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I'm not big on short stories, but two factors nudged me towards this book. Firstly, it's broadly golden age crime, one of my weaknesses and secondly, the editor is [[:Category:Martin Edwards|Martin Edwards]], a man whose knowledge of golden age crime is probably unsurpassed and he's done us proud, not only with his selection of the choices, but with the half-page biographies of the writers, which precede each story. There's just enough there to allow you to place the author and to direct you to other works if you're tempted. It's an elegant selection of stories, from the well known and the less well known, all set in and around the country house.

I expected to enjoy the stories from the big names more than those who have not survived quite so well, but I was pleasantly surprised. [[:Category:Sir Arthur Conan Doyle|Arthur Conan Doyle]] is represented, - as you might expect - by Sherlock Holmes, but it's one of the lesser-known stories: ''The Copper Beeches''. In contrast we don't meet Father Brown in the offering from [[:Category:G K Chesterton|G K Chesterton]], but his less well known detective, Dr Adrian Hyde, who has been rather overlooked. [[:Category:E W Hornung|E W Hornung]] gives us Raffles, the gentleman thief and this was my only slight disappointment (and it was purely personal) as it's only a year or so since I read the story ''Gentleman and Players''. [[Category:Ernest Bramah|Ernest Bramah]] gives us his blind detective, Max Carrados, whilst [[:Category:Margery Allingham|Margery Allingham]] allows ''her'' favourite detective, Albert Campion to rest in favour of a very short story about the Molesworths.

[[:Category:Dick Donovan|Dick Donovan]] was new to me but I enjoyed his story of an unusual poisoning in ''The Problem of Dead Wood Hall'', where, in an unusual turn of events, the reader is invited to make up their mind as to whether or not the titular 'problem' was solved. [[:Category:James Hilton|James Hilton]] is best known as a screenwriter (think ''Mrs Miniver'') and ''The Perfect Plan'' is unusual in that we know who the murderer is in the first paragraph but the story will make you regret that he didn't leave more of his work for us to enjoy. [[:Category:W W Jacobs|W W Jacobs']] ''The Well'' will leave you smiling as a young man gets his comeuppance.

It was hard to pick a favourite, but I finally rested on [[:Category: J J Bell|J J Bell's]] ''The Message on the Sundial'', where the murderer is betrayed by a series of seemingly nonsensical numbers. It's followed a close second by ''The Manor House Mystery'' by [[:Category:J S Fletcher|J S Fletcher]]. [[:Category:Sapper|Sapper's]] story of ''The Horror at Staveley Grange'' is perhaps the most ingenious in the collection and was just nicely on the right side of believability. [[:Category:Anthony Berkeley|Anthony Berkeley]] is better know to me as Francis Iles and his story ''The Mystery of Horne's Copse'' is one of the longest in the collection (a short story with ''chapters'') but earns the space well. Other stories come from [[:Category:E V Knox|E V Knox]], [[:Category:Ethel Lina White|Ethel Lina White]] and [[:Category:Nicholas Blake|Blake]].