An enjoyable selection of short standalone stories that are best suited as palate cleansers between longer novels. It’s easy to see why they were received as companion stories to those of Sherlock Holmes, the crowned prince of induction. The teahouse detective is a fount of knowledge and loves solving and recounting mysteries as much as he loves cheesecake.
Many thanks to the publisher for a review copy via NetGalley.

This one I liked way better then the first one , instead of trying to read it in one setting i would read a story every day, that way i could enjoy them since for some unknown reason I always seem to have trouble getting into short stories.

Great writing, fun stories, and lively characters. All ingredients needed to make this a winner!

Highly recommend.

This collection of 12 short mysteries is a great way to spend a reading afternoon. You can read them all in one shot or read them individually whenever you have a bit of time to spare.

Each story in the collection takes the same format: Polly reads about a case in the newspaper that the police aren’t able to solve, and presents it to ‘The Teahouse Detective’ – an old man who sits in the cafe, eating cake and playing with a bit of string. The cases run the gamut of crime – a murder, a theft, a disappearance, and more. The Old Man usually already knows about the case, and tells Polly what the solution (as he believes) is.

The mysteries (and the solution) are well laid out and remind me of Arthur Conan Doyle or Agatha Christie (both of home wrote many short mystery stories). The solutions aren’t always obvious and it’s fun to try and work out the answer before the Old Man lays it out.

Normally, I would blaze my way through a collection like this, but there are two things that make this book a touch less enjoyable for me.

First, the Teahouse Detective himself. He can sometimes act like a petulant child – playing with his string and having to be coaxed to discuss the cases (Polly is quite patient!) I could forgive this behaviour (Sherlock Holmes isn’t the most sociable person) but it’s the ‘shrieking’ that annoys me. This old man shrieks A LOT. He’s in a small cafe – there’s no need to shriek.

The other thing that bothered me (and this might be just me) is that there’s no clear resolution to the crimes. The Teahouse Detective enjoys solving the cases to show off his intelligence, but he doesn’t care about assisting the police or seeing justice delivered. So, while he shows us the solution, we never know if anyone ever gets punished for their crimes. It’s a small thing, but it’s just not the way I like my mystery stories to end. It seems like everyone just gets away with their crimes. And that gets tiring after awhile.

Other than those two criticism (which other readers may easily overlook), Orczy is a strong writer and the mysteries are all really well done. There are unique twists in the crimes and they aren’t always so easy to solve. And this is a great collection of cozy mysteries in the classic, traditional style. If you’re a fan of Conan Doyle or Christie, then you will enjoy this collection.

Entertaining And Atmospheric.....
Classic mysteries with The Teahouse Detective. The old gentleman in the teahouse corner - an unparalleled solver of mysteries; the journalist who is enraptured by his capabilities. Entertaining and atmospheric- guaranteed to please. Enchanting reading.

An entertaining group of stories.Love the vintage feel of the writing .I picked the book up and found myself enjoying the stories so much I read from beginning to end.Will be recommending to friends.#netgalley#pushkinpress

This book tells the story of the Teahouse Detective, a man who sits in a teahouse and solves crimes as depicted by the narrator, a female reporter. Overall, I was disappointed in this book. While I appreciated the good stories, I thought the character development was limited. Often, the detective would narrate what happened and then explain his theory. We are to assume that he is correct, but there is never anything about him working to solve the crime or how he came to know the truth. Still, the stories were often interesting, but the plot and character development could have been better.

