Archives
The Pew Group by Anthony Oliver
Anthony Oliver (1922-1995) was born in Wales. He served in the RAF during World War II and made his acting debut in 1964 at the Q Theatre. He appeared in film, on stage, and on television. He became an expert in Staffordshire pottery, writing two books on the...
Friday’s Forgotten Book: The Octagon Crystal by Pearl Foley
I occasionally search for Canadian mystery writers during the Golden Age and so far, Frank L. Packard (1877–1942) and Pearl Foley (1888-1953) are the only two names I have found. Foley doesn’t seem to be recognized by any crime fiction authority lists beyond Part...
No Dust in the Attic by Anthony Gilbert
Lucy Beatrice Malleson (1899-1973) was a British author most well known for her creation of Arthur G. Crook, an entertaining lawyer whose malleable ethics support his fervent belief that none of his clients are guilty. Crook had some 50 adventures published under...
Friday’s Forgotten Book: Murder Gone Minoan by Clyde B. Clason
Clyde Burt Clason (1903-1987) was born in Denver, Colorado, where he graduated from the University of Denver and then worked in Chicago as an advertising copywriter and a trade newsletter editor. He published 10 mysteries between 1936 and 1941, all featuring...
Guilt by John Lescroart
My recent trip to San Francisco included a visit to the Bancroft Library at UC Berkeley where some of the jewels of the California Detective Fiction collection were on display, including the papers of legal thriller author John Lescroart. Lescroart is among my...
Friday’s Forgotten Book: The Medbury Fort Murder by George Limnelius
I ran across a discussion in which bloggers offered their favorite Golden Age mysteries, and The Medbury Fort Murder (Collins Crime Club, 1929) by George Limnelius was mentioned twice. Of course I cannot find the discussion again so I cannot give credit to the...
Florentine Finish by Cornelius Hirschberg
Cornelius Hirschberg (1901-1995) is another of those authors who emerge from nowhere, produce one fine mystery, and then turn their attention to other pursuits, leaving readers like me to wonder how many more good stories were left untold. Hirschberg was 63 years...
Friday’s Forgotten Book: Hasty Wedding by Mignon G. Eberhart
Thanks to the miracle of Google, I discovered this brief article from TIME magazine called “Books: Mysteries of the Month: May 30, 1938”: “Of seven average and better than average mystery stories published last month, three stood out as best bets. In order of...
The Mourner by Richard Stark
Donald Westlake (1933-2008) was an assiduous and creative author with about 100 crime fiction novels and dozens of short stories to his credit under various pen names including John B. Allan, Judson Jack Carmichael, Curt Clark, Timothy J. Culver, J....
Friday’s Forgotten Book: Murder Breaks Trail by Eunice Mays Boyd
While at Left Coast Crime in San Francisco, I visited The Bancroft Library at the University of California Berkeley, where most of the university’s special collections are housed, including a fabulous assortment of mysteries by California authors. Curator Randal...
