Over six years of blogging, I have written dozens of times about my favorite Poirot novel, After the Funeral, perhaps most specifically here. I always enjoy wax flowers, er, waxing over the intrinsic joys of the Abernethie clan, the brilliant fakeout, and the fabulous murderer/motive that wraps up this late, great entry in the Christie canon. … Continue reading IT’S PODCAST TIME AGAIN: After the Funeral
KRIMES FOR KIDS LEVEL UP: Danger at Dead Man’s Pass
Last year was tough – not as difficult as 2020 but, to say the least, something of a drag. I could probably count the exciting events that happened to me on one hand, and one of those fingers would have to be saved for my buddy JJ. On March 30, he posted a review of … Continue reading KRIMES FOR KIDS LEVEL UP: Danger at Dead Man’s Pass
FROM THE PEN OF LEVINSON AND LINK (and Queen)
If I had had a little bit of luck, on my first day of junior high school a group of my friends might have introduced me to the fellow they had been talking about since 5th grade - the kid who, like me, loved magic tricks and puzzles and a mystery writer named Ellery Queen. That … Continue reading FROM THE PEN OF LEVINSON AND LINK (and Queen)
BOOK CLUB FROM HELL!!! The Five False Suicides
I hate to start the new year with a sad fact, but reading, and the enjoyment thereof, has become a rare commodity. When I taught high school, I was disheartened by how few of my students carried around a book for pleasure. Maybe it’s the solitary nature of reading, or the lack of bells-and-whistles flummery … Continue reading BOOK CLUB FROM HELL!!! The Five False Suicides
BITING OFF MORE . . . (My 2022 Resolutions)
Here it comes – the moment when all the bloggers you visit try and entice you to keep coming back with our promises of things to come. Some of my plans are rather amorphous: I hope to do some spiffing up of the site itself so that Ah Sweet Mystery will be better organized, sport … Continue reading BITING OFF MORE . . . (My 2022 Resolutions)
BRAD’S BEST READS OF 2021
As book bloggers go, in sheer number of reads I’m a dismal failure. Don’t even try and compare me, say, to my friend Kate over at Cross Examining Crime who, even in a bad month (May, when she had to tend to the birth of five baby goats), reviewed thirteen books, ten more than my monthly average … Continue reading BRAD’S BEST READS OF 2021
A LICENSE TO THRILL: A Line to Kill
“‘We’re going to miss you,’ (the receptionist) said. ‘We’re not used to this sort of excitement here in Alderny. We’ve never had a murder here before.’“‘You’re not the first person to tell me that,’ I said.” When it comes to literary festivals, Anthony Horowitz knows whereof he speaks. The creator of Midsomer Murders and Foyle’s War, reviver in … Continue reading A LICENSE TO THRILL: A Line to Kill
THE 2021 ROY AWARDS: Baby, You Can Drive This Carr
As you scroll down the list of books we’re all including in Kate Jackson’s 2021 ROY awards, there’s great cause for celebration. No less than three titles by John Dickson Carr have been reprinted this year. Is it mere coincidence, or is it the sign we have been waiting for, signaling a great resurgence of … Continue reading THE 2021 ROY AWARDS: Baby, You Can Drive This Carr
SPIELBERG’S WEST SIDE STORY: Update or Improvement?
In 1957, when live theatre still rivaled movies for social relevance, and the latest Tin Pan Alley songs burst through the radio and were hummed everywhere, Broadway was teeming with musicals. Considering that the heyday of musical theatre was the 1930’s-1940’s, what’s interesting is how experimental the major composers got. Lerner and Loewe’s Brigadoon enchanted audiences with its … Continue reading SPIELBERG’S WEST SIDE STORY: Update or Improvement?
TWELVE CHRISTIES FOR CHRISTMAS
You probably have heard of the phrase “A Christie for Christmas,” but I lived through it, at least through some of my most formative years. Beginning in 1968 with By the Pricking of My Thumbs, my late, beloved Aunt Rosalie presented “A Christie for Bradley” on my birthday (December 16) in the form of a hardcover … Continue reading TWELVE CHRISTIES FOR CHRISTMAS
Ah Sweet Mystery! 