In the spirit of Umberto Ecco's The Name of the Rose and Ellis Peters' acclaimed Brother Cadfael mysteries, here is a collection of historical detective stories, written by contemporary authors and featuring a gallery of offbeat sleuths from the past. In a wry sendup of the classic "locked room" puzzle, an Egyptian sage ponders the mystery of a locked tomb. In another tale, a Roman slave's investigation of a theft leads him to people in very high places. Edgar Allan Poe's, Auguste Dupin, has been resurrected for a new adventure, as have historical figures, from William Shakespeare--hot on the trail of Christopher Marlowe's murderer--to Samuel Johnson, with Boswell playing his Dr. Watson! (And speaking of Watson...the wizard of Baker Street, Sherlock Holmes himself, appears in an original story written by the son of Arthur Conan Doyle!) These 23 tales comprise a mixed bag of delicious crime capers designed to tickle the fancy of any dedicated mystery buff.