Dead Man Manor

 Dead Man Manor (1935) by Valentine Williams

Mr. Horace "H. B." Treadgold,tailor and partner in a long-established off-Fifth Avenue establishment, has arrived at the remote French-Canadian fishing-camp of St. Florentine, ostensibly for rest and relaxation in the more out-of-the-way place he could find. In reality, a friend of his has told him of a certain Monsieur Ruffier, shop keeper and mayor of the little village, who just might have some fine old stamps that Treadgold could buy for his collection. So, he reserves a cabin at the camp--which he will share with a young doctor by the name of George Wood--and pretends interest in fishing, all the while planning to visit the village at the earliest opportunity to get a look at those stamps.

He asks for walking directions to Ruffier's shop and when told he'd better take his car rather than walk  through the woods as planned. He can't understand why. Apparently, there is an abandoned house in the woods, name of Dead Man Manor, and the locals believe it to be haunted. He pooh-poohs this idea and insists on walking--the brisk exercise and fresh air is just what he needs. What he doesn't need is a nasty-looking character peering at him from the bushes while he's looking at the Manor. He learns later that the man is "One-Eye," a drunken poacher who has appointed himself the overseer of the abandoned Manor. He's sure that anyone who shows an interest in it must be plotting to take it away from its rightful owner, an absent nobleman.

It isn't long before the Manor becomes a focus of attention--to Treadgold, the young doctor, and, eventually...the police. The absent nobleman, an elderly gentleman, and his granddaughter have returned to the house (with no one the wiser), but the gentleman has a bad heart and Dr. Wood winds up treating him. He warns the granddaughter that Seigneur de Remy must stay in bed and be protected from shocks for at least three weeks, but by the next night she has sent for him again because her grandfather got out of bed and collapsed. Seigneur de Remy dies...but he isn't the only dead man in the manor. One of Treadgold's fellow campers, a man named Adams who had a run-in with the drunken tramp, is found dead in another part of the house--stabbed with a triangular-shaped instrument. More deaths follow and as the local officials focus on the poacher as suspect and a young detective from Quebec casts his suspicions on the granddaughter and the de Remy's (either separately or in cahoots), Treadgold suspects that someone else may be subtly directing the official investigation. So, Treadgold decides to conduct his own investigation.

It took me a little bit to get into this one. The opening descriptions of Treadgold, the fishing camp, the locals, and fellow campers are all very good and interesting. And the first chapter or so would make a fine traditional novel. But then he seems to be going for a gothic, spooky vibe here (speaking of the doctor once he hears about the haunted house):

A haunted house! He'd have to see that!...It was dusk and already the bats were skimming between the trees.

Further description of the abandoned house and the dark woods surrounding it, give a definite ghost story feel. It's like Williams wasn't quite sure what he wanted to write yet. Once he settles down to a good, old-fashioned mystery, he does a very good job. There are definitely clues for an observant reader to pick up (I didn't get them all, but I got enough to spot the villain of the piece). Treadgold makes for an intelligent and likeable amateur detective. At one point he strikes a very Holmesian note: pipe, dressing gown, and telling Dr. Wood not to talk to him. "I'm not fit for human society tonight!" This, just before he sits down for a really long think about the case. The romance between Dr. Wood and Mademoiselle de Remy is handled well--integrated into the mystery nicely so it doesn't seem extraneous. Oh and those stamps? You might keep them in mind if you track this one down and decide to read it.  ★★★ and 1/2

First line: The peace of the warm July afternoon rested over the fishing-camp like a benediction.  

...this case puts me in mind of going out to post a letter in a London fog. You stumble along to the letter-box at the corner of the square and when you look for your house again, hey, presto! it's gone. Dim figures loom up--you stop one and find it's somebody who's lost his bearings the same as you. You step aside to avoid a lamp-post and lo and behold! it's a policeman trying to locate his surroundings; you politely address a tall shape confronting you and it's a tree...Now I'm groping in the fog again...all the time I've the sensation that somewhere close at hand, towering through the fog, is a presence, unseen but fully realized... (Mr. Treadgold; p. 197)

Mr. Treadgold chuckled, "I've had all manner of odd experiences in my life," he observed humorously, "but I cannot recall ever having been kissed by a policeman before!" (p. 260)

