THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES -Arthur Conan Doyle

 

Been a few years since I have read this and its surprising what you forget.

Its a solid novel and easily solved but Watson gets to shine which is different from most of the short stories.

Doyle was plain Arthur Doyle, his name is not a double banger

VENOM HOUSE - Arthur Upfield

A good 'Bony' mystery.  Detective Inspector Napoleon Bonaparte goes up against a household of very strange people to solve two murders.

 

THE ONE FROM THE OTHER - Philip Kerr

 

Bernie is hired to confirm for a woman that her husband, a war criminal, is dead so she can re-marry.

This is an outstanding thriller , a story of betrayal and doublecross as well as being historically accurate.  Possibly the best of the entire Bernie Gunther series.

GALE WARNING - Dornford Yates

 

After a friend is killed by a international super criminal his friends band together to track him down and kill him.  A chase ensues through France until the matter is resolved.

This is totally outlandish, totally preposterous and totally entertaining.  From a time when men were men and the women thought this was a bit of alright.

Great fun, its so over the top it makes Fleming look like a scholar

THE BARBAROUS COAST - Ross MacDonald

 

MacDonald is one of the masters of the hardboiled Californian noir.

As usual Lew Archer keeps digging until the mystery is solved.

A high diver who went to high living, an ex-prize fighter with an unexplained movie contract and the ghost of an 18 year old murdered girl.  

Great reading , very good story.

THE SALZBURG CONNECTION - Helen McInnes

 

Crikey this is dull, it has a good plot with spies and killers and an interesting setting but there is not an ounce of humour and its just plods along.

The editor needed to be frank with the pen and cull this book by 50 pages, which would have been just some of the adjectives.

A shame its so dull as the potential is there.

JIGSAW - Hillary Waugh

 

A very solid police procedural , no cheats, the reader has only the information that the investigators have to solve the crime.

Very dark, very good.

PRUSSIAN BLUE - Philip Kerr

 

My re-read of Kerr's Bernie Gunther series has started in earnest.

I can't praise these high enough.  Historically accurate and fantastic entertainment.

THE WIDOWS OF BROOME - Arthur Upfield

 

Two widows are murdered in the Western Australian pearl town of Broome, with the killer escaping  without leaving a clue for the police.

Detective Inspector Napoleon (Bony) Bonaparte is sent to investigate , while he is there there is a third murder.

This is a good Upfield, yes the language is dated, with this originally published in 1950, but these stories need to be enjoyed for what they are and not judged by what some 25 year in 2021 thinks the language and views of the characters should be. 

THE SILENT SPEAKER - Rex Stout

An important government official is murdered prior to a speaking engagement, and so the story begins.

As always the dialogue is the best bit, Archie Goodwin and Nero  Wolfe, two of the best.

 

A ROUGH SHOOT - Geoffrey Household

Roger Taine's afternoon shooting on his land turns pear shaped when he fires a warning shot at a poacher who falls on a metal stake and dies.

From here Taine finds himself in a neo-facist plot with car chases, aeroplane drops and much danger.

A good adventure story, not as good as "Rogue Male" but good entertainment.

THE OXFORD MURDERS - Guillermo Martinez

A young South American mathematician  arrives at Oxford and soon becomes involved in a series of murders that are deliberately designed to appeal to mathematicians.

This is a good yarn, the Da Vinci Code, without the cliches. 

FIRE BELOW - Dornford Yates

" Richard Chandos has recently married Leonie, the Grand Duchess of Riechtenburg and, together with their friend George Hanbury, they decide to return to Austria for a summer holiday.  But after two weeks relaxing, they recieve a cryptic message  from their friend Marya, warning them of danger."

This involves them returning to Leonies native country where if caught a long time in prison is the best thing they can expect.

This is an old fashioned adventure yarn like a Buchan, but with some more violence.  Daring do, and Tally Ho.

 

MURDER IN STYLE -Rex Stout

What starts out as an investigation into plagiarism soon turns to murder.

Archie does the leg work and Wolfe does the cerebral work.  Best banter in any series of crime stories.  Always great.

 

MAIGRET STONEWALLED - George Simenon

 

 As a story its fairly ordinary but sets the scene for the ensuing 75 books.

I had trouble imagining Maigret in a bowler hat.

THE LEMUR -Benjamin Black

 

An ex-CIA operative who has gone on to become a wealthy businessman finds out there is to be a very hostile biography written about him.

To circumnavigate this he commission's his son, John Glass in law to write the official story.

When the researcher Glass hires tries to blackmail him, he is fired and a short time later found dead.  Glass begis to worry that he may be next due his secrets.

Not a top Black story,  ( John Banville) and not even close to his Quirke crime novels, but an interesting Sunday interlude, the book is more a novella and only takes a few hours to get through, worth the effort.

THE LOOKING GLASS WAR - John Le Carre

Early Le Carre is exceptional Le Carre.  

This story relates to an incompetent Government Department living on past glory attempting to pull off an intelligence coup.  

Totally unglamourous characters,but a very, very good book.