A Los Angeles Times interview
EXCERPTS FROM REVIEWS
"Back in January Michael Sims gave the 2011 Baker Street Irregulars’ Distinguished Speaker Lecture. His latest book is The Dead Witness, a satisfying 600 pages. . . . Particularly good. . . . Few will have read all the stories in this grand doorstep of a book, and even those who have may benefit from Mr Sims’s introduction and his foreword to each tale."
—Roger Johnson, THE DISTRICT MESSENGER (The Newsletter of the Sherlock Holmes Society of London)
"If you're a fan of the stories of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson, you may or may not realize: You're barely scratching the surface of Victorian detective fiction. . . . Consider the fine group of sleuths assembled by editor Michael Sims. . . . Introduces readers to the impressive skills of several sleuths who live far from Baker Street. . . . Essential."
—LOS ANGELES TIMES
"Here’s what I’ve been setting aside for the readers on my list. . . . Apologies to Michael Connelly, but we’re going old school with The Dead Witness. With almost 600 pages of classics and rarities . . . you’re almost obligated to read it by candlelight."
—Tod Caviness, ORLANDO SENTINEL
"A smorgasbord of Victorian crime writing, encompassing both fact and fiction, and running the full gamut of writers from colossi like Dickens, Collins, Poe and Twain, to more obscure authors like William E. Burton; reprinted here for the first time in over 170 years. . . . Sims shows off a formidable knowledge of the genre, noting the influences and cross-pollination occurring between authors . . . . Highlights here include Dickens’ superb ‘On Duty with Inspector Field,’ a non-fiction account of a night on patrol with the eponymous inspector. . . . Another stand-out moment comes with the contemporary news report on the Whitechapel murders; the police are lambasted by journalists with an eye for the sensational, and the gruesome details of the crime are recounted in a manner that gives the lie to notions of delicate Victorian sensibilities. . . . Essential reading for students of the genre. Through informed commentary and the clear threads running through the chronologically arranged pieces, Sims examines the Victorian fascination with the new discipline of detection. The nascence of the police procedural and the PI story can be found within its pages. . . . Aside from being a tremendous tool for understanding the genre though, The Dead Witness is, given the time of year, a superb potential Christmas gift for the crime fiction buff in the family."
—Mike Stafford, BOOKGEEKS (UK)
"Anthologies of detective short stories are especially enjoyable for consumption at Christmas. Setting the stories mostly in the Victorian era only enhances the pleasure. THE DEAD WITNESS is a hugely enjoyable collection, nearly 600 pages long, of 22 tales of detection, each with its own admirable introduction. . . . There are relatively unknown stories by famous authors and contributions from able writers long forgotten, including what is claimed to be the first detective story by a woman."
—Marcel Berlins, THE TIMES (LONDON)
"It has Christmas written all over it."
—THE TELEGRAPH (London)
★ "Sims (Dracula’s Guest) has pulled together an exceptionally intelligent and varied anthology of Victorian crime fiction, starting with a detective story that predated Poe’s 'The Murders in the Rue Morgue' by four years, William E. Burton’s 'The Secret Cell,' reprinted for the first time since its original publication in 1837. The usual suspects—Poe, Dickens, Collins, Doyle, and Chesterton—are all on hand, but the chronological placement of their contributions, each with an insightful introduction, helps delineate what each author got from his or her predecessors. D’Artagnan’s impressive deductive reconstruction of a gunfight 30 years before A Study In Scarlet amply justifies the surprising inclusion of a section from a Dumas pere musketeer romance. Among the lost treasures is the title story, 'the first known detective story by a woman,' Mary Fortune, an Australian immigrant who wrote a story a month for 40 years under the pseudonym Waif Wander. Serious readers of detective fiction will cherish this volume."
—PUBLISHERS WEEKLY (starred review)
Read the PUBLISHERS WEEKLY interview here. (PDF)
"A juicy book. . . . Fascinating stuff. . . . Sims adds a good general introduction to the Victorian detective, plus pieces for each story. . . . An excellent anthology, and an excellent introduction to the detective tales of the Victorian era."
—Peter Coleborn, THE BRITISH FANTASY SOCIETY
"The writing is atmospheric, in traditional Victorian style, conjuring up vivid images of smoke, carriages and wild chases through the dark streets. The chronological order of the stories, combined with Sims’s short introductions to each story, mean that the reader is guided through the Victorian years with the authors, and it’s easy to see how each author has influenced the next. The confident editing and original story selection make this a must-have for detective fiction fans."
—Sarah Chapman, WE LOVE THIS BOOK
"Wonderful compendium. . . . Sims has cherry picked a number of stories to bring the reader up to speed with an England he fell in love with during his youth. It has a lot of twists, the reader can veritably smell the environments. . . . Cracking."
—Gareth Wilson, FALCATA TIMES
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