THE ADVENTURES OF PROFESSOR CHALLENGER - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Doyle didn't just write Sherlock Holmes stories.  These three short stories bring together the same cast as "The Lost World".

The tales are ridiculous science fiction/ fantasy but are very funny.  Challenger is totally larger then life and with his out of control ego you smile often.

Here he defeats a ruthless scientist who threatens the future of mankind; embarks upon a dangerous scheme to drill through to the center of the earth and stops civilization ending.  Good fun.

THE GOLDEN SPIDERS - Rex Stout

No explanation needed, Rex Stout, Nero Wolfe and Archie Goodwin, always solid and this is a good one.  Stout wrote seventy odd of these stories and his consistency is a marvel.

Like Maigret, perfect for a flight or lazy Sunday

THE PERFECT CRIME - Israel Zangwill

This was originally published in 1891 under the title "The Big Bow Mystery".This edition is a facsimile of a 1929 edition  that was published after a Hollywood movie was made of it.

The story was published in serial form in a newspaper and is set in the UK.

This is a locked room murder mystery and its really appalling.  The only reason it has had any legs is that it was the second one of its type "  Murder in the Rue Morgue" by Poe being the first .  Its simply a ridiculous tale even for us that allow for monster plot holes in their crime fiction. 

Its saving grace is its only a novella running 137 pages, and I can tell you the monkey didn't do it.

EARTHLY POWERS- Anthony Burgess

As told by the central character himself, a distinguished British writer in his eighties"Earthly Powers" is the life story of Kenneth Marcel Toomey-  from the First World War to the final years of sun drenched idleness in Malta.  A homosexual unable to reconcile his nature with the teachings of the Church, Toomey opted as a young man for a life of exile and loneliness-  first in the Paris of  James Joyce and Ezra Pound and later in Hollywood at the height of its glamour and corruption.

His travels, his assignments and, indeed, the affections of his heart, bring him face to face with the most savage manifestations of evil in the modern world;  the murder by witchcraft of a beloved friend in Malaya; the brutalities of Mussolini's fascists; a Nazi death camp; mass suicide in the name of love in California.  Breathing the stench of Buchenwald, Toomey sees finally that evil comes man man himself, it is inborn; for his brother-in-law Carlo, the saintly but sybaritic priest destined to be Pope, it is a force at large in the world that must be challenged constantly in all its guises.

This is a stunning book, I first read it about fifteen years ago and loved it then but knew there was a lot more to get from it.  It  reads just as fresh the second time but I picked up the subtleties and the humour.

Don't treat too many of even the historical "facts" as facts as Burgess fits things to suit himself as his right as the creator.

This book was a Booker finalist in 1980 against William Golding's "Rites of Passage".  Golding won.  I've read both books and all I can say is Golding had the fix in, it was a travesty that Burgess was overlooked.

Burgess is best known for "A Clockwork Orange" ,which is if people are honest virtually unreadable unless you have seen the movie, this however, is immensely readable and a fantastic novel.

THE QUIET AMERICAN- Graham Greene

Set in the dying days of Frances' Indochina adventure, Fowler, an aging British journalist and Pyle a young OSS/ CIA agent or similar come together over Phuong, lover to both men.

While the love triangle plays out we have Pyle offering covert support to Vietnamese military in an effort to stop the communist push. 

This book was published in 1955 and accurately predicts the disaster that Vietnam was to be for the United States.

Perhaps if monsters like Robert Macnamara had read this book , understood what Greene was saying many many young American lives would not have been thrown into the mincer that was Vietnam.

SHORT STORIES - Saki

'Saki'  aka H. H Munro was a master short story writer.  His stories contain humour, great humour, the supernatural and great mischief.  Every story is worth reading, every story has an absolute killer last sentence.  Most of the stories take great delight in poking fun at the British establishment, mocks them actually, its cruel and very very clever.

Munro himself was an interesting person apart from his writing.  He enlisted in the army for the First World War as a 43 year old when he was well over age, refused a commission and served as a trooper.  He was shot dead by a sniper in 1916 with his last words being " Put that bloody cigarette out", which would have fitted the last sentence of one of his short stories very nicely.

I cannot recommend these enough.  Outstanding

LOVE LIES BLEEDING - Edmund Crispin

Gervase Fen travels to a public school to assist a colleague with  a presentation and walks into a series of murders.

Absolutely ridiculous this is but highly entertaining.  Suspend belief and read Crispin's words.  very very clever and worth re-reading many times

THE LAKE FROME MONSTER - Arthur Upfield

This is the last of the Bony novels and its wasn't until I'd finished it i found out it wasn't even written by Upfield rather it was written by others from notes and outline discovered after his death.

Not the best in the series for obvious reasons but there are still some interesting facts about life in outback Australia.

I can recommend the Bony series though, excellent reading.

NEITHER HERE NOR THERE - Bill Bryson

Sub titled travels in Europe.  The only trouble with this is Bryson has spread himself a bit thin trying to cover too much ground rather than pick three or five countries and give them a really good going over.

Instead he does twenty two countries or cities and they really only get a couple of pages each which is a shame because he goes very interesting places.

Still lots of humour but a bit bare on the facts/ history side of things which he is normally so good at slipping in along the journey.

THE COLD WAR SWAP - Ross Thomas

The very first Ross Thomas novel and it introduces Michael Padillo and his business partner McCorkle.

Set in Germany after the war it involves spies and traitors and all the things you always get in Thomas novels.

I never tire of re-reading Thomas, he is a genius.  I don't know why he's not in print or why movies haven't been made of his novels, it beggars belief.

If I had to pick one crime/ detective/ caper series to take to my desert island it would be the works of Ross Thomas.

THE RIDDLE OF THE THIRD MILE - Colin Dexter

Another early Morse but the writing has improved and Dexter's figured out fifty seven red herrings are not necessary to a plot.

Lots more Morse humour who is forever John Thaw.

LAST BUS TO WOODSTOCK - Colin Dexter

This is the first Morse and  I haven't read it for twenty years.   Its an obvious first effort with a ridiculous number of red herrings.

Not great but it introduces Morse and Lewis and things do get better