Other editions of book The Paradise Mystery: The Best Classic Detective Stories

Paradise is a piece of land near a thirteenth-century Cathedral in England and a quiet small town nearby is a hotbed of local gossip. Mark Ransford is a local doctor and a guardian of Mary and Dick Bewery. His assistant Pemberton Bryce is in love with Mary, but Dr. Ransford doesn't approve it. One day, after a visit to the doctor's house, a certain man finds death as he falls from the Cathedral. Bryce is convinced that Dr. Ransford is involved in the death and starts an investigation.Joseph Smith Fletcher (1863-1933) was an English author and journalist, one of the leading writers of detective fiction in the Golden Age. After his journalist career Fletcher first started writing poems, then historical fiction, and finally moved on to write detective mysteries.

Excerpt: "American tourists, sure appreciators of all that is ancient and picturesque in England, invariably come to a halt, holding their breath in a sudden catch of wonder, as they pass through the half-ruinous gateway which admits to the Close of Wrychester. Nowhere else in England is there a fairer prospect of old-world peace. There before their eyes, set in the centre of a great green sward, fringed by tall elms and giant beeches, rises the vast fabric of the thirteenth-century Cathedral, its high spire piercing the skies in which rooks are for ever circling and calling. The time-worn stone, at a little distance delicate as lacework, is transformed at different hours of the day into shifting shades of colour, varying from grey to purple: the massiveness of the great nave and transepts contrasts impressively with the gradual tapering of the spire, rising so high above turret and clerestory that it at last becomes a mere line against the ether."

By Fantasyman on January 19, 2013Format: Kindle Edition Verified PurchaseI rate this one five stars. Mostly on the craft displayed by the author in writing this story. Some of Fletcher's novels have that boiler plate feel to them, quickly hacked together and then off to the publisher. He was a very inventive story teller with a talent for paring the plot down to bite size tidbits easily digested by the reader. As I have stated, this was one of his more carefully crafted efforts. The plot is excellent and moves along at a steady pace, with well developed characters, and a surprise ending that makes sense, along with wrapping up the story. What intrigues me most about this story is how Fletcher uses the omniscient view to portray events in an active and incisive manner, following one character after another while revealing details both about the characters as well as clues to the mystery itself, yet never wandering off track. None of Fletcher's novels are ever likely to make it into the pantheon of great mystery fiction, as Fletcher never relies on a larger than life detective character to unravel the mystery with a flash of intuitive brilliance. He always builds the mystery with clues that are out there for the reader to see and to relate to. I've read several of his novels to date, and I can state that in not one of them is the reader left in the dark about clues or events that solve the mystery, nor are events that eventually prove to be important glossed over or trivialized in the course of the story to reduce their import in the mind of the reader, only to be suddenly brought back at the end by some superior intellect to solve the mystery. With Fletcher you always know what's what.Take the time to read this one, you won't be disappointed.Here are some other novels by Fletcher that I recommend:The Middle Temple MurderThe Chestermarke InstinctDead Men's MoneyThe Burrough Treasurer

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Joseph Smith Fletcher (1863-1935) was a British journalist and writer. He wrote about 200 books on a wide variety of subjects, both fiction and non-fiction. He was one of the leading writers of detective fiction in the "Golden Age". An early book was the 1909 collection, The Adventures of Archer Dawe. His other works include: Andrewlina (1889), The Winding Way (1890), The Wonderful City (1894), In the Days of Drake (1897), At the Blue Bell Inn (1898), The Fear of the Night (1903) and Paradise Court (1908).