There is nothing more satisfying than reading a book while sipping a hot cup of tea.
"Imagination's a good servant but a bad master." Godfrey Martson, secretary and friend to Ernest Prentice and his wife, Olivia, is distressed when he sees their marriage falling apart. His distress increases when he is informed that Olivia has been seeing a lot of Lord Byron-lookalike-actor Carrington Case. When he talks to Olivia about it, … Continue reading The Sark Street Chapel Murder by Thomas Cobb (1930)
Miles Burton is one of the psuedonyms of prolific GAD writer, Cecil John Charles Street, more famously known by another of his pseudonyms, John Rhode. This year I made a calculated effort to read the Burton novels. THE SECRET OF HIGH ELDERSHAM (1930): The first appearance of Burton's detective, Desmond Merrion, the novel begins well … Continue reading Four Novels by Miles Burton
Sometimes you read books which are so popular and talked about that it is difficult to write anything on them. In the past couple of months I read two of Carr's novels: His debut, It Walks by Night featuring his (not-so-popular) series character Henri Bencolin, and The Mad Hatter Mystery, the second in his Dr. … Continue reading Two Books by John Dickson Carr: It Walks by Night (1930) and The Mad Hatter Mystery (1933)
Being a member of the clergy and a writer of mysteries might seem two very different callings but Victor Lorenzo Whitechurch (1868-1933) was both: attached to the Church of England as well as a prolific writer and member of the Detection Club. He is best known today for his stories featuring the Railway Detective Thorpe … Continue reading Forgotten Book: Murder at the Pageant by Victor L. Whitechurch
G.D.H Cole and Margaret Cole were serious minded people. Conscientious Objectors to wars, economists, political theorists, and members of the Fabian Society, they wrote on such weighty subjects as labour and trade unionism wages and work conditions, war and its impact on society; but they also had a light-hearted side that made them write wrote mystery novels dealing with … Continue reading Forgotten Books: The Affair at Aliquid and Burglars in Bucks by G.D.H and Margaret Cole
A sense of impending disaster seemed to have fallen on all present. All remained silent. Watching impatiently while the excavation slowly deepened, French was irresistibly reminded of a similar scene in which he had taken part - on the lonely Yorkshire moors near the ruins of the sinister old house of Starvel. There he had … Continue reading Friday’s Forgotten Books: Sir John Macgill’s Last Journey by Freeman Wills Crofts
a hot cup of pleasure 