The List of Adrian Messenger

 The List of Adrian Messenger (1959) by Philip MacDonald

Adrian Messenger presents his old friend George Firth with a list of ten names with addresses. While he is on a short trip to America, he would like Firth, an official with Scotland Yard, to check up on these men--without knowing the whys or wherefores. He just wants the answer to one simple question: Are these men living at these address? Firth owes Messenger many favors, so, of course, he agrees. But Messenger never makes it to America. The plane he's flying on goes down over the Atlantic. Three people make it out of the plane alive--including Messenger--but he dies of his injuries before help can arrive. A tragic accident. Or is it?

Raoul St. Denis, famous French journalist & former member of the French resistance during the war, was also on that plane. And he was one of the survivors. St. Denis is very familiar with the sound of explosive devices and he's quite certain that one went off before the plane went down. It begins to look like someone didn't want Messenger to make that trip to America...especially when reports begin to come in on the ten men. Every one of them but one has died in an accident within the last five years. Or what has been officially declared an accident. Firth calls on General Anthony Gethryn, former intelligence officer and master at unraveling out-of-the-way puzzles. Could someone be orchestrating this deliberate elimination of the men on Messenger's list? Would someone really blow up a plane and (in another instance) derail a train to get at a particular man? And, if so, to what purpose? 

Messenger's only comments to Firth about the situation was that "It's so big, and so--so preposterous, I daren't tell anyone yet." The only way for Gethryn and the Scotland Yard men to track the culprit is to find out what ties these ten men together. Their first clues come from St. Denis, who gives a near-verbatim recital of Messenger's last words before his injuries got the better of him But even then they don't catch all of the clues before the villain starts on the second part of his plan...They're going to have to move fast to catch him before he completes it.

This was the first MacDonald book I ever read...many moons before I ever even knew what a blog was. And it was one of the first mysteries I read where a killer was working his way through a group of people for purposes of his own; purposes that our detective had to discover in order to make sense of the apparently randomness of the group. And definitely one of the first where the motive wasn't psychologically driven. I thought it was a knock-out book that kept me reading like mad to get to the end. It made enough of an impression on me that once I got settled in again, I remembered what the connection was. But the book is so good that it didn't matter. I loved following the investigation with Gethryn and the way he worked with St. Denis in the last half of the book. And I still love the poetic justice (mentioned in the last line of the book--below) that comes to the killer in the end. 

Outstanding book that was made into a movie in 1963 with Kirk Douglas and George C. Scott (among others). Now I just need to find time to sit down and watch it too. ★★★★★

First line:For several years after it was all over, there was understandable resistance in high places to the public telling of the story, and even now the project is eyed askance.

Last line: "What you would call, I think, a justice poetic..."

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

Deaths =  14 (two airplane (bomb); one cycling accident; three fell from height; four car/motorbike accident; two drowned; one shot; one hit by a bus)

Write Murder Down

 Write Murder Down (1972) by Richard Lockridge

Once again Lieutenant Nathan Shapiro, the Eeyore of the NYD detective branch, is--according to him--in over his head. Captain Bill Weigand has this tendency to give Shapiro cases where he has to deal with people he just doesn't understand...from artists to actors and now authors. He just doesn't understand what a smart man like Bill Weigand is doing giving these investigations to a man who's just good with a gun. But as Weigand points out to him (for the umpteenth time), he always manages to get his man (or woman as the case may be) without needing his gun.

When Miss A. Jones is found dead in her apartment--an apparent suicide involving pills and slit wrists--homicide detective Nate Shapiro is given the case because of one little detail. The body is chock full of barbiturates and there is nary a pill or pill bottle in the near-empty room. Finding a room key for the Algonquin Hotel leads Shapiro to the discovery that Miss A. Jones is really Miss Jo-An Lacey, a recent best-selling author. Apparently Miss Lacey was using the apartment as a writing hide-away. But the typewriter she worked on and the huge stack of typewritten pages containing what was meant to be her next best-seller have disappeared. Shapiro, assisted by his right-hand man Detective Tony Cook, is going to have to make his way through the foreign world of publishers, agents, options and contracts. A world where someone just might kill to get their hands on a sure-fire best-seller...and most likely has.

