After reading three mysteries by Miles Burton recently, I was able to borrow two mysteries of Cecil John Street's other nom de plume, John Rhode. Death on a Sunday begins in Barleyfield Park, a rather upper-class boarding house that caters to the respectable gentry. There are people who have been knighted, reverends, widows with money... … Continue reading Two Mysteries by John Rhode: Death on Sunday (1939) and Death at the Helm (1941)
Tag: 1939
Last Read of 2021: In Andamans: The Indian Bastille by Bejoy Kumar Sinha (1939)
2021 is not ending on a good note and my last read of the year too was pretty grim in places. The Andamans are a group of islands in the Bay of Bengal off the eastern coast of India. Separated from mainland India, they are still home to the indigenous people who have been here … Continue reading Last Read of 2021: In Andamans: The Indian Bastille by Bejoy Kumar Sinha (1939)
Short Notes: Black Beadle by E.C.R. Lorac (1939)
Conversations, conversations, and still more conversations. I don't think I have ever read a mystery in which there were so many conversations between the various characters. At times, it seemed Lorac was writing a Novel of Ideas rather than a mystery. And the situation is definitely serious. It is 1939 and the Jewish Question is … Continue reading Short Notes: Black Beadle by E.C.R. Lorac (1939)
The House of Hapsburg: The Radetzky March, and Beware of Pity
"During the Serbian Campaign, when, after Potiorek's disastrous defeat, exactly forty-nine men out of our whole regiment, the Colonel's pride, retreated safely across the Save, he stayed behind to the last on the opposite bank; then, feeling that the panic-stricken retreat was a slur on the honour of the army, he did something that only … Continue reading The House of Hapsburg: The Radetzky March, and Beware of Pity
In its 75th Year: And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie
THIS POST CONTAINS SPOILERS SO PLEASE DON'T READ IT IF YOU HAVE BEEN LIVING UNDER A ROCK AND HAVE NOT READ AND THEN THERE WERE NONE.I was in school when I first read And Then There Were None. Agatha Christie was already a great favourite and I was searching for all her books and reading them. … Continue reading In its 75th Year: And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie
Forgotten Books: The Burning Court and The Black Spectacles by John Dickson Carr
You know how it is: You read about a book somewhere, it might be just a passing reference and not a full-fledged review but it intrigues you so much that you want to read the book. So it was that I read a line from The Burning Court @ Classic Mystery Hunt ...and I simply … Continue reading Forgotten Books: The Burning Court and The Black Spectacles by John Dickson Carr
Two Vintage Mysteries: The Secret Agent, and The Town Cried Murder
On 15th February, 1894, two members of the Greenwich Observatory were startled by a 'sharp and clear detonation, followed by a noise like a shell going through the air'. Looking out, they observed the door porter running across the courtyard. Following him, they saw the warden of the Greenwich Park and some school boys, crowding … Continue reading Two Vintage Mysteries: The Secret Agent, and The Town Cried Murder
Forgotten Books: Some Buried Caesar by Rex Stout
I had heard of Rex Stout but had not realised how popular Nero Wolfe was before I started blogging. Last year then I read my first Wolfe: The Mother Hunt. I loved Archie's narrative skills but wasn't too enamoured of Wolfe's detection or the plot. Fellow mystery enthusiast, Rishi Arora @ Classic Mystery Hunt, then … Continue reading Forgotten Books: Some Buried Caesar by Rex Stout
Viola!!! Anthony Gilbert’s The Clock in the Hat-Box
Shadows assumed fantastic proportions around me; the uncertainty of the future made me hear sounds that had no existence but in my own brain; a curtain moved; it might have been twitched aside by an invisible hand...Sometimes, one finds such gems. I had not even heard of Anthony Gilbert till a few weeks ago and then I … Continue reading Viola!!! Anthony Gilbert’s The Clock in the Hat-Box
A is for And Then There Were None
Eight people - strangers to each other - are invited to an island off the Devon coast. On arriving there, they are welcomed not by their hosts -who have unfortunately been delayed but would be joining them the next day - but by the serving couple. Strangely enough, all of them have only a hazy idea … Continue reading A is for And Then There Were None