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British Library Crime Classics

This list is for the British Library Crime Classics Editions only.
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3.38 avg rating — 5,608 ratings
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2

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3.40 avg rating — 3,678 ratings
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3

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3.34 avg rating — 1,657 ratings
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3.78 avg rating — 3,619 ratings
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3.53 avg rating — 3,677 ratings
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6

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3.57 avg rating — 1,715 ratings
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3.60 avg rating — 1,509 ratings
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3.77 avg rating — 1,059 ratings
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9

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3.40 avg rating — 571 ratings
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3.74 avg rating — 1,539 ratings
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11

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3.34 avg rating — 1,233 ratings
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12

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3.71 avg rating — 1,025 ratings
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13

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3.35 avg rating — 1,990 ratings
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14

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3.62 avg rating — 777 ratings
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15

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3.65 avg rating — 596 ratings
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16

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3.89 avg rating — 1,262 ratings
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17

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3.69 avg rating — 931 ratings
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18

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3.78 avg rating — 1,440 ratings
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19

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3.67 avg rating — 840 ratings
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20

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4.08 avg rating — 1,328 ratings
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21

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3.43 avg rating — 1,943 ratings
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22

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3.50 avg rating — 703 ratings
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23

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3.90 avg rating — 1,072 ratings
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24

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3.73 avg rating — 1,391 ratings
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25

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3.71 avg rating — 433 ratings
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26

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3.81 avg rating — 1,115 ratings
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27

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3.84 avg rating — 1,843 ratings
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28

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3.31 avg rating — 888 ratings
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29

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4.05 avg rating — 803 ratings
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30

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3.82 avg rating — 840 ratings
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31

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3.95 avg rating — 1,113 ratings
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32

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3.89 avg rating — 1,386 ratings
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33

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3.77 avg rating — 741 ratings
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34

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3.72 avg rating — 648 ratings
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35

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3.78 avg rating — 766 ratings
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36

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4.08 avg rating — 959 ratings
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37

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3.85 avg rating — 521 ratings
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38

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3.13 avg rating — 601 ratings
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39

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4.12 avg rating — 1,221 ratings
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40

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4.06 avg rating — 2,672 ratings
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41

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4.12 avg rating — 579 ratings
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42

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3.48 avg rating — 851 ratings
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43

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3.23 avg rating — 420 ratings
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43

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3.44 avg rating — 1,150 ratings
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45

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3.62 avg rating — 725 ratings
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45

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3.63 avg rating — 1,321 ratings
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47

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3.92 avg rating — 1,379 ratings
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47

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3.78 avg rating — 814 ratings
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49

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3.52 avg rating — 1,319 ratings
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50

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3.71 avg rating — 1,008 ratings
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51

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3.51 avg rating — 572 ratings
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52

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3.27 avg rating — 961 ratings
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53

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3.56 avg rating — 849 ratings
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54

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3.79 avg rating — 842 ratings
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55

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3.56 avg rating — 1,148 ratings
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56

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3.72 avg rating — 686 ratings
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57

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3.48 avg rating — 864 ratings
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58

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3.32 avg rating — 642 ratings
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59

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3.65 avg rating — 362 ratings
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60

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3.38 avg rating — 1,325 ratings
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61

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3.67 avg rating — 815 ratings
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61

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3.81 avg rating — 344 ratings
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63

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3.98 avg rating — 1,118 ratings
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64

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4.08 avg rating — 1,176 ratings
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65

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4.13 avg rating — 822 ratings
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66

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3.91 avg rating — 625 ratings
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67

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3.28 avg rating — 338 ratings
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68

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3.66 avg rating — 1,166 ratings
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69

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3.71 avg rating — 483 ratings
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69

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3.99 avg rating — 1,271 ratings
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71

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3.23 avg rating — 258 ratings
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72

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3.75 avg rating — 416 ratings
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73

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3.20 avg rating — 288 ratings
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74

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3.09 avg rating — 607 ratings
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75

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3.70 avg rating — 743 ratings
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76

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3.22 avg rating — 581 ratings
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77

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3.40 avg rating — 357 ratings
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77

