When it comes to reviewing titles, my Book Club is rarely copacetic. But when we take a break from the Book-of-the-Month format and pick a general topic, then we really cut loose. After making our lists of Favorite Mysteries of the 1920’s, the 1930’s and the 1940’s, it was only natural that we take a … Continue reading “All I Have to Do Is Dream” of Murder: Ten Favorite Mysteries of the 1950’s
Helen McCloy
BOOK CLUB FLIES SOLO, PART ONE: Ten Favorite Stand-Alone Mysteries
Every once in a while, my Book Club eschews the single Title-of-the-Month format and opts for a more general discussion. We select a topic – say, our favorite mysteries of the 1920’s or the best debut novels by a mystery author – craft our separate lists, and pool them together at our meeting - and … Continue reading BOOK CLUB FLIES SOLO, PART ONE: Ten Favorite Stand-Alone Mysteries
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
FAST FORWARDING INTO ‘21
“Life is infinitely stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent.” (Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, The Complete Adventures of Sherlock Holmes) Does anybody want to hear me vent about 2020? Because, you know, I can do it, and I will . . . that is, if anyone wants to listen. To be honest, however, … Continue reading FAST FORWARDING INTO ‘21
HOW HELEN MCCLOY HELPED RID ME OF MY OCD
I may be knee deep in my monthlong survey of Agatha Christie (the 70’s drop tomorrow!), but I’m still trying to carve out the time and energy to read other authors. Seven months of lockdown have admittedly done a number on me, concentration-wise, so bare with me if after a long fallow period, I attempt … Continue reading HOW HELEN MCCLOY HELPED RID ME OF MY OCD
MAY I SUGGEST YOU READ A MURDER MYSTERY?
I have to admit I’ve been stressed for about . . . three and a half years. Bernie Sanders said recently that the current health crisis is “on the scale of major war,” but I’ve felt battle-scarred, mostly by tweet, for some time now. And now, thanks to COVID-19, I’m in exile: our schools have … Continue reading MAY I SUGGEST YOU READ A MURDER MYSTERY?
“THESE PRECIOUS ILLUSIONS IN MY HEAD DID NOT LET ME DOWN . . . “
Author and blogger Margot Kinberg, who comes up with something thought-provoking every . . . single . . . day . . . recently offered up a tantalizing article about illusion. Her focus was on characters in mysteries whose lives, built to varying degrees around an illusory view of the world around them, form the … Continue reading “THESE PRECIOUS ILLUSIONS IN MY HEAD DID NOT LET ME DOWN . . . “
PUBLISH OR PERISH: Helen McCloy’s Two Thirds of a Ghost
I have just come off reading Noel Vindry’s The Howling Beast: very French, very chauvinistic, and very 1934 puzzle-beats-all. That means that the characters were basically cardboard cutouts, and there’s no good bemoaning this fact, it’s the way things are with most Golden Age detective fiction. If you want more focus on character, you need … Continue reading PUBLISH OR PERISH: Helen McCloy’s Two Thirds of a Ghost
MURDER ON THE MOORS: Helen McCloy’s The One That Got Away
Whenever Rich over at Past Offenses - - announces his monthly exploration into the mystery fiction and films of a specific year, I always check the writers who most intrigue me to see what I can review. This month, the year is 1945, and one of my favorite recent finds, Helen McCloy, penned a mystery that … Continue reading MURDER ON THE MOORS: Helen McCloy’s The One That Got Away
A Meeting of the Criminal Minds: A Joint Review of Alias Basil Willing (1951)
Introduction I’ve been singing the praises of Helen McCloy ever since I discovered her novels last year. I’ve read and reviewed four or five of them and am excited that she wrote 28 novels and a number of short stories, about half of them featuring her series sleuth, New York psychiatrist Dr. Basil Willing. So … Continue reading A Meeting of the Criminal Minds: A Joint Review of Alias Basil Willing (1951)
