Top Ten (+4) Tuesdays: New Authors 2021

This week in Top Ten Tuesdays hosted @That Artsy Reader Girl, we have been asked to name top ten (or more or less) new authors whom we discovered last year. Well, last year I read a host of new authors from those whom I made a special point to read like Reginald Hill and Shelley …

Malicious: Death at the Wedding by Anne Hocking (1946)

Major William Austen is not happy with his current position in the army. As the war nears its end, he wants to go back to his earlier position in the Scotland Yard. He is currently a top-shot in the espionage department but wants to become a Chief Inspector once again. His friend Andrea tells him …

Review: What Happened At Hazelwood

What Happened At Hazelwood by Michael InnesMy rating: 4 of 5 stars Only Innes can conjure up such make-belief and make it convincing."Sweet Helen, make me immortal with a kiss..."First Line: Nobody could have predicted just what has happened at Hazelwood, and at the moment it appears as if nobody can elucidate it either.Pages: 237Source: …

Five Vintage Mysteries

With time at a premium - just where did this year DISAPPEAR? - I am writing short reviews of golden age mysteries read this year.THE HOLE IN THE WALL (1902)Arthur Morrison (1863-1945) was an English novelist and journalist. The Hole in the Wall is an interesting crime novel, narrated in part by a child Stephen …

Short Reviews: Kartography, Murder Among Friends, Too Many Cooks

With time being at a premium nowadays and the review pile towering up, I have decided to write short reviews for the books read.KARTOGRAPHY (OR HOW TO BE FRIENDS WITH YOUR EX AND HIS/ HER SPOUSE) by KAMILA SHAMSIEI first discovered Kamila Shamsie in the late Nineties when I read her book Salt and Saffron. …

Napoleon’s agents in Regency England: Georgette Heyer’s The Reluctant Widow

Blame it on Yvette! There I was thinking that I was through with Georgette Heyer and her Regency romances but she wrote one interesting post after another so that finally I caved in, picked up one, and read it at one go (though the review is much delayed) . To my surprise, The Reluctant Widow …

Forgotten Book: The King’s General by Daphne du Maurier

A middle-aged Honor Harris is visited by two young men of her acquaintance who appraise her of various happenings around the world even as the Lord Protector, Oliver Cromwell, rules over England. Then one of them asks about the mysterious disappearance of Dick Grenvile and this question sets Honor reminiscencing about the past.I had no …

Satanic Sibilants: John Dickson Carr’s He Who Whispers

'Prof. Rigaud!' called Miles. He lifted up his voice powerfully. 'Prof. Rigaud!'Again as when the absent one had himself called for a waiter, only the rain gurgled and splashed in the darkness. There was no reply.I had heard a lot about John Dickson Carr's The Three Coffins and so borrowed it from a friend and …