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3.61 avg rating — 478 ratings
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79

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3.46 avg rating — 1,099 ratings
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80

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3.75 avg rating — 311 ratings
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81

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3.59 avg rating — 929 ratings
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82

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3.62 avg rating — 138 ratings
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83

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3.24 avg rating — 449 ratings
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84

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3.47 avg rating — 701 ratings
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85

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3.77 avg rating — 389 ratings
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86

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3.77 avg rating — 331 ratings
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87

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3.77 avg rating — 462 ratings
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88

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3.88 avg rating — 949 ratings
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88

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3.03 avg rating — 984 ratings
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90

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4.16 avg rating — 703 ratings
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91

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3.84 avg rating — 385 ratings
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92

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3.75 avg rating — 2,817 ratings
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93

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3.22 avg rating — 873 ratings
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93

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3.36 avg rating — 566 ratings
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95

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3.66 avg rating — 683 ratings
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96

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3.57 avg rating — 498 ratings
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97

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3.55 avg rating — 681 ratings
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98

by
3.86 avg rating — 1,017 ratings
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99

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3.59 avg rating — 302 ratings
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100

by
3.35 avg rating — 150 ratings
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253 likes · 
Lists are re-scored approximately every 5 minutes.


Tania 3584 books
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More voters…


Comments Showing 1-38 of 38 (38 new)

dateUp arrow    newest »

message 1: by Becky (new)

Becky B Deleted the Inspector Levy books, Sherlock Holmes books, and Woman in White because they were not British Library Classic Crimes editions.


message 2: by BookLovingLady (deceased Jan. 25, 2023...) (last edited Jan 23, 2019 12:42AM) (new)

BookLovingLady (deceased Jan. 25, 2023...) Becky wrote: "Deleted the Inspector Levy books, Sherlock Holmes books, and Woman in White because they were not British Library Classic Crimes editions."

Be aware though that GR has a nasty habit of changing a book to the most popular edition...


message 3: by Becky (new)

Becky B Good to note. I checked and I could not find that any of the books removed even had a British Library Classic Crimes edition.


message 4: by Michelle (new)

Michelle Smith I added E. C. R. Lorac's Fell Murder, due in 2020.

I don't know how to delete one, but there are two copies of Excellent Intentions on here.


message 5: by Tania (new)

Tania Goodreads changed the original, which was the correct edition, for the popular edition. Not being a librarian, I can't remove it, so added the BLCC edition.


message 6: by Michelle (last edited Jul 11, 2019 12:46PM) (new)

Michelle Smith Tania wrote: "Goodreads changed the original, which was the correct edition, for the popular edition. Not being a librarian, I can't remove it, so added the BLCC edition."

Oh, how annoying! I will join you in glaring at the interloper.


BookLovingLady (deceased Jan. 25, 2023...) I'm a librarian and could perform a duplicates check. It would prevent duplicates and the votes for the removed one will be combined with/added to the one that stays. I can't influence which one stays and which one goes though.


message 8: by Michelle (new)

Michelle Smith Ah. At present, the one with the right cover has half as many votes as the other.


BookLovingLady (deceased Jan. 25, 2023...) Michelle wrote: "Ah. At present, the one with the right cover has half as many votes as the other."

Do you want me to perform a duplicates check?


message 10: by Michelle (new)

Michelle Smith I would say to let Tania make that call, since she's the one who added the correct edition and this might undo her work. :)


message 11: by Tania (new)

Tania I don't mind. I did add the correct one when it was switched, it would be nice to keep it tidy and remove the penguin one, I can't do it and I expect that the correct one would be the one that disappears if a check were done. I shall leave it too your discretion :-)


message 12: by BookLovingLady (deceased Jan. 25, 2023...) (last edited Jul 12, 2019 10:50AM) (new)

BookLovingLady (deceased Jan. 25, 2023...) Tania wrote: "I don't mind. I did add the correct one when it was switched, it would be nice to keep it tidy and remove the penguin one, I can't do it and I expect that the correct one would be the one that disa..."