Despite his woe-is-me attitude, I like Nate Shapiro. He is a very smart and observant man (his own opinion notwithstanding). He knows when something doesn't look or sound right and when the clues aren't adding up to the obvious solution. But I really like Detective Tony Cook. His work on the cases and his relationship with Rachel really make the Shapiro books for me. It would have been interesting if Lockridge had decided to bring Cook to the forefront in a series of his own. He and Shapiro work very well together and have a good relationship beyond the work. Lockridge is very good with characterization and even characters who aren't on stage for long seem like real people. Since Lacey and her brother (who is on the scene because he had been worried about a lady like his sister being at the mercy of a Northern big city) are Southerners (deep South Southerners--dilapidated family plantation and all), Lockridge is able to provide an interesting contrast to his usual cast, as well as make some subtle comments on race. There are unpleasant racial stereotypes in play--but Lockridge makes it clear where he stands on the subject. Our heroes always look askance at anyone who employs such language and make it clear that they don't hold with such views.

My one complaint about this (and several of the Lockridge books) is the lack of real suspects. There aren't many to choose from, so the mystery itself isn't terribly complex. The real difficulty as far as I can see is proving it. I'm just not sure the District Attorney is going to have a solid case to go to court. ★★★ and 1/2

First line: They walked down Sixth Avenue from Charles Restaurant.

Last line:He poured them fresh drinks.
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Deaths = 3 (two airplane crash; one stabbed)

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Cold Bed in the Clay

 Cold Bed in the Clay (1947) by Ruth Sawtell Wallis

FBI agent Eric Lund has come to a Midwestern university town in search of a wanted criminal. At the university's commencement ceremony he sits in the stands of the stadium and spends more time looking at others in the crowd than at the graduates. One of these innocent-looking townspeople of faculty is the man he's after, but which one? You see, there is no detailed description of the wanted man. Was Lund's presence the catalyst that put events in motion that ended in tragedy? Or was it the arrival of young Mr. and Mrs. Adriance? Don Adriance is a recent addition to the faculty--returning to academia after a few years absence? What happened in those missing years? And why does Audrey Adriance watch him so closely with apprehension and what appears to be fear? And why does she seem unsurprised when he doesn't come home one night?

When Don Adriance is finally found--a victim of a hit-and-run driver, Audrey's lack of surprise seems suspicious to Chief of Police Peterson. If he could find a way to link her to a car (the Adriances had none), then he'd arrest  her in a minute. But Lund, who is staying with Professor Dexter under cover of a lecture of crime he's giving to the university, has met a small group of people at a party which introduced the Adriances to Don's faculty colleagues and he picked up on certain nuances that lead him to believe that someone other than Audrey is responsible. And it just might tie in with the real reason he's come to the State University town.

So, this started slow. And even though I'm a sucker for academic mysteries, the setting and the characters never really reeled me in the way this subgenre should be able to. This was also another case where I often felt like I had missed part of the conversation. I'm not sure if Covid-brain was still kicked in at that point or if the story itself was at fault. Things did seem to pick up in the second half--in part because things started happening. It helped that Lund took a larger role in the lead-up to the big reveal. Chief Peterson just didn't do much for me. He seemed very apt to stick with stereotypical answers than to really investigate. I'm glad he was willing to let Lund help out. And, like Kate over at Cross Examining Crime, I was disappointed that the werewolf clue led nowhere--despite coming up several times. The solution did hold my interest, if the first third or so had been stronger, I would have upped my rating. ★★★

First line: Seated high on a cement ledge, the man with the scars around his mouth looked down, down into the enormous blue eye.

Last line: "My wife is going to have a baby."
**************

Deaths = 2 (one hit by car; one poisoned)

Assistant to the Villain

 Assistant to the Villain (2023) by Hannah Nicole Maehrer

Synopsis [from the back of the book]:  With an ailing family to support, Evie Sage's employment status isn't just important, it's vital. So, when a mishap with Rennedawn's most infamous Villain results in a job offer--naturally, she says yes. No job is perfect, of course, but even less so when you develop a teeny crush on your terrifying, temperamental, and undeniably hot boss. Don't find evil so attractive, Evie. But just when she's getting used to severed heads suspended from the ceiling and the odd squish of an errant eyeball beneath her heel, Evie suspects this dungeon has a huge rat...and not just the literal kind. Because something rotten is growing in the kingdom of Rennedawn and someone wants to take the Villain--and his entire nefarious empire--out. Now Evie must not only resist drooling over her boss but also figure out exactly who is sabotaging his work...and ensure he makes them pat. After all, a good job is hard to find.