Last line: With that he closed the book and turned his face, kindly and wise, toward the verandah.
**************

Deaths = 6 deaths [one neck broken; one heart attack; one stabbed; two drowned; one strangled]

The Cat Wears a Noose

 The Cat Wears a Noose (1944) by D. B. Olsen (Dolores Hitchens)

Miss Jennifer Murdock, sister to that intrepid 70-year-old sleuth Miss Rachel, is coming home after a late session of balancing the books for the Parchly Heights Methodist Ladies Aid Society and stops to admire the brilliant silvery moonlight. As she stands in front of her fellow treasurer's house, a drunken man stumbles out of taxi and makes his unsteady way up to the vestibule of the house opposite. The next thing she knows, a shot rings out and the man falls to the ground. She's never liked Miss Rachel's involvement in murder and she's not about to be caught up in one herself--so she takes to her heels [the elderly women in Olsen's books are remarkably spry...] and rushes home...dropping her glasses case behind her.  And on the way she promises herself one thing: 

...that nothing short of death itself could maker her reveal to Rachel the part she had played in that night's terror. For if she were to know, of course Miss Rachel would be in the middle of things at once.

Meanwhile, back at the Murdock house, Miss Rachel has a late-night visitor. Shirley Grant, nineteen years old and who just happens to be a poor relation living at the house where a man has just been shot, has come to consult Miss Rachel about some disturbing incidents. Word of the septuagenarian's involvement in previous murder mysteries have got about and Pete, another poor relation in the house, had suggested that Shirley pay her a visit. Ever since Shirley was taken in by her Uncle John Terrice and his wife, they have treated her mostly as unpaid help. They and their family pretty much ignore her, but there's never seemed to be any ill-feeling or dislike. But now...things have been broken in such a way that the blame will fall on Shirley and, the prime reason the young woman decided to consult Miss Rachel, someone has killed Shirley's pet bird. Miss Rachel senses a malevolent hand behind the incidents and determines to help Shirley.

Despite warnings from Detective Stephen Mayhew to leave this case alone (for once!), she manages to infiltrate the house--applying for the position of cook when the family's Eastern European cook leaves after swearing she saw a werewolf stalking outside Shirley's room. In between making salads and plucking ducks, Miss Rachel tracks down a slew of clues. Before she is able to make sense of them, she will wind up sending her sister to jail, hiding under a bed while someone searchers the room, and discovering a second and more violent murder as well as murderous items planted on Shirley meant to distract the police away from the killer. But Miss Rachel comes through in the end and helps Mayhew spot the culprit.

Not my favorite of the Miss Rachel mystery series, but it does still have its good points. I think my favorite is the fact that it is the prim and proper Miss Jennifer who first stumbles upon the murder and thought she vows not to tell Rachel about it, she can't help spilling some of the beans as soon as she gets home. Of course, Rachel already knows something is up at that house (courtesy of Shirley), but Jennifer doesn't know that. And it's funny to see Jennifer's reaction when Rachel tells her, "There is something going on in that house....a mean and clever intelligence which has turned at last to death." Jennifer gets shakily out of her chair, doesn't say another word, and speeds off to her room and her bed.

...there was no getting Miss Jennifer out of bed. She was crouched under the bedding with all the lights on, shivering as if with cold, and when Miss Rachel peeped under at her she made a chattering remark about witches and a request that Miss Rachel go away.

    "You've meddled with it so long," Miss Jennifer got out as Miss Rachel paused at the door, "that you've gotten psychic about it. You know it before it happens."

And, of course, at this point Miss Rachel thinks her sister is batty because Miss Rachel doesn't know yet that murder has happened.

The mystery itself is fair and like Kate (who has reviewed this over at Cross Examining Crime) there was a subtle clue that I missed. I did have my suspicions about the culprit (especially after the second murder), but I didn't really have the clue in hand to prove why I thought so. ★★★

First line: Outside the moon filled the night with such a silver flood that Miss Jennifer Murdock stood still to take it in.

Last line: "And I had," Miss Jennifer rushed on, "the most wonderfully exciting time!"
*********************

Deaths =  3 (one shot; two stabbed)

2025 Clock Reading Challenge

 

Jo at Jo Linsdell is once again sponsoring a very straightforward reading challenge: 12 books in 12 months. Each book should have numbers from one to twelve in the title so we can fill in our clock face. For more info and to join in, please see her link. I've listed my tentative choices.

