Guilty Creatures (British Library Crime Classics): A Menagerie of Mysteries: 91

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It’s a rare anthology that isn’t hit and miss; however, unlike Martin’s usual fare, Guilty Creatures contains as many duds and mehs as gems. I blame the paucity of detective/mystery stories with beasts rather than Edwards, an English solicitor and a mystery writer in his own right. brief chronicles of the time. After your death you were better have a bad epitaph than their ill report while you live. Do you ever think about your Olympian-like power, as the author of this article does, when smushing a bug? Does it make you think twice? As ever with these anthologies, part of the joy of reading them comes from the mix of authors included, ranging from the well-known (Arthur Conan Doyle, G. K. Chesterton and Edgar Wallace) to the somewhat less familiar (Christianna Brand, Mary Fitt and Clifford Witting). Also of note is the seam of darkness running through this collection, with several of the stories channelling a rather sinister vibe not always associated with ‘cosy crime’ fiction from this era. It’s something that gives this anthology an interesting edge, very much in line with the predatory characteristics one might observe within the animal kingdom itself. On that ominous note, I’ll start with some of the gentler stories here and work my way up to the more ruthless end of the spectrum…

Guilty Creatures: A Menagerie of Mysteries, ed. by Martin

SARAH: And it's brilliant that Hamlet is inspired by the arrival of the company of players, getting from them the idea of using a piece of theatre to expose Claudius — a play within the play. Animals play an extraordinarily wide variety of roles in crime stories. They may be victims, witnesses, even detectives. (p. 8)This story went on a little longer than I expected it to. It lays out the foundation of the place and the people pretty well before even venturing into the possible plot. There is a strange couple looking after an even stranger girl whose only sole care is for a green Parakeet. A visitor to the neighbourhood gets attached to her and therefore ends up speeding up the end of the events. This last part was not satisfying to someone like me.(2 stars) I enjoyed the writing and the secrecy behind the narrating voice. A woman is chatting up a man who claims to have great skills with all animals. he seems like he is lonely and alone. I was, therefore, thrown by the ending, which felt almost unnecessary. I will not go any further into it because that twist is what drives the plot. (2 stars)

Guilty Creatures (2020) directed by Dacre Montgomery ‎Guilty Creatures (2020) directed by Dacre Montgomery

I absolutely loved this one. So bizarre and quirky, just the kind of tone I like in a classic. I really enjoyed the personalities of these characters, and the criminal that they manage to thwart was just hilarious. Solving the death depends on interpreting the actions of the family dog. Father Brown likes dogs, but refuses to believe in the mutt as an omniscient being who sees into the souls of men. He scorns this as a reversion to paganism with its mystical gods who take the forms of animals. I love his sweeping statement, "It's the first effect of not believing in God that you lose your common sense and can't see things as they are." That's telling 'em, Father. Ham. God's bodykins, man, much better! Use every man after his desert, and who should scape whipping? Use them after your own honour and dignity. The less they deserve, the more merit is in your bounty. Take them in. Fourteen more-or-less golden-age mystery stories, originally published between 1918 and 1967, featuring animals in a wide range of roles.

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The stories range over the period 1892-1967, from a lion's mane which has no lion, to a nest which has no real hornets. Aptly-named Guilty Creatures is a delicious collection of fourteen short mysteries written by well-known and lesser-known authors mostly during the Golden Age of crime classics. Martin Edwards does a splendid job of showcasing these authors, many of whom are familiar to me and some of whom I was happy to learn more about in his descriptions which preface each mystery. Animals such as monkeys, horses, dogs and birds are highlighted and are victims, witnesses and detectives in these impossible crimes. Far fetched? You decide. Another anthology of vintage mystery stories from the British Library and Martin Edwards, this time themed around animals, birds and insects but happily they are all in the nature of clues rather than victims! There are fourteen stories in total, as usual including some very well known authors, such as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, GK Chesterton and Edgar Wallace, some that were new to me, such as Garnett Radcliffe and Clifford Witting, and some that have become stalwarts of this series, such as HC Bailey and F Tennyson Jesse. However, I’m afraid most of the tales left me cold. The Man who Hated Earthworms; Pit of Screams; and The Man Who Loved Animals are not mysteries at all and one wonders why they were included. Bailey’s The Yellow Slugs was disappointing. Reggie Fortune is hard going and this tale just wasn’t worth the effort.

Guilty Creatures: A Menagerie of Mysteries - British Library

The Yellow Slugs by HC Bailey – a Reggie Fortune story. He is called in by Superintendent Bell to a troubling case. A small boy was seen trying to drown his little sister. Both survived and are in hospital. There seems little doubt that the boy meant to kill her, but Reggie wants to know why. He believes that there must have been a very strong reason for a child of that age to act that way, especially since the boy seems to love his sister. This is a chilling and disturbing story. I’ve read a couple of Fortune stories where children have been involved and they seem to bring out his strong sense of justice and an underlying anger, presumably the author’s, at some of the social concerns of the day. The title tells you which creature is involved, but you’ll need to read it if you want to know how! RALPH: We should also notice Shakespeare's wonderful language in this passage. He takes a common proverb at the time — "Murder will out," meaning a murder can't be kept secret — and turns it into this line: "For murder, though it have no tongue, will speak with most miraculous organ."Some were downright dull. As I get older I like Chesterton less and less and the Father Brown story sat like a lump in the middle of this. However it was worth buying for Clifford Witting, Tennyson Jesse, Mary Fitt, Vincent Cornier and Garnet Radcliffe. SARAH: As it turns out, Hamlet's idea to cause a criminal to confess by using a play would have been reasonable to Shakespeare's audience. There were numerous accounts at the time of criminals being so moved by a play that they confessed their crimes. These accounts were useful for playwrights and producers who were anxious to defend the theatre against those who argued that the theatre promoted immoral behavior. hesitate. He looks like maybe he’s not having such a great day already. Getting smushed is the last thing this guy needs. massacre dozens at a time in a fit of pique after catching them glutting themselves in my sugar bowl, but then, seeing a single ant moping around on the counter looking sort of forlorn and hangdog, I’ll