"A tribute to the first great age of fictional sleuthing, this delightful collection of 13 mystery classics is devoted to the genuine tale of ratiocination, in which the detective solves the crime by investigation and observation, by using his or her wits."

"Included among these gems, written between 1841 and 1920, are Edgar Allan Poe's The Murders in the Rue Morgue, widely acknowlegded as the first detective story; Charles Dickens' Three Detective Anecdotes, in which a policeman is the detective-hero; Jack London's The Leopard Man's Story, featuring an unusually grisly but thoroughly plausible murder method; The Phantom Motor, by Jacques Futrelle; as well as tales by Wilkie Collins, Gelett Burgess, Susan Glaspell, E. C. Bentley, Rodrigues Ottolengui, Baroness Orczy, Samuel Hopkins Adams, Melville Davisson Post, and H. C. Bailey."