Step into the smoke-filled parlors and gaslit streets where the detective story was born. This edition presents the complete, unabridged text of the Library of the World's Best Mystery and Detective Stories — every tale, exactly as it appeared in the original early twentieth-century anthology — now accompanied by a new introduction and reader's notes that illuminate the origins of the genre. Here are the cases that shaped a century of crime fiction: Poe's brilliant ratiocination, Sherlock Holmes at the height of his deductive powers, Gaboriau's pioneering French sleuths, and a host of vanished heiresses, stolen letters, unbreakable alibis, and impossible crimes. Whether you are revisiting old favorites or discovering the foundations of the mystery for the first time, these stories reward with atmosphere, ingenuity, and the timeless pleasure of a puzzle solved. Complete and faithful to the original. Part of The Founding Texts Library.