Death in a Pheasant's Eye

 Death in a Pheasant's Eye (1971) by James Fraser (Alan White)

Detective Superintendent Bill Aveyard, one of the youngest of his rank, is faced with an interesting problem on Guy Fawkes Night. No one seems to be missing from the village, but there's a man's body sewn into the Guy's clothes and sitting atop the Guy Fawkes bonfire. If a pair of keen eyes in the crowd hadn't noticed it before the fire took hold, the body would have been unrecognizable....something someone was probably counting on. At first the villagers suggest that the body might be Brian Sharpe--a man who was supposed to be in London, but maybe he never made it there? When Brian shows up safe and sound, Aveyard and his team must try to figure out who would have killed a stranger and substituted them for the Guy. Things become more interesting when the medical examiner discovers cactus spines embedded in the victim's hands. How and where could that have happened?

Meanwhile, a young ne'er-do-well was caught in the act of stealing lead tiles from the vicarage. But before the police can come and question him, he disappears--without pants or shoes on a bitterly cold November night. There has also been a spate of thieving by a thief with a taste for Victoriana and the poaching of the squire's pheasants. Are these things connected? And if so, how? But when a young wife is killed by an arsenic injection...delivered through a hypodermic hidden in a chair, Aveyard begins to wonder if there is more than one culprit in the village. And...was that dose of arsenic really intended for Helen Robinson or for her husband Stanley? Because the chair in question seems to be more of a man's chair. 

So...I read this one back in 1991 (long before blogging) and wasn't terribly impressed. My logging of books at the time was limited to star ratings only (just two awarded) and I had no memory of the book at all. When I spied this Walker & Co edition at Half Price Books a few years ago, I decided to give it another try. Having done so, I think I know what put me off last time--Fraser's writing style. He jumps around in the story a lot and we get so many different viewpoints that it's difficult to get a rhythm going. And some of the brief scenes are so abrupt that they don't make a great deal of sense. He also, very annoyingly, veers back and forth between present and past tense for no apparent reason.

But I do have a greater appreciation for the characters. Superintendent Aveyard and his Sergeant Jim Bruton are a great team. I really wish that we had stuck with them more because those scenes are well done. Aveyard has a great deal of compassion for the suspects and perpetrators and, though an outsider to the village, seems to quickly get the measure of each person. It's easy to see why he has moved quickly up the ranks. The plot is interesting and the reveal on who the identity of the first victim is a nice twist, though I could have done with a few more clues. There are a couple but they're not big enough to give the reader everything they need to reach a full solution. Overall, a solid read which could have been better had the style been more fluid. ★★★

First line: Harry Greaves poured paraffin over the wood; when the can was nearly empty he jerked it upwards, trying to splash the effigy of Guy Fawkes at the top of the pyre.

Last line: When the arsenic took effect he jerked upright in the first spasm of pain: the chair in which he had been sitting toppled over, and his hands clutched a Chrysanthemum and the Cleistocactus Straussii as he fell across the staging of the greenhouse, then rolled to the floor.
*****************

Deaths = 5 (two natural; one bonfire; two poisoned)

The Rising Tide

 The Rising Tide (2022) by Ann Cleeves

 Every five years for fifty years, a group of friends have met for a reunion stemming from their school days. A young new teacher brought together promising students for an "Only Connect" field trip to Holy Island, an island cut off from the mainland each day at high tide. It was a time to connect as students and friends; to learn more about themselves and each other. Philip, Annie, Rick, Louisa, and Kenny spending a weekend of rituals together--quiet time in the chapel, meals prepared a certain way and always by Annie, telling the same stories over and over, and each year learning one more new thing about one of them. 

After the way their first reunion ended, it's kind of surprising that they still get together. There was an argument between Rick and Isobel, older sister to Louisa and a member of the Only Connect group. Isobel stormed off in her car, headed for the mainland. But the tide was rising and she didn't make it. It was put down as an accident--a young woman driving too fast across the causeway with water making everything slick. 

Now, fifty years later, Rick's "new thing" for the group is the revelation that he's writing a novel based on real life. Is it based on his life in the limelight? Up till recently, he'd been a celebrity on television. But his ratings had been dropping and then sexual misconduct allegations forced the show to fire him. Is he going to use fiction to tell his side of the story? But certain comments made during the course of the evening seem to indicate that the events he has in mind may relate to his "connection" friends. When he's found hanging in his bedroom the next morning in what might have been taken for suicide, Inspector Vera Stanhope soon realizes they are dealing with murder. But who needed Rick to die and why? Vera has a feeling that the events of fifty years ago are important, but every question seems to lead to a dead end. Until a conversation late in the investigation shows Vera what they all had been missing.

