City Sleuths And Tough Guys - Crime Stories From Poe To The Present

This is great collection of crime stories with insightful introduction by editor David Willis McCullough, in hardcover and almost 600 pages long, featuring among others famous essay by Raymond Chandler, Simple Art Of Murder. Like all anthologies it's not perfect, but there are some great stories here : Francois Eugene Vidocq (original criminal turned detective) - The Clue Of The Yellow Curtain, Marie Belloc Lowndes - The Lodger (excerpt from the novel), Marcel Allain - Princess Sonia's Bath, Dashiell Hammett - The Tenth Clew, George Simenon - At The Etoile Du Nord, Jim Thompson - This World, Then The Fireworks, Ross MacDonald - Wild Goose Chase, Donald E. Westlake - Just One Of Those Days and Mickey Spillane - The Gold Fever Tapes.