I can confidently say that if this hadn't seemed like the most reasonable choice for this particular prompt in the bonus round of the Book Challenge by Erin (where, if I want to fulfill the bonus round I have to read a book selected by someone else...and the someone elses' tastes in this challenge have very little in common with mine)...then I doubt I would have ever picked up this fantasy meets romance meets mystery. The synopsis sounded pretty good. But I was pretty under-whelmed. The romance is not really all that. It's more like a high school crush. There's very little character or world building going on here. Beyond being told that Evie is an "innocent" and must work to support her family, we really don't know her at all. Beyond the fact that we know that The Villain (aka Trystan) became a villain because he has some sort of vendetta going on against the king, we learn very little about him or the backstory to why he hates the king's guts so much until about 10 pages before the end of the book. It would have been nice if we had gradually learned some things about these characters along the way. I wanted to root for Evie and her adventures with Trystan, but it was very difficult to get into the story when I didn't feel like I knew them at all. And...where exactly are we? Is this an alternate, fantasy earth with unexplained magic (we never really know how or why the magic works; it just does)? It really could be any medieval-type fantasy world. The final disappointment was the cliff-hanger ending. Seriously? You take us through 300+ pages, telling us basically nothing about the main characters until the last few pages and then you leave us teetering on the edge in order to make us read/buy the next book? Do I want to know what happens next? Kindof--especially if we're actually going to have some real story and action and character-building. But not if we're going to have to wade through 300 more pages just to find out a teeny, tiny bit more about these people. And I don't think I'm going to take a chance that the next book will be more interesting and engaging over a longer period of time. ★★

First line: Once Upon a Time...It was an ordinary day when Evie met The Villain.

Last line: Or become one trying.
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Deaths = 2 stabbed (more killed, but nameless)

The House of Dies Drear

 The House of Dies Drear (1968) by Virginia Hamilton

Thomas Small and his family--Dad, Mom, and brothers--move from North Carolina to an old house in Ohio. Thomas's father is a history professor who has always been interested in the Underground Railroad that helped slaves escape to Canada during the Civil War era. When he learns about the Dies Drear house--a major station on the railroad, complete with secrete passages and tunnels--he is eager to take up residence in the home and learn everything he can. But the house comes with a legend of ghosts. Dies Drear, the man who ran the station and assisted slaves, was murdered as were two of the runaway slaves. And now it is said that their ghosts haunt the house where they were killed. The Small family doesn't believe it, but as soon as they move in add things begin to happen. Someone is entering the house at night and leaving artifacts and then the family finds every dish and glass in their kitchen smashed to bits.Who is behind the destruction? Is it really ghosts or is someone trying to drive the Smalls out of the house for purposes of their own?

This young adult Edgar Award winning mystery is beautifully done. Excellent backdrop, wonderful depiction of an African American family in the Midwest, written by an African American with a cast of African American characters. Hamilton brings her readers into the story and we absorb the cultural significance without lectures or obvious references. Young people reading this novel will learn facts about the Civil War without realizing it--because they'll be so caught up in the mystery of the house and the adventures that Thomas and his family have. It's not a complicated mystery (one know very soon who is behind everything), but it's very entertaining and educational. ★★★★

First line: Thomas dreamed he walked a familiar forest, following a timeworn path of the Tuscaroras.

Last lines: And they didn't mind waiting, not this day nor the days to come. They had years.
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Deaths = one shot

The Midnight Library

 The Midnight Library (2020) by Matt Haig

From the book flap: Between life and death there is a library. 
Up until now, Nora Seed's life has been full of misery and regret. She feels she has let everyone down, including herself. But things are about to change. When she finds herself in the Midnight Library, she has a chance to make things right.

