It's easy to underestimate how much Anthony Boucher contributed to the world of crime fiction. In addition to being an author himself, he was a prolific reviewer and critic, a columnist for the New York Times Book Review (more than 850 weekly review columns under the heading "Criminals at Large"), a writer and producer of radio dramas, and president of the Mystery Writers of America. And of course, the mighty Bouchercon conference is named after him.

He also edited several anthologies, including Four and Twenty Bloodhounds, published in 1950. As the title suggests, the work features 24 stories of fictional sleuths, ranging from senator whose hobby is magic to a former cop whose address is Skid Row in San Francisco, to icons like Ellery Queen and Dr. Gideon Fell. Boucher contributed a preface and brief editorial introductions to each story, and each detective is given his only "biography" in the book. As Kirkus Reviews noted, it's "A sure entertainment bet which will be of special interest to the mystery market."

The stories were chosen by Boucher and feature members of the Mystery Writers of America. In addition to Boucher, the authors include Verne Chute; Joseph Commings; W T Brannon; John Dickson Carr; Ken Crossen; Matthew Head; Lillian De La Torre; Harold Q Masur; Frank Kane; Jerome & Harold Prince; James M Fox; Clayton Rawson; D B Olsen; Robert Arthur; Lawrence G Blochman; Stewart Sterling; August Derleth; Ellery Queen; Brett Halliday; Fredric Brown; George Harmon Coxe; Q Patrick; Kelley Roos; and Stuart Palmer.

The majority of the stories were published in magazines between 1942-1947, and there's a nice variety for every taste, from hardboiled pulp thrillers, to traditional detective stories, to suspense tales, and a couple of solve-it-yourself puzzles by Clayton Rawson that feature "the Great Merlini." The Thrilling Detective website has a nice listing of the stories, authors, and detectives represented. Fortunately, the anthology was reprinted in 1985 by Carroll & Graf, so it might be easier to get your hands on a second-hand copy if your local library doesn't have it.