Around the middle of this year, my Book Club compatriots staged an intervention meant to curb my out-of-control habit of . . . buying books?!? Yes, folks, I don’t drink, I don’t smoke, and for me the term “gummy” refers to store-bought tapioca. But I do feel a deep yearning every time a new title … Continue reading THE 2025 REPRINT OF THE YEAR – Brad’s 1st Nominee
John Dickson Carr
THE “GREATEST MYSTERY FILMS OF ALL TIME” DRAFT!!!
On Sunday, I met with my buddies Sergio Angelini and Nick Cardillo for our latest game of list-drafting. After tackling Christie, Hitchcock, Sherlock Holmes and Charlie Chan, we decided to broaden our focus on a more general look at the mystery genre in film. Each of us did our research and came together armed with … Continue reading THE “GREATEST MYSTERY FILMS OF ALL TIME” DRAFT!!!
EVE OF POSSIBILITIES: Looking Back on ’24 and Forward to ’25
It’s New Year’s Eve, the final day of a most, er, dramatic year, and this is my 79th and final post of 2024. It's also the time when some of my fellow bloggers review their accomplishments, perhaps name a “Book of the Year,” and make prognostications about what’s coming up in 2025 that are hopefully vague … Continue reading EVE OF POSSIBILITIES: Looking Back on ’24 and Forward to ’25
“I’ve got a little list . . . ” Part II: Ten Favorite Mysteries of the 1930’s
Back in May, my buddies Sergio and Nick and I pooled our heads together and came up with our own three lists of the best mysteries from the Golden Age of Detection. Our method of selection was very structured: we came up with thirteen general categories (i.e., “Best wartime” “best locked room” and “best twist ending”) and … Continue reading “I’ve got a little list . . . ” Part II: Ten Favorite Mysteries of the 1930’s
ACDC, PART THIRTEEN: “You’re Starting to Get Sleepy” . . . Seeing Is Believing
“One night in midsummer, at Cheltenham in Gloucestershire, Arthur Fane murdered a nineteen-year-old girl named Polly Allen. That was the admitted fact.” Earlier this year, I crossed the halfway point in my spasmodic celebration of John Dickson Carr’s alter ego, Carter Dickson. Nine – And Death Makes Ten was definitely a highlight of my journey … Continue reading ACDC, PART THIRTEEN: “You’re Starting to Get Sleepy” . . . Seeing Is Believing
NOW YOU SEE ME . . . NOW YOU DON’T
Recently, I had the opportunity to rewatch the 1997 film Agatha when it appeared on Turner Classic Movies as part of a mini-festival of films about people who have disappeared. Directed by Michael Apted and based on a novel by the film’s screenwriter, Kathleen Tynan, Agatha provides a wholly fictional account of what happened to … Continue reading NOW YOU SEE ME . . . NOW YOU DON’T
ACDC, PART TWELVE: (Thumbs) Up Periscope for Nine- and Death Makes Ten
Considering how much I have loved John Dickson Carr for the past fifty years, it never ceases to baffle me that I purposefully, and with extreme prejudice, decided to ignore the work of one Carter Dickson. It was nothing more than a childish whim, one that in 2018 I began to rectify by tackling the … Continue reading ACDC, PART TWELVE: (Thumbs) Up Periscope for Nine- and Death Makes Ten
REVENGE OF THE OCTO-BLOGGER!!
Can you believe it?!? Eight years ago today, I slapped the title of a very very old song on a shingle and set up shop as a blogger. My goal was to be a part of the conversation about all things having to do with the mystery genre that we all love. If I tend to run … Continue reading REVENGE OF THE OCTO-BLOGGER!!
TROP DE CHOSES: The Siren’s Call
I don’t think any mystery writer drives me half so crazy as Paul Halter! If you do a search on this blog of the author’s name, you’ll come up with a series of reviews where the reactions range from delight to sheer exasperation. Every other year or so when Santosh Ayer, who is kind enough … Continue reading TROP DE CHOSES: The Siren’s Call
ACDC, PART ELEVEN: And So To Murder, or The Hollywood Woulda-Coulda-Shoulda
My Book Club decided to read John Dickson Carr last month – one of his best, I must say – but since I had just re-read it a mere – oh, wait, has it been six years already?!? – I decided to return to my long-standing series, A Carter Dickson Celebration. Since it has been almost … Continue reading ACDC, PART ELEVEN: And So To Murder, or The Hollywood Woulda-Coulda-Shoulda
Ah Sweet Mystery! 