ian Morson and 20 others to spin tales of murder most foul. With a few exceptions, Jakubowski's anthology offers a bumper crop of stories. The 25 stories contained in this anthology range, chronologically, from the 10th Century BC to 1941. Most are set in England though other settings - Mount Olympus, Norway, Rome, Ireland, New York, RMS TITANIC, etc. - are used. Almost all of the characters in the stories are new with just a few familiar faces - Sherlock Holmes, Robin Hood, Sister Fidelma - popping up. Jakubowski is to be complimented for assembling such a high-quality effort. I especially enjoyed 'Raven Feeder,' an exceptionally well-done tale by Manda Scott, 'Flyting, Fighting' Clayton Emery's engaging, taming-of-the-shrew-ish take on Robin Hood and Maid Marian, Susanna Gregory's wonderfully wicked 'Trebuchet Murder,' Mat Coward's 'But Poor Men Pay for All' and several others. Scott and Coward especially are wordsmiths of the first order. I would have given the book five stars but, for the life of me, I couldn't get into Ian Morson's 'A Right Royal Attempt.' Likewise Lauren Henderson's 'Dark Mirror.' And I absolutely hated the opening story 'Who Killed Dido?' by Amy Myers with Greek gods talking and acting like jive-talking sitcom characters. In any case, I recommend this book to other murder mystery fans. There are many fine stories to savor in this collection, several high-quality gems and, in my opinion, a few duds. Read and enjoy!