#1937 Club: Seven Mysteries

I read a number of mysteries for the 1937 Club. Here they are in no particular order: The Elephant Never Forgets by Ethel Lina White The time is the Nineteen Thirties and Anna Stephanovich finds herself in Russia just when the Stalinist purges are beginning and everybody seems to be on the edge. Anna, who …

#1937 Club: The Pendleton Fortune by D.C.F. Harding

I was so looking forward to the 1937 Club, hosted by Karen and Simon and had read a few books for the same but so many things happened this week that I did not get the time to review them. But as the week draws to a close, here is the first book that I …

Classics Club: The Chequer Board by Nevil Shute (1947)

In 2022, I joined the Classics Club. Though I have read a few books on my list, I have not been able to review them. Here finally is the review of one such that I read soon after joining the challenge. Vega burned near the deep blue zenith, with Altair on his right and Arcturus …

First Read of 2024: The Christmas Peacemaker by Virna Sheard (1900)

I begin 2024 with a new author. Virna Sheard (1865-1943) was a Canadian poet, novelist,and short story writer. Her story captures the spirit of Christmas. https://allpoetry.com/Virna-Sheard Lucinda Ellen who is called Cinders is a young girl who works as a maid. The poor girl is overworked and underpaid and treated in an unkindly manner by …

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 …

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 …

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 …