Last Read of 2020: The Man Who Could Not Shudder by John Dickson Carr (1940)

But most of all you were conscious of the atmosphere you breathed: an odor peculiar to such houses. The story begins, as they often do, in a bar. The story is about a haunted house, up for sale. More than a decade back, an octogenarian butler had leapt up at a chandelier, which fell off …

Five Mysteries of 1940

AUNT BEARDIE by JOSEPH SHEARING Joseph Shearing is one of the pseudonyms of prolific author, Margaret Gabrielle Vere Long, more popularly known by another pseudonym of hers, Marjorie Bowen. Last year, I read her gothic mystery, The Crime of Laura Sarelle, and was blown away. Determined to read more of her, I selected this novel …

Three Non-Fictional Reads

My Life My Rules: Stories of 18 Unconventional Careers by Sonia Golani My first read of the year 2020, the book charts the career of 18 individuals who shrugged off conventional wisdom by leaving highly-paid jobs and taking on something their heart desired: becoming a rock star, a food critic, a cricket commentator, a DJ, …

But a Thought: Miss Hargreaves by Frank Baker (1940)

“Tis to create, and in creating liveA being more intense, that we endowWith form our fancy, gaining as we giveThe life we image, even as I do now.What am I? Nothing: but not so art thou,Soul of my thought!" Lord Byron: Childe Harold: Canto III It was through John's blog Pretty Sinister Books that I …

Dare to Dream: In the Red by Joan Fleming (1961)

My last three reads of Joan Fleming were more or less a disaster and I was in no mood to read another book by her. However, I needed to read just one more book of hers, to partially complete Rick Mills' Six-Shooter Mystery Challenge (if you want to join for the 2021 edition of this …

Four Novels by Miles Burton

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 …

Three Vintage Mysteries

With little time to spare nowadays, here are brief reactions to reading of three mysteries. BATS IN THE BELFRY by E.C.R. LORAC (1937) The question that perplexed me after finishing Lorac's Bats in the Belfry was that how could a novel that began so promisingly, that had me gripped almost its entire length, end on …

In Translation: Three Novels

This year, I read only three books in translation. THE DOGS AND THE WOLVES (LES CHIENS ET LES LOUPS) by IRENE NEMIROVSKY (1940) Ada Sinner, from the wrong side of the fence, has a glimpse of her wealthy cousin, Harry and falls in love with him. This is no childhood infatuation because even in her …

Short Notes: Deadly Nightshade by Elizabeth Daly (1940)

I wasn't too impressed by my first Henry Gamadge: Unexpected Night but also not put-off by the author. I am glad that the second one which again involved wills, children, impersonation, natural and unnatural parents, gypsies, poisoned berries read better than the first one. Rather boldly, I thought, the author also disregarded a literary/ social …

Short Notes: Unexpected Night by Elizabeth Daly (1940)

I had heard about Henry Gamadge series by Elizabeth Daly and decided to begin reading them now. Unfortunately, this first one involving wills and impersonations, actors with marvellous skills, suffering heroines (who are actually insufferable), and a hero who the author is at pains to present as an insignificant normal bloke, didn't impress me much. …