Since the dawn of the detective genre, animals of all kinds have played a memorable role in countless mysteries and in a variety of roles: the author, the key witness, the trusted companion of the hound. This collection of fourteen barnyard stories focuses on cats, dogs and insects along with more exotic incidents involving gorillas, parakeets and snakes, with a usual shoal of red herrings.

From the animal mysteries of Arthur Conan Doyle and F. Tennyson Jesse to the most Moderna masterpieces of the subgenre of Christianna Brand and Penelope Wallace, this anthology celebrates one of the most lively and imaginative species of classic detective fiction.

There is a lot to be said for the news. Well done, they are complete tales in their own right, telling a neat story from beginning to end, with a finite number of words and that do not leave the reader with a lack of time. Guilty Secrets is a collection of these tales.

There are stories from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s eponymous Sherlock Holmes and G. K. Chesterton’s father Brown to the forgotten stars of Golden Age crime writing, such as Sharon Hill and Josephine Bell. Most stories are only about 10 pages long. There are, of course, others that are a little longer, but each one is the right length for reading at once, or between other daily tasks or during a quick break.

The stories span a variety of geographical areas, from the southern coast of England to India and the rajah who uses snakes for his cruel punishments. The matters involve amateur detectives, private detectives, police officers and those who like to walk on both sides of the law and introduced me to many characters who would have been well known in the last century, but have since disappeared from memory.

A huge number of animals appear in these stories, from slugs to dogs, from underwater inhabitants to aviaries in the air, although the most evil animals are, of course, humans. It would be easy to give the game away if I had to mention all the animals in these stories. Suffice it to say that in some matters the animal in question is an integral part of the story, in others it is like a member of the supporting cast.

As with any grouping of stories, there were a few that stood out among the others. Favorites for me included Hanging by a Hair, The Hornet’s Nest, Passed away in a Cage, The Wise Monkey and Yellow Slugs.

All the stories date back to a time before the collection of DNA evidence, before fingerprints were the norm and computers helped analyze information and evidence. The victims relied on the relentless determination of their assigned detectives, intuition, skill and cunning to solve the matter. These are all examples of the detection technique.

A great collection of short stories, cleverly organized, that you can sit down and read, or dive in and out of it. Another worthy addition to the British Library’s crime classics series.