Charles Dickens created some of the most memorable characters in English literature and was also a larger-than-life individual himself, a champion of the underdog.

The anthology presents a mix of specially commissioned new stories and lesser known reprints, by writers such as Hilary Bonner, Anne Perry, Charles Todd, Kate Ellis, Alanna Knight, Martin Edwards and Gillian Linscott.

Many of the stories feature one or more of Dickens's characters, as a sleuth or as the victim of crime. Others are set in Dickens's real life with him investigating a crime or people closely associated with him, such as Wilkie Collins, Elizabeth Gaskell or Hablot Browne — including during his tours of America.

• Oliver Twist and the Artful Dodger meet up again in later years to solve an age-old crime. Just what became of the convict that frightened young Pip in Great Expectations? Was he really guilty, or framed?
• Inspector Bucket from Bleak House finds himself up against the greatest criminal mind of his day.