The books in the Midnight Library enable Nora to live as if she had done things differently. Each one contains a different life, a possible world in which she made different choices that played out in an infinite number of ways, affecting everyone she knew as well as many people she never met. With the help of an old friend she can now undo every decision she regrets as she tries to work out her perfect life. but things aren't always what she imagined they'd be and soon her choices place the library and herself in extreme danger.

My take: So, the synopsis sounded really good. A magical library with books that represent every possible twist and turn your life could have taken. A chance to try those other lives on for size to figure out the perfect combination. I'm not much into the descriptions of most magical realism stories (and I really needed one for a challenge a signed up for), but a story about books and books filled with alternate realities? I was all set to enjoy that. But....I didn't. Or rather I didn't enjoy it like I thought I would. It's a perfectly good story. It has a nice little moral to it. And that's all fine. But the alternate realities weren't all that interesting. And Nora is supposedly extraordinarily bright...but she's a little slow on the uptake when she steps into a new life. Each time she's like, "Man, this is weird. Why is everything so different?" (Oh, I don't know...maybe because that was the whole point--that things would be different and you would be so sad about your life and want to end it all?) A terrific concept, but the follow-through was not up to expectations. I started out with 3 1/2 stars...but I've thought it over and I don't think it's that good. ★★ and 1/2

First line: Nineteen years before she decided to die, Nora Seed sat in the warmth of the small library at Hazeldene School in the town of Bedford.

Last line: And Nora smiled as she stared at all the pieces she still had left in play, thinking about her next move.

The Mystery at Greenfingers

 The Mystery at Greenfingers (1937) by J. B. Priestley

Priestley's mystery play is set at the Greenfingers Palace Hotel on the edge of the Peak District. In fact, one of the characters declares that's it's "easily the highest big hotel in England. We're nearly fifteen hundred feet up." A small group of employees have gone to the hotel in advance of the winter season to make sure the hotel is ready for business. There are several new faces in the crowd--employees who have joined the staff from other hotels--some owned by the same company and some not. A sudden snowstorm strands them all--including Mr. Crowther, a hotel detective sent by the home office to investigate a suspected crime, and Miss Tracey, an investor in the company who has brought along Mrs. Jernigan (described as "her companion."). 

The two ladies are no sooner installed in a couple of empty rooms than the snow cuts the hotel off from outside help, the phone lines go down, and loud bangs that sound like gunshots go off in Mrs. Jernigan's room. When Crowther and the hotel employees reach the room, they find it locked on the inside. The door is forced and, though there is a smell like gunpowder in the room there is no gun and...no Mrs. Jernigan. The windows and the door connecting to Miss Tracey's room are all locked from the inside. Who set off the pistol shots? What happened to the gun? Where is Mrs. Jernigan? And...is she still alive? These are the questions that face Crowther and the hotel staff. And Miss Tracey...for Miss Tracey is a devotee of murder mysteries and she's always fancied herself an amateur detective.

Though Priestley's play does contain a mystery--and a rather cleverly plotted one at that, it is far more steeped in comedy than mystery. It reads like a drawing room comedy where there are people popping in and out of the scene at the oddest moments. You never know who will come through which door next. And I'm quite sure it would have been a hoot to see performed. Miss Tracey reminds me of a far more intense, yet slightly arch Miss Marple or Miss Silver and it was great fun to watch her and Miss Edna Sandars (one of the staff) collect clues that Crowther was too obtuse to recognize. A fun little 1930s mystery/comedy. ★★★

First line: Mrs Heaton (scornfully): I'm sorry to interrupt your performance, Mr. Jordan.

I've no drama going on inside, as all you people have. So I can give all my time and energy to noticing what other people are like. You've no idea what a lot you do notice once you've stopped leading an intense personal life yourself. It's people like me who ought to be the detective. That's why I'm enjoying all this. [Miss Tracey; p. 61]

Last line: Miss Tracey: Wrong number! (All three laugh.)
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Deaths = one (but to tell how would be a spoiler)

Figure Away

 Figure Away (1937) by Phoebe Atwood Taylor

The town of Billingsgate is getting ready to celebrate "Old Home Week" and planning to clean up on the tourist trade as visitors flood in for a taste of a quaint old town. They've lined up all the journalists and a radio station and a well-known singer and all sorts of public dignitaries to attend and see the glory of Billingsgate. Town officials hope that it will bring in enough surplus to put the town back in the black and have enough left over to pave roads and support schools and all the other things that have been neglected. But it seems that someone doesn't want Old Home Week to succeed. They tried to set the Town Hall on fire. They've stolen the official town keys--"every last one of them." They sawed through the grandstand supports. And they've taken potshots at the town's selectmen. And after every shot the victims have heard an eerie laugh floating in the night air.

