Inspired by my recent Classic Crime Reprints roundup post for July, which mentions the printing of a new edition of Van Gulik’s The Chinese Nail Murders (a book I remember enjoying), I decided to take a book at the Judge Dee short story collection sitting on my TBR pile. I have previously only read Judge Dee novels and given my lukewarm response to later books in the Judge Dee series, I was unsure…
I first came across this author and his series when last reading another chunk of A Catalogue of Crime by Jacques Barzun and Wendell Hertig Taylor. They reviewed two of Catalan’s mysteries, Catalan being the penname for Henri Dupuy-Mazuel (1885–1962). Today’s read is part of Catalan’s Soeur Angèle series, featuring a crime solving nun. There appears to be 12 books in the series, but the majority…
Today sees my 26th review for Elizabeth Ferrars, yet this is still only about a third of her output, so I won’t be running out of her books anytime soon. One thing I have noticed in certain corners of 1970s and 80s crime fiction is a preoccupation with mysteries centring on a character offering home help. This is a key part of today’s read, but it is also present in Trial by Fury (1989) by Ferrars…
Earlier this year I began taking a look at the crime fiction reviews of Barzun and Taylor, as collected in A Catalogue of Crime. So far, I have looked at authors beginning with A, B, and C. Continuing alphabetically, today’s post is going to explore authors beginning with D, E, and F.
This week I am reviewing a wild card read, as I was not quite sure what to expect. Antony Carr (1916-1995) wrote five mystery novels during the 1950s. Online information is limited but two of his other mysteries appear to be A Comedy of Terrors (1955) and The Man in Room 3 (1958). The title for Candles of the Night is derived from Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice.
There seems to have been a bumper crop of classic crime reprints in July, so let’s get cracking and take a look at them…
Today’s read is August’s book club choice, and I suggested this title (always a risky business) after reading Barzun and Taylor’s recommendation for it: ‘Except for the incessant animosity between Chief Insp. George Masters and his Insp. Green, this story of murder in a small village of the fens […] is absolutely first-rate. Detection is abundant and most of the clues are original, including the…
July saw a bit of a dip in my reading. I guess we all have months like that sometimes. Of what I did read there were quite a few meh reading experiences, which didn’t help. On the plus side I did rewatch the TV series, Ludwig at the start of July, which was very enjoyable and I am definitely looking forward to series 2 when it comes out. Despite some poorer reads this month there were still a few…
Theodora McCormick Du Bois (1890-1986) is a new-to-me-author who wrote across several genres including mystery fiction and romance, as well as sci-fi and fantasy. In terms of numbers mystery fiction was probably her most prolific genre. She wrote a series featuring husband and wife sleuthing team, Anne and Jeffrey McNeill, the latter of whom is a doctor. Theodora began writing this series in 1936…
July is nearly at an end so let’s take a look at the themes we had for #MurderEveryMonday, this month…