Wednesday, December 21, 2022

AFTER THE FUNERAL - Agatha Christie


 


















Even for a Christie cheat this is an abomination, worse it was a nearly 400 page abomination.

Monday, December 19, 2022

BRIDESHEAD REVISITED - Evelyn Waugh


 



















And still my favourite book, 13th or 14th reading.  It never gets old

Saturday, December 17, 2022

READING JAZZ- Edited by Robert Gottlieb

 



























A beautiful collection covering all the greats from 1919 until 1996. A big collection clocking in at over  1000 pages.

Philip Larkin is terribly harsh on Thelonious Monk. 

Stanley Crouch rips into the later Miles Davis as well, not a word held back.

My favourite piece,  "The Poet: Bill Evans by Gene Lees.  Evans is always the favourite.






Tuesday, December 13, 2022

THE CASE OF THE SECOND CHANCE - Christopher Bush


 




















Very slow to get going and the resolution is very contrived.  C+

THE JEWEL THAT WAS OURS - Colin Dexter


 



















This story misses the banter and humour that others in the series have. Dexter can be very funny but this lacks the laughs, the mystery is ordinary

Wednesday, December 7, 2022

ADVENTURE STORIES FROM THE STRAND - Various

























A  book of short stories taken from the pages of the Strand Magazine.  All the usual culprits found, Conan Doyle, Kipling ,Greene, Wallace, Maugham et al.

The story I enjoyed the most was "The Adventure of the Cantankerous Old Lady" by Grant Allen published in 1898.

This is a Folio Society edition so the stories are of a consistent quality
 

Tuesday, December 6, 2022

VENUS WITH PISTOL - Gavin Lyall


 




















The normal wise cracking hero adventure from Lyall.  Nothing highbrow but entertaining as always

Saturday, December 3, 2022

THE CLOCK STRIKES 12 - Patricia Wentworth

 





























Average country house murder mystery, not a jot on Christie.

Tuesday, November 29, 2022

HERE BE MONSTERS - Anthony Price


 






















A spy story entirely comprised of conversations. Didn't enjoy this as much as previous Price stories as it just fizzled out at the end.

Monday, November 28, 2022

THE ETRUSCAN NET -Michael Gilbert


 






















Gilbert is always solid. This isn't a ground breaking mystery but a good read with some interesting history.  Set in Florence.

Gilbert is an interesting character in his own right, he wrote dozens on books but only wrote on his daily train commute to and from his day job as a solicitor.


Friday, November 25, 2022

MURDER GONE MAD - Philip MacDonald


 























Published in 1931, a serial killer is rampant in a small English village.  Very entertaining, reads like a screen play.

A bonus its a lovely wee 1955 edition.

Tuesday, November 22, 2022

DEATH AND THE DANCING FOOTMAN - Ngaio Marsh


 



















Not her best effort, some staggering holes in the story, which is a shame as its starts out really well.  The book then loses its way totally as a murder mystery .The killer is glaringly obvious with a third of the book to go.

Monday, November 21, 2022

THE MAN WHO KILLED HIMSELF - Julian Symons


 





















Once you get over the absurd setup of this story you get a very clever tale of murder.  It's a typical Symons book i.e an ordinary wee man whose life gets out of control.

Again,don't get put off by the silly covers with many of these editions.

Wednesday, November 16, 2022

THE CORNISH COAST MURDER - John Bude






















Published in the mid 1930's this was Bude's first book .The best thing I can say about it is the Bude ranks in the 3rd division of crime writers , positioned mid table.

Very ordinary, somehow he had another 29 books published.

I've noticed with this British Library Crime Classic's line that the quality of the stories is poor, whether this is as they are out of copywrite I don't know but they continue to disappoint.  Even in the Introduction its noted that Bude wasn't flash on plotting or character's and that this books main claim to fame is that its initial print run was very small and its a rarity for hardcore collectors

Monday, November 14, 2022

WRITING WITH INTENT -Margaret Atwood


 






















I love everything she writes.  The stand out in this collection s her essay on Orwell.  

Atwood for a "Nobel" is all I can say.

THE TEN TEACUPS - Carter Dickson


 






















Not up to his usual standard for a locked room murder mystery

Wednesday, November 2, 2022

THE EYE OF OSIRIS - R. Austin Freeman


 





















Published in 1911 this features , Doctor Thorndyke, the first forensic detective.

This is not a bad mystery, guessable if you pay attention but worthwhile reading, an easy read considering the time period it was published.  Recommended.