This is the first Vera Stanhope book I've read (yes, jumping in late to the series--but it doesn't seem to have hurt my enjoyment or understanding of the book). Cleeves does another great job with setting and character in this outing. The island has an almost mystical quality and the fog plays an important role just as it did in her book Thin Air which I read earlier this month. The group of friends is portrayed as a tight-knit bunch, but we soon know that they all are keeping things back and have secrets--not just from the police, but from each other as well. Cleeves does well with her red herrings--within the group and with various motives and suspects outside the group. I changed my mind several times about who did it and when Vera went to what I thought was her final interview, I thought I had landed on the right one. 

Spoiler Alert: I didn't. So, well done, Ann Cleeves. An enjoyable mystery (except for that final death--I'm not a fan of that one) and now I believe I need to go back to the beginning and work my way forward. ★★★★

First line: Philip was the first of the group to the island.

There was no point, she'd learned, in raging against the inevitable, and incompetent bosses seemed to be inevitable. (p. 221)

Last lines: Then she got into her Land Rover and drove back to her cottage in the hills to grieve in her own way. There, she could howl to her heart's content.
*********************

Deaths = 4 (one drowned; two smothered; one hit on head)

The Last Bookshop in London

 The Last Bookshop in London (2021) by Madeline Martin

Grace Bennett and her best friend Viv (Vivienne) head to London in 1939 when Britain is on the brink of war. Grace was forced out of her childhood home when her mother died and her uncle enforced his rights to the house. She tried to live with him and his family as well as to work in his shop for a while, but it just didn't work out. She's come to London hoping to find work. Fortunately, her mum's best friend Mrs. Weatherford has offered her and Viv a room for free while they look for work. Unfortunately, Grace's uncle refused to write her a reference for her good work at his shop (miffed that she "abandoned" him) and she doesn't know who would take on a girl without references.

Not to worry--Mrs. Weatherford has a way of managing things and soon convinces Mr. Evans, owner of Primrose Hill Books, to take Grace on as an assistant. He isn't particularly enthusiastic and seems, at best, very gruff. Both he and Grace are very set on the agreement that she will spend only six months with him--long enough to get experience and, hopefully, a glowing recommendation that will help her get a job at Harrod's (where Viv, with a forged reference--she did offer to do one for Grace, but was declined--now works). But over the coming months, Grace learns to love books--thanks initially to a handsome young man named George Anderson--and to love the bookshop as well. She helps Mr. Evans make several adjustments to the shop that bring in more customers and as the months go by she begins to dread the end of her six month stint. 

Meanwhile, Hitler's army invades Poland and Britain and France declare war on Germany. Colin, Mrs. Weatherford's gentle, animal-loving son, is called up to serve. George also joins up in the RAF. The Blitz begins over England and Viv signs up with the ATS, working in the radar rooms at first and later helping with the anti-aircraft guns which worked to protect London during the air raids. Grace divides her time between the bookshop and serving as an air raid warden. Eventually, her two jobs blend as she begins reading novels to those waiting out the air raids in the London underground in her district.

This is a story about love, friendship, hope, and resilience in the face of war, danger and loss. It was inspired by the few London bookstores which survived the relentless bombing during the Blitz. And Martin works her research into her writing, creating a very realistic look at life during the bombing of London. I love a good story that revolves around books. I love a good historical novel and World War II is one of my favorite time periods. The only thing that could have made the story better for me (being a mystery junkie) would have been a good mystery to solve in the middle of it all. But I enjoyed Martin's style and found her characters engaging an relatable. An outstanding read. ★★★★★

First line: Grace Bennett had always dreamed of someday living in London.

Last line: It was everything and everyone coming together as a community, drawn by the power of literature, that truly made her love of books complete and what put the heart into Evans & Bennett--or as some of her long-time patrons still referred to it, The Last Bookshop in London.

Murder Every Monday

 

 

 

Kate at Cross Examining Crime hosts a fun mystery cover game on Instagram called Murder Every Monday. Our assignment, should we choose to accept it, is to display book covers and titles from books you own that meet prompts which she posts well in advance (see link). I've been participating for quite some time on Instagram and I have decided to post here as well.

 

Today's theme is covers or titles with candles. Click on pictures to see all three covers.

