Authors / Book Reviews / Georgette Heyer / Golden Age / Novels

Behold, Here’s Poison (1936) – Georgette Heyer

The objectionable patriarch truly is the most dangerous role in detective fiction. Gregory Matthews pops his clogs via poison at a time when almost every member of his family has reason to wish him ill. Might the culprit be his thrift-obsessed sister, Harriet? The dramatic Zoe, wife of his late brother, who goes out of her way to perform virtue; or maybe her children, Stella and Guy, who both have reasons to fear being severed from the inheritance. And who could leave out the…

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5 October, 2024
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Authors / Book Reviews / John Finnemore / Modern

A Puzzle in Postcards – The Researcher’s First Murder

I received a mysterious package in the post last week. It appeared to be a book, but was really a box containing 100 curious postcards, which told the story of many murders. OK, so it was only mysterious because I'd forgot that I backed The Researcher's First Murder on Unbound several months ago and the "book" only just released. I'll call it a book for lack of a better term. This project is the brainchild of John Finnemore - noted British comedy writer. Those…

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7 September, 2024
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Authors / Book Reviews / Golden Age / Mavis Doriel Hay / Novels

Death on the Cherwell (1935) – Mavis Doriel Hay

Four undergraduates of the female-only Persephone College, Oxford University, meet on the roof of the boathouse one cold January day to form the Lode League. Its purpose of cursing the hated Bursar of their college, Miss Denning, becomes a bit awkward when the League spot her drowned body drifting downstream in her canoe. The League decides to protect their friends from any accusations by investigating. Death on the Cherwell was another of my holiday reads. I hadn't intended to get it, but Blackwell's Bookshop…

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12 May, 2024
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Authors / Book Reviews / Edmund Crispin / Golden Age / Novels

The Moving Toyshop (1946) – Edmund Crispin

Poet Richard Cadogan is having a bit of a mid-life crisis, and decides that the best remedy is a trip to Oxford, where he studied at University. He gets the adventure he seeks and more after finding a dead body in an abandoned toyshop and being knocked out. On waking up to find the body missing, he then manages to lose the toyshop as well. Luckily, he knows who to turn to in a bizzare criminal situation: Gervase Fen, the eccentric Oxford don whose…

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28 April, 2024
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Authors / Book Reviews / Golden Age / Nap Lombard / Novels

Murder’s a Swine (1943) – Nap Lombard

One night early in the Second World War, Agnes Kinghof finds a body outside her block of flats, and her neighbour is disturbed by the appearance of a pig's head at her top-floor window. A mysterious person calling themself the "Pig-sticker" claims credit for both, and what's worse, the killer appears to be living within the block of flats. Agnes and her husband Andrew decide it would be a lot of fun to investigate, and they have to face down a prank war, cursed…

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13 April, 2024
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Agatha Christie / Authors / Book Reviews / Golden Age / Short Stories

Christie For Christmas! The Thirteen Problems

It's Christmas! Well, it was Christmas. Reviews are like Christmas cards - better late than never. I hope that all of you have a great New Year.I thought it was high time to cover an Agatha Christie on this blog - and given I love short stories, this was the first thing I turned to. I should mention that, between Poirot and Miss Marple, my favourite is the spinster sleuth of St. Mary Mead. These thirteen stories mark the debut of Miss Marple, before…

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30 December, 2023
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Albert Hackett & Frances Goodrich / Authors / Dashiell Hammett / Movie Reviews

The Thin Man (1934 movie)

Shortly after the release of Dashiell Hammet's 1934 novel The Thin Man, a movie was produced based on the novel. It was directed by W. S. Van Dyke and the screenplay was written by married couple Albert Hackett and Frances Goodrich, who were instructed to focus on the witty exchanges between Nick and Nora Charles. The film is just barely from the pre- Hays Code era. I don't know if that code had any instruction about drinking, because the movie characters do a great…

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29 May, 2023
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Authors / Book Reviews / Dashiell Hammett / Novels / Other Classic

The Thin Man (1934) – Dashiell Hammett

Ex- private detective Nick Charles returns to New York with his wife Nora (and dog Asta) for what he thinks will be a brief Christmas holiday, and a chance to catch up with old friends. When he bumps into Dorothy Wynant, daughter of Nick's old client Clyde Wynant, she asks him to track down her father, the titular Thin Man. Nick does his best to avoid getting pulled back into detecting. But the murder of Clyde Wynant's secretary Julia Wolf drags Nick further and…

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15 May, 2023
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