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!!
A HAUNTING IN VENICE: La terza volta è il fascino!
Recently, the publisher William Morrow released a paperback tie-in to Kenneth Branagh’s latest Agatha Christie-inspired film that has this cover: The book’s original title can be found waaaayyy down at the bottom in smaller letters. It took me back to 1965 when I found the paperback tie-in to George Pollock’s film Ten Little Indians and purchased my … Continue reading A HAUNTING IN VENICE: La terza volta è il fascino!
SLAY FEVER: The Candles Are All Out by Nigel Fitzgerald
“There’s husbandry in heaven; their candles are all out.” (Macbeth, I, iv) Actor-manager Alan Russell is having a really bad day. He has squired his theatre company to the Irish town of Invermore, where they regularly perform, only to discover that Alan’s beloved wife, off to Hollywood to make a picture, has screwed up the hotel … Continue reading SLAY FEVER: The Candles Are All Out by Nigel Fitzgerald
RANKING MARPLE #9: The Mirror Crack’d from Side to Side
"Out flew the web and floated wide . . . " "The mirror crack'd from side to side . . . " "The curse is come upon me cried the Lady of Shalott." That “special” look is one of my favorite Agatha Christie devices, and the myriad ways she employed it throughout her career illustrates … Continue reading RANKING MARPLE #9: The Mirror Crack’d from Side to Side
BOOK CLUB LEARNS ITS LESSON WELL: Murder Among Friends
A serial killer has been stalking co-eds at a Southern California university. Dubbed Black Overcoat by the police due to his distinctive garb, he has so far claimed five victims, employing a different type of weapon with each kill. Most recently he was in a seedy coffee shop sitting near Garnet Dillon, a beautiful young … Continue reading BOOK CLUB LEARNS ITS LESSON WELL: Murder Among Friends
IN DEVELOPMENT: What I Wish Was Coming Up in the Christie-Verse
In about two weeks, I’m going to drop a review here for Kenneth Branagh’s A Haunting in Venice, the latest film adaptation of an Agatha Christie novel. This time, it’s not set on the Nile or the Orient Express; instead, we have a lesser-known (and less liked) late novel, Hallowe’en Party – you remember, the one set in Italy … Continue reading IN DEVELOPMENT: What I Wish Was Coming Up in the Christie-Verse
WAR IS HELL: The Devil’s Flute Murders
I’ll start by giving away my surprise ending: In May of next year, The Little Sparrow Murders will be the sixth Seishi Yokomizo mystery to be released in English by Pushkin Vertigo. If the publisher continues in this vein with all seventy-eight of Yokomizo’s books, the chances of my being around long enough to read titles like Pimple … Continue reading WAR IS HELL: The Devil’s Flute Murders
SNOOP SISTER: The Alarm of the Black Cat by Dolores Hitchens
Maud Silver, Consulting Detective I have a great fondness for little old lady detectives, but they can be a problem. It’s not that the classic mystery genre ever made a claim of being realistic. And goodness knows that the “shock value” of an sweet, elderly spinster beating the big bad policemen at their own game has entertained … Continue reading SNOOP SISTER: The Alarm of the Black Cat by Dolores Hitchens
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
RANKING MARPLE #8: 4:50 from Paddington (aka What Mrs. McGillicuddy Saw)
“Another locomotive one – murder seen as two trains pass each other in the same direction. Later settles down into a good old family murder. Contains one of Christie’s few sympathetic independent women. Miss Marple apparently solves the crime by divine guidance, for there is very little in the way of clues or logical deduction.” Robert … Continue reading RANKING MARPLE #8: 4:50 from Paddington (aka What Mrs. McGillicuddy Saw)
Ah Sweet Mystery! 