Archives
Friday’s Forgotten Book: The Bohemian Connection by Susan Dunlap
Macavity and Anthony award winner Susan Dunlap is perhaps best known for her first mystery series, one of the early portrayals of women as law enforcement professionals instead of amateur sleuths. Jill Smith, a homicide detective, appeared in 10 novels between 1981...
Friday’s Forgotten Book: Cancelled in Red by Hugh Pentecost
Judson Pentecost Philips (1903-1989) started his literary career writing short stories for pulp magazines. His first book about Inspector Luke Bradley, Cancelled in Red (Dodd Mead, 1939), won the $1,000 Red Badge Prize and the $10,000 prize for the Dodd Mead...
Friday’s Forgotten Book: Two & Two Make Twenty-Two by Gwen Bristow and Bruce Manning
I knew Gwen Bristow (1903–1980) as an author of historical fiction. Her book about pioneers on the Santa Fe Trail called Jubilee Trail (1950) was on bestseller lists for months and was turned into a successful film of the same name. She also wrote a generational...
Friday’s Forgotten Book: Last Will and Testament by Elizabeth Ferrars
I looked at Elizabeth Ferrars’ first book about Andrew Basnett last year, which I liked enough to want to sample more of her considerable body of work. This week I read her first story about Virginia and Felix Freer, a hopelessly mismatched married couple. Virginia...
John V. C. Wyllie and Dr. Samuel Quarshie
Originally published in Mystery Readers Journal, Volume 39, Number 1 (Spring 2023). Dr. Samuel Quarshie is the amateur detective in mysteries written by John Vectis Carew Wyllie (1914-1997) in the late 1970s. The doctor was educated at McGill University in Montreal...
Friday’s Forgotten Book: The Abbey Court Murder by Annie Haynes
Dean Street Press has reprinted all twelve of the mysteries written by Annie Haynes (1865-1929). Haynes didn’t survive to see the Golden Age of Detection at its apex but she did help usher it in. Her second mystery was the first appearance of Inspector Furnival of...
Friday’s Forgotten Book: Murder in the French Room by Helen Joan Hultman
Helen Joan Hultman (1891-1985) taught high school English but she also wrote well-regarded mysteries. Her detectives included Tim Archer and Inspector Dan Bratton. The Golden Age of Detection wiki (http://gadetection.pbworks.com/w/page/7930628/FrontPage) offers the...
Friday’s Forgotten Book: Dead Skip by Joe Gores
Joseph Nicholas Gores (1931-2011) was a critically acclaimed screenwriter and author. He received the 2008 Eye Lifetime Achievement Award, the 1970 Edgar for Best First Novel, the 1970 Edgar for Best Short Story, and the 1976 Edgar for Best Television Episode. His...
Friday’s Forgotten Book: The Shadow on the Wall by Moray Dalton
Moray Dalton was the pen name of Katherine Mary Deville Dalton (1881-1963), who wrote two romances and then turned to crime. Her first mystery was released in 1924 and it was succeeded by 28 more, the last one in 1951. Most of the books featured Scotland Yard...
Friday’s Forgotten Book: The Anxious Conspirator by Michael Underwood
Michael Underwood was the pseudonym of John Michael Evelyn (1916-1992), a British civil servant and author. Evelyn was called to the Bar in 1939, then served in the British Army during the war. Afterwards he entered the Civil Service and began writing crime...