I'll do a duplicate check then 😉 In my opinion it is worse to have a duplicate than an incorrect edition...


message 13: by Hugh Dunnett (last edited Dec 05, 2019 09:02AM) (new)

Hugh Dunnett Hello, 5 months later...
I hope no one minds but i have tried again to correct the list and deleted the 'Green Penguin' (as much as I love them!) and added the correct 'British Library' edition of Excellent intentions
...
I also did it for Fell Murder!
I certainly wouldn't normally do this for any kind of 'vote for the best' type of list but I think the purpose of this list is to be a complete collection of British Library Crime Classics.
My apologies if this was not the original intention of the creator of the list :)


message 14: by S Richardson (new)

S Richardson I don’t think much of this list, it looks like an attempt to promote the solidly second rate to a position it’s authors most definitely do not deserve.....


message 15: by Hugh Dunnett (new)

Hugh Dunnett S Richardson wrote: "I don’t think much of this list, it looks like an attempt to promote the solidly second rate to a position it’s authors most definitely do not deserve....."

No promotion - just a nice collection of new covers for crime and mystery books originally published 50+ years ago. Certainly, some titles are better than others but many are excellent. You should really try some! :)


message 16: by Tania (new)

Tania Hugh Dunnett wrote: "Hello, 5 months later...
I hope no one minds but i have tried again to correct the list and deleted the 'Green Penguin' (as much as I love them!) and added the correct 'British Library' edition of ..."


Thank you for this.


message 17: by BookLovingLady (deceased Jan. 25, 2023...) (last edited Jan 02, 2020 09:07AM) (new)

BookLovingLady (deceased Jan. 25, 2023...) @Tania & Hugh Dunnett
Be aware though that GR has the nasty habit of changing an edition to the most popular one...


message 18: by S Richardson (new)

S Richardson S Richardson wrote: "I don’t think much of this list, it looks like an attempt to promote the solidly second rate to a position it’s authors most definitely do not deserve....."

I bothered to count the books I have read in this list, that would be 58 of them, I don’t count the compendiums edited by M Edwards. I see absolutely no reason to change the tone of my previous post.


message 19: by Robin (new)

Robin I'm not sure that Revelations of a Lady Detective by William Stephens Hayward is a British Library Crime Classic. I can't seem to find it on any BLCC lists. Waterstones seems to have the most current list with 80 books, including the ones coming soon (which the British Library seems to be missing)


message 20: by Robin (new)

Robin Also is Mr Bazalgette's Agent by Leonard Merrick a BLCC? I see that is was published by the British Library, but is it really part of the BLCC publisher's series? I don't see it on any other list.


message 21: by Hugh Dunnett (new)

Hugh Dunnett Robin wrote: "Also is Mr Bazalgette's Agent by Leonard Merrick a BLCC? I see that is was published by the British Library, but is it really part of the BLCC publisher's series? I ..."

I think you might be on to something Robin.
'Revelations of a Lady Detective' is simply published by BL and states nowhere I can find that it is part of the British Library Crime Classics collection.
'Mr. Bazalgette's Agent' may be more of a grey area - Waterstones list it as 'British Library Crime Classics' and it does state this on the cover but it certainly does have a different look and feel to the rest.
Finally, neither appear to be currently available/in print by BL. It makes sense to me to remove them both but what does the list creator Tania think?


message 22: by Rosa (new)

Rosa S Richardson wrote: "S Richardson wrote: "I don’t think much of this list, it looks like an attempt to promote the solidly second rate to a position it’s authors most definitely do not deserve....."

I bothered to cou..."


You mean you don't like the idea of the British Library Crime Classics reissues. Why blame the lister?


message 23: by Tania (new)

Tania Hugh Dunnett wrote: "Robin wrote: "Also is Mr Bazalgette's Agent by Leonard Merrick a BLCC? I see that is was published by the British Library, but is it really part of the BLCC publishe..."

Sorry, I hadn't seen this. I don't mind at all if someone wants to remove the two that aren't BLCC. I can't do it myself.


message 24: by Rosa (last edited Sep 30, 2020 01:57PM) (new)

Rosa S Richardson wrote: "I see absolutely no reason to change the tone of my previous post."