These are a collection of short stories. There is no question of the writing skills of the author and the fact that a large chunk of the narrative is timeless. The first volume has it being narrated to a woman called Polly Burton but considering that it ends with 'never saw him again', the listener in the second volume should have been someone else.Each short story is told by an old man in the corner who likes to pit his intelligence against crime in the country, by visiting the location, the inquest and so on. He carries around photographs as props to provide ambience to his tales. He fidgets with making knots in a rope to keep his thoughts straight. This is the common factor in all the stories as is the teashop in which the discussion occurs. 
Each tale has interesting characters, some slightly familiar while others were quite unique. My problem with the collection is entirely personal. Each story was an indication of how a crime took place and how the Old man found a solution to it, but this solution only rests with him and the listener! The criminals are never brought to justice and the wronged never find out. In some pettier cases, it seems to be beside the point but for someone like me who likes a complete tale, it seemed more than unfair when it involved murder. I have liked reading classic crime mysteries because usually there is a complete arc whereas here it was only showmanship
I recommend this to people who like reading about small twisted cases set in the time before forensics and should be at ease with the format.

I received an ARC thanks to NetGalley and the publishers (of the latest print) and as you can see my review is completely based on my own reading experience

Déjà vu all over again... 3½ stars

An old man sits in the corner of a teahouse, endlessly twisting pieces of string into elaborate knots and mulling over the great unsolved mysteries of the day. Opposite him is our narrator, an unnamed female journalist who, despite finding the old man intensely irritating, nevertheless can’t help being impressed by the ingenious solutions he comes up with.

This is a collection of twelve short stories featuring the amateur ‘tec who was always known as The Old Man in the Corner until a radio adaptation decided, for reasons unknown to me, to change his title to The Teahouse Detective, the name also used by this new edition from Pushkin Vertigo. The stories were originally published in various magazines and later collected into three volumes. Chronologically this is the second batch of stories, although it was the first collection to be published, in 1905.

Each story takes the same format: the journalist, puzzled over a case in the newspapers, visits the teahouse where the old man sits eating cheesecake and playing with his string. He reveals that he knows all about the case in question, and then relates all the known details before adding his own solution at the end. He is dismissive of the police and is not a pursuer of justice – he never passes his solution to the authorities. For him, it’s the intellectual satisfaction of solving the mystery which is important. For a reader used to following a detective around watching him gather evidence and interview suspects, I found this a rather odd format – it’s like getting the beginning and the end of a mystery but missing out all the fun bit in the middle. It works, and she writes well so that the stories are entertaining enough, but I didn’t find them nearly as satisfying as traditionally formatted mysteries.

After the first few stories, I also began to have feelings of déjà vu. I wondered if perhaps I’d read the collection before – I know I’ve read at least some of the Old Man stories in my teens. But then I realised it’s not the stories that are familiar – it’s the plot points and clues, and even character names in some of them. I suspect Baroness Orczy shared my life-long devotion to Sherlock Holmes, and some of the features of these stories have an eerie familiarity. We have a dog which doesn’t bark in the night; Mr Hosmer Angel appears with a different name and persona, but a similar plan; the King of Bohemia puts in an appearance. Occasionally it almost feels a little like homage – it surely can’t be coincidence that one of her villains is called Stapylton. The stories are different enough for me not to be hurling accusations of plagiarism, but I must say I found several of the problems remarkably easy to solve because they feature plot points from the Holmes stories too obviously.

Having forced me to make comparisons, of course this doesn’t work to Orczy’s advantage. Sherlock Holmes is a far superior creation in every way, as is Conan Doyle’s effortless writing style. These have none of the warmth and friendship of the Holmes/Watson relationship, and nowhere does Orczy achieve the layers of drama, tension, humour and even horror of the master. These are more like puzzles – like elaborate crossword clues where the only purpose is to find the solution. As I finished each story, the characters slipped smoothly from my mind, since I had never been made to care about any of them. The Old Man and the journalist too never come to life, since they don’t ever do anything – they are a framing device for telling a story, that’s all.

So overall I found this quite an enjoyable way to while away a few hours, but no more than that. I wonder if they’d be remembered at all were it not for Orczy’s much more famous creation, The Scarlet Pimpernel, keeping her name in the public eye. However, Martin Edwards tells us in his The Story of Classic Crime in 100 Books that the collection enjoyed considerable popularity when it came out, and they’re certainly entertaining enough to make them worth reading. Mostly, though, they made me want to re-read some Holmes stories...

