Private detective Archives - Playing Detective

An Unsuitable Job For A Woman (1972) – P. D. James

Young Cordelia Gray finds herself the sole owner of a private detective agency after the suicide of her partner Bernie. Fortunately for the business, wealthy scientist Sr Ronald Callendar soon hires her to investigate the death of his son. Not that there was anything suspicious about it. It's just that Mark Callendar committed suicide, and Sir Ronald wants to know why. Cordelia travels to Cambridge to investigate, and inserts herself into Mark's social circle. After spending time at the cottage where he stayed in…

2 Comments

19 October, 2024

Read more about the article An Unsuitable Job For A Woman (1972) – P. D. James

Authors / Book Reviews / Golden Age / Novels / Rex Stout

The League of Frightened Men (1935) – Rex Stout

Twenty-five years ago, a group of Harvard students pulled a "prank" on underclassman Paul Chapin that went wrong and permanently damaged his leg. Some students became friends with Paul, and the more guilt-stricken ones formed a "League of Atonement". Now, Paul is a successful novelist who writes stories that may be violent revenge fantasies. Or are they just fantasies? Two members of the League have died recently, and an anonymous writer has sent threats to the remainder of the League. When league member Andrew…

0 Comments

24 August, 2024

Read more about the article The League of Frightened Men (1935) – Rex Stout

Authors / Book Reviews / James Scott Byrnside / Modern / Novels

Goodnight Irene (2018) – James Scott Byrnside

It's 1927, and Chicago private detective Rowan Manory is struggling both financially and emotionally after a routine case goes horribly wrong. So when he recieves a request from former Chicago gangster and bootlegger Robert Lasciva, the offer is too good to pass up… plus Manory has some more personal reasons for taking the case. But when Manory and his assistant Walter Williams travel to the moonshiner's Mississipi mansion, they find it atop an isolated ridge as a near-biblical flood rages around it. The guests…

0 Comments

11 March, 2024

Read more about the article Goodnight Irene (2018) – James Scott Byrnside

Authors / Book Reviews / Honkaku / Novels / Seishi Yokomizo

The Honjin Murders – Seishi Yokomizo (1947 trans. 2019 Louise Heal Kawai)

The wedding between Kenzo, the eldest son of the proud Ichiyanagi family, and Katsuko, the daughter of a fruit farmer made good, goes ahead despite the objections of Kenzo's family. But the silence of a snow-filled night is broken by screams, and the wild strumming of a koto. When the relatives investigate the annex where the newlyweds are staying, they find it locked. Outside, in the snow, lies a katana but no footprints. Inside lie the bodies of the couple, "soaked in the crimson…

4 Comments

22 October, 2023

Read more about the article The Honjin Murders – Seishi Yokomizo (1947 trans. 2019 Louise Heal Kawai)

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…

1 Comment

29 May, 2023

Read more about the article The Thin Man (1934 movie)

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…

0 Comments

15 May, 2023