“One way or another, I’ve developed myself into a monstrously clever fellow. My brain’s as fertile as a pomegranate. My heart’s as cold as Troy Singleton in morgue vault twenty-two. I do jigsaw puzzles and hook together pieces of wood that I can’t even see. It makes a picture of death, Davis. I’m blind Justice, … Continue reading SLEUTHING IN THE DARK: Death Knell by Barnard Kendrick
GHOSTS IN SHORTS: “The Sleeper of Coldwreath” by Tom Mead
Fellow GAD enthusiast Tom Mead has met with great success with Death and the Conjuror, his first novel to feature magician-detective Joseph Spector. It’s a loving and clever take on the classic locked room mystery, and it has garnered deservedly nice reviews for its strict adherence to the rules of classic detection and its multiplicity of … Continue reading GHOSTS IN SHORTS: “The Sleeper of Coldwreath” by Tom Mead
RANKING MARPLE #3: The Moving Finger
“Of my detective books, I think the two that satisfy me best are Crooked House and Ordeal by Innocence. Rather to my surprise on rereading them the other day, I find that another one I am really pleased with is The Moving Finger. It is a great test to reread what one has written some 17 or 18 years … Continue reading RANKING MARPLE #3: The Moving Finger
THE TWILIGHT ZONE, PART 10: The Final Signpost Up Ahead
The past ten weeks of studying The Twilight Zone has been a nostalgic experience for me, but the reason I took this course had as much to do with a feeling I’ve had that this nearly sixty-year-old series has never felt more prescient. As we have seen, Rod Serling performed a fabulous deceit on the network when … Continue reading THE TWILIGHT ZONE, PART 10: The Final Signpost Up Ahead
THE TWILIGHT ZONE, PART 9: Alone Again, Unnaturally
From Season One, Episode 1, loneliness and isolation have been a major theme of The Twilight Zone. By the late 50’s, the age of extended families living under one roof or even in the same community had significantly disappeared in America, and it continues today, with mammoth urban apartment complexes, little-box suburbs, and condominium associations filled … Continue reading THE TWILIGHT ZONE, PART 9: Alone Again, Unnaturally
THE COURT OF PUBLIC OPINION: Josephine Tey’s The Franchise Affair
Has it really been nearly eight years since I last read Josephine Tey? She seems to stir up a hornet’s nest of opinion whenever one of her books comes up. All I know is that I love a good academic mystery, and someone who knew that recommended Miss Pym Disposes (1946). Beautifully written, funny, dark, and sad, … Continue reading THE COURT OF PUBLIC OPINION: Josephine Tey’s The Franchise Affair
BIG WHOOP: The Murder on the Links Turns 100
“When Conan Doyle popularized Sherlock Holmes in The Strand of the nineties, he lit such a candle as the publishers will not willingly let out. Not a week passes which does not bring a 'detective' story from one quarter or another, and . . . among the later cultivators of this anything but lonely furrow the name of Agatha … Continue reading BIG WHOOP: The Murder on the Links Turns 100
THE TWILIGHT ZONE, PART 8: No Explanations, Please!
The other day, a friend of mine tweeted: “The Outer Limits was the most interesting of all those late 50s/early 60s US anthology series. I much prefer it to The Twilight Zone.” I like my friend, but he was wrong. In the days of Elon Musk’s Twitter, this sort of wrong opinion is harmless; plus, it’s only … Continue reading THE TWILIGHT ZONE, PART 8: No Explanations, Please!
THE TWILIGHT ZONE, PART 7: Here Be Monsters
I understand that the big water-cooler show these days is HBO’s The Last of Us, about a horrible plague that sweeps the globe, turning everyone into giant mushrooms. I’m really looking forward to watching that one – never in a million years!!!!!!!!!! I don’t like gore, I don’t like gross-out imagery and, for some reason, I have … Continue reading THE TWILIGHT ZONE, PART 7: Here Be Monsters
RANKING MARPLE #2: The Body in the Library
“For several years I treasured up the possibility of a suitable ‘Variation on a well-known Theme’. I laid down for myself certain conditions. The library in question must be a highly orthodox and conventional library. The body, on the other hand, must be a wildly improbable and highly sensational body.” Agatha Christie, in her Foreword … Continue reading RANKING MARPLE #2: The Body in the Library
Ah Sweet Mystery! 