 

The Case of the Crooked Candle ~Erle Stanley Gardner

The House of a Thousand Candles ~Meredith Nicholson

Death Lights a Candle ~Phoebe Atwood Taylor 

 

The D.A. Holds a Candle ~Erle Stanley Gardner

The Candle Shop Mystery ~Eileen Hill

The Sign of the Twisted Candles ~Carolyn Keene 

 

Candleshoe ~Michael Innes

Our Second Murder ~Torrey Chanslor

Lonesome Road ~Patricia Wentworth 

 

Mrs. Jeffries & the Feast of St. Stephen ~Emily Brightwell

Blood from a Stone ~Ruth Sawtell Wallis

Murder in Mesopotamia ~Agatha Christie

 

The Golden Box ~Frances Crane

The Happy Birthday Murder ~Lee Harris

Mistletoe Mysteries ~Charlotte Macleod (collected by)

 

Murder at Plum's ~Amy Myers

You'll Die Laughing ~Margaret J. Grove

Sleep No More ~Margaret Erskine

Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine 32nd Anniversary Issue

 Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine 32nd Anniversary Issue (March 1973) by Ellery Queen, ed 

Still making my way through the batches of the mystery magazine. You would think that a grand anniversary issue might pull out all the stops with quality, but we've got another mid-range issue with a mix of good and not-so-good. I love the Marsh story (even though I wish she hadn't killed off Timothy Bates). And other good mysteries include "How to Trap a Crook," "The Gold Medal Caper," and "Captain Leopold Gets Angry." The Ron Goulart story is fun--but not really much of a mystery and the rest are pretty meh. ★★★

"Chapter & Verse" by Ngaio Marsh: Timothy Bates, a New Zealand bookman who had become friends with Alleyn when the inspector was in that country, arrives in England with an old Bible with odd inscriptions. Alleyn is not at home & Bates tells Troy that he's got something a bit in Alleyn's line...but he dies in a fall from the church tower before Alleyn gets home.  [four fell to their death] (Can I just say that I'm a little disgruntled at how Marsh bumps off charming friends of Alleyn's--first Bunchy in Death in a White Tie and now Bates, who is a lovely little bookseller.)

"Bread Upon the Waters" by Robert Edward Eckels: A con man helps a younger man realize a greater return on his inheritance.

"The Biological Clock" by Isaac Asimov: Mario Gonzalo, one of the Black Widowers, relates a story about the murder of his sister. Her death was ascribed to junkies breaking into the house and he doesn't dispute that. He just wanted to talk about the odd feeling he had that day, but Henry, the waiter with a flair for detection, sees a different solution. [one stabbed] 

"Stand & Deliver" by John Dickson Carr: Carr's short essay on real-life highway men in 17th & 18th centuries.  [three hanged; one shot]

"The Cornish Mystery" by Agatha Christie: Mrs. Pengelley suspects that she might be a victim of steady poisoning. But she's not sure. She thinks it might be her husband who is doing the poisoning. But, again, she's not sure. She asks Poirot to investigate...and then she dies. Did her husband really poison her? [one poisoned]

"The Baby Spoon" by Patricia Highsmith: The story of an English professor, his wife, a starving poet (from a real garrett, no less), and a missing baby spoon.  [one hit on head]

"Lobster Shift" by R. R. Irvine: A newsman on the "lobster shift" (late night babysitting of the news tickertape machine--where journalists in the doghouse get sent) finds himself in the middle of a RFK-style assassination plot. [one shot]

"Thomas Wolfe & the Tombstone Mystery" by Theodore Mathieson: A historical mystery about Thomas Wolfe and the revenge that followed him--one tombstone at a time. [one  suicide; one complications from pneumonia]

"How to Trap a Crook" by Julian Symons: Francis Quarles provides a very simple example of how to trap a crook who dabbles in the arts.

"The Gold Medal Caper by Ron Goulart:  A really fun parody of tough guy, noir mysteries. Best first line I've read in a long time: It had probably been a mistake killing the engineer because now there was nobody to make the train go. [one shot; lots more deaths, but Goulart couldn't be bothered to give any of them names]

"Fifty Years After" by Anthony Gilbert: Vicky Gaye got herself in "trouble" in the Victorian era and then was found dead. It was labeled a suicide, but the housemaid and Vicky's former governess meet 50 years later and realize that Vicky didn't do it herself. [one poisoned; two natural]

"Captain Leopold Gets Angry" by Edward D. Hoch: Captain Leopold gets really angry when crooks kidnap children. But he gets even angrier when they kill old men who try to protect children. [one hit on head; one burned alive]

First line (1st story): When the telephone rang, Troy came in, sun-dazzled, from the garden to answer it, hoping it would be a call from London.

Last lines (last story): "No," Leopold agreed. "I guess it didn't."

