Authors / Book Reviews / Honkaku / Novels / Tetsuya Ayukawa

The Black Swan Mystery – Tetsuya Ayukawa (1960 trans. Bryan Karetnyk 2024)

Towa Textiles company director Gosuke Nishinohata is a man with many enemies. So when his body is found dumped by the side of the railway tracks, there are many suspects. But the most obvious candidates have alibis - might the true killer be someone with a more hidden motive? Not that that means they should skimp on the alibi…Inspector Sudo, assisted by Constable Seki, investigates, but it's Inspector Onitsura who travels far and wide across Japan by train to bring the case to its…

2 Comments

29 December, 2024

Authors / Book Reviews / E. C. R. Lorac / Golden Age / Novels

These Names Make Clues (1937) – E. C. R. Lorac

A chance encounter with publisher Graham Coombe leads to Chief Inspector Macdonald getting an invite to his "Treasure Hunt"; a party where attendees must solve cryptic clues in order to find treasure. With all the guests apparently unknown to each other and going under literary pseudonyms, the evening gets off to a good start - until the lights go out, and a body is found in the telephone room. The dead man is Andrew Gardien, mystery writer, and something of a mystery himself. Further…

0 Comments

12 October, 2024

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…

0 Comments

5 October, 2024

Authors / Book Reviews / Novels / Seicho Matsumoto

Tokyo Express – Seichō Matsumoto (1958 trans. Jesse Kirkwood 2022)

Two bodies are found lying together on a windswept beach in southern Japan. Toki was a waitress at a Tokyo restaurant, and Sayama worked in a government department under investigation for corruption. The police believe the two must have committed suicide together. All except local inspector Jūtarō Torigai, who begins to have doubts. When dynamic Inspector Mihara of Tokyo's anti-corruption police hears about this, he picks up the investigation with a vengeance. He becomes suspicious of a successful businessman with friends in high places…

1 Comment

3 August, 2024

Authors / John Dickson Carr

The Corpse in the Waxworks (1932) – John Dickson Carr

If Paris's Augustin Waxworks are known at all, it's for their frighteningly realistic Chamber of Horrors. So when a woman disappears there, and a ghost appears, naturally Henri Bencolin is interested. But a night-time investigation brings more than he bargained for, as a fresh corpse has been added to the roster of horrors. The trail soon leads to the manipulative Etienne Galant, and a secret club for high-class Parisians. It's been a long time since I've written about Carr. I'd been anticipating The Corpse…

2 Comments

13 July, 2024

Authors / Book Reviews / Carol Carnac / Novels / Post-Golden Age

Crossed Skis (1952) – Carol Carnac

Stifled by grey post-WW2 London, Bridget Manners and a group of her friends (and friends of friends) escape to the beautiful ski slopes of Lech in Austria. Their bliss is only slightly disrupted by a few odd incidents.Meanwhile, back in London, Mrs Stein's house has burned down - and sadly, one of her tenants seems to have perished from the blaze. A chance observation - the print of a ski pole - links the case to a daring bank robbery from a few months…

1 Comment

25 May, 2024

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…

0 Comments

12 May, 2024

Authors / Book Reviews / Christianna Brand / Golden Age / Novels

Suddenly at His Residence (1946) – Christianna Brand

Sir Richard March "invites" his grandchildren back to his mansion Swanswater, where he lives with his second wife, Bella. At this time every year the family must gather to perform a memorial ritual on the anniversary of his first wife Serafita's death. But this year, with bombs falling in London and Kent, and an affair in the offing between cousins, Sir Richard retreats to the lodge house for the night threatening to cut his grandchildren out of the will. The next morning, he is…

5 Comments

24 February, 2024

Authors / Book Reviews / Golden Age / John Bude / Novels

Death on the Riviera – John Bude (1952)

