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AbstractHistoryArchive Description
'Here is a literary cocktail, with ingredients of truth, science and fiction. The sixteen well-known Australians who produced this unusual book, after twelve months' work, include university professors, an actor, a librarian, a writer of stories for children, journalists and housewives. Starting with a murder in the Sydney University grounds committed by Miss J. L. Ranken, who handled the first chapter of the book, the story then moves along through the capable hands of another fourteen collaborators to a dramatic conclusion by Mrs Brennan. Each collaborator, after having read the previous chapters, wrote his or her portion. Miss Ranken, of course, had not even a foreword to read. For the literary critic and the budding novelist, the way in which the plot has been developed will prove as interesting as the exciting story itself will be to the ordinary reader and the 'mystery fan'. With so many fertile imaginations at work one murder (naturally) would not be sufficient. There are six.' (Publisher's blurb, All About Books, 8 (4) 1936: 61)
Notes
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Editor's note: ...Sixteen chapters and sixteen people to write them - that was easy to decide....As fast-or as slow-as a chapter was finished we studied the work carefully, and endeavoured to choose someone 'fit' to carry on....Our rules were strict, and clearly defined: every writer had to pick up the story where it left off; deal with the clues left by his or her predescessors; and nothing extraneous must be introduced merely for the sake of complicating matters....' J. L. Ranken and Jane Clunies Ross (v-vi).
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Works about this Work
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The Case of the Missing Genre : In Search of Australian Crime Fiction
1988
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Southerly , September vol. 48 no. 3 1988; (p. 235-249) -
New Australian Book
1936
single work
review
— Appears in: All About Books , 10 June vol. 8 no. 6 1936; (p. 84-85)
— Review of Maidens Beware : A Novel 1936 single work novel ; Murder Pie 1936 single work novel ; White Horses Ride Home : A Novel 1936 single work novel ; The House of Fendon 1936 single work novel ; Central Australia 1936 single work prose ; The Siren City 1935 selected work poetry -
Too Many Cooks
1936
single work
review
— Appears in: The Bulletin , 8 April vol. 57 no. 2930 1936; (p. 2)
— Review of Murder Pie 1936 single work novel
-
New Australian Book
1936
single work
review
— Appears in: All About Books , 10 June vol. 8 no. 6 1936; (p. 84-85)
— Review of Maidens Beware : A Novel 1936 single work novel ; Murder Pie 1936 single work novel ; White Horses Ride Home : A Novel 1936 single work novel ; The House of Fendon 1936 single work novel ; Central Australia 1936 single work prose ; The Siren City 1935 selected work poetry -
Too Many Cooks
1936
single work
review
— Appears in: The Bulletin , 8 April vol. 57 no. 2930 1936; (p. 2)
— Review of Murder Pie 1936 single work novel -
The Case of the Missing Genre : In Search of Australian Crime Fiction
1988
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Southerly , September vol. 48 no. 3 1988; (p. 235-249)
Last amended 4 Dec 2008 11:39:48