Anthologies are a wonderful thing, because you can dip in and out of them at will. In Crime From the Mind of a Woman Elizabeth George has brought together crime stories from some of the 20th century’s best women writers. Ranging from Dorothy L Sayers and Ngaio Marsh to Ruth Rendell, Marcia Muller, Gillian Linscott and Minette Walters all the different era’s appear to have been covered.

All the stories share one desire: to explore mankind in a moment on the edge. The stories have locations ranging from Africa and the Caribbean, London and Los Angeles to San Francisco and Switzerland. They include some rather well-known sleuths for example Sherlock Holmes and his able assistant Dr Watson to some rather notorious scoundrels such as Jack the Ripper. Some stories also involve ordinary people who have managed to get themselves caught up in events that are extraordinary.

This eclectic mix should suit the most discerning of readers and it is interesting to note that some of the stories are over sixty years old and still manage to stand the test of time. One other good thing about this anthology is the fact that they can all be used as a springboard for investigating longer stories, especially since some authors are not normally associated with the genre.

As far as anthologies go, Crime From the Mind of a Woman is not bad and is well worth reading. It is certainly a publishing coup.