Review of "The History of Mystery" by Max Allan Collins

The first thing you notice about this amazing book is that it is beautiful with or without its dust cover. Is that unusual? I think so. "The game's afoot," as Holmes used to proclaim. Armed with the magnificent color pictures and eloquent information, you can follow the "smoking gun" to it's earliest history. The conventional wisdom is always that Allan Pinkerton was the first real-life private eye. This book starts there and moves fast into all of the mysteries that the public has been enjoying for a century or more.

If you are like me you are glued to the PBS series "Mystery!" Now we are also enjoying the new series "Monk" and cable channel A&E's delightful series abut Nero Wolfe. I hope they don't stop there.

As you page through this book, memories abound. Hollywood brought a lot of these classic mysteries to the screen, and if you are old enough, you might remember them. The hard-boiled detective from the pulps to the pocket books are all here with illustrations that will send you off to find some of the books. Try eBay.

They are all here looking for fans and lovers who grew up loving mysteries in any form. This a beautiful book you will enjoy.