#1940 Club: The Great Mistake by Mary Roberts Rinehart & The Hangman’s Whip by Mignon G. Eberhart

As we approach the end of the #1940 Club, here are two American mysteries that I read for the event both of which have for their protagonist, a Miss Abbott. Pat Abbott who has seen her family fortunes plummet down and the death of her parents is happy when she is chosen as secretary by …

#1940 Club: The Disappearance of General Jason by P. C. Wren

Antoinette Jason is at her wit's end. Her husband, General Reginald Jason, once pitted to become the c-in-c of the armed forces in India before filial duty made him resign from his commission and return to England has not been heard of a year and more. Before his leaving England for an adventure of his …

#1940 Club: Jean Villemeur (Troubled Waters) by Roger Vercel

Captain Villemeur is a troubled man. He and his wife, Helene, have tried to give their son, Jean, a college education because they want him to become a gentleman and hold a good office job rather than piloting a deep-sea trawler as the captain does. However, the eighteen year old Jean is now insisting that …

#1940 Club: The Norths Meet Murder by Frances and Richard Lockridge and The So Blue Marble by Dorothy B. Hughes

It is the second day of the #1940 Club and time to look at two debuts. The Norths husband-wife detective duo had long been on my wishlist and when I saw that their career in detection began in 1940, I immediately decided to read it for the club. Mr. North comes home one day, tired …

#1940 Club: At a House Called Hassocks by Marigold Watney

I am starting my journey of the #1940 club - jointly hosted @ Kaggsy's Bookish Ramblings & Stuck in a Book - with a forgotten book: At a House Called Hassocks written by Marigold Watney. Annabel Lee, daughter of the famous painter, Llewhellen Lee, realises upon her father's sudden death that she has been left …

Crammed together: Nine Books

My to-be-reviewed pile for 2022 is long and toppling over. Before I forget all about the books, here are just a couple of lines about nine of them. So in no particular order: Death of a Hollow Man (1987): I had enjoyed Caroline Graham's The Killings at Badger's Drift, the first in her Inspector Barnaby's …

Last Read of 2022: The Twisted Tree by Frank Baker (1935)

Oh, my dear Lord! thought Tansy. What are we all here for at all, if it's nothing but a long walk from cradle to grave? I had wanted to read more of British author Frank Baker since the time I read his intriguing Miss Hargreaves. Finally, I was able to get a copy of his …

Three Black Mysteries: Black Corridors (1940), Black Thumb (1942), and Black Curl (1953)

Australian sisters, Constance and Gwenyth (or Conyth, as they were collectively called) are on the list of my favourite authors and it is always wonderful to come across their books. Earlier, this year, I read The Black Dream and here are three more of their mysteries that I read this year (in the order I …

Great Finds: Murder with Impatience by Robert Verron (1944) and The Cloze Papers by Kenneth Livingston (1936)

It is always great when a book that you pick up randomly from the library shelves without any idea of the title or even the author turns out to be a great read. Here are two such books: Renowned criminologist Kennedy Critchley is planning to spend a few weeks with his cousin in Scotland when …

Post-War: The Writing on the Wall by Herbert Adams (1945)

Sir James Norland, who has risen from a reporter to his present powerful position of a newspaper baron who owns various newspapers and has been knighted for his services is yet not content. What he wants is a title. His grandson would become Marquis of Mellowfont if his son Peter marries Diana who would become …