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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...
Friday’s Forgotten Book: The Cursing Stones Murder by George Bellairs
I continued my investigation into the works of George Bellairs and his detective Chief Inspector Littlejohn by reading The Cursing Stones Murder (Gifford, 1954), the book immediately following the one I reviewed a few weeks ago, and found it more to my liking, as...
Friday’s Forgotten Book: The Cat Screams by Todd Downing
Todd Downing (1902-1974) published nine detective novels between 1933 and 1941 before abruptly abandoning writing altogether. Most of his books were set in Mexico; his series detective is U. S. Customs Agent Hugh Rennert. See more about Downing on the Golden Age of...
Friday’s Forgotten Book: I Start Counting by Audrey Erskine Lindop
Audrey Erskine Lindop (26 December 1920 – 7 November 1986) wrote about eight novels, lists of her works vary. I Start Counting (Doubleday, 1966) seems to have been the most well-known of them, based on the success of the film adaptation with Jenny Agutter in her...
Friday’s Forgotten Book: The Emperor’s Snuffbox by John Dickson Carr
The Emperor’s Snuffbox by John Dickson Carr (Harper, 1942) is a dazzling display of plotting pyrotechnics. No locked room but a puzzle so tightly woven I had to read the explication twice before I fully understood all of the moving parts. Eve Neill has finally...