Golden Age Whodunits

Penzler follows up 2023’s Golden Age Bibliomysteries with another stellar anthology that places stories from the likes of F. Scott Fitzgerald and Stephen Vincent Bénet beside works from the biggest names in 1920s and ’30s detective fiction. Bénet impresses with “The Amateur of Crime,” an ingenious closed-circle puzzle about a college student who uses his obsession with crime stories to help solve a murder. Impossible crime master Clayton Rawson makes a major impression in just four pages with “The Clue of the Tattooed Man,” in which the Great Merlini solves one of his trickiest cases. “The Dance”—one of only two mystery stories Fitzgerald wrote—is another highlight, blending his gift for social satire (the protagonist fears small towns because “there was a whole series of secret implications, significances and terrors, just below the surface, of which I knew nothing”) with a frisky crime plot. Other entries, from genre fiction maestros including Fredric Brown and Ellery Queen, are up to par; there’s not a weak link in the bunch. For classic mystery fans, this is a must. (July)