3½ stars for me, so rounded up.

NB This book was provided for review by the publisher, Pushkin Vertigo.

This set of twelve short stories by Baroness Orczy (1865 – 1947) were published in The Royal Magazine in 1904-5 and were first gathered into a book in 1905. Although this book was published before The Old Man in the Corner, the stories in the latter book appeared in magazine form before those in the Case of Miss Elliott. Given the early date, these stories pre-date what is generally accepted as the start of the Golden Age of Detective Fiction in the 1920s.

Once again, the stories are told by the eponymous “old man in the corner” of a London ABC tea-room to Polly Burton, a journalist. The old man constantly fiddles with a piece of string (hence the title of the third and final collection, published in 1926, Unravelled Knots). Although Polly claims to be aware of each case mentioned by the old man, she can’t remember the details and so the old man gives the full background; describes the parties and the baffling mystery involving them; before demonstrating that his explanation is the only one possible solution.

I really enjoyed the stories. I find the atmosphere engendered to be very similar to that of the Sherlock Holmes stories. And, although the old man has exasperating mannerisms, I resemble Polly in wanting him to explain what happened.

#TheCaseOfMissElliott #NetGalley

I didn’t enjoy this at all. It’s a series of short story crimes, all explained by a man in a tea shop who drinks milks and eats cheesecake with a woman to whom he explains why the police and basically everyone else is an idiot has got the perpetrator wrong in each case, and why he is right. An annoying man, and an idiotic woman listening to him. I really couldn’t bear this book, I skipped the last three stories just hoping to find out who this man and companion were and maybe get some clever closure. I didn’t ....I was looking forward to it as well.

My thanks to the publisher and Netgalley though..

"A classic collection of mysteries from the Golden Age of British crime writing, by the author of The Scarlet Pimpernel.

Mysteries! There is no such thing as a mystery in connection with any crime, provided intelligence is brought to bear upon its investigation.

So says a rather down-at-heel elderly gentleman to young Polly Burton of the Evening Observer, in the corner of the ABC teashop on Norfolk Street one afternoon. Once she has forgiven him for distracting her from her newspaper and luncheon, Miss Burton discovers that her interlocutor is as brilliantly gifted as he is eccentric - able to solve mysteries that have made headlines and baffled the finest minds of the police without once leaving his seat in the teahouse.

The Old Man in the Corner is a classic collection of mysteries featuring the Teahouse Detective - a contemporary of Sherlock Holmes, with a brilliant mind and waspish temperament to match that of Conan Doyle's creation."

I am IN LOVE with these Baroness Orczy re-issues from the Golden Age of detective fiction!

My review: 🌟🌟🌟🌟

The Case of Miss Elliott: The Teahouse Detective by Baroness Orczy is from the time of Sherlock Holmes, so very early in the detective genre.

This is a book of 12 short stories, each of them a murder mystery, with the person who is solving the case someone who finds out the answer for the case. The solver is a man, who is described as being the man in the corner throughout the book, and he is explaining the cases to a female journalist in a tea room. He isn't a policeman, or a private investigator hired for the case, but simply a man who is interested.

Each case has gone to court, and typically the wrong outcome has happened, but the man in the corner believes he knows the truth, and each story ends with him knowing the truth, and justice not having been carried out because he doesn't have proof that what he supposes really happened.

I did enjoy these stories, even if I did find the man in the corner a bit odd, but I enjoyed the mysteries, the settings, and the different way things came about.

Baroness Orczy also wrote the Scarlet Pimpernel, which is much better known both as a book, and as a tv series by the BBC, with Richard E Grant in! It's set in the time of the French Revolution, and the Scarlet Pimpernel is a swashbuckling aristocrat who is always popping over to France to save French royalists!

