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
Life
BRAD’S WEEK-LONG BIRTHDAY PARTY BEGINS TODAY!!!
That's right, folks, my birthday is coming! Okay, the actual date is a week from today. A passel of famous artistic folk consider themselves lucky to share the day with me, including Ludwig von Beethoven, Jane Austen, Noel Coward, Arthur C. Clarke and Margaret Mead. Frankly, this has been a year full of challenges, but … Continue reading BRAD’S WEEK-LONG BIRTHDAY PARTY BEGINS TODAY!!!
THE FESTIVAL? THE FESTIVAL! THE QUEEN OF CRIME’S FESTIVAL!
It was a plan two years in the making, brought about by an invitation from detective fiction expert Tony Medawar, to travel to Torquay, England, in the County of Devon, the birthplace of Agatha Mary Clarissa Miller, the girl who grew up to become my favorite author, in order to speak about her. Really, though, … Continue reading THE FESTIVAL? THE FESTIVAL! THE QUEEN OF CRIME’S FESTIVAL!
HERCULE AND JANE AND ME, OH MY!
We interrupt our regular program with this special announcement: Last December, in a reflective mood, I wrote about the year ahead and referred to something I called “The Christie Conundrum”: “It’s no secret how much I love Agatha Christie, but the truth is that I’ve read her books many times, and I tend to fall … Continue reading HERCULE AND JANE AND ME, OH MY!
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)
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
LOVE AND MARRIAGE (AND MASON AND MURDER)
February 5th marks the anniversary of my parent’s wedding! Mom and Dad shared a love for the ages, and today would have been their 69th anniversary. Every morning for more years than I could count, I would call my folks and serenade them with the immortal anniversary theme from The Flintstones. (You can listen to it here.) My … Continue reading LOVE AND MARRIAGE (AND MASON AND MURDER)
BRADLEY’S BEST OF ’23 AND A PEEK AT ’24
Some book blogger I am! My three compatriots, Kate Jackson (Cross Examining Crime), Steve “Puzzle Doctor” Barge (In Search of the Classic Mystery Novel) and Jim “JJ” Noy (The Invisible Event) managed three hundred reads between them this year, and while Kate has a slight edge on the boys (she read 115 of those books), they’re all … Continue reading BRADLEY’S BEST OF ’23 AND A PEEK AT ’24
THE 2023 ROY AWARDS: Time to Vote!!
After several exciting weeks of my fellow bloggers and I posting our nominations for this year's Reprint of the Year, it is finally time to vote! All you have to do is follow this link to Kate Jackson's place, look over the list, and vote for up to three titles. Of course, you shouldn't have … Continue reading THE 2023 ROY AWARDS: Time to Vote!!
THE AGATHA CHRISTIE DRAFT
(Warning: you should go into this article knowing that there will be massive spoilers of the solutions of many Agatha Christie titles! Enter at your own risk!!) Everyone has a list in their head of their favorite things. If I was to list just three of mine, I’d say that I love Agatha Christie I … Continue reading THE AGATHA CHRISTIE DRAFT
Ah Sweet Mystery! 