Black Magic: The Hand of Doom by J.M. Walsh (1927)

Grennel and Crammond (I think they have first names too but they never registered and I am too bored to look them up) are two collectors but while Crammond is someone who is generally interested in the antique artifacts that come his way as a way of increasing his knowledge, Grennel is a fence who …

Forgotten Book: Oil! by Upton Sinclair (1927)

Does it surprise you to hear that Big corporate houses fund an election or that industrialists pay bribes on their way to setting up Big empires? If my guess is correct, your answer is also No. These things are so commonplace that one doesn't even bat an eyelid when hearing about them let alone question …

The Man who Disappeared: Franz Kafka’s America

My entry into the bewildering world of Franz Kafka was through The Trial. The book with its story of a man persecuted for a crime he has no inkling of whatsoever was terrifying and apt as an analogy for life. For years, I dreaded picking up a Kafka again lest another facet of this impersonal universe where …

Passion and Poison: The Story of Ivy

All at once she heard sounds just behind her - the sounds made by slippered, shuffling feet.Filled with a sudden shock of sick terror, she turned slowly round to see Roger Gretorex's old charwoman, Mrs. Huntley, standing uncertainly in the middle of the room.The woman had evidently let herself in from the back alley with …