Book Review: Midsummer Mysteries edited by Martin Edwards

Every volume of Flame Tree Press’ Beyond And Within series is a collector’s delight, and this latest is no exception. Even setting aside the physical beauty of the book – with its foiled hardcover, painted fore-edges, matching endpapers and double ribbons – this is a terrific collection of nineteen short stories revolving around the theme of midsummer, whether in the United Kingdom or abroad. Edited with both wit and panache by crime-writing luminary Martin Edwards – whose own story, The Widow, sits right at the heart of the volume – each story is a solid read on its own but shines even more brightly in the carefully curated setting of this collection.

The opening story, L. C. Tyler’s Summer Games, sets the tone for the rest of the book. The narrator, the blandly named John Smith, has been invited to what he believes is a free murder mystery weekend. A missed train connection means that he doesn’t arrive with the other guests, but has to take a later taxi up to the manor. The cabdriver, making conversation as cabdrivers often do, asks him:

“The owner’s a friend of yours, then?”

 

“I’ve honestly no idea,” I said.

The driver gave me a puzzled look, but it was a better question than he knew. Had Kilvington ever been a friend? We’d worked together, certainly, seen each other five days a week, occasionally lunched at the nearest pub. Then, for almost two and a half years, I’d heard nothing until, without any explanation, the invitation had appeared. Please arrive on Midsummer’s Eve, it read. Bring attire suitable for a country house weekend, including evening wear. Tell nobody that you are coming. I think we are all going to have fun. And there may be a corpse or two.

John’s unexpected delay throws a wrench into his host’s plans. But games are, after all, meant to be played, as the story careens to a coldblooded conclusion at stark odds with the sultry weather it takes place in. 

The heat is practically a main character in many of these tales, perhaps most noticeably in William Burton McCormick’s excellent City Without Shadow, which is set in a Riga beset by White Nights sunshine. That isn’t the only way in which midsummer makes its mark across these stories though. From homages to the Bard himself in Jacquie Rogers’ A Midsummer Night’s Dream Or What Fools These Mortals Be, to the incorporation of the annual celebrations at Stonehenge in Chris Simms’ Life Giver, Death Bringer, midsummer in all its aspects is explored and celebrated.

While the British cultural connection with that time of year is undeniably strong, selections set in California, the afore-mentioned Latvia, and India all make for memorable entries. One of my favorites was Meeti Shroff-Shah’s A Ruby Sun, where a family’s annual summer visit, usually characterized by cheerful noise, is marred by the matriarch’s sudden announcement that she’s planning on giving her valuable ruby bracelet to one of the younger women in the family, though she won’t say exactly who. This, as she disingenuously claims, is to preempt them from fighting over the heirloom after her death. Unsurprisingly, her announcement has a chilling effect on her extended family’s hitherto warm camaraderie:

An uneasy silence descended on the house, so much so that Maganlal [the cook], who had always grumbled about all the extra work that the summer vacation and visitors entailed, began to send out tea and snacks into the living room of his own volition in the hope of rousing them. But in a few days’ time, what reared its head was more dangerous than the jagged quiet. Every thought and feeling that had ever crossed a mind or heart, but had been stowed away in the interest of family harmony, was suddenly dragged out from whatever bottom drawer or attic it had been stored in and given a proper airing.

The best anthologies not only help readers discover fantastic new stories, but also invite the reader to discover more of their authors’ works. I’m now determined to read more of Shroff-Shah as well as several other standouts in this book. One of these new-to-me authors is Victoria Dowd, whose The Solstice Seance made me want to continue exploring the strange village of Wychwood-under-Oak alongside its intrepid heroine. 

Further, I was thrilled to find stories from authors I already adore. Edwards always writes exceptionally well, and it was an utter delight to find that Call Of The Natterjack, a new Joseph Spector mystery by Tom Mead, rounds out the collection. Honestly, there isn’t a bad story in the bunch. While each tale may range in place and era and acts of criminality, they’re all consistent in their midsummer ties and in their high quality.