The Detective Club Crime Classics

The Skeleton Key (1919) was the first detective novel published by Collins, ushering in the Golden Age, the Crime Club, and 100 years of remarkable crime fiction that would follow.

About the author

Bernard Edward Joseph Capes (1854-1918) was a prolific Victorian author who published more than 40 books, best remembered for his accomplished ghost stories. The Skeleton Key was the first detective novel commissioned and published by Collins (1919); its success (8 editions in 10 years) paved the way for a century of crime publishing. Sadly Capes died on 2 November 1918 in the influenza epidemic before his book was published. A plaque commemorating his life is in Winchester Cathedral.

Hugh Lamb has spent over forty years delving into weird fiction. His main area of research is Victorian ghost stories and he has published five anthologies of these. A freelance journalist by profession, Hugh Lamb lives in Sutton, Surrey.

Summary

The Skeleton Key (1919) was the first detective novel published by Collins, ushering in the Golden Age, the Crime Club, and 100 years of remarkable crime fiction that would follow.

Product details

• Authors: Bernard Capes
• Assisted by: G. K. Chesterton (Introduction), Lamb Hugh (Foreword)
• Publisher: Harper Collins Uk
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback
• Released: 30.06.2019
• EAN: 9780008337278
• ISBN: 978-0-00-833727-8
• Dimensions: 129 mm x 198 mm x 15 mm
• Series: Detective Club Crime Classics; Detective Club Crime Classics
• Subjects: Fiction > Narrative literature; FICTION / Mystery & Detective / Cozy / General, FICTION / Crime, Crime & mystery, FICTION / Mystery & Detective / Traditional, Classic fiction (pre c 1945), FICTION / Thrillers / Historical, FICTION / Humorous / Black Humor, Crime & mystery fiction, Classic fiction: general and literary