Great Irish detective stories

Peter Haining

> The unsurpassed Irish talent for story-telling is superbly evident in this anthology of some of the best detective stories by Irish writers to appear over the last 150 years. It includes writers who are supreme in the genre throughout the world, for ever since it was invented it has formed a strong thread in Irish literature. >Many of Ireland's leading writers not normally associated with the detective story have also turned their hands to the genre, among them Liam O'Flaherty, James Joyce, Sean O'Faolain, Flann O'Brien, Benedict Kiely, William Trevor, Brendan Behan and Frank O'Connor. All are represented here, in company with such familiar exponents as Freeman Wills Crofts, Nicholas Blake, Edmund Crispin and Peter Cheyney. >From Samuel Lover to Peter Tremayne, from Elizabeth Bowen to Cathal Ó Sándair, the stories range over murder and death, theft and robbery, jealousy and revenge, and the intuition combined with persistence that makes up criminal investigation. They cover the whole gamut of crime and mystery, from the bloodiest to the most cerebral, often with that rich vein of humour at which the Irish excel. Each story is prefaced by a short biography of the writer, and the whole collection cannot fail to provide a substantial feast of enjoyable suspense, intrigue and intellectual challenge.