There is nothing more satisfying than reading a book while sipping a hot cup of tea.
Lena Dale returns home arguing with her husband Henry. As their quarrel turns more ugly, Lena retires to her room. But soon she is back again in the drawing room where her husband lies dead in a pool of blood. A shocked Lena is still more shocked when a masked man emerges from the library. … Continue reading Short Notes: Dark Lady by J.J. Farjeon (1938)
"I pictured life so different.""We all have." Robert Lohkamp is one of those whom Gertrude Stein called the 'lost generation'. Embittered by his years in the trenches, Bob has lost faith in everything: God, the political leadership, high-sounding concepts like patriotism and nationalism. All he is sure of is the friendship of those comrades who … Continue reading #1936 Club: Three Comrades by Erich Maria Remarque
1936 was a great year for books. Here are three mysteries I read for the Club: Death of Anton by Alan Melville Joseph Carey's Circus thrills the town. There is Anton cloistered in a cage with seven tigers; the clown Dodo who makes the audience scream with laughter; the daredevil trapeze act by couple, Loretta … Continue reading The #1936 Club: Three Mysteries
The time is the mid-1930s. The moment when Robert Oppenheimer would declare grandiosely: "Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds" is still a decade away. A young man writing his first novel, however, envisages the atomic bomb becoming the most coveted weapon of destruction and unscrupulous men fighting to get hold of it. … Continue reading #1936 Club: The Dark Frontier by Eric Ambler
publicdomainpictures.net The year is 1678 . The Sun King Louis XIV graces the throne of France. Perhaps the greatest European king of his generation, Louis' rule epitomizes the Reign of Absolutism. But while his own people and other European nations are in awe of his court, his millitary success, his generous patronage of the Arts...scandal … Continue reading The #1936 Club: The Poisoners by George R. Preedy
"Do not worry, Mr. Duluth. And remember that, if you see or hear anything out of the ordinary, that thing is real and has its basis in fact. Do not let anyone or anything persuade you that you are suffering under a delusion." Traumatised by the death of his wife, who burnt to death in … Continue reading #1936 Club: A Puzzle for Fools by Patrick Quentin
The Melbury family is celebrating Christmas at their country-house Flaxmere. Headed by Sir Osmond Melbury, the family includes his spinster-sister, Mildred; his son George (there with his wife Patricia and their three kids); his daughters: the widowed Hilda (along with her daughter, Carol), Edith (Dittie) with her husband Sir David Evershot, the beautiful Eleanor with … Continue reading #1936 Club: The Santa Klaus Murder by Mavis Doriel Hay
Tired of living life in the fast lane, writer Lola and her artist-husband Jack Storm, decide to shift to the countryside in order to concentrate on their art. The beginning seems promising when they rent a beautiful cottage in rural Connecticut. However even as their work seems to be progressing , they slowly find that … Continue reading The #1936 Club: Death in the Back Seat by Dorothy Cameron Disney
Ruth Starling a young American girl finds herself a multi-millionaire when a distant relative dies leaving her half his fortune. Ruth who has always dreamt of becoming an actress now moves to England willing to make a career on stage, undeterred by the miserable flopping of her debut play in the States. Her lawyer puts … Continue reading Friday’s Forgotten Books: And Call it Accident and The Injured Lover by Marie Belloc Lowndes (1936)
"She was one of those women who go through life demanding to see the manager, and it would be quite easy to imagine her uttering her useful formula to St. Peter before the gates of Heaven, should any of her papers prove to be out of order" (187) This humour is the best thing about … Continue reading Murder in a Women’s Club: Death in the Dovecot by Q. Patrick (1932)
