Clippings from the Past: Ask a Policeman by E.C.R. Lorac (1955)

Ron Stanforth, a young author, looking around for inspiration, chances to see a woman who seems to have stepped straight out of the Edwardian era. Fascinated by her attire and deportment and carriage, Roy asks the lady if he could help her in any way. The lady informs him that she is one Mary Moffat …

Short Notes: Death of a Stray Cat by Jean Potts (1955)

Marcella Eweing's body is found in the house of bookseller Alex Blair. As the chief of police, Ed Fuller, investigates he finds that Marcella had a string of lovers including Alex. This comes as a shock to Alex's wife Gen who leaves him while she tries to come to terms with Alex's infidelity. Meanwhile more …

Fiction and Non-Fiction

Loneliness might well be the greatest disease of human kind. Brian Moore's The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne is a deeply moving book about a middle-aged woman in post-war Belfast. Living in rented rooms, dealing with the fact that there is hardly anybody concerned about her, trying to find solace in religion and struggling with alcoholism, …

Scene of the Crime: Watson’s Choice

The commonest refrain that I heard about Gladys Mitchell in the blogosphere was that "She was an acquired taste." Now, I don't know what "acquired taste" means but there is something off-putting about the phrase, so it was with trepidation that I picked up my first Mitchell: Watson's Choice.I needn't have worried though because the …