Kill the Boss Good-by

 Kill the Boss Good-by (1956) by Peter Rabe

The boss, in this case mob boss Tom Fell, has disappeared. No one seems to know where he's gone and his second-in-command, Pander, wants to make the business his own. But if that's his goal, why is he letting things fall apart? The cops are getting cocky and making raids--that would never have happened under Fell. 

We find out mid-way that Fell, a borderline psychotic, had checked himself in for a "rest cure." When his most trusted lieutenant (not Pander) comes to give him a report on business (not good), he declares himself cured and checks himself out of the clinic. But the ruinous results of Pander's "leadership" threatens to push Fell completely over the psychotic border and anyone who tries to stop him from regaining control over his empire of vice may see just what a psychotic rage looks like.

So....this is definitely not my usual thing. The book was part of an allotment of books I bought on eBay (along with vintage mysteries I was actually in search of...) and, being the bookworm I am, decided to keep it and give the story a try. Again...this is not my usual thing. I'm not a big fan of noir or crime syndicate type stories. Shoot-em-ups among gangsters with no real mystery involved just don't do it for me. There is an interesting look at Fell's character and descent into madness, but that's about all this has going for it. ★

First line: For a town of three hundred thousand, San Pietro looked very dead, but it was noon and it was out of season.

Last line: She sat like that, as if she were waiting to cry.
*****************

Deaths = two shot

 

Terrace Story

 Terrace Story (2023) by Hilary Leichter

Synopsis from book flap: Annie, Edward, and their young daughter, Rose, live in a cramped apartment. One night, without warning, they find a beautiful terrace hidden in their closet. It wasn't there before, and it seems to only appear when their friend Stephanie visits. A city dweller's dream come true! But every extra bit of space has a hidden cost, and the terrace sets off a seismic chain of events, forever changing the shape of their tiny home, and the shape of the world.

Terrace Story follows the characters who suffer these repercussions and reverberations: the little family of three, their future now deeply uncertain, and those who orbit their fragile universe. The distance and love between these characters expands limitlessly, across generations. How far can the mind travel when it's looking for something that is gone? Where do we put our loneliness, longing, and desire? What do we do with the emotions that seem to stretch beyond the body, beyond the boundaries of life and death?

Based on the National Magazine Award-winning story, Hilary Leichter's profound second novel asks how we nurture love when death looms over every moment. From one of our most innovative and daring writers, Terrace Story is an astounding meditation on loss, a reverie about extinction, and a map for where to go next.

This is described above as a second novel. It feels nothing like a novel to me. It reads like a series of loosely related short stories--related because people mentioned in the very first one appear in later stories (not all every time). We jump around in time and the book has a very disjointed feel even though the final story does bring us around full circle. I don't mind time travel stories and I don't mind stories with a message--as the blurb implies this has. But I do like to feel as though I understand the characters and what's going on. The conversations between Annie and Edward make zero sense to me about 80-90% of the time, so I didn't connect with them as much as I would have liked.

I was very intrigued by the concept in the first story...which is where the idea of the hidden terrace is explored. I think if the rest of the book had fleshed that out in a more concrete way I would have enjoyed it a lot more. ★★ and 1/2. 

First line (1st story): The old window gave a grand view of yellow tree, trunk to branch.

Last lines (last story): Then the ship tilted away. Toward what, she could not guess.

Murder Every Monday

 

 

 

 

Kate at Cross Examining Crime hosts a fun mystery cover game on Instagram called Murder Every Monday. Our assignment, should we choose to accept it, is to display book covers and titles from books you own that meet prompts which she posts well in advance (see link). I've been participating for quite some time on Instagram and I have decided to post here as well.

 

Today's theme is titles with literary allusions.

 

Nothing Like Blood ~Leo Bruce [Vanity Fair by Thakeray]

The Mirror Crack'd ~ Agatha Christie ["The Lady of Shalott" by Tennyson]

Clouds of Witness ~Dorothy L. Sayers [Hebrews 12:1]

 

Cold Bed in the Clay ~Ruth Sawtell Wallis [Medea by Euripedes]

A Guilty Thing Surprised ~Ruth Rendell ["Ode on Intimations of Immortality from Recollections of Early Childhood" by Wordsworth]

Sound of Revelry ~Octavus Roy Cohen [Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage, Canto iii. Stanza 21 by Lord Byron]

And Be a Villain ~Rex Stout [Hamlet by Shakespeare]

 

 

Thin Air

 Thin Air (2014) by Ann Cleeves

A group of friends from college go to Unst in Shetland, the northernmost point in the UK, to celebrate the hamefarin (homecoming/reception) of one of their group. After a London wedding ceremony, Eleanor Longstaff and Polly, along with husband Ian Longstaff and partner Marcus (respectively), are on hand when Caroline Lawson and Malcolm Lowrie go to Malcolm's home in Shetland to continue the festivities. The foursome rent a cottage and plan to make a holiday week of it. Eleanor is a television director who is planning a show about why/how smart people believe in ghosts (to put it simply). Unst has its own ghost--Peerie Lizzie, a young girl who was drowned decades ago and whose appearance foretells either pregnancy or death. Eleanor claims to have seen the ghost and then she disappears the night of the hamefarin. Her body is found later lying face up in a shallow pool of water--arranged as if for a painting.