Selectman Weston Mayhew asks his cousin Asey Maho, New England's answer to Sherlock Holmes, to spend the week in Billingsgate to act as temporary chief of police, State Police liaison, and private eye all rolled into one. Everyone knows how good a detective Asey is, so surely that will stop the saboteur in his tracks. Well...it does put a stop to the wanton destruction, but it doesn't stop murder. Mary Randall, owner of the local antique shop, gets word to Asey that she wants to talk to him about something, but when he arrives at her place, he finds her shot to death. Did she know something about who was behind the Old Home Week sabotage and the culprit wanted to prevent her telling? Or is there a more prosaic motive for her murder? After all, Mary Randall knew quite a bit about the secrets of Billingsgate and had a few of her own. There's the life insurance policy leaving a large amount of cash to her goddaughter (who definitely needs the money). There's the henpecked husband who has an eye for the ladies and doesn't want his wife to find out. There's the soprano who seems to attract all the men and the painter whose politics ruffles everyone's feathers. And there's the General whose love for fireworks allowed the noise of the shotgun to go unremarked. Asey has quite a bit of sleuthing to do before he'll be able to find the killer and save Billingsgate's status as a quaint old town.

I don't know if Covid-brain is still in play or what, but I had a really difficult time following Asey's conversations in this one. I've read several of Taylor's Asey Mayo mysteries in the past and I don't remember him being quite so cryptic. There were whole passages where I felt like I was missing about half the conversation. The mystery itself is good--nicely complicated with plenty of suspects running around. I was all set to buy into a certain person, but then Taylor gave things a bit of a shake at the end to show why it couldn't be them. Nice surprise ending. Would have rated it higher if I hadn't felt so out of touch with our hero throughout. ★★★

First line: "You listen to me, Asey!" 

Last lines: "Huh," Win said. "Anyone can catch a bluefish!"
*****************

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

The Puzzle of the Blue Banderilla

 The Puzzle of the Blue Banderilla (1937) by Stuart Palmer

Inspector Oscar Piper is headed to Mexico for a well-deserved vacation. Sure, he has to be an "official presence" on guard for the Democratic contingent headed south of the border to celebrate the new Mexico-US highway, but once those duties are done, he'll be free to enjoy some time off in the Mexican capital city. Well, maybe. On the train ride following the ribbon-cutting ceremonies, a customs inspector dies after he sniffs a perfume bottle in the luggage of Alderman Francis X. Mabie's wife Adele. Adele swears the bottle wasn't even hers. Was the customs agent the intended victim or does someone have it in for Adele Mabie? When someone provides Adele with a "cute little baby lizard" that is in reality a deadly poisonous snake, it becomes clear that her life is in danger. But then another passenger on that train is found stabbed to death at the bullfight. He had been sitting front of Adele. Is this another botched attempt on the Alderman's wife or is there more going on than meets the eye? Piper tries to investigate even though he's way out of his jurisdiction, but gets put in jail for his trouble. Fortunately, he has been in telegraphic communication with his old friend Hildegarde Withers and Miss Withers arrives just in time to spring him from his cell. Between the two of them, they manage to unravel the mystery surrounding Adele and the party on the train--just in time to prevent another death.

