Archives
Friday’s Forgotten Book: The Fourteenth Trump by Judson Philips
Judson Phillips, also known as Hugh Pentecost, wrote a dizzying number of mysteries under both names, earning him the Grand Master Award from Mystery Writers of America in 1973. His first mysteries were about a gambler in New York City named Danny Coyle and his...
Friday’s Forgotten Book: Most Cunning Workmen by Roy Lewis
John Royston Lewis (1933- ) published some 70 volumes of crime fiction (https://www.bookseriesinorder.com/roy-lewis/) under the name Roy Lewis, including 22 stand-alone novels and three series. (Stop, You’re Killing Me!, http://www.stopyourekillingme.com, lists...
Friday’s Forgotten Book: Arrest the Bishop? by Winifred Peck
Winifred Peck (1882-1962) was born Winifred Francis Knox; Golden Age mystery writer Ronald Knox was her brother. She wrote over two dozen works of fiction and non-fiction, including two mysteries, The Warrielaw Jewel, 1933, and Arrest the Bishop?, 1949. While...
Friday’s Forgotten Book: A Perfect Match by Jill McGown
Jill McGown was born 9 August 1947 in Campbeltown, Scotland, and died 6 April 2007 in Kettering, about 70 miles north of London. She wrote 18 novels, 13 of which featured the adventures of Detective Inspector David Lloyd and Detective Sergeant Judy Hill...
Friday’s Forgotten Book: Safe Secret by Harry Carmichael
Leopold Horace Ognall (1908 – 1979) wrote nearly 100 novels under the names Hartley Howard and Harry Carmichael. He was born in Montreal and worked as a journalist before starting a career in fiction. He published a lengthy series...
Friday’s Forgotten Book: Out of the Past by Patricia Wentworth
Out of the Past by Patricia Wentworth (Lippincott, 1953) is the 23rd Miss Silver mystery and a surprisingly dark one it is. I didn’t know it was possible. Nearly every single character has something to hide, which is certainly unusual for this series. And the...
Friday’s Forgotten Book: The Shape of Fear by Hugh Pentecost
Currently investigating the Pierre Chambrun series by Hugh Pentecost. How have I missed these books? I vaguely recall reading some of the Julian Quist stories by Pentecost but have no memory of this series set in the luxury Hotel Beaumont in New York City....
Friday’s Forgotten Book: Funeral of Figaro by Ellis Peters
I am always a pushover for mysteries set in the theatre, and here’s another one. Funeral of Figaro by Ellis Peters (Morrow, 1964) is one of the few nonseries books released by Peters, best known for her Brother Cadfael historical mysteries. It is built around the...
Friday’s Forgotten Book: The Etruscan Net by Michael Gilbert
The Etruscan Net by Michael Gilbert (Hodder & Stoughton, 1960), later released as The Family Tomb, is one of Gilbert’s stand-alone mysteries. There actually isn’t much mystery to it but there are some great characters to help the obvious plot unfold. Robert...
Friday’s Forgotten Book: The Fugitive Pigeon by Donald Westlake
The Fugitive Pigeon by Donald Westlake (Random House, 1965) is one of the MWA Grand Master’s comic mysteries. I’ve read Westlake’s Parker books, written under the name Richard Stark, and loved them, but never got around to his capers, of which there are many. This...