Detective Jimmy Perez and his superior officer Willow Reeves are sent to investigate and stay at an inn owned by a former magician and his partner. There are plenty of secrets to uncover and it's difficult to determine if the killer is one of the London outsiders or one of the island's inhabitants. Then they discover that Eleanor had already made contact with some of the inhabitants about the ghost and had recorded the interviews...and the recorder is missing. After Jimmy finds the recorder among the things belonging to the former magician. When the magician is killed as well, Jimmy begins to wonder if the case is somehow connected to that long ago drowning. As with most things in life, it's a little more complicated than that.

As with the previous Jimmy Perez book I read, the setting is just as much a character as the people in the book and at times more so than some of them. The fog coming down regularly gives the island an even more secluded feel than its location. When the characters walk along the coast you feel like you're right there with them and when Polly follows the girl who looks just like the ghost and then gets disoriented in the fog you feel lost as well. Cleeves uses various characters' points of view to give a very full picture of the place. The characters are solid as well, though I would have enjoyed it if Ian and Marcus had been fleshed out a bit more. 

My biggest quibble is with the murderer's motive. I can definitely see that motive as valid for a certain type of person. But I don't think the interactions with that character and what we learn about them through others' points of view give us enough substance to have figured that motive out on our own. Given what we find out along the way I don't see how the murderer could have misinterpreted the situation in the way they did...a misinterpretation that spurred them on to murder. And to murder not once, but twice. Based on that information the second murder is even less logical than the first.

But overall, a good mystery with good characters and sense of place. ★★★ and 3/4.

First lines: The music started. A single chord played on fiddle and accordion, a breathless moment of silence when the scene was fixed in Polly's head like a photograph, and then the Meoness community hall was jumping.

Last line: And the whole island was there to meet them.

******************

Deaths = 3( one drowned; two hit on head)

Reading Up a Storm

 Reading Up a Storm (2016) by Eva Gates

Lucy Richardson, a librarian at Bodie Island's Lighthouse Library, has helped host a surprise party to celebrate her boss's tenure at the library. Bertie James has worked there ten years. The party goes off without a hitch, but due to a gathering storm in the Outer Banks the festivities are cut short. Lucy has snuggled down in her apartment above the library floors all set to read more chapters of Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson when she notices lights out on the rolling waves. Surely no one would be out on a boat in this weather...Then she notices more lights onshore, bobbing as if they were attached to moored boats. Not sure of what she's seeing, she calls the Coast Guard and alerts them.

Next morning she learns that William Williamson, a former inhabitant of Nag's Head (the little town on Bodie Island) who made good in the oil fields of Alaska and has just recently come home, and his fiancee Marlene Bergen, were out on a boat which came apart in the storm. They survived the ordeal only long enough for Williamson to found dead in another boat the next morning. But this is no accident...someone stabbed him and left him to die. Lucy finds herself involved when one of her friends comes under suspicion. 

Stephanie Stanton, a lawyer in Raleigh is home caring for her mother who was recently in an accident, had just recently discovered that Williamson was the father who had abandoned her mother when he realized his little fling had resulted in a pregnancy. The detective in charge of the case reasons that Stephanie could have killed out of resentment, revenge, or even the hope of inheritance. Lucy is sure her friend didn't do it and starts an investigation of her own. It doesn't take long to discover that Williamson wasn't precisely what he seemed and had a knack for creating enemies wherever he went. But who really wanted him dead?

I enjoy a good cozy mystery as much as the next cozy mystery reader. And I fully expected to enjoy this one--set in library set up in a lighthouse? Sounds great. Librarian amateur detective? You bet. Working in the dark and stormy night theme? Why not? Unfortunately, I didn't enjoy this as much as I thought I would. I didn't take to Lucy at all. She has an incredible knack for saying all the wrong things at the wrong time. She's not particularly intuitive and not really much of a detective. In fact, there's not a whole lot of detecting going on at all. Things just...happen. She continually gets maneuvered into situations and actions that she doesn't want because she doesn't seem to have a backbone and/or to know the word "No." Don't even talk to me about her interactions with Louise Jane (whose character is the most pointless in the book as far as I'm concerned). Lucy's dilemma with being attracted to two men (who are, of course, both attracted to her) wasn't particularly interesting and her sudden epiphany about which one she really loves seemed to come out of nowhere. But I wasn't convinced that it was a solid epiphany because about a chapter later she's thinking about how attractive the dead man's son is. And, gee, he's interested in her too. (Is every single male? that's what I'm thinking at this point.) 