One: And One for the Dead by Pierre Audemars OR One Fell Sloop by Susan Kenney

Two: A Thief or Two by Sara Woods OR Two Against Scotland Yard by David Frome

Three: Look Three Ways at Murder by John Creasey OR Three Motives for Murder by Roy Winsor

Four: Murder in Four Degrees by J. S. Fletcher OR The Fourth Postman by Craig Rice

Five: Five Victorian Ghost Novels by E. F. Bleiler (ed) OR Bodies from the Library 5 by Tony Medawar (ed)

Six: Six Nuns & a Shotgun by Colin Watson OR Bodies from the Library 6 by Tony Medawar (ed)

Seven: Seven Chose Murder by Roy Vickers OR The Seven Deadly Sisters by Pat McGerr

Eight: The Eight Circle by Stanley Ellin OR The Village of Eight Graves by Seishi Yokomizo

Nine: Nine Strings to Your Bow by Lee Thayer OR The Nine Waxed Faces by Francis Beeding

Ten: Bloody Ten by William F. Love OR Ten Plus One by Ed McBain

Eleven: The Best of Trek #11 by Walter Irwin & G. B. Love OR In Such Good Company: Eleven Years of Laughter, Mayhem & Fun in the Sandbox by Carol Burnett

Twelve: Twelve Drummers Drumming by C. C. Benison OR Twelve Women Detectives by Laura Marcus (ed)

European Reading Challenge

 

I'm getting ready to pack my bags for another tour of Europe with Gilion's 2025 European Reading Challenge – where participants tour Europe through books.  And have a chance to win a prize. Please join in for the Grand Tour! (I've linked the review page--but the link for the sign-up is there as well.)

THE GIST: The idea is to read books by European authors or books set in European countries (no matter where the author comes from). The books can be anything – novels, short stories, memoirs, travel guides, cookbooks, biography, poetry, or any other genre. You can participate at different levels, but each book must be by a different author and set in a different country – it's supposed to be a tour. (See note about the UK, below)

WHAT COUNTS AS "EUROPE"?: We stick with the same list of 50 sovereign states that fall (at least partially) within the geographic territory of the continent of Europe and/or enjoy membership in international European organizations such as the Council of Europe. This list includes the obvious (the UK, France, Germany, and Italy), the really huge Russia, the tiny Vatican City, and the mixed bag of Baltic, Balkan, and former Soviet states.

THE LIST: Albania, Andorra, Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Moldova, Monaco, Montenegro, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Republic of Macedonia, Romania, Russia, San Marino, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine, United Kingdom, and Vatican City.

NOTE: Even after Brexit, the United Kingdom is still one country, in Europe, that includes England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. So one book from any one of these four counts as your one book for the United Kingdom. I'm not going to be a stickler about it because challenges should be about fun not about rules. However, when it comes to winning the Jet Setter prize, only one book from one of the UK countries will count.

I will again be aiming for the 

FIVE STAR (DELUXE ENTOURAGE): Read at least five books by different European authors or books set in different European countries.

Books read:

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My Life in Books 2025

 

Someone in the Kat's Booknerds group on Facebook said they saw this posted by The Well-Read Wyvern on Instagram. But I cannot find an initial post [if you are better at searching Instagram than I am and can find it, let me know!]. The idea is to read one book from every year of your life. I thought about it and decided to give it a shot...and if you like the idea I say go for it as well!

A better look at the books and the place where I will check of my list may be found HERE.

2025 Pick Your Poison Challenge

 

I keep telling myself that I'm going to cut back on challenges (ask me how that's going 😏😂). It doesn't help that folks like Gregory post challenges that I've loved doing and then tell us that this is the last year it's going to be sponsored. I mean, how am I supposed to say no to the last year? Answer? I don't. So...here I go for a last walk down Gregory Road for the Pick Your Poison Challenge. Why don't you come for a walk with me? 

As with previous years, I'm committing to the baker's dozen level. Since it's the final year, I'll probably see if I can manage all of them--but my commitment will be met at 13 from different topics.

