The Poisoned Chocolates Case

What is there not to love about chocolate, except when they are filled with a dab of nitrobenzene. This classic mystery from 1929 makes nearly every major list of the best of the best. Roger Sheringham and his friends at the Detection Club are presented a stump-er by Scotland Yard. Each member presents their solution based on their insight into the murder, the characters, and the evidence. You will be turning the pages all night wondering who has their facts straight. This one contains all the elements that cozy mystery lovers enjoy in a read that is well paced and full of surprises. I discovered my copy on the bottom of a "to read" pile, had forgotten buying it, but it goes near the top of my list of all-time favorites. Writing as a Small BusinessSins of the Fathers: A Brewster County NovelQualifying Laps: A Brewster County NovelUnder the Liberty Oak

This is a very clever little mystery. It is easy to understand why Anthony Berkeley is considered to be the grandfather of the Golden Era of detective fiction. The book was written in 1929, but in spite of that date the mystery itself is not at all dated. The book is based on the premise of six amateur detectives given an unsolvable case by Scotland Yard. Each member of the Crime Club has to come up with a theory and point out the murderer. Each of the six come up with completely plausible solutions, but we don't actually find out the correct one until the last sleuth speaks. It is certainly a different take on "and then there was one". Berkeley certainly knew what he was about when he penned his detective stories! They are true gems.

It's British, it's amateurs solving a murder, the clues are all in front of you. What's better? And then on top of it all, this book gives us a crime club at which the members present their individual results and critique each other (with some dry wit at the expense of the genre). Great stuff.

I read this book after seeing it mentioned over and over again on best-mysteries-of-all-time lists.Berkeley's novel is built around a fictitious, famed detection club (no doubt based on a real club that had authors such as Christie, Sayers and Dickson Carr as members). The members of this illustrious club set out to solve a mystery revolving around a poisoned box of chocolates. Every sleuth turns in a seemingly plausible solution, each topping the previous person's explanation. Until the end, that is, when a less-than-likely member offers the most surprising (and probably correct) interpretation of the facts.Not only is this a real puzzle of a book, but it gently and self-consciously tweaks the fair-play traditions and cliches of the ultra-British "Golden Age." It's very clever, very funny, and reads like a shot. What else do you want from a mystery?