Archives
Friday’s Forgotten Book: Death in the Fifth Position by Edgar Box
I love mysteries that involve the performing arts. The dichotomy between the action on the stage and behind the scenes is fascinating. My favorite Ngaio Marsh books are those she set in her world of theatre. I was surprised to learn recently that Gore Vidal...
Friday’s Forgotten Book: Long Shadows by Carol Carnac
A well-read copy of the last book Edith Caroline Rivett (1894–1958) wrote under the name Carol Carnac came my way recently. Its price, modest relative to better preserved copies, made its acquisition a given, despite my goal to stop buying books. (Ha ha) Long...
Friday’s Forgotten Book: The Draycott Murder Mystery by Molly Thynne
The Draycott Murder Mystery by Mary Harriet (Molly) Thynne (1881-1950) was published by the Frederick A. Stokes Company in 1928 and reprinted by Dean Street Press in 2016 with an introduction by crime fiction historian Curtis Evans. It was originally released under...
Friday’s Forgotten Book: A Flat Tyre in Fulham by Josephine Bell
Josephine Bell was the pseudonym of Doris Bell Collier Ball (1897-1987), a British doctor who began writing to produce a badly needed second income after the death of her husband. She started publishing detective novels in 1936 under her pen name, using her...
Friday’s Forgotten Book: The Case of the Duplicate Daughter by Erle Stanley Gardner
To celebrate Erle Stanley Gardner’s 136th birthday (17 July 1889) and because other reviewers are posting their latest Gardner read, I pulled out one of my favorite Perry Mason books and re-read it. The Case of the Duplicate Daughter (Morrow, 1960) was one of three...
Friday’s Forgotten Book: Whose Hand? by Vernon Loder
John George Haslette Vahey (1881–1938) was born in Belfast and was educated at Ulster, Foyle College, and Hanover. He first worked as an architect, then as an accountant, and then became a full-time writer. His novel was published in 1916 and his last in 1938,...
Friday’s Forgotten Book: Up to the Hilt by Anne Rowe
Anne Von Meibom Rowe (1882-1961) published nine mysteries in the 1930s and 1940s and at least one short story. Hubin’s Crime Fiction IV offers the following list; note the number of publishers. One title appears to have been released in the UK but not in the United...
Friday’s Forgotten Book: Deadman’s Bay by Leonard A. Knight
Leonard Alfred Knight (1895-1977) is another of those crime fiction authors who was popular for awhile and then disappeared as reading tastes changed. Knight was born in Burpham, Sussex, on 3 January 1895. His parents were Arthur and Harriett Knight, and he had a...
Friday’s Forgotten Book: Impact of Evidence by Carol Carnac
Perhaps of all the obscure authors brought back into the public’s eye by the British Library in its Crime Classics series, I enjoy the work of Edith Caroline Rivett (1894–1958) the most. Her 70 plus mysteries, originally published between 1931 and 1959, are...
Classic Crime Fiction: A Starting Point
Kate Jackson, otherwise known as the Armchair Reviewer, is celebrating 10 years as a blogger this month with an intriguing competition. She asks those of us who read classic crime to recommend 10 titles for someone unfamiliar with the subgenre. See the details...
