The Best American Mystery Stories of the Nineteenth Century

<p><b>An unparalleled treasury of crime, mystery, and murder from the genre's founding century </b></p><p>With stories by Washington Irving, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Mark Twain, Louisa May Alcott, L. Frank Baum, Edith Wharton, Stephen Crane, and Jack London, <i>The Best American Mystery Stories of the Nineteenth Century</i> is an essential anthology of American letters. It's a unique blend of beloved writers who contributed to the genre and forgotten names that pioneered the form, such as Anna Katharine Green, the godmother of mystery fiction, and the African-American writer Charles W. Chesnutt. Of course, Penzler includes &quot;The Murders in the Rue Morgue,&quot; recognized as the first detective story, and with thirty-three stories spanning the years 1824-1899, nowhere else can readers find such a surprising, comprehensive take on the evolution of the American mystery story.</p>