Two Mysteries by G.D.H. and Margaret Cole

The Coles, Margaret and her husband Douglas, were activists and intellectuals who wrote on weighty subjects but also wrote some 30+ mysteries. Over the years since I first read them, I have read a few more of their books but have been amiss in reviewing them. This week, however, I finished two more of their …

Deadly Lilies: Murder in Bermuda by Willoughby Sharp (1933)

"Well," Jack inquired amiably, "been any murders today?" One of the best ways to travel is through books and thus I was delighted to borrow Murder in Bermuda from the library. Though I have heard of the Bermuda triangle and read a book and seen a movie on it, I have no clear-cut idea about …

Friday’s Forgotten Book: The Album by Mary Roberts Rinehart (1933)

"The terrible domination of the old and helpless..." It is the 1930s. The entire world may be facing the great depression but for five families in the exclusive cul-de-sac called The Crescent life still flows easily with maids (who even remove one's footwear), chauffeurs, laundresses, cooks and other luxuries. Time and manner seemed to be …

Two Books by John Dickson Carr: It Walks by Night (1930) and The Mad Hatter Mystery (1933)

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. …

Death by Request by Katherine and Romilly John (1933)

The first thing that stuck me when I borrowed the book was that it was published by Hogarth Press. That was quite a shocker. Hogarth Press as all of us know was founded by Virginia and Leonard Woolf and I always assumed that it wound up its operation sometime in the middle of the twentieth …

Forgotten Books: Two Novels by Miles Burton

MR. WESTERBY MISSING (1940) Has it ever happened that you have wanted to shake the police-man sleuth in a novel, asking him to wake up? He is one of the finest, an officer of Scotland Yard, and yet why is he so clueless? It happened to me in John Rhode’s The Murders in Praed Street …

Hag’s Nook by John Dickson Carr

Hag's Nook by John Dickson CarrMy rating: 3 of 5 stars The first Dr. Fell. An atmospheric tale with a decent mystery. However, it also revealed to me the problems that I have with Carr. Except for The Burning Court, which I loved, and He Who Whispers, which I hated, I find it difficult to …

Review: The Hog’s Back Mystery by Freeman Wills Crofts

The Hog's Back Mystery by Freeman Wills CroftsMy rating: 3 of 5 stars This review contains SPOILERS. So please do not read it unless you have read the book as this gives away the murderer.Opening Lines: “Ursula! I am glad to see you!” Julia Earle moved forward to the carriage door to greet the tall, …

Reading Challenge: Birth Year 2017

One of the challenges that I am excited to have back is the Birth Year Reading Challenge in which we celebrate the birthyear of either ourselves or a loved one by reading the books published in that particular year.This time round, I am honouring my absolutely wonderful bhuaji (paternal aunt) who recently celebrated her 84th …

Forgotten Books: Three Cases of Perry Mason by Erle Stanley Gardner

There was a time when I eagerly devoured all the Perry Mason books I could lay my hands on. High school, college.. by the time I got my first job, I had read a majority of them. And then for years, I did not read anything by Gardner. This year, seeing a few reviews appearing …