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Friday’s Forgotten Book: The Country-House Burglar by Michael Gilbert
This week’s review is a fine English village mystery by Michael Gilbert, set in the 1950s when the memories of the war had receded but not gone, and the country had recovered economic stability. The stand-alone story was published in the United States as The...
Friday’s Forgotten Book: Dead Folks’ Blues by Steve Womack
Dead Folks’ Blues (Fawcett, 1992) is the first book in the Harry James Denton private investigator series by Steve Womack, published between 1992 and 2000. All six titles in the series were shortlisted for at least one major award and twice won it. This first book...
Friday’s Forgotten Book: Dead or Alive by Patricia Wentworth
Patricia Wentworth is turning out to be one of my pandemic comfort reads. There’s a certain predictability in the plots, and her writing style is soothing. Plot twists exist of course but none of them are shocking. Fortunately she was a prolific writer so I have a...
Friday’s Forgotten Book: The Youth Hostel Murders by Glyn Carr
Frank Showell Styles (1908-2005) was a multi-talented writer and expert mountain climber. He published a wide range of fiction and nonfiction, including children’s books, books on mountains, historical adventure, humorous articles, and mysteries, more than 160...
Friday’s Forgotten Book: Death in the Dentist’s Chair by Molly Thynne
Death in the Dentist’s Chair is one of only six mysteries written by Molly Thynne and the second of three with the intriguing Dr. Constantine, a socialite and chess master. Originally published in 1932 by Hutchinson & Co, this Golden Age classic was re-issued...
Friday’s Forgotten Book: The Silver Horseshoe by Gerald Verner
Gerald Verner was one of the many pen names used by John Robert Stuart Pringle (1897-1980). Other pseudonyms were Thane Leslie, Derwent Steele, Donald Stuart, and Nigel Vane. Donald Stuart was the name he used initially, writing 44 stories for the Sexton Blake...
Friday’s Forgotten Book: A Wreath for the Bride by Maria Lang
Kate Jackson drew my attention to Maria Lang (1914-1991) a few weeks ago in her review of No More Murders!, one of three Lang books translated into English. See...
Friday’s Forgotten Books: Edwin of the Iron Shoes by Marcia Muller
Marcia Muller released her 35th book about Sharon McCone in 2018. Sharon is one of the earliest contemporary female private investigators I could find. Of course there was Miss Silver who first appeared in the late 1920s and Honey West, who was a caricature of...
Friday’s Forgotten Book: Murders in Volume 2 by Elizabeth Daly
Elizabeth Daly (1879-1967) published her first mystery in 1940 and released 15 more in quick succession, the last one in 1951. Mystery Writers of America referred to her as "the grande dame of women mystery writers" when awarding her a "Special Edgar" in...
Friday’s Forgotten Book: Number Seventeen by Louis Tracy
Louis Tracy (1863-1928) was an inventive and versatile English author. From the Golden Age Detection Wiki: “….journalist and author of science fiction, adventure, crime and some supernatural fiction. His best-known detectives are the Scotland Yard team of...