Monday, October 31, 2022

EXIT LINES - Reginald Hill


 





















"Fat Andy " Dalziel , one of crime fictions great characters.  Warren Clarke absolutely nailed him in the TV series 'Dalziel & Pascoe".

Anything Hill wrote is worth picking up.

Friday, October 28, 2022

THE MYSTERIOUS MICKEY FINN - Elliot Paul






















The Thin Man written by P G Wodehouse is the best way I can describe this caper.  Very funny, full of fun characters.  Published in 1939 , great fun.
 

Tuesday, October 25, 2022

THE RAT ON FIRE -George V. Higgins


 




















No one does sleazy characters like Higgins.  The Boston underworld in all its sordidness with a surprising amount of humour.

ASK A POLICEMAN -By Members of the Detection Club


 























Chapters written by Anthony Berkeley, Milward Kennedy, Gladys Mitchell, John Rhode and Dorothy L. Sayers.

The only difference from  The Floating Admiral is the chapter authors wrote using other members detectives  i.e Berkeley wrote his chapter as Sayers using Lord Peter Wimsey.

The result, a rather tedious vanity project.

Wednesday, October 19, 2022

THE MYSTERY OF THE ENCHANTED CRYPT - Eduardo Mendoza


 





















A very very funny detective novel parody.  Its laugh out loud funny even with it being a translation.

This is very well written with continual digs at the Franco regime that had ended 4 years prior to this novels publication (1979).

I will Mendoza again if I can come across any of his work.

Monday, October 17, 2022

OTHER PATHS TO GLORY - Anthony Price


 




















How can events from the battle of the Somme affect things in 1974?

A very good thriller.  Reviewers state this is Price's best and you can see why .

Very easy to find secondhand as Price sold truck loads in the 70's and 80's


BOOKS v CIGARETTES - George Orwell


 





















A small book of short essays mostly about books.

Who hasn't bought books rather then food? 

Others, working in a secondhand book store, being a book reviewer and a couple of political pieces.

A great little read as as usual very on point and easy to comprehend.  

Thursday, October 13, 2022

THE MAD HATTER MYSTERY - John Dickson Carr


 






















A Gideon Fell mystery from 1931. Lots of very funny banter and not a bad mystery.  Carr is always reliable

Saturday, October 8, 2022

BLOODY MURDER -Julian Symons

 



























 A history of the detective novel through to the thriller through to the spy novel.  From Poe through to the 1990's.

Originally published in 1972 with revisions in 1985 and finally1992 shortly before the authors death.  Symons doesn't hold back in his criticism, personally I agreed with most of what he writes about the genre.. I  also think we would agree on how bad Robert Ludlum is but he couldn't offer an opinion as he was never been able to finish one of his books.

A good history which doubles as an encyclopedia of the genre. This book has given me years of book hunting to undertake finding authors I have never previously heard of

Its very hard book to find, I had to bite the bullet and buy it new which was getting up there price wise,  but if detective fiction is your main reading its invaluable to have in your collection.

THE CRETAN COUNTERFEIT - Katherine Farrer


























Very very slow, not even editing it by 50 pages ,which it desperately needs would have made much of a difference to what is a very boring detective tale

Tuesday, October 4, 2022

A QUESTION OF PROOF - Nicholas Blake























Published in 1935 this is Blake's (Cecil Day-Lewis) first effort.  A good whodunnit set in a boarding school.  All the clues are there for the reader to solve the crimes. 

Tuesday, September 27, 2022

THE GOLDFISH BOWL - Laurence Gough


 





















A good serial killer tale.  Major cheats along the way but this was Gough's first effort.  Well worth seeking out

THE PIOUS AGENT -John Braine


 




















In the mould of  James Bond.  Well written thriller.

Tuesday, September 20, 2022

Monday, September 19, 2022

BAD CHILI - Joe R. Lansdale


 




















Lansdale writes comics without pictures.  Very violent and very, very entertaining.  Absolute literary chocolate, no substance but very satisfying as a Sunday afternoon read.

BLACK COFFEE - Agatha Christie
















A novelisation of a play.  Both are very ordinary 

Monday, September 12, 2022

THE RASP - Philip MacDonald





















 A 'locked room" from 1924.  Not bad for a first effort,  overly long but I've read the series gets better.

Wednesday, September 7, 2022

THE MAN WHOSE DREAMS CAME TRUE - Julian Symons



















This is very very good, don't get put off by the cover.  Symons was in the upper echelon of crime writers

Monday, August 29, 2022