As usual, I thoroughly enjoyed the interactions of Miss Withers and Inspector Piper. She definitely gets to one-up him in this round, solving the mystery before him and recognizing who certain people are when he hasn't a clue. She also has an interesting go-round with self-proclaimed amateur sleuth, Julio Mendez who seems to be on the spot every time something happens and whose English seems to be straight out of central casting for cheesy Mexicans trying to speak English. But in general the mystery is underwelming. I just don't buy the motive for the murders--it seems pretty weak. I honestly can't believe the murderer would have taken the risk with the snake that Miss Withers says they did. One could not be certain that there would be someone available to take the necessary action. [I can't say more without spoiling it.] The setting is great; the mystery could have been stronger. ★★★ and 1/2

First line: A small and excited wire terrier answered the doorbell, paws sliding on waxed floors, whiskers flying.★★★

Last line: "About twenty years, Oscar," the schoolteacher told him sadly.
********************

Deaths =2 (one poisoned; one stabbed)

Unnatural Ends

 Unnatural Ends (2023) by Christopher Huang

Early 1900s, Britain. Sir Lawrence Linwood and his wife were unable to have children of their own, so they adopted three children: Alan, Roger, and Caroline. Linwood was a stern and demanding taskmaster--expecting his children to compete against each other and excel in every contest and "experiment" that he put before them. By any means, necessary. Just so long as they were winners. The Linwoods have since grown and gone forth into the world to prove how successful they can be there--Alan is an archaeologist with a exhibition now on display in London. Roger, a successful military man during WWI, now designs his own automobile engines and aircraft. He hopes to run his own company. Caroline is a journalist in Paris. 

They've all been called home to Linwood Hall--Sir Lawrence Linwood is dead. When they arrive home, they find that their father is not just dead--he was found beaten to death with an ancient mace and, rather than Alan inheriting outright as the eldest child had every right to expect, Sir Lawrence's will divides the estate equally among the three children...unless one of them successfully solves their father's murder. In that event, the clever sleuth will inherit everything. So, even in death, Linwood has found a way to challenge them and try to set them against each other. The inspector in charge of the case reluctantly allows them to view the evidence--he doesn't want to go against the victim's last wishes, after all. But he's surprised when they start finding clues that he and his men missed. Like the hidden grate in Sir Lawrence's study where it looks like a legal document was burned. Was there another will? And the pocket watch that was dropped in the area below the study's window. And the secret passages that riddle the house. 

Alan, Roger, and Caroline make little headway on the mystery though until a strange woman visits Sir Lawrence's final resting place with a show of obvious contempt. As the children begin searching for the woman, they find evidence of other women connected to their father and indications that everything they've been told about their adoptions may be false. But what do these women have to do with Sir Lawrence's murder? And why does all the evidence uncovered by the police seem to point to their mother--a broken woman who would never have done anything against Sir Lawrence's wishes, let alone to the man himself? Are the Linwoods up to this final challenge? Or will someone get away with murder?

This is the second book by Huang that I have read and enjoyed. Last year I read A Gentleman's Murder on the suggestion of my friend Ryan Groff (for a challenge based on suggestions from friends). I was so glad he drew the book to my attention. So when this Huang title came up as a possibility in the Book Challenge by Erin bonus round I knew I had to try it. I'm glad I did. Huang writes such good historical mysteries and they're set right in the Golden Age period which is all the more delightful for this GAD fan. The set-up is good--it was interesting having the victim directing his heirs to find his killer and giving them extra incentive to do so. 

As a mystery, it has an intriguing premise but I have to say that Huang did not deliver on mystification (at least not for me). I saw where this was going before I was half-way through the book. There are a couple of phrases that were used repeatedly that just clued me in to the motive and once I had that, the solution followed. That's not to say that I knew every twist and turn, because I didn't. And that's not to say that it wasn't worth reading to the end, because it was. The characters of the three Linwoods are great and when I finished I wanted there to be more to tell me what happened to Alan, Roger, and Caroline next. So--Huang left me wanting more and that's always a good thing. ★★★★

First line (Prologue): In the beginning was Linwood Hall, and Linwood Hall was the world.

First line (Part 1): There were better reasons for coming home, Alan supposed, than Father's funeral.

Last line: Light restored, the four of them made their way back up the path to the house above.
***********************

Deaths =  8 (one beaten; two stabbed one shot; two poisoned; one natural; one fell from height)

Making It So

  Making It So (2023) by Patrick Stewart

Covid has struck and it has been nearly a week since I finished this. I'm still not quite up to writing a more substantial review, but I want to get these thoughts down while the book is fairly fresh...

