Welcome back to our revisit of the glorious and all-too-brief canon of mysteries by the wonderful Christianna Brand. Last year, we covered the first five novels, and in 2023, we will tackle the final five – including the one novel I have never read and another I have absolutely no memory of whatsoever. All in … Continue reading RE-BRANDING (ENTR’ACTE): The Spotted Cat and Other Mysteries
Christianna Brand
AIM (NOT SO) STRAIGHT AND TRUE: My Resolutions for 2023
A few weeks ago, my pal (and Book Club Arch Nemesis!) the Puzzle Doctor reached his 2000th post on In Search of the Classic Mystery Novel. Not bad for a man who’s only been blogging since 1954. I hit my 500th post last August (it was a dreary review of a dreary book, Dorothy L. Sayers’ The Documents in … Continue reading AIM (NOT SO) STRAIGHT AND TRUE: My Resolutions for 2023
PAT ON THE BACK: Meeting (Some of) My 2022 Goals
“There is no Frigate like a Book to take us Lands away . . . “ These words by Emily Dickenson were emblazoned on the bookplates my grandparents gave me when, at an early age, I declared my love for reading. I pasted them into every volume I owned and used up my stock long ago. … Continue reading PAT ON THE BACK: Meeting (Some of) My 2022 Goals
THE 2022 ROY AWARDS: Making My Case for Jezebel
For some time now, my friend Kate has been hosting an end-of-year celebration over at her place, Cross Examining Crime, of all the wonderful classic mystery reprints that have appeared over the past year. For 2022, the list is longer than ever, and for that we really have to thank the wealth of small presses … Continue reading THE 2022 ROY AWARDS: Making My Case for Jezebel
RE-BRANDING #5/BOOK REPORT #WHATEVAH: Death of Jezebel
For the second lovely time, my Book Club has chosen Christianna Brand, and the timing couldn’t be better. For one thing, Death of Jezebel (1948), her fifth mystery, happens to be next on my list for the glorious wallow that is the Re-Branding Project. For another, it happens to have been, for many a year, the most … Continue reading RE-BRANDING #5/BOOK REPORT #WHATEVAH: Death of Jezebel
RE-BRANDING #4: The Housing Crisis – Suddenly at His Residence
Two years after crafting Green for Danger, a classic wartime puzzle, Christianna Brand wrote Suddenly at His Residence, (a.k.a. The Crooked Wreath, a.k.a. x 2 One of the Family, its U.S. serialized title), her only extended family mystery and her first impossible crime novel. Inspector Cockrill appears for his third case, which means that, for as many times in a row, … Continue reading RE-BRANDING #4: The Housing Crisis – Suddenly at His Residence
ABRA-CADAVER: Death and the Conjuror
Let’s face it: life these days has not been just a bowl of cherries. You might wonder, then, why I seem to only read books about violent death. The answer, for any fan of classic crime stories at least, is obvious: we read mysteries for the same reason that millions of souls gobbled them up between 1920 … Continue reading ABRA-CADAVER: Death and the Conjuror
RE-BRANDING #2: Heads Will Roll in Heads You Lose
“Life doesn’t stand still, even when murders and mysteries force themselves into the lives of ordinary people like ourselves. Things seem to go on much as usual, and you talk and eat and get on with your everyday life, because there’s nothing else to be done about it; but it’s all in your mind, and … Continue reading RE-BRANDING #2: Heads Will Roll in Heads You Lose
RE-BRANDING! A Project of Love
It’s high time that I begin to fulfill a goal I set for myself at the beginning of the year. Christianna Brand is one of my four favorite mystery authors, and yet I have devoted very little time on this space to her work and her career. There is sadly very little in print about … Continue reading RE-BRANDING! A Project of Love
BOOK CLUB FROM HELL!!! The Five False Suicides
I hate to start the new year with a sad fact, but reading, and the enjoyment thereof, has become a rare commodity. When I taught high school, I was disheartened by how few of my students carried around a book for pleasure. Maybe it’s the solitary nature of reading, or the lack of bells-and-whistles flummery … Continue reading BOOK CLUB FROM HELL!!! The Five False Suicides
Ah Sweet Mystery! 