{"schema_version":"bf_book_companion_v1","release_id":"20260417T232332Z","book":{"amazon_purchase_url":"https://www.amazon.com/dp/1613165420?tag=bookfrontier-20","asin":"1613165420","authors":["Otto Penzler"],"book_id":"9781613165423","canonical_url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/golden-age-whodunits-1613165420","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9781613165423.jpg?v=20260417T232332Z%3A2026-04-17T23%3A23%3A32Z","description":"Depending on who you ask, the term \"whodunit\" was first coined sometime around 1930, but the literary form predates that name by several decades. Still, it was in the years between the two World Wars?the so-called \"Golden Age\" of mystery fiction?that the style flourished. Short mysteries were published far and wide by a variety of authors, not just those primarily associated with the genre. They appeared in The Saturday Evening Post, Cosmopolitan, The New Yorker and other high-end periodicals that still exist today. These tales were, in short, among the most popular diversions in literature and were of the highest caliber. In this volume, Edgar Award-winning anthologist Otto Penzler collects some of the finest American whodunits of the era, including household names and welcome rediscoveries. F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ellery Queen and Mary Roberts Rinehart are all included, as are Ring Lardner, Melville Davisson Post and Helen Reilly. The result is a cross section of the whodunit tale in the years that made it a staple in mystery fiction.","forthcoming":false,"isbn13":"9781613165423","publication_date":"20240702","publisher":"American Mystery Classics","slug":"golden-age-whodunits","subtitle":"","title":"Golden Age Whodunits"},"discovery":{"categories":{"all":[{"bisac_code":"FIC022050","confidence_band":"medium","label":"Mystery Anthologies","score":0.787,"source":"bisac_hint_model"},{"bisac_code":"LIT004230","confidence_band":"medium","label":"Mystery & Crime Crit","score":0.7698,"source":"bisac_hint_model"},{"bisac_code":"FIC022030","confidence_band":"medium","label":"British Mystery","score":0.7517,"source":"bisac_hint_model"}],"hint":[{"bisac_code":"FIC022050","confidence_band":"medium","label":"Mystery Anthologies","score":0.787,"source":"bisac_hint_model"},{"bisac_code":"LIT004230","confidence_band":"medium","label":"Mystery & Crime Crit","score":0.7698,"source":"bisac_hint_model"},{"bisac_code":"FIC022030","confidence_band":"medium","label":"British Mystery","score":0.7517,"source":"bisac_hint_model"}],"publisher":[{"bisac_code":"FIC022030","confidence_band":"high","label":"British Mystery","score":1,"source":"onix_publisher_code"},{"bisac_code":"FIC022050","confidence_band":"high","label":"Mystery Anthologies","score":1,"source":"onix_publisher_code"},{"bisac_code":"FIC022100","confidence_band":"high","label":"Amateur Sleuths","score":1,"source":"onix_publisher_code"}]},"genres":[{"label":"Mystery Anthologies","score":0.787,"slug":"mystery-anthologies"},{"label":"Mystery & Crime Crit","score":0.7698,"slug":"mystery-crime-crit"},{"label":"British Mystery","score":0.7517,"slug":"british-mystery"}],"reader_fit":["Good for readers who enjoy Mystery Anthologies","Good for readers interested in short stories","Good for fans of Short Stories"],"related_lists":[{"intro":"","slug":"shelf-fic022050-mystery-detective-collections-anthologies","title":"Mystery & Detective Collections & Anthologies Books","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/lists/shelf-fic022050-mystery-detective-collections-anthologies"}],"series":null,"similar_books":[{"authors":["Otto Penzler","Ace Atkins","Lawrence Block","& 0 more"],"book_id":"9781936661190","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9781936661190.jpg?v=20260417T232332Z%3A2026-04-17T23%3A23%3A32Z","score":21.5939,"title":"In Pursuit of Spenser","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9781936661190"},{"authors":["Otto Penzler"],"book_id":"9781613162163","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9781613162163.jpg?v=20260417T232332Z%3A2026-04-17T23%3A23%3A32Z","score":21.2035,"title":"Golden Age Detective Stories","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9781613162163"},{"authors":["Michael Sims"],"book_id":"9780143137535","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9780143137535.jpg?v=20260417T232332Z%3A2026-04-17T23%3A23%3A32Z","score":20.4807,"title":"The Penguin Book of Murder Mysteries","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9780143137535"},{"authors":["Martin Edwards"],"book_id":"9781728267692","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9781728267692.jpg?v=20260417T232332Z%3A2026-04-17T23%3A23%3A32Z","score":20.4774,"title":"The Edinburgh Mystery","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9781728267692"},{"authors":["Otto Penzler - 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