Look around you: the air is nippy, the lights are strung up in your neighbors’ windows, and every station on your car radio seems to be playing the Carpenters singing, “Merry Christmas, Darling.” What does that tell you? That’s right – it’s time for the annual ROY Awards. That’s Reprint of the Year to those … Continue reading THE 2021 ROY AWARDS (aka, Vote for Brad to Win)
THE RATCHETT EFFECT: Kids Solve Krimes on Trains
I have to hand it to my pal JJ: through his regular feature, “Minor Felonies,” over at his blog The Invisible Event, he has been calling my attention to some amazing mystery novels written with young people (and the young at heart) in mind. Sure, my shelves are over-crowded and my pocketbook depleted, but I’m … Continue reading THE RATCHETT EFFECT: Kids Solve Krimes on Trains
FOR CATHERINE
“He got on to the bed, and wrenched open the lattice, bursting, as he pulled at it, into an uncontrollable passion of tears. ‘Come in! Come in!’ he sobbed. ‘Cathy, do come. Oh, do – once more! Oh, my heart’s darling! hear me, this time, Catherine, at last!’” (from Wuthering Heights, by Emily Bronte) When I … Continue reading FOR CATHERINE
A FINE-FEATHERED FINALE: Hitchcock’s The Birds
“This is the way the world ends, not with a bang but a – caw caw!” (T.S. Eliot, via Woody Woodpecker) All good things must come to an end, and the end of my ten-week course on the best of Alfred Hitchcock has been . . . apocalyptic. In our final class last night the … Continue reading A FINE-FEATHERED FINALE: Hitchcock’s The Birds
A CUT ABOVE: Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho
I can just imagine the Hollywood studios in 1959 watching North by Northwest and heaving a great big sigh of relief! At last - they thought – the Master of Suspense has finally gotten the message!! NO more art films, NO more experiments. Just good old fashioned exciting-but-wholesome entertainment. Certainly they had cause for hope: Alfred Hitchcock had come this close to … Continue reading A CUT ABOVE: Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho
HITCHCOCK TO THE NTH BY NTH DEGREE: North by Northwest
The many varied stories about the inception of North by Northwest are as entertaining as the film itself. Here are the bare facts: Alfred Hitchcock agreed to a first-time two-picture deal with MGM, and for the first film he wanted to adapt Hammond Innes’ best-seller, The Wreck of the Mary Deare. This would give Hitchcock the chance to … Continue reading HITCHCOCK TO THE NTH BY NTH DEGREE: North by Northwest
BOOK REPORT #12: Brand New Brand
“He glanced at her face. She looked very odd. ‘You look very odd,’ he said.” There’s a certain kind of humor in Christianna Brand’s writing. It’s a bit fey, as if her mysteries have all been touched by the magical hand of Nurse Matilda (aka Nanny McPhee). Characters have funny nicknames, like Tedward and Pony. … Continue reading BOOK REPORT #12: Brand New Brand
A KISS BEFORE DYING: Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo
Throughout most of his life, Alfred Hitchcock was both appreciated and dismissed as a maker of entertaining mystery thrillers. After his first American film Rebecca won the Academy Award, Hitchcock’s critics got wise and considered him first and foremost a genre filmmaker; the best of his movies might get nominated for Sound Design or Art Direction and … Continue reading A KISS BEFORE DYING: Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo
NUCLEAR REACTOR: Alfred Hitchcock’s Rear Window
You know you’re in “favorite film” territory when you try and write a blog post, arrive at the million-word point, and realize you’ve only scratched the surface of what you want to say. You start over, go in completely different directions . . . and the same thing happens. This is the challenge for me … Continue reading NUCLEAR REACTOR: Alfred Hitchcock’s Rear Window
HALLOWEEN PARTY HEARTY WITH FLEX AND HERDS
Recently I played along with the genial hosts of the Australian podcast, Death of the Reader, where each week Flex and Herds tackle a wide array of mystery tales, both classic and modern. Their most recent guest, one JJ von JJ (my pal, who created The Invisible Event and the podcast In GAD We Trust) … Continue reading HALLOWEEN PARTY HEARTY WITH FLEX AND HERDS
Ah Sweet Mystery! 