“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
Impossible Crimes
ALL I WANT FOR CHRISTMAS IS A PAIR OF SHORTS
If there’s one thing classic mystery fans know, it’s that everyone loves a good murder at Christmastime. Reading about rich Uncle Humphrey found under the tree with a stake of holly through his heart is a great way to relieve the stresses of hanging out with your real Uncle Randy who clasps you to his … Continue reading ALL I WANT FOR CHRISTMAS IS A PAIR OF SHORTS
FROM PAGE TO (SOUND)STAGE: Classic Mysteries on the Radio
Here’s what it feels like to grow old: A few years ago, I had to acknowledge the fact that I had not owned a record player for a decade and that the hundreds of albums I owned had caused the top shelf of my upstairs closet to buckle and that I had replaced all that … Continue reading FROM PAGE TO (SOUND)STAGE: Classic Mysteries on the Radio
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
読書クラブ DOES HONKAKU: Death on Gokumon Island
Westerners’ love for Japanese mysteries is gaining a lot of momentum, shown by the increasing release of new honkaku and shin honkaku titles. In terms of shin honkaku, I’m most excited to learn that The Mill House Murders by Yukito Ayatsuji will be coming out next spring. The publication by Locked Room International of Ayatsuji’s The Decagon House Murders is what got me started on … Continue reading 読書クラブ DOES HONKAKU: Death on Gokumon Island
THE JUSTICE LEAGUE: My Ten (or so) Favorite Courtroom Cases
(This is for Carol.) True story: after acing my bar mitzvah at the tender age of 13, I told my parents that when I grew up, I did NOT want to be a rabbi - I wanted to be a movie star. My mom and dad exchanged a look – correct that: it was a Look – … Continue reading THE JUSTICE LEAGUE: My Ten (or so) Favorite Courtroom Cases
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
ACDC PART TEN: In Which The Reader Is Warned . . . about The Reader Is Warned
After a notable pause, we return to my Carter Dickson celebration with The Reader Is Warned (1939), the tenth book John Dickson Carr wrote under this pseudonym and the ninth Sir Henry Merrivale mystery. Frankly, this is a difficult one for me to write about because, for the first 168 pages, it is so wonderful that it … Continue reading ACDC PART TEN: In Which The Reader Is Warned . . . about The Reader Is Warned
Ah Sweet Mystery! 