 Sir Patrick Stewart--Shakespearean actor. Captain Jean-Luc Picard. Professor X--the well-known man of stage, television, screen has put together a delightful memoir that takes the reader from his hard early life in Yorkshire, England through school until he found his feet the first time he set foot on stage. He was no instant star and he may have taken a slight detour into journalism before making it his life's work, but he really knew from that first part in a school play that acting was what he wanted to do. He worked his way up through repertory theater to a stint of more than forty years as a part of the Royal Shakespeare to world-wide fame as Captain of the Enterprise and the leader of X-Men. 

It was really interesting to learn about his early years and his experiences in the theater. I felt like I knew about him during the The Next Generation years--both through watching the show and seeing various reunion segments with the actors (clips from conventions or talk shows and whatnot). There are portions of his life that he doesn't spend much time on--mostly about his personal relationships post-Star Trek. It would have been nice to hear a few more stories about his friendship with Ian McKellan. But overall, a very entertaining read. ★★★★

First line: We called it t'bottom field, never wondering where, in relation to "t'bottom," t'middle field and t'top field might be.

Last lines: And I hear Sunny calling. Supper's ready.

The 1937 Club

 Twice a year Stuck in a Book and Kaggsy's Bookish Ramblings sponsor a group book club where those who would like to read books from the declared year. This April, the chosen year is 1937--a most appropriate year for those of us who like our Golden Age Mysteries. As I prepare for next week's reading, I thought I'd take a look at what 1937 books I've already read and list those that are on the TBR mountain range and could be used for the event.

Here are the books from 1937 that I've read and reviewed on the Block
Dancers in Mourning by Margery Allingham
A Bullet in the Ballet by Caryl Brahms & S. J. Simon
The Crooked Hinge by John Dickson Carr
The Four False Weapons by John Dickson Carr
Death on the Nile by Agatha Christie
Dumb Witness by Agatha Christie
The Camera Clue by George Harmon Coxe
Mystery in White by J. Jefferson Farjeon
They Found Him Dead by Georgette Heyer
Double Cross Purposes by Ronald Knox
Bats in the Belfry by E. C. R. Lorac
The Castle Island Case by Van Wyck Mason
The Devil to Pay by Ellery Queen
Busman's Honeymoon by Dorothy L. Sayers
The Red Box by Rex Stout
Beginning with a Bash by Alice Tilton
The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkein
Murder Down Under by Arthur W. Upfield

As you can see most of these are mysteries. But then mysteries make up the bulk of what I read. There are also a large number of mysteries in the list of 1937 books I read in my pre-blogging days...

The Case of the Late Pig by Margery Allingham
Trial & Error by Anthony Berkeley
There's Trouble Brewing by Nicholas Blake
Dead Man's Mirror by Agatha Christie
The Anatomy of Murder by The Detection Club
Six Against the Yard by The Detection Club
Tenant for Death by Cyril Hare
Brentwood by Grace Livingston Hill
Hamlet, Revenge! by Michael Innes
The Haunted Bridge by Carolyn Keene
The Whispering Statue by Carolyn Keene
Vintage Murder by Ngaio Marsh
The Case Is Closed by Patricia Wentworth

So, what does that leave on the TBR as possible 1937 Club Members? Well, quite a lot, actually...We'll see how many I can fit in.

The May Week Murders by Douglas G. Browne
The Burning Court by John Dickson Carr
The Peacock Feather Murders by Carter Dickson
A Figure in Hiding by Franklin W. Dixon
Pattern of Murder by Mignon Eberhart
The Black Envelope by David Frome
The Case of the Lame Canary by Erle Stanley Gardner
The D.A. Calls It Murder by Erle Stanley Gardner
Sunrise by Grace Livingston Hill
The Late George Apley by John P. Marquand
Think Fast, Mr. Moto by John P. Marquand
The Puzzle of the Blue Banderilla by Stuart Palmer (4/18/24)
Mystery at Greenfingers by J. B. Priestly
Mystery at High Hedges by Edith Bishop Sherman
The Hand in the Glove by Rex Stout
Figure Away by Phoebe Atwood Taylor (4/20/24)
Octagon House by Phoebe Atwood Taylor
Who Killed Robert Prentice? by Dennis Wheatley

April Vintage Scavenger Hunt Reviews

 

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April Virtual Mount TBR Reviews

 

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April Mount TBR Reviews

 

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April Reading by the Numbers Reviews

