Two Bottles of Relish: The Little Tales of Smethers and Other Stories

by Lord Dunsany

Lord Dunsany mixes reality with fantasy in this forgotten collection of modern detective stories. Some are macabre, others have a lighter and more amusing touch, but every story stimulates the imagination and reveals the acknowledged master of the short story at his very best.

SMETHERS is a travelling salesman for Numnumo, who make a relish for meats and savouries. He shares a flat with an Oxford graduate called Linley, who fancies himself as a detective and to whom Scotland Yard is inclined to turn if they encounter a particularly challenging mystery. When a pretty young girl disappears and her lodger is suspected of murdering her, two bottles of Numnumo relish are the only clues, and Smethers is sent to gather more information . . .

Amongst the hundreds of fantasy stories for which the Irish dramatist, poet and writer Lord Dunsany became deservedly famous there was one solitary little book of detective stories. Selected by Ellery Queen as an ‘unequivocal keystone’ in the history of crime writing, this quirky collection is a mixture of the masterful and the macabre, a book that lovers of detective stories and tales of the unexpected will want to savour.

• ISBN13: 9780008159382
• Publish Date: 23 November 2023 (first published 3 November 2016)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: GB
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
• Imprint: Collins Crime Club
• Format: Paperback
• Pages: 240
• Language: English
• URL: http://harpercollins.co.uk

Reviews

[Cameron Trost]

An exceptional collection of short stories, all mysteries of one kind or another with one (The New Master) also crossing over into science-fiction and another (The Shield of Athene) into fantasy. While by no means perfect, and with some clumsy prose and not always entirely convincing characters, the sheer originality and entertainment value of this anthology makes it one you'll never forget. More importantly, however, is the fact that Lord Dunsany was somewhat of a criminal mastermind...on paper, that is. Most of these stories are a study in how to get away with murder, and the methods used by his villains rival those used by Sherlock Holmes' most brilliant adversaries. The title story is Lord Dunsany's most famous and it certainly leaves the reader feeling uneasy, to put it mildy, but the highlights for me were: The Shooting of Constable Slugger, The Clue, A New Murder, Murder by Lightning, The Speech, The New Master, A Tale of Revenge, The Unwritten Thriller, and In Ravancore. 4.5 stars, with half a star withheld because of the inclusion of a handful of weaker tales among the gems.