Last read of 2023: The Deadly Jest by Virgil Markham (1935)

As 2023 draws to a close (where did it go?) I am scribbling a few lines about my last finished read of the year: Virgil Markham's The Deadly Jest. https://www.dustjackets.com/pages/books/17913/virgil-markham/deadly-jest-the The book opens with an avaricious and unnamed English Lord who wants a particular object for his collection and is willing to try even illegal …

Silver Mysteries

The year is almost done and I have so many books yet to be reviewed so here are brief notes on five mysteries of the silver-age. An Affair of the Heart by Jean Potts (1970) Jean Potts is one of my favourite authors because of her hold on human psychology. In this book, an advertising-agency …

Friday’s Forgotten Book: What Came to Cinderella by Curtis Yorke (1926)

"I must have freedom," she declared. "My life embraces so much. I have so many interests. While you - you poor little soul - you are merely a - a veritable Cinderella." "Oh well, we know who came out on top in that story," laughed Faith good-naturedly. Faith Norman, the eponymous Cinderella, lives in an …

Modern Mysteries

My favourite reads are of vintage hue but sometimes I do venture into more modern era, hoping for an author or series I can fall in love with. Here are such reads for this year: The Aosawa Murders (Eugenia) by Riku Onda; Trans. Alison Watts (2005) This Japanese book which is a mystery involving the …

Friday’s Forgotten Book: Scandal at the Home Office by Frank A. Clement (1937)

This Friday's Forgotten Book happens to be an obscure title: Scandal at the Home Office by Frank A. Clement, published in 1937. Chief Commissioner of Police, Admiral Lord Arthur Kippering, has plans of an evening out. First theatre with his wife and daughter, Lady Doddington and then dinner. However, he receives a call from the …

Cold Cambodia: The Four Faces by Han Suyin (1963)

"It's the cold war, isn't it? Even is we think we cannot possibly be involved, we get sucked into the maelstrom." Sometimes you pick up a book based on where the story is located. Thus, it was with this book. I had never heard of the author or the book but since the action takes …

SSW: Missing from their Homes (ed.) H.E. Bates (1936)

The premise of this anthology is very interesting. Apparently before the news on BBC, there used to be S.O.S. read out for people missing from their homes. Eleven authors conjure up eleven scenarios for such people. "Before I read the news here are eleven S O S's" (With acknowledgement to the B.B.C.) The anthology opens …

German Classic: Stud. Chem. Helene Willfuer by Vicki Baum (1928)

But that was the way with Life - now and again things went so well, that out of the deepest darkness sprang up happiness, unforeseen, profound and penetrating. The focus of German Literary Month this year was Austrian Authors. That gave me a chance to start reading Vicki Baum, an Austrian writer, who had been …