My pal JJ has been extolling the talents of Herbert Brean over at The Invisible Event since 2017 . . . but I didn’t listen. Two years after that, our buddy Ben at The Green Capsule joined in the chorus . . . and I didn't take up the tune. And then in 2020 our … Continue reading DEATH AND THE HYPNOTIC EYE: The Darker the Night
Author: Brad
ABA-DABA-HONEY-MURDER: The Case of the Haunted Husband
“‘The trouble, Mason, is that you find too many bodies.’“Mason said, ‘No. The trouble is that I can’t stay in my office and wait for people to come in and see me the way clients are supposed to. I have to get out on the firing line. When you do that, you circulate around quite … Continue reading ABA-DABA-HONEY-MURDER: The Case of the Haunted Husband
MY AGATHA CHRISTIE INDEX
It's no secret that I have given much focus on this blog to Agatha Christie, but then she is my favorite mystery author. I've even got a Christie tag at the top!! Now, if you prefer meandering around people’s blogs, feel free to do so; WordPress provides a search engine which is all you need. Still, I … Continue reading MY AGATHA CHRISTIE INDEX
POLITICS AS USUAL: The Hollywood Blacklist (1947-1958)
I talk to my mother every night on the phone, and invariably, we get around to the news of the day. It wears my mother down, and she moans, “What a world, what a world we live in today!” That’s when I have to remind her, ever so gently, that the world isn’t so very … Continue reading POLITICS AS USUAL: The Hollywood Blacklist (1947-1958)
THIS TIME CARR DRIVES THE BUS: The D.A. Draws a Circle
It’s Leap Day, everyone! Every four years, we gather together 1440 minutes and set them before the people. It’s a gift of time! It’s an acknowledgement of our limitations at monitoring the whirl of planets and the time flow of the cosmos. To me, it’s more unnerving than Halloween and more deserving of celebration. When … Continue reading THIS TIME CARR DRIVES THE BUS: The D.A. Draws a Circle
MIDSOMER MONSTROUS: Murder in the Family
I’ve been waiting to read this one for quite a while. I can be even more specific: I started waiting on April 25, 2019, the date my buddy JJ posted his review of James Ronald’s 1936 novel Murder in the Family. I probably get more fruitful suggestions out of JJ than any other mystery blogger, but what happens … Continue reading MIDSOMER MONSTROUS: Murder in the Family
MY YEAR WITH BRITBOX: The Arrow Points to Sherwood
This was supposed to be a post about Sherlock Holmes. Recently, while ranking the Basil Rathbone/Nigel Bruce Sherlock Holmes movies with my buddies Sergio Angelini and Nick Cardillo, I admitted that I had never watched the series starring Jeremy Brett, arguably the David Suchet of Holmeses! I must say that the boys took me to … Continue reading MY YEAR WITH BRITBOX: The Arrow Points to Sherwood
THE BIG FOUR: Podcasts About Christie
It was twenty years ago today . . . Well, okay, twenty years ago last Monday when Ben Hammersley coined the term “podcast” in The Guardian. And I paid no attention. Maybe that’s because ten years passed before podcasting really took off with the debut (in October 2014) of Serial. And everyone listening in their cars or … Continue reading THE BIG FOUR: Podcasts About Christie
CONSPIRACY THEORY: The Seven Dials Mystery
“’It’s impossible . . . The beautiful foreign adventuress, the international gang, the mysterious No. 7, whose identity nobody knows – I’ve read it all a hundred times in books.’ ’Of course you have. So have I. But it’s no reason why it shouldn’t really happen . . . After all – I suppose fiction is … Continue reading CONSPIRACY THEORY: The Seven Dials Mystery
WEDDING BELLE BLUES: The Case of the Curious Bride
“I’ll never forget the way he kissed me just before he beat it with all of my money.” On a fateful day in 1930, a young woman walked into the San Francisco offices of private detectives Sam Spade and Miles Archer. Miss Wonderley asked them to find her missing sister, who had gotten herself involved … Continue reading WEDDING BELLE BLUES: The Case of the Curious Bride
Ah Sweet Mystery! 