Whodunit? Detective Stories Chosen by Philip Pullman

From the book:  Grab your magnifying glass and solve the crime!  Test your wits against the finest sleuths that literature has to offer.  This collection of 16 baffling detective stories by  writers such as Agatha Christie, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Dorothy L. Sayers is sure to keep mystery lovers turning the pages.  From Sherlock Holmes to Hercule Poirot, the greatest detectives in classic and contemporary fiction can be found in the pages of this captivating anthology.

From Heather:  I've always fancied myself a mystery lover.  When I was younger I would walk bare-footed to the bookmobile (yes, I AM that old!) and check out every Hardy Boys book I could find.  Then I would barricade myself in my room and read for hours.  Sometimes I could blow through three or four of them a day.  So when I saw this book at the library, I grabbed it.  It was fun to realize that, even though I love mysteries, I've only read two of the authors that are in the book; Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Agatha Christie (who is my favorite!  I think I've read all of her books too!)  The book seems to be a fairly good representation of different mystery authors, many of them I hadn't even heard of before.  (And a few of them I plan to look up after reading their stories!) 
I'm not sure that this is a middle grade book exactly though. Some of the stories were very reminiscent of Agatha Christie, whom I love but it is often hard to adequately grasp the time period and the customs and speech of the characters (if that made any sense at all!)  But it makes for a fun read and the individual stories are short enough that I can finish one while I'm waiting for the laundry to be finished!)  =]