“Taking stock of what I have and what I haven’t: What do I find?” (Irving Berlin) It’s Saturday night, and I’m kicking back in front of the ol’ blog site. I checked out my stats a minute ago: twenty posts … Continue reading FIVE BOOKS TO READ BEFORE THEY’RE SPOILED FOR YOU – Agatha Christie Edition
Agatha Christie
THE MASTER AT WORK: The Problem of The Green Capsule
Bear with me: I’ve got a fantastic book to talk about today - John Dickson Carr’s classic The Problem of the Green Capsule (aka The Black Spectacles, 1939) – but I’m going to take my own sweet time getting to it. Like so many in this vast blogosphere, I follow a lot of other bloggers … Continue reading THE MASTER AT WORK: The Problem of The Green Capsule
PUZZLING PUDDLES: Paul Halter’s The Madman’s Room
“A family united all together under the same roof, in an old manor, with a generous and very rich man. If this were a novel, it would end in tragedy.” It would seem that the madman here is yours truly. My problematical relationship with author Paul Halter has been well documented on this site. And … Continue reading PUZZLING PUDDLES: Paul Halter’s The Madman’s Room
IN THE END IS MY BEGINNING: Agatha Christie’s Nemesis
The mystery equivalent of the question, “Are you a dog person or a cat person?” is “Do you fancy Poirot or Miss Marple?” (Well, actually, it’s “Classic detection or hardboiled?” but that’s not where we’re going today.) I’m a cat person because I live with cats and love the ones I live with, but I’d … Continue reading IN THE END IS MY BEGINNING: Agatha Christie’s Nemesis
I SUSPECT MICE: A Discourse on the Dying Message
Smack dab in the middle of The Tragedy of X, the 1930 debut of mystery writer Barnaby Ross, detective Drury Lane, a retired Shakespearean actor who is stone deaf, resides in a castle called The Hamlet, and employs a hunchback dwarf named Falstaff as a butler, is philosophizing with a group of men – one … Continue reading I SUSPECT MICE: A Discourse on the Dying Message
NILE vs. SUN: Fair Play With Spoilers
Over at The Invisible Event, JJ has compiled a list, voted on by an erudite assortment of fans, consisting of twelve titles that purportedly demonstrate the best qualities of a “fair play” mystery. It’s a list that does what these sorts of lists are supposed to do: it provides a jumping off point for arguments … Continue reading NILE vs. SUN: Fair Play With Spoilers
BRANAGH TO THE RESCUE: “Not Your Granny’s Christie”
This classic mystery fan is always grateful when the modern press pays attention to anything related to the Golden Age, so it was with great delight that I received my latest issue of Entertainment Weekly, only to find the cast of the upcoming remake of Murder on the Orient Express splashed across the cover. Kenneth … Continue reading BRANAGH TO THE RESCUE: “Not Your Granny’s Christie”
WHERE OCCUPATION MEETS OBSESSION: The Mystery Project Continues
In a previous post, I confessed (as we mystery lovers tend to do) that every year I force my drama students to submit to honoring my passion for classic mysteries by engaging them to come up with an original mystery play of their own. It’s a complex and difficult project, and many tears are shed … Continue reading WHERE OCCUPATION MEETS OBSESSION: The Mystery Project Continues
CHRISTIE, CAMILLA AND THE CONCEPT OF FAIR PLAY
It’s a fine thing for a reader to expand his tastes, isn’t it? Having focused on classic mystery novels my entire life – and almost exclusively so over the past two years – it seemed like a good idea at the time to sign up for that Nordic Crime Fiction course at Stanford University. If you … Continue reading CHRISTIE, CAMILLA AND THE CONCEPT OF FAIR PLAY
HELEN: What’s In a Name?
My life changed significantly on November 19, 2014, when I joined a group on Facebook called Golden Age Detection. It is one of the few events of my life connected to the Internet whose effect on me I cannot overdramatize. I have been reading classic murder mysteries for nearly fifty years, and I had experienced the … Continue reading HELEN: What’s In a Name?
Ah Sweet Mystery! 