> Designed for mystery lovers as well as professors and students in college courses devoted to detective fiction, this anthology features classic texts, pivotal works by lesser-known authors, and unknown gems by major writers not typically associated with the genre. Providing a chronological and thematic survey of the first one hundred years of detection, the volume includes stories by Edgar Allan Poe, Wilkie Collins, Mark Twain, Arthur Conan Doyle, Bret Harte, G. K. Chesterton, Mary Wilkins Freeman, Anna Katharine Green, Baroness Orzcy, Susan Glaspell, Carroll John Daly, Dashiell Hammett, Cornell Woolrich, Pauline Hopkins, Chester Himes, and Ralph Ellison. Edgar Allan Poe: The Murders in the Rue Morgue [Purloined Letter](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL41065W) The Gold-Bug **Variations on Poe, Expansions of the Form** Wilkie Collins: Who Is the Thief? Mark Twain: The Stolen White Elephant G.K. Chesterton: The Blue Cross **The World's Most Celebrated Detective** Arthur Conan Doyle: [A Scandal in Bohemia](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL14930611W) [The Adventure of the Speckled Band](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL262561W) The Adventure of the Final Problem Bret Harte: The Stolen Cigar Case **Gender, Sexuality, and Detection** Mary Wilkins Freeman: The Long Arm Baroness Orczy: The Ninescore Mystery Anna Katharine Green: Missing Susan Glaspell: A Jury of Her Peers **Tough Guys** Carroll John Daly: The False Burton Combs Dashiell Hammett: The Road Home Cornell Woolrich: Murder at the Automat **Race and Detection** Pauline Elizabeth Hopkins: Talma Gordon Chester Himes: He Knew Ralph Ellison: The Birthmark