Book 7: The Best American Mystery Stories of the 19th Century

The Best American Mystery Stories of the 19th Century

Edited by Otto Penzler

With much of the 20th century now covered by a number of his mystery anthologies, editor extraordinaire Otto Penzler has recently turned his attention to the century that spawned the genre as we know it today. His introductions indicate that the collection is meant to introduce readers to the wide range of crime stories that were published throughout the 1800s, meaning that the stories do vary somewhat according to various measures of quality, but they run a surprising gamut from the overly moralizing products one expects of the early decades to the standard (but always pleasant) Holmesian detective stories and darkly ambiguous morality plays. The stories offering straightforward narratives of crimes and the resulting punishments do form the majority, but those that deviate from the script stand out more sharply because of it. Even the more formulaic stories can linger past their final pages, and the most basic among them often provide useful context for the others, if nothing else. Penzler may not have selected the best stories, per se, but his individual story introductions make it clear that the books represents his honest attempt to include the most significant works of short crime fiction from the era in which it came into its own. I am hardly an authority on either the genre or the time period, but as a casual observer I thought that the collection had a nice variety and balance: it was a pleasant- and welcome!- surprise not to read 30-odd variations on the exact same theme.

The book's chronological arrangement scheme, based on each story's earliest publication date, is both the obvious and, I believe, the correct choice. The exceptions- two "riddle stories" whose sequels are reprinted with the originals in this volume and Poe's two stronger Dupin stories- make sense, and the 200-page gap between the two (wholly unrelated) Mark Twain tales is forgivable by their vast differences in tone, theme, and structure. The benefit, of course, is that the reader can appreciate the ongoing development of crime fiction- and, indeed, fiction and language at large- throughout the years, sensing the patterns of influence and echoes that resonate throughout the collection. According to his introductory statements, Penzler deliberately included examples of less accomplished (but nonetheless popular) series like the Allan Pinkerton or Nicholas Carter stories, as well as the first known examples of such important tropes as the detective, ballistic evidence, thumbprint evidence, and the serial criminal. What the collection may therefore lack in overall quality is thus compensated by the overall narrative that emerges. Even when the stories do tend toward the formulaic, there is usually some compelling element to draw demanding and less discerning reader alike, often offering welcome insight into everyday life that cannot be found elsewhere in contemporaneous fiction and/or nonfiction. And while most stories take a predictable line toward morality, gender roles, and general cultural norms and taboos, some are shockingly dark- for their own or any other era. The Best American Mystery Stories of the 19th Century may be a slight misnomer, but it presents a pleasant variety of crime fiction that functions as a worthy introduction to the period and place.

Grade: A