The Detection Collection. Simon Brett
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Published by HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd
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First published in Great Britain by Orion 2005
Introduction copyright © Simon Brett 2014
The Part-time Job copyright © P.D. James 2005
Partnership Track copyright © Michael Ridpath 2005
A Toothbrush copyright © H.R.F. Keating 2005
The Sun, the Moon and the Stars copyright © John Harvey 2005
‘Going Anywhere Nice?’ copyright © Lindsey Davis 2005
Between the Lines copyright © Colin Dexter 2005
The Life-lie copyright © Robert Barnard 2005
The Woman from Marlow copyright © Margaret Yorke 2005
Toupee for a Bald Tyre copyright © Robert Goddard 2005
The Holiday copyright © Clare Francis 2005
Fool of Myself copyright © Reginald Hill 2005
The Detection Club – A Brief History copyright © Simon Brett 2014
Jacket design © HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd. 2014
A catalogue copy of this book is available from the British Library.
This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.
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Source ISBN: 9780007583898
Ebook Edition © November 2014 ISBN: 9780007569724
Version: 2014-09-11
To all the members, past and present, who have contributed to the unique history of the Detection Club
CONTENTS
Partnership Track: Michael Ridpath
The Sun, the Moon and the Stars: John Harvey
‘Going Anywhere Nice?’: Lindsey Davis
Between the Lines: Colin Dexter
The Woman from Marlow: Margaret Yorke
Toupee for a Bald Tyre: Robert Goddard
The Detection Club – A Brief History: Simon Brett
Simon Brett
This volume of crime stories was originally published in 2005, arguably to celebrate the seventy-fifth anniversary of the founding of the Detection Club. At that time I used the word ‘arguably’, not because the occasion did not qualify for celebration, but because there is argument about the precise date of the Club’s inauguration. (For further details of this, consult The Detection Club – A Brief History at the back of the book.)
So this new edition could be said arguably to celebrate the Club’s eighty-fifth anniversary. But in all those many years of existence, the primary distinction of the Detection Club has not changed. When founded in 1930 – or 1929 or 1932, according to different authorities – its membership comprised the cream of British crime-writing talent, and that is still the situation today. As a result, The Detection Collection has an extremely distinguished list of contributors.
In my role as editor – and, incidentally, the Club’s president – I had the great pleasure of being the first to read the stories as they were delivered. And I remember being delighted, not just by the quality, but by the variety of the contributions. Each one reflected the unique voice of its author.
There were stories of devilish cunning, as one would expect from the minds of P.D. James and Colin Dexter. There were lighter-hearted contributions from H.R.F. Keating, Lindsey Davis and Robert Goddard. Michael Ridpath presented a story of skulduggery in the corporate world he knew so well. Robert Barnard’s skills as a literary historian were focused on a slightly fictionalised incident in the life of Henrik Ibsen. Clare Francis provided a chilling character study.
And