The Case of Miss Elliott: Teahouse Detective is to be published on 13th August 2019, and is available to buy on Amazon and on Waterstones. I've found a link to where you can search for local bookshops, including independent!

I was given this book for free in return for an unbiased review, so my thanks to NetGalley and to Pushkin Press (the publishers) for this book.

Check out my GoodReads profile to see more reviews!

A collection of lovely and entertaining stories. They are well written and keeps you reading one after the other.
Highly recommended!
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.

I received this book in exchange for a honest review from NetGalley.

This is an interesting series of one shot detective stories. The old man is an interesting character and the format is really good for someone with not a lot of consecutive time to read a long mystery novel. These are short little concise one shot stories that are all wrapped up in no more than 20 pages. Very reminisent of Sherlock Holmes but in short form.

I received a free ARC from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for my honest review.
This is a further collection of short stories whereby the police have gone after the wrong person but the shabby crumpled man in the corner of the ABC shop has deduced the real culprit and shares his knowledge with a young lady at another table. Some of the stories are very easy to work out others a bit more interesting. I enjoy the writing style and hope there is a third volume soon.

A very interesting mystery novel similar to the Sherlock Holmes stories but unique. I recommend for any mystery lover

This collection of twelve short stories will give anyone a delightful few hours of reading. Orczy has created a group of stories that are sure to puzzle you. Whether it is a baffling disappearance, a fraud, a theft, or even a murder, we are invited to hear the case out and find the true solution.
These stories have a unique twist. Instead of the detective scrambling around after clues and vigorously chasing criminals, this hero just sits, usually in a corner of an ABC shop and logically works his way around to the truth. Of course, he needs someone to show his brilliance to, and the narrator knows just the right tricks to make him let us in on his solution.
The only thing I dislike about this whole series of stories is the lack of real resolution. Oh, we always learn the truth, but the perpetrators are always allowed to get away with it. After a few stories like that, I really want someone to receive some sort of justice. Other than that it is always fun to see if I can figure out the solution before ‘the old man’.
I received this as a free ARC through NetGalley and Pushkin Press. No favorable review was required. It has been my pleasure to provide my honest opinions.

Most people will recognize the name of the author and associate her with some of the greatest novels written at the turn of the 20th century. Baroness Orczy wrote highly acclaimed novels like "The Scarlet Pimpernel" and several others in "The Scarlet Pimpernel" series and other great works. She also wrote plays, as well.

"The Case of Miss Elliott: The Teahouse Detective is a delightful and imaginative diversion of a mystery collection of short stories. She has created an unique premise, where the mysteries are discussed and solved by a man. known as "The Old Man in the Corner", at a teahouse and his listener and protege is a young, enthusiastic journalist, whom brings him the details. These are crimes, which the police are unable to solve and is fascinated by the improbable unravelings by "The Old Man in the Corner". Her sarcasm and pride is well noted, during the solving of these crimes, but is inspired by how he solves the mysteries in spite of herself. She's more a kin to a young apprentice learning her craft.

It's the "The Old Man in the Corner", for the most part, whom analyzes and examines the facts before him and with the intuition and creative instincts of the "Lady", culminates in solving of the crime.

The stories, which appear to be complex and difficult on the surface, are soon dissected and extrapolated and put into a context, which makes solving the crime that much easier.

These short stories, originally appeared in a serial format in magazines and I think this is the first time they are being published as a collection book form. The first collection of short stories are known as volume 2, with others to follow. If you are up to fun and entertaining mysteries, which are solved over tea, crumpets and cakes, than you'll enjoy this change of pace by Baroness Orczy.

After having read the first volume in the teahouse detective series - The Old Man in the Corner, I was very much looking forward to reading volume 2. The old man cannot seem to stop fidgeting a piece of thread. His deductive skills are appreciable and sometimes I wonder how he gets a front seat in the court proceedings. I cannot choose a favourite among these as each short story has a unique ending. Highly recommended to fans of classic crimes.