Barry Pain's Puzzle Stories: Detection Without Crime // The Problem Club

Barry Pain's repertoire included fantasy, romance, and horror stories, most showing his trademark humor. In the first set of stories included here, Pain turns the detective tale on its head, as Horace Fish, an amateur investigator of life's little puzzles, follows clues to solve mysteries lacking crimes. Then, we are introduced to the Problem Club, where each monthly meeting requires members to detail their comical attempts to solve tricky problems. (How many items can they borrow that start with the letter Q? Can they get a free breakfast, lunch, and dinner from different hosts, without asking, in the same day? How many kisses can they get within an hour? How many handkerchiefs can they steal from other members?) This is a fun volume for light, easy reading (it's likely Pain was an influence on P. G. Wodehouse) and a nice change of pace from cases of murder and mayhem.