Rude people never do.


message 25: by Veena (new)

Veena Soujanya Is there any particular order to read these books or can we pick anyone from the list?


message 26: by Hugh Dunnett (new)

Hugh Dunnett Veena wrote: "Is there any particular order to read these books or can we pick anyone from the list?"

Hi Veena. This is basically a collection of classic and overlooked crime and mystery books published 50+ years ago, often out of print for some time.
They are edited and the collection curated by Martin Edwards who has recently been awarded the CWA Diamond Dagger, so I get the feeling he knows what he is talking about :)
There are a few series included in the collection but they certainly don't need to be read in order - you can start anywhere. Happy reading!


message 27: by Hugh Dunnett (new)

Hugh Dunnett Tania wrote: "Hugh Dunnett wrote: "Robin wrote: "Also is Mr Bazalgette's Agent by Leonard Merrick a BLCC? I see that is was published by the British Library, but is it really part..."

Eventually worked out how to remove the two erroneous listings. Done.


message 28: by Veena (new)

Veena Soujanya Hugh Dunnett wrote: "Veena wrote: "Is there any particular order to read these books or can we pick anyone from the list?"

Hi Veena. This is basically a collection of classic and overlooked crime and mystery books pub..."


Hi Hugh. Thanks a lot for the clarification. I already read a couple and enjoyed them immensely. I just wanted to read in order if there is one. Now that I know, I will start with those titles which are interesting. Thanks again :)


message 29: by Danny (new)

Danny Added the pocket detective 2 seeing as number 1 is already there.

Should we add Kate Jacksons 'Golden Age of Detection Puzzle Book' and/or Martin Edwards' 'The Story of Classic Crime in 100 Books'?

Both have their own relation to the series but are not necessarily part of it. I'm guessing having them mentioned here may be good enough :)


message 30: by Rowley (new)

Rowley Ager Crossed skis repeated 88 &31. ** number duplicated also.
Add, Mr Bazalgettes Agent which is a BLCC issue.
Rowley


message 31: by Hugh Dunnett (new)

Hugh Dunnett BL have produced a 'checklist' for their Classic Crime series, up to date of publication September 2021.
Unfortunately goodreads won't allow outside URLs but you can find it at the issuu .com site and search for 'classic crime'. Very helpful to know what's in and what's out :)


message 32: by Greg (new)

Greg Hugh Dunnett wrote: "Hello, 5 months later...
I hope no one minds but i have tried again to correct the list and deleted the 'Green Penguin' (as much as I love them!) and added the correct 'British Library' edition of ..."


Thx Hugh. Yes, it would be great if this was a list of every BLCC release. I've read 15 (all from the library) and I love the covers, the introductions, and since this is my go-to genre for escapism, I so appreciate the availability. The quality varies, certainly, but I just finished ECR Lorac's "Two-Way Murder" and it's my fav so far.


message 33: by Hugh Dunnett (new)

Hugh Dunnett Interesting little blog post here related to BLCC and Lorac https://www.goodreads.com/author_blog...


message 34: by Dina (new)

Dina Hello, I just wanted to mention that the audiobooks of almost all of these (except the very newest ones and some of the short story collections) are available for free on Spotify. Happy reading/listening!


message 35: by Hugh Dunnett (new)

Hugh Dunnett Dina wrote: "Hello, I just wanted to mention that the audiobooks of almost all of these (except the very newest ones and some of the short story collections) are available for free on Spotify. Happy reading/lis..."

Thanks Dina! That helps fill in a few hard to get titles :)


message 36: by Danny (new)

Danny For those that are interested in a reasonably up to date list of all the books in the series in publication order, search for 'bearalley british library crime classics'. The writer seems to update the original post from 2018 every few months with the books released since the last edit.


message 37: by Chris (new)

Chris Urquhart "The Seat Of The Scornful" by John Dickson Carr is duplicated - #92 & #109.


message 38: by Laura Anne (new)

Laura Anne There are a couple of Agatha Christie's on here that are not part of the BLCC line. I will remove them.


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