Basic Genres

~Western

~Biography

~Travel Book

~Classic

Sub-Genres

~Mundane Science Fiction

~Eldritch Horror

~Alternate History

~Comedy of Manners

The Interwebs

~About Social Media

~Cute Cat on the Cover

~About Online Shopping

~Written by Internet Influencer

Change Things Up!

~Coin in the Title

~About Switching Places

~Author with More Than One Pen Name

~Genre You Don't Normally Read

Let's Go Small

~About Minimalization

~Fewer than 150 pages

~With Characters That Are Very Small

~Set in a Small Town

Delve Into the Past

~About Someone Who Could Be Your Ancestor

~By Author Who Has Been Dead More than 50 Years

~About an Ancient Civilization

~Word "Classic" in Title

Measuring Up

~With a Long-Distance Relationship

~Includes Recipes

~Word "Height" in title

~By Author Who Has "Made It Big"

Tired Tropes

~Multiple Timelines

~Love Triangle

~"Chosen One" Fantasy

~Vampire Story

Ticklish

~Feather on Cover

~Makes You Laugh

~By a Comedian

~Touchy Subject

That Wedding Tradition

~Something Old (set at least 3 decades before you were born)

~Something New (published in 2025)

~Something Borrowed (from library/friend): The Devil's Flute Murders by Seishi Yokomizo

~Something Blue (blue cover)

Beach Days

~Towel on the Cover

~By Author Who Lives Somewhere Sunny & Warm

~Described as "Beach Read"

~Book taken on vacation

Sinners & Saints

~Demon or Devil Character

~Angel on Cover

~By Author Known for Philanthropy

~Cover Reminds You of One of the Seven Deadly Sins

That 9 to 5 Thing

~About Commuting to Work

~By Author Whose Name Is an Occupation

~Book You Hope to Discuss at the Watercooler

~Workplace Romance

Just For Adults

~An "Adult Beverage" in Title

~About Group of Friends Reuniting as Adults

~About Mid-life Crisis

~Book You Wouldn't Recommend to a Child

Isolation

~About Being Ostracized

~"Lone" or "Lonely" in Title

~Single Person on Cover

~Hermit Character

State of Mind

~Set in State Where You Live

~About Having a Positive Outlook

~Picture of Brain on Cover

~"Mind" in Title

Mistakes Were Made

~Story of Misadventure

~About Mistaken Identity

~About Righting a Wrong

~About Leaving a Bad Relationship

Love Those Sitcoms

Cheers (set in a bar)

The Odd Couple (about roommates)

The Simpsons (graphic novel)

The Munsters (non-human characters)

Colors

~Hair Color in Title

~Author with a Color Name

~Favorite Color on cover

~Rainbow on Cover

School Lunches

~"Sandwich" in Title

~YA Novel

~Cheesy Cover

~By Someone Who Works/Worked in Food Service

Cardinal

~Cardinal Direction in Title

~Bird on Cover

~Main Character Belongs to Religious Order

~Cardinal Number in Title

Elemental

~Ghost, Spirit, or Similar Character

~"Earth," "Water," "Fire," or "Air" in Title

~Author Whose Initials are the same as a (two letter) Chemical Symbol

~Sherlockian Character

Board Games

~Life (epic family novel)

~Trivial Pursuit (nonfiction about obscure topic)

~Twister (hands and or feet on cover)

~Clue (mystery set in a house party)

Age Old Tales

~Elderly Protagonist

~Fairy Tale/Myth Retelling

~Book by Someone Older Than You

~Coming of Age Story

Card Suits

~Diamonds (gem on cover)

~Spades ("garden" in title)

~Heart (by author you love)

~Clubs (about exclusive group or club)

Opening a Can of Worms

~Controversial book

~About creepy crawlies

~Memoir by Someone Known for Outrageous Behavior

~About a Scandal

Wildcards

~About Climate Change

~About a Museum

~Short Story Collection

~Book of Nursery Rhymes

~Set in Continent You Would Like to Visit

Murder Every Monday: Take a Closer Look

 

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). 

 

Today's theme is covers with a magnifying glass.

The Charteris Mystery ~A. E. Fielding (it's tiny, but it's there...)

