Interview with Rosemary Herbert, co-editor of A New Omnibus of Crime

This past September, A New Omnibus of Crime was published by Oxford University Press. Tony Hillerman, noted mystery author, and Rosemary Herbert, writer, editor, and critic, co-edited the book which was patterned after the original 1920 version edited by Dorothy L. Sayers.

This new collection picks up where the original left off bringing together monumental, important, and entertaining works of mystery short fiction from the inter-war years of the twentieth century to the first years of the twenty-first century. Rosemary Herbert and Tony Hillerman introduce each story and place each selection in the context of the author and the genre's literary history. A New Omnibus of Crime is full of a whole range of engaging, page-turning, and spine tingling selections from the past eight decades and brings together some of the greatest crime and mystery short fiction ever collected.

Rosemary Herbert was interviewed recently about the book in her home state of Maine. She said it took about 18 months to come up with the list of stories to include. When asked what makes a good mystery book or short story, she said: "Readers still turn to mystery writing for strong plot, and increasingly, for complex characterization." Read the interview in its entirety here.