The mystery was decently set up but I would have appreciated better clues and better detection. ★★

First lines: It was a dark and stormy night.
                  I've always wanted to say that.

Last line: "A haunted lighthouse, of course."
*******************

Deaths = one stabbed

Nothing Like Blood

 Nothing Like Blood (1962) by Leo Bruce (Rupert Croft-Cooke)

Mrs. Helena Gort, a friend of Carolus Deene's mother, brings him a tale of disturbing incidents in a guesthouse by the sea. Helena has gone to Cat's Cradle in search of a quiet place to work on a revision of one of her books. ber friends had stayed there the year before and described it as a quite, charming little house. But when she arrived she found a disturbing atmosphere with all of the inhabitants on edge...as if they were expecting something very unpleasant. She learned that a sick, disagreeable woman had recently died. She had been expected to die at any time, so her doctor had no trouble signing a death certificate labeled natural causes. 

Then her will was read and it was revealed that she had disinherited her husband and left all her money to her oldest friend and the Jerrisons, the couple who do the cooking and the odd jobs around the guesthouse. The guests begin looking at one another warily and there is talk that perhaps the death wasn't so natural as it seemed...but nobody wants to get mixed up with the police. They can't avoid it, though, when Sonia Reid goes plunging off her balcony in the high tower room. Witnesses in a boat just off the shore from the house insist that she was all alone on the balcony and that it looked like she just dove off. Was it an accident....or suicide....or maybe murder? 

Helena has kept a diary since her first night at Cat's Cradle and she gives it to Carolus to read. She wants him to come to the house and investigate because she believes something very nasty is going on...and after he finishes the diary, Carolus is sure she is right. But will he be able to untangle the clues in time to prevent another unpleasant death?

Here's another of my academic-adjacent mysteries with Carolus Deene, history instructor at a boys' school who gets involved in mysteries as a side-gig. Sometimes because of his own curiosity, sometimes because he just happens to be there, and sometimes because friends invite him to the mystery party. I know among the Leo Bruce readers out there that Sgt. Beef is favored over Deene, but I have my soft spot for academic sleuths and generally I like the Deene books better. This one is a little rougher on the edges--more suspense, a bit more sinister, and Mrs. Mallister (the first to die) is really a quite nasty old woman. The mystery is good and solid and this was a quick read, so ★★★ for a solid mystery. But not my all-time favorite Deene book.

First line: "The Coroner's Inquest called it suicide," said Mrs. Gort.

Last line: "It was a star performance," said Carolus, and it was his last comment on the affair.
******************

Deaths = 2 (one poisoned; one fell from height)

Murder on Monday

 

 

 

Kate at Cross Examining Crime hosts a fun mystery cover game on Instagram called Murder Every Monday. Our assignment, should we choose to accept it, is to display book covers and titles from books you own that meet prompts which she posts well in advance (see link). I've been participating for quite some time on Instagram and it just occurred to me that I could also post here.

This past Monday's theme was cover with a space them (or title with space-themed words in) e.g. Moon, Rocket, Astronauts, etc. And my contributions:

Bimbos of the Death Sun ~Sharyn McCrumb; Shoot at the Moon ~William F. Temple; Mystery of the Mooncusser ~Eleanor M. Jewett

The Man in the Moonlight ~Helen McCloy; The Rising of the Moon ~Gladys Mitchell; Error of the Moon ~Sara Woods

The Hijacked Moon ~Thomas Brace Haughey; The Moonstone ~Wilkie Collins; Doom in the Midnight Sun ~Eunice Mays Boyd

Death Among the Sunbathers ~E. R. Punshon; Gently in the Sun ~Alan Hunter; Death in a Sunny Place ~Richard Lockridge

The Naked Sun ~Isaac Asimov; Murder, Murder, Little Star ~Marian Babson; Death in the Stars ~Frances Brody

Death Among the Stars ~Kenneth Giles; Bullet for a Star ~Stuart M. Kaminsky; Falling Star ~Patricia Moyes

Blood on the Stars ~Brett Halliday; The Stars Spell Death ~Jonathan Stagge; Rocket to the Morgue ~Anthony Boucher

The Firebird Rocket ~Franklin W. Dixon; The Case of the Colonist's Corpse ~Bob Ingersoll & Tony Isabella; The Vulcan Academy Murders ~Jean Lorrah

