Not only classic detective stories by Doyle, Poe and Chesterton: this collection also includes authors who are less known but no less valid and who also gave their contribution in defining a long-lasting genre, as well as a satirical short story by Mark Twain. The final challenge is between the reader and the detective: who will solve the mystery first? The collection is specially tailored to the needs of English learners and contains the original texts with numerous explanatory notes, an introduction to the genre and to each story, the keywords to understand the texts, several activities, and Van Dine's Twenty Rules for Writing a Detective Story.