Archives
Friday’s Forgotten Book: The Case of the Dubious Bridegroom by Erle Stanley Gardner
Erle Stanley Gardner (1889-1970) does not need an introduction. However, just in case, he was an attorney who didn’t care for the practice of law. He started writing pulp fiction in the 1920s so that he could leave the law as a profession behind. The general public...
Friday’s Forgotten Book: Pigeon Blood Rubies by M. McDonnell Bodkin
Matthias McDonnell Bodkin (1850-1933) was an Irish politician, newspaper editor, barrister later appointed County Court Judge for County Clare, and member of the Irish parliament. He wrote in multiple genres and in 1897 created the detective Paul Beck, who...
Friday’s Forgotten Book: Greenmask! by Elizabeth Linington
Barbara Elizabeth Linington (1921-1988) was an inexhaustible American author who wrote under the names Elizabeth Linington, Anne Blaisdell, Lesley Egan, Egan O'Neill, and Dell Shannon. She initially wrote radio and stage dramas and then turned to historical...
Friday’s Forgotten Book: Going to St. Ives by Colver Harris
Polly Anne Colver Harris (1908-1991) is listed in the WorldCat author identification database variously as Polly Anne Colver Harris, Anne Colver, Polly Anne Colver Graff, Polly Anne Colver, and Colver Harris. According to the Gale Literature Resource Center, she...
Friday’s Forgotten Book: The Studio Crime by Ianthe Jerrold
Ianthe Jerrold (1898-1977) has been on my to-read list for awhile. She was an English author from a literary family. She began writing early and published in a number of genres, including two detective stories. The first was The Studio Crime with John Christmas, a...
Friday’s Forgotten Book: Robbed Blind by Roy Hart
Between 1987 and 1994 Roy Hart, a British avionics engineer, wrote nine police procedurals fronted by Detective Superintendent Douglas Roper of the Dorset County Criminal Investigation Department on the southern coast of England. Similar in many ways to the...
Friday’s Forgotten Book: Well Dressed for Murder by Laverne Rice
Laverne Rice (1890-1966) was a schoolteacher in New York, who also wrote short stories. Indexing is spotty for the years she was active, but the following complete citations were found with tantalizing suggestions of others: "Haze." NEW COPY. Columbia University...
Friday’s Forgotten Book: The Reluctant Widow by Georgette Heyer
Georgette Heyer (1902-1974) published more than 50 novels, the first when she was 19 years old. She wrote a dozen country house mysteries, eight in the 1930s, two in the 1940s, and two in the 1950s. The remaining books are historical fiction and historical...
Friday’s forgotten Book: Death Stops the Frolic by George Bellairs
George Bellairs, pseudonym of Harold Blundell (1902-1982), is best known for his police procedural mysteries featuring Inspector Thomas Littlejohn of Scotland Yard, which were released between 1941 and 1980. He also wrote a few stand-alone mysteries, among them...
Friday’s Forgotten Book: The Devil in the Bush by Matthew Head
One of the most intriguing aspects of Golden Age and mid-20th century authors is their almost endless versatility. So many of them seem to toss off a few mystery novels as a diversion from their real lives, which have nothing to do with writing. Ellen Wilkinson...