The Delights of Detection ~Jacques Barzun, ed

Ballet of Death ~Elizabeth Anthony

Death Through the Mill ~Laura Colburn

Golden Age Detective Stories ~Otto Penzler, ed

The Ringmaster's Secret ~Carolyn Keene (and all the tweed cover Nancy Drews)

Judgment of Murder ~C. S. Challinor

The Case of the Caretaker's Cat ~Erle Stanley Gardner

Great British Detectives ~Martin H. Greenberg & Edward D. Hoch, eds

The Clue in the Crossword Cipher ~Carolyn Keene

Murder in the Vatican ~Ann Margaret Lewis

The Adventure of the Eleven Cuff-Buttons ~James Francis Thierry

The Case Book of Sherlock Holmes ~Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Murder at the Diogenes Club ~ Gerald Lientz

Basil of Baker Street ~Eve Titus

Lonesome Road ~Patricia Wentworth

Women Sleuths ~Martin H. Greenberg & Bill Pronzini, eds

Pilgrim's Rest ~Patricia Wentworth

Read 52 Books in 52 Weeks

 

Read 52 Books in 52 Weeks

hosted by Robyn

I'm ready for year ten! The rules are simple. Just read one book per week for a total 52 books in the year. I generally have no problem reading at least one book per week...so this is one of my slam dunk challenges. I will list my books below as I read them. If you'd like to join in, just click the link above. Robyn offers other challenges as well--including a perpetual Agatha Christie challenge and a book bingo among others.

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The Ultimate My Reader's Block Challenge Wrap-Up

 

For a few years now, I've gone to a one-stop shopping plan for challenge wrap-up posts. If you participated in any of the Reader's Block challenges, then you may submit your wrap-up posts here. The linky will be open until Sunday, January 5th. Then on Monday, January 6th, I will pick random winners* from all the challenges to select a prize from the prize vault. If you have participated in more than one challenge, you are welcome to submit a separate wrap-up post for each challenge and earn yourself an entry for every challenge. (*Number of winners will depend on where winners are from--I don't want to exclude my friends from outside the US, but shipping costs won't allow me to do many of those.)

Please list your name in the following manner (especially if you've got more than one entry): 

Name (challenge name) [example-- Bev@My Reader's Block (Vintage Scavenger Hunt)]

If you don't blog and don't have an URL to link up, you may post your wrap-ups in comments below (one comment per challenge) and I'll add you into the drawing. I will keep my eye on the entries and enter everyone onto a spread sheet in the order I see the entries appear. That order will determine the number for the random number generator to select.

**I realize that the Vintage challenge shown in the picture is an older one--pretend it is the Scavenger Hunt logo 😉

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

What's in a Name? 2025

 

Andrea at Carolina Book Nook is back with another round of the What's in a Name Challenge. I always look forward to the new version. This has always been a favorite of mine, so of course I'm back for another round as well. The format is the same--six categories and one book required for each one. The prompt must appear in the title of the book. For full details and suggestions for interpreting prompts, see the link above. Tentative book choices below.

1. Cardinal Direction: Murder, London-South Africa by John Creasey

2. Wanderlust: Miss Pinkerton: Adventures of a Nurse Detective by Mary Roberts Rinehart OR No Vacation from Murder by Elizabeth Lemarchand

3. First & Last Name: The Mae West Murder Case by George Baxt 

4. Alliteration: Murder in the Museum of Man by Alfred Alcorn OR Panic in Paradise by Alan Amos

5. Deity: The Case of the Constant God by Rufus King

6. Crime: Thief Is an Ugly Word by Paul Gallico

Death Wears a White Gardenia

 Death Wears a White Gardenia (1938) by Zelda Popkin

The first book in Popkins' series featuring department store detective Mary Carner. It is also one of the first mysteries to feature a department store detective at all. We open with professional thief Joseph "English Joe" Swayzey loading up a suitcase with fine French lingerie and stashing the suitcase in a hidden storeroom corner where he hopes to pick it up the next morning. The next day is Blankfort & Company's big anniversary sale and there will be customers galore. He's sure that in the big sale rush he'll be able to trot out of the store with a case full of goodies with no one the wiser. Except...