Pieces of Justice

 Pieces of Justice (1994) by Margaret Yorke

Lots of bossy women and domineering men who get their just desserts. Lots of couple on cruises and holidays who aren't really enjoying each other's company. A theme of unhappy and childless marriages. Lots of relationships that aren't as good as they should be or as good as they appear. There are those who receive sweet relief and those who don't quite get the relief they expected. This collection is billed as "short stories of suspense" and while there are many suspenseful tales and some murderous stories there are several here that don't really fill the bill as far as I'm concerned. No mystery, no suspense--just stories of people who don't really like each other. Margaret Yorke doesn't seem to have thought much of the institution of marriage--whether longstanding arrangements or an impending ceremony. 

A great number of these stories are morally ambiguous and there are a few where I disagree heartily with the outcomes. But one thing Yorke does do is make you think. Her themes here are on justice and cause & effect. What may seem like justice to you or me, isn't necessarily the justice she metes out in her stories. But who decides, in the end, what justice is? The best of the bunch "Means to Murder" and the finale, "Greek Tragedy." The rest are variable. ★★ and 1/2.

"The Liberator": An older woman on holiday decides to become an avenging angel, dispatching men and women who have become too big a burden on others...until someone turns the tables.[one stabbed; one motor accident; one poisoned]

"It's Never Too Late": Sometimes revenge doesn't have to be violent.

"Always Rather a Prig": After a reunion of her old girls, a schoolmistress is disappointed in the way a few of them have turned out. She does what she can to set things right. [one in war; one drowned]

"I Don't Believe in Santa Claus": Neither Timmy nor Janet want to go the the Christmas party, but Santa has a surprise in store for them.

"The Reckoning": Ellen has had enough of Maurice's over-bearing ways and decides to kill him off on the day he reaches his allotted "three score and ten." [one natural one gassed; one wasp sting reaction]; 

"Such a Gentleman": Phyllis's godson had always been such a gentleman. Could such a gentleman kill?[3 natural; one war; one strangled]

"A Time for Indulgence": What should a meek woman do if she discovers her husband is a predatory killer? Our narrator knows and says she's going to do it.... 

"Fair & Square": Mrs. Ford can't stand to see her old flame's daughter being "managed" by the overbearing woman who stole Michael away from her. [2 natural; one fell from height]

"The Fig Tree": Thirty years ago our narrator schemed her way into marriage with Bernard--cutting out Teresa. When they meet up with Teresa while on holiday, one of them isn't coming back... 

"A Woman of Taste":  A woman on a cruise with her domineering husband is shown what she really is by a sketch artist.

"Mountain Fever": After years of bowing to his wife's wishes to go to the beach on holiday, things finally fall in place for Bob to go to the mountains. [one heart attack; one hit on head; one snake bite]

"The Wrath of Zeus": A man with a keen interest in Greek mythology is on holiday with his less-than-beloved wife. When an angry sea comes up while they are both swimming, he believes that the god of the sea is going to answer his prayer for relief. [one drowned; one heart attack]

"A Sort of Pride": While on a trip to Greece, Dolly finds out that her husband has secret in his past. [one drowned]

"Gifts from the Bridegroom": A man decides to forego the planned wedding ceremony and head for parts unknown. His plan affects an equally unhappy married man...

"Anniversary": Mavis endured three years with a wealthy old man...looking forward to the day when she would inherit and be ready to travel and do all the things she always wanted to do. After a seemly year of mourning, her bags are packed and she'll be ready to leave in the morning. Or will she? [one poisoned]

"The Mouse Will Play": Mrs. Bellew has come down in the world--moving from a large home to a small house in a commuter village. Her supposedly prosperous husband having left behind nothing but debts upon his death. To fill the time that once was taken up playing hostess to his business associates and maintaining their spacious home, she begins to take notes on her neighbor's activities... and sending appropriate anonymous notes... [one heart attack]

"The Breasts of Aphrodite": Lionel wants nothing more than to destroy all evidence of his wife's wanton behavior while on holiday. [one feel from height]

"The Luck of the Draw": Carmen can't believe her luck when she wins a drawing for a free cruise. But her luck isn't quite the same when the boat returns to England. [one in the war]

"Means to Murder": It isn't until years later that our narrator discovers what really happened to his mother that New Year's Eve of long ago. But it's never too late for justice. [2 natural; one thrown from horse; one natural; one poisoned]

"A Small Excitement": About one's man's effort at justice for the woman he harmed through their affair. [one suffocated; one fell from height]

"Widow's Might": Another self-appointed assassin taking out people deemed worthy of execution. These widows are pretty dangerous.... [one heart attack; 2 more natural; one fell from height]

"The Last Resort": Lois makes plans to escape her abusive husband...little knowing he has plans of his own. [two blown up; one natural; one hit on head]

"Greek Tragedy": Patrick Grant, Yorke's recurring sleuth, takes a cruise and finds that murder can travel a long way. [2 shot; one drowned]

First line (1st story): My mercy mission began in Italy.

