The Verdict of 13

In 1979, the then President of the Detection Club, Julian Symons, edited a collection which, he said in his introduction, had ‘a distinctive approach. The contributors were asked to write a short story that should, in some way or another, concern a jury, although it was stressed that the jury need not be one sitting in a law court, nor need they number twelve. There might be a ‘jury’ of soldiers or policemen, suburban housewives or schoolboys, lawyers or old lags.’ The book as a whole, he said, ‘shows the crime story, like the Detection Club, offering talents as various as those of Cleopatra.’

Patricia Highsmith – Something the Cat Dragged In 
H.R.F. Keating – Gup 
Christianna Brand – Cloud Nine 
Dick Francis – Twenty-One Good Men and True 
Gwendoline Butler – The Rogue’s Twist 
P.D. James – Great-Aunt Allie’s Fly-papers 
Michael Innes – Pelly and Cullis 
Celia Fremlin – Postgraduate Thesis 
Michael Gilbert – Verdict of Three 
Ngaio Marsh – Morepork 
Michael Underwood – Murder at St Oswald’s 
Peter Dickinson – Who Killed the Cat? 
Julian Symons – Waiting for Mr McGregor