When he heads to his little hidey-hole in the storeroom he finds more than he bargained for. The store's credit manager, Andrew McAndrew, has been strangled to death and stuffed in the tight little corner. Before Swayzey can make a quick exit, a storeroom employee grabs him and store detectives Chris Whittaker and Mary Carner are on the spot. They both recognize and old "friend" and are sure Swayzey was up to something--but they don't really think he would have murdered McAndrew, even if the manager had caught him red-handed. Besides--it's evident that McAndrew has been dead for hours and why would the thief come back to the store?

Whittaker sends Carner up to McAndrew's office to secure it and look for any obvious clues. She finds a woman's handkerchief and some torn papers with partial messages. Other clues are found in McAndrew's hand--he apparently caught his nail on the killer's clothing and there are blue silk threads. He's also clutching a crushed white gardenia. Things still look bad for Swayzey--the man has a weakness for perfume and flowers and was caught wearing a white gardenia. But a flower lady outside the story was selling the pricey flowers and Swayzey wasn't the only one with a gardenia in his button hole. 

And Swayzey isn't the only possible suspect. There's McAndrew's wife who knew he had an affair going on with his secretary, Evelyn Lennon, but was in no mood to let her have him. There's Evelyn who is carrying Swayzey's child and may have been given the brush-off. Mrs. McAndrew insists that her husband was going to ditch Evelyn. There are the men who have been sending expensive gifts to their mistresses and whom McAndrew may have been blackmailing (how else to explain the extra cash in his bank account?). And there is a bit of larceny going on in the store itself that he may have discovered and been silenced before he could expose it...

This one is a bit of a toss-up for me. I really like the set-up and the fact that this is one of the earliest department store mysteries. It opens well--getting right to the action and there's not a lot of time wasted in the early part of the investigation. I even enjoyed learning the ins and outs of the lingerie thief's methods. But it lags in the middle. We get bogged down with Blankfort's management interfering with the investigation (could they really have prevented the police from sealing up McAndrew's office??) and I lost interest for a good bit. It picks back up in the final chapters and the ending is neatly done. So, in the end a middle-of-the-road read. ★★★

First line: At fifteen minutes before five o'clock on the evening of March fourteenth, Joseph 
Swayzey entered the department store of Jeremiah Blankfort and Company on Fifth Avenue, New York.

Last line: "Let's go back and catch some crooks before we get fired."
***************

Deaths = one strangled

The Clue in the Old Stagecoach

 The Clue in the Old Stagecoach (1960) by Carolyn Keene

While vacationing at Camp Merriweather Nancy, Bess, and George find themselves in the middle of a a hunt for an old stagecoach. Mrs. Strook, an older citizen of Francisville, wants to help her town build a new school. Family stories say that her great-uncle Abner Langstreet hid a treasure that he wanted to be of use to his old town, if ever the need were great enough. Her great-uncle had been a stagecoach driver in the days before trains  ran most coach drivers out of business. A letter that Mrs. Strook found which Langstreet began to write to her grandmother gives more details:

You will find a clue in the old stagecoach which may prove to be of great value to my beloved town of Francisville. I put it there because I wanted it to be found some day, but not for many years.

But Langstreet was ill and the letter cuts off before he could reveal where he had hidden the stagecoach. Mrs. Strook asks Nancy to help her find the coach and the clue mentioned in the letter.

There's a couple staying at the camp who are way too interested in what Nancy is doing and who seem to be on a hunt of their own. And there are a couple of tough customers hanging around as well. Oh, and don't forget the the grumpy townsman who keeps popping up and warning Nancy off. It isn't long before a stagecoach is stolen, an abandoned barn is burned down, and Nancy is in danger. But the intrepid sleuth and her friends prevail (of course!), the real stagecoach is found (who knew there might be multiple stagecoaches near Francisville?), and the town is all set to build their school.

This was a fun revisitation of one of the Nancy Drew mysteries that I didn't reread much. I'm not sure why--there's plenty of mystery, a treasure to find, and lots of action with the baddies. It was nice to see Nancy make a few mistakes (as a child I didn't mind Nancy being perfect, but as an adult I appreciate a more realistic Nancy) on the way to the solution. I had no recollection of the girls dating other boys at the camp. I guess they have open relationships with their "special friends" Ned, Burt, and Dave. When the boys write to say that they'll be coming to visit the girls at the camp, Bess asks, 

But, Nancy, what are you going to do about Rick? [what about the guy Bess was dating?]