Last lines (Last story): ...but she had made a statement. She had made another now. And in Sevenoaks.

Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine Feb 1965

 Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine Feb 1965 by Ellery Queen (ed)

Continuing my journey through EQMMs that I've accumulated over the past ten years and we have another mixed bag. The stories that are good are very good--"My Ladies Tears," "A Stroke of Genius," "The Mysterious Mr. Smith," "Into Thin Air," and "Do Not Choose Death" but the rest are pretty meh. I'm guessing there's a reason I was unfamiliar with the Poe story (despite having what I thought was a volume of all his work) and I have the feeling that I've read the Robert L. Fish Holmes pastiche before and was just as unimpressed then as I am now. And "How to Break out of Sing Sing" and "The Gag of the Century" don't seem to me to be mysteries at all--though I guess we could stretch a point for "Sing Sing" since it does involve crooks. ★★★ for the collection overall.

"The Case for Miss Peacock" by Charlotte Armstrong: A retired librarian who reads a lot of mysteries finds it more difficult to prove her innocence in an armed robbery case that one might expect--but she's not all that upset about it.

"My Ladies Tears" by Christianna Brand: When Don Juan decides to dismiss his mistresses in advance of his impending marriage, he thinks the ladies will be satisfied with tear-drop diamonds as a memento. But at least one of them isn't.... (one shot)

"Fire with Fire" by Richard Lewis: Professor John Garten finds himself in debt to a con man and decides on a unique way to pay off his debt. (one shot)

"Just Meat" by Jack London: Two thieves, a fortune in jewels, and the results when it comes time to divvy up the spoils. They each think they'll get their heart's desire... (one strangled; two poisoned)

"The Adventure of the Big Plunger" by Robert L. Fish: A Sherlock Holmes pastiche featuring Schlock Homes--Schlock's brother Criscroft asks him to investigate the death of Lord Fynch-fframis--who was either pushed out his window or committed suicide. (one fell from height)

"How to Break out of Sing Sing" by Robert Hardin: Loot (a criminal, not a policeman) decides that the best way out of prison is to pretend to get himself reformed. His pals think he's crazy and doesn't have a chance of fooling the shrink.

"A Stroke of Genius" by Victor Canning: Lancelot and Horace pull off a perfectly good robbery. The cops don't suspect them of a thing...until Lancelot takes up painting.

"The Mysterious Mr. Smith" by James M. Ullman: Ted Bennett is hired by a pre-fab home builder to find out why a Mr. Joe Smith is masquerading as one of the company's salesmen. (one fell from height)

"A Tale of the Ragged Mountains" by Edgar Allan Poe: An odd, dream-like story of life, death, and reincarnation. [one shot by arrow]

"The Gag of the Century" by William Bankier: The lengths some guys have to go to in order to get paid for writing gags for Windy Winter....

"Into Thin Air" by Helen McCloy: A bank president has absconded with $380,000 and somehow manages to disappear (with the cash) while in mid-flight aboard a private plane. (one strangled)

"Hit & Run" by Neil M. Clark: When Vic has a couple of  "small ones" and hits someone who rushes out on a bicycle in front of him, he knows better than to stop and help...just look what happened to Jim when he hit that old lady who stumbled out in front of him... (one hit by car)

"Do Not Choose Death" by Charles B. Child: The wife of a famous surgeon is found strangled and the killer has apparently left his fingerprints in lipstick... (one strangled; one hit on head; one shot)

"First Kill" by William Fay: A sensitive story about the first time Office Heidig kills a man in the line of duty. He asks himself, Did he really give the man time to surrender? (one shot)

"The Spinning Wheel" by David Alexander: A pretty playboy gambles on a plan to inherit his older wife's money...only to lose the pot to a more experienced player. (one hit by car; one shot)

First line (1st story): Miss Mary Peacock, wearing her old black coat over her second-best blue dress, and holding her purse very tightly, looked forward to a pleasant afternoon.

Last line (last story): "You and I are going to have a real nice future."

September Reading by the Numbers Reviews

 

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September Virtual Mount TBR Reviews

 

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September Mount TBR Reviews

 

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September Vintage Scavenger Hunt Reviews

 

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