Detective-Inspector Meredith and Sergeant Strang are heading to the French Riviera to assist in breaking up a currency counterfeiting ring, and bring at least one of its members back to England with them. Along with their French colleagues Blampignon and Gibaud, they quickly pick up a trail that leads to the Villa Paloma, where rich widow Nesta Hedderwick lives with her niece Dilys, her companion Miss Pillgrew, the gigolo-esque Tony, his friend Kitty, and the artist Paul Latour. They're soon joined by Bill Dillon,…

1 Comment

4 December, 2023

Authors / Book Reviews / Elly Griffiths / Modern / Novels

The Postscript Murders (2020) – Elly Griffiths

As a Golden Age of Detection fanatic, me reviewing a modern crime novel is a bit like a velociraptor reviewing an iPhone. But Elly Griffiths' The Postscript Murders has a stronger than usual connection to the Golden Age.The story starts with the death of Peggy Smith, ninety-year-old resident of the Seaview Apartments in Shoreham on Sea. Her carer, Natalka, thinks she was murdered, and through force of personality manages to convince DS Harbinder Kaur, Peggy's neighbour Edwin, and the owner of a local cafe,…

0 Comments

18 September, 2023

Authors / John Dickson Carr / Short Stories

The Beginning of Bencolin – John Dickson Carr’s short stories in The Haverfordian

After finishing The Lost Gallows I wanted to go back to the short stories that featured Henri Bencolin and Sir John Landervorne. I've also been pretty busy, so I thought a review of the four stories would be a nice quick way to get back into posting. Things did not work out that way… These stories were among Carr's first detective stories, and they were published in Carr's college magazine The Haverfordian between 1926 and 1928, when Carr was in his early twenties. By…

0 Comments

13 August, 2023

Authors / Book Reviews / Golden Age / John Dickson Carr / Novels

The Lost Gallows (1931) – John Dickson Carr

A limousine joyrides through the fogbound streets of London with a corpse at the wheel. The shadow of a gallows is seen on an unknown street. Nezam al Moulk receives threatening packages delivered directly to his room even though no one could have entered.Ten years ago a duel was fought in Paris - and now the mysterious hangman Jack Ketch wants revenge. Will he drag his victims to Ruination Street, or can Henri Bencolin stop him before it's too late? Henri Bencolin and Jeff…

5 Comments

18 July, 2023

Authors / Book Reviews / Golden Age / Ngaio Marsh / Novels

Death at the Bar (1940) – Ngaio Marsh

Ngaio Marsh has long been considered one of the "Queens of Crime", a leading author in the fair-play detective tradition of the inter-war years. You just have to look at the laudatory comments covering my reprint edition to see her reputation - "She writes better than Christie", "Among the Queens of Crime she stands out as an Empress", and so on. Reactions I've seen on classic crime fiction blogs have been… less positive. However, this is my first time reading a Marsh book, so…

4 Comments

10 July, 2023

Authors / Book Reviews / Honkaku / Short Stories / Tetsuya Ayukawa

The Red Locked Room – Tetsuya Ayukawa (2020, trans. Ho-Ling Wong)

Tesuya Ayukawa was, as the introduction to this collection says, the foremost proponent in his time of the honkaku, or "orthodox" mystery story. These puzzle-centric mysteries were the inspiration for the later stories by Yukito Ayastuji and Taku Ashibe (who wrote the introduction). In fact Ayukawa lived to see the shin honkaku ("new orthodox") movement begin, and also helped many younger writers make their start. This selection of short stories - his best ones, apparently - features two very different detectives. First is the…

7 Comments

2 July, 2023

Authors / Book Reviews / Golden Age / John Dickson Carr / Novels

It Walks By Night (1930) – John Dickson Carr

John Dickson Carr is a pretty special author to me. He was the first Classic Crime author I really got into after the obvious Agatha Christie, and discovering the joys of a good Carr or Carter Dickson is what made me want to explore more to see what else was out there. I've already read a lot of his books, but I want to share my enjoyment of them by re-reading them and writing reviews. I've decided to start at the beginning for now,…

8 Comments

12 June, 2023