Archives
Friday’s Forgotten Book: Murder of Lydia by Joan A. Cowdroy
Joan A. Cowdroy (1884-1946) was an early 20th century English author who started writing general fiction and then discovered her talents for developing mysteries. Her first series detective was Chief Inspector John Gorham of Scotland Yard and then she created Li...
Friday’s Forgotten Book: Minute for Murder by Nicholas Blake
First, I have to say this is not really a forgotten book. It’s been in print one way or another ever since it was published more than 70 years ago. I read Minute for Murder by Nicholas Blake (Collins, 1947) over the weekend. It is the eighth Nigel Strangeways and...
Friday’s Forgotten Book: The Laughing Dog by Francis Vivian
The Laughing Dog by Arthur Ernest Ashley writing as Francis Vivian (Hodder & Stoughton, 1949) is the fifth mystery from Ashley/Vivian that features Inspector Gordon Knollis of New Scotland Yard. Here is another series being rescued from undeserved oblivion by...
Friday’s Forgotten Book: The Middle Temple Murder by J. S. Fletcher
Joseph Smith Fletcher (7 February 1863 – 30 January 1935) was an English journalist and author. He is known for his prodigious literary output. He wrote more than 230 books on a wide variety of subjects, both fiction and non-fiction (Source: Wikipedia)....
Friday’s Forgotten Book: The Case of Alan Copeland by Moray Dalton
Dean Street Press has decided beneficently to rescue Golden Age author Moray Dalton from undeserved obscurity and reprinted 10 of her books. We who are unfamiliar with this author have much to look forward to. Katherine Mary Deville Dalton (1881-1963) fell into a...
Friday’s Forgotten Book: The American Gun Mystery by Ellery Queen
The American Gun Mystery by Ellery Queen (Frederick A. Stokes, 1933) is the sixth mystery written by cousins Manfred Bennington Lee and Frederic Dannay. The series began in 1929 with The Roman Hat Mystery and ended in 1971 with A Fine and Private Place. A...
Friday’s Forgotten Book: Murder Jigsaw by Edwin and Mona Radford
Murder Jigsaw by Edwin and Mona Radford (Andrew Melrose, 1944) was the second title in their series that featured Dr. Harry Manson, who was a Chief Detective-Inspector of Scotland Yard as well as the lead scientist in Scotland Yard’s Crime Research Laboratory. It...
Friday’s Forgotten Book: Murder in Stained Glass by Margaret Armstrong
Margaret Neilson Armstrong (1867–1944) was a well-known book cover designer with some 270 books to her credit, working for A.C. McClurg, Scribner’s, and other publishers. Her covers generally had a plant theme and were in the Art Noveau style. Authors for whom she...
Friday’s Forgotten Books: Blood Type by Stephen Greenleaf
Stephen Greenleaf published 14 private investigator mysteries between 1979 and 2000. Each book focuses on a social issue: Southern Cross talked about the Civil Rights movement and Strawberry Sunday is engrossed with migrant farm labor. His protagonist John Marshall...
Friday’s Forgotten Book: The Dead Can Tell by Helen Reilly
Helen Reilly (1891-1962) wrote nearly 40 mysteries between 1930 and 1962. Her primary series character was Inspector Christopher McKee of the fictional Manhattan Homicide Squad. She is credited with writing some of the earliest known police procedurals, using...