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Friday’s Forgotten Book: The Crooked Lane by Frances Noyes Hart
Frances Newbold Noyes Hart (1890-1943) mostly wrote short stories for Scribner's magazine, the Saturday Evening Post, and the Ladies' Home Journal, although sometimes she branched out into longer fiction. The Bellamy Trial (1927) was so popular that Howard...
Friday’s Forgotten Book: The Last Best Hope by Ed McBain
The Last Best Hope by Ed McBain (Warner Books, 1998) is the concluding book in the Matthew Hope series of 13 titles. One of the noteworthy aspects of this story is that the author clearly ends the narrative arc of Hope’s adventures with it. That option isn’t...
Friday’s Forgotten Book: The Secret of High Eldersham by Miles Burton
Cecil John Charles Street (1884-1964) was a pillar of Golden Age crime fiction, writing under multiple names. As John Rhode, he created a series of about 70 books with Dr. Lancelot Priestley, Inspector Hanslet, and Inspector Jimmy Waghorn, published between 1925...
Friday’s Forgotten Book: Death at the Medical Board by Josephine Bell
Josephine Bell was the pseudonym of Doris Bell Collier Ball (1897-1987), a British author who also studied and practiced medicine. Bell began to write detective novels beginning in 1936 under her pen name. Many of her works made good use of her medical...
Friday’s Forgotten Book: A Deceptive Clarity by Aaron Elkins
Aaron Elkins is an Edgar award winning author, mostly known for his books about Gideon Oliver, a forensic anthropology expert in Washington State. Another early series which I rarely hear mentioned is about an art historian and only has three books. The first is A...
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...