Nancy pretended to look worried, then said, "Some situations just solve themselves."

And, of course, it does. Rick and his friends conveniently have to leave the camp right before Ned, Burt, and Dave show up. Gotta love how Nancy deals with multiple guys...

Overall, a good mystery with several suspects (instead of the usual obvious one) and lots of adventure. ★★★★

First line: "Nancy, this is one of the steepest hills I've ever climbed down," said Bess Marvin.

Last line: "This adventure was worth it!"
*************************

Deaths = 3 (two natural; one tractor accident)

Christmas Books (& more) Extravaganza

 

I hope that all the folks on my Block have had/are having a very Merry Christmas or are celebrating their own holiday traditions in the very happiest way. Once again all the Santas in my life have been very generous and have provided me with more of my favorite things (primarily books!) Below is a run-down of the goodies that came my way this year. It looks like I was a very good girl again. 

The first to arrive was my Secret Santa from Michelle's True Book Addict's Bookish Secret Santa group on Facebook. Ryan sent me a box full of treats (including Tribble Kibble mints) and...

...The Big Book of Christmas Mysteries edited by Otto Penzler

Next up was our departmental staff and administrators holiday party.

My director went for my love of classic Star Trek and got me the "beaming" mug which sends Kirk, Spock, McCoy, & Uhura beaming from the ship's transporter room to the planet's surface and back again via the wonders of hot and cold temperatures. I've looked at it longingly for ages, but could never justify getting it for myself...Thanks, Jesse!

And in our Secret Santa exchange, Robert gave me a 3-in-1 Detective Book Club edition with Alias Basil Willing by Helen McCloy, Accident by Design by E. C. R. Lorac, and  The Watch Sinister by Marie Blizard as well as a reprint copy of Obelists at Sea by C. Daly King.

Christmas from my parents:

A Treasury of Great Recipes 50th Anniversary Edition by Mary & Vincent Price

What Cannot Be Said by C. S. Harris

Appointment with Death by Agatha Christie (audiobook read by Hugh Fraser)

The High Kings (self-named music CD)

The World of Miss Marple jigsaw puzzle

From my son:

The Cipher Garden by Martin Edwards

The Chief Inspector's Daughter by Sheila Radley

The Knife by Herbert Adams

And from my most generous Santa Hubby:

Hanged for a Sheep by Frances & Richard Lockridge (hardback w/DJ!!)

A Pinch of Poison by the Lockridges (a hardback I never thought to see...for a reasonable price)

Judas Incorporated by Kurt Steel (Dell Mapback!)

Death Plays Solitaire by R. L. Goldman

Murder Without Clues by Joseph L. Bonney

Slay Me a Sinner by Pierre Audemars

Tincture of Death by Ray Harrison

Season for Death by Harrison

Deathwatch by Harrison

Harvest of Death by Harrison

And a huge lot of Raven House books:

Death Audit by James A. Howard

Murder Takes a Wife by Howard

Clutterkill by Gary Paulsen

Dividend on Death by Brett Halliday

Deadly Legacy by Christina Blake

April Thirtieth by Bernard St. James

The Doria Rafe Case by Hilary Waugh

Crimes Past by Mary Challis

Rain with Violence by Dell Shannon

Where There's a Will by Anne Burton

The Cana Diversion by William Campbell Gault

They Love Not Poison by Sara Woods

Murder by Proxy by George Ogan

The Healthy Grave by Margaret Leake

Art for Keeps by C. Burke Block

Murder in Focus by Robert Julian

A Shroud for Mr. Bundy by James M. Fox

The Wheel Is Fixed by James M. Fox

The Bad Samaritan by William Campbell Gault

Send Another Hearse by Harold Q. Masur

Classified Death by Claire Taschdjian

The Cana Diversion by William Campbell Gault (alternate cover)

Run from Nightmare by Maxine O'Callaghan

The Ghost of an Idea by Mary Challis

Top Level Death by Hugh Zachary

And one 4-in-1 Unicorn Mystery Club Edition:

Savage Breast/Map of Mistrust/Paul's Apartment/Love Lies Bleeding

~Manning Long/Allan MacKinnan/Van Siller/Edmund Crispin