 

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Seance for a Vampire

 The Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes: Seance for a Vampire (1994) by Fred Saberhagen

This is a follow-up story to Saberhangen's The Holmes-Dracula File from 1978. Here, Dr. Watson reluctantly calls on the sanguinary count when Holmes is apparently kidnapped by a vampire. But...I get ahead of myself. Ambrose Altamont has lost his eldest daughter in a tragic boating accident. His wife has gotten mixed up with a couple of spiritualists who claim to be able to put them in touch with their beloved Louisa. Altamont is convinced the two are charlatans and wants Holmes to prove it. His wife has become convinced of the spiritualists' power after the last séance produced what seemed to be their dead daughter. When another séance takes place it seems that Louisa has truly come back from the dead, but before Holmes can investigate, he is snatched up by a powerful man who disappears with him into the wood. What Watson witnesses, convinces him that both Louisa and the kidnapper are vampires and his only hope is to summon Dracula to help rescue Holmes and get to the bottom of the vampires' involvement with the Altamont family. They soon discover that the vampire which kidnapped Holmes holds a long-standing (over a century) grudge against the Altamonts and has used their daughter as a means to avenge himself. Holmes has gotten in the way and must be put out of commission. Will Dracula and Watson be able rescue Holmes and then work together with the detective to put an end to the vampire's hold on the Altamont family? 

Life got in the way after I finished reading this and I'm having a bit of trouble gathering my thoughts to put a review together. Saberhagen's second book about the Dracula-Holmes connection is entertaining and I still feel like he got the characters of Holmes and Watson right, but it doesn't quite have the charm of the earlier novel. Dracula isn't quite as appealing and the mystery isn't quite as solid. That's not to say it's a bad book, it's not. It's still quite fun and I enjoyed the alternating narration from Watson and Dracula. Definitely a good choice for those who like a bit of the supernatural mixed with their mysteries. ★★★ for a solid read.

First lines: Of course, I can tell you the tale. but you should understand at the start that there are points where the tell may cause me to become rather emotional.

Last line: In fact, there were witnesses  who heard Mr. Prince, just before departing for Scotland, confide to his cousin Sherlock Holmes that he wanted nothing more to do in any way with Gregory Efimovich Rasputin.
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Deaths = 4 (one strangled; one stabbed; one hit on head; one shot)

"The Speckled Band"

 "The Speckled Band" (1892) by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle [read from story included in the Sherlock Holmes jigsaw puzzle of the same name]

A locked room mystery from the pen of Conan Doyle. It introduces Holmes and Watson to Miss Helen Stoner who comes to the great detective in terror from she knows not what. She and her twin sister had been living with their step-father after their mother's death. He had inherited the mother's money--with the proviso that he provide for the young women and that an annual sum should be given to them upon their marriages.  Her twin died two years ago just prior to her marriage. No cause of death was found, but just before she died she told Helen, "It was the band! The speckled band!" The room had been locked until her sister opened and the windows barred. Helen believes she died of pure fright, but has no idea what caused the terror. Now, two years later, Helen is preparing to wed. And she has been forced by certain "necessary" repairs to move into the very chamber where her sister died. Holmes listens to the details of her story and insists that he and Watson must come at once to Stoke Moran and investigate if the remaining Stoner sister is to be saved.

This is a classic Holmes story--one that shows up often in English classrooms, along with "The Red-Headed League." It is one of my favorites because of the initially impossible situation and the cold-blooded ruthlessness of the killer. I was a bit disappointed in the jigsaw puzzle, however. Supposedly, you read up to a certain point and then put the puzzle together. Once the picture is complete, it's supposed to provide you with clues that will enable you to solve the mystery before Holmes reveals all. There is, as far as I could see (and as far as my son could see--I asked him to take a look as well) nothing in the picture that you didn't already learn about in the story up to the break. No new clue. Nothing. So-- ★★★★★ for the story and ★★★ for the puzzle. The picture is nice (except for that incredibly ugly carpet), but it didn't do its job. 

First line: On glancing over my notes of the seventy-odd cases in which I have during the last eight years studied the methods of my friend Sherlock Holmes, I find many tragic, some comic, a large number merely strange, but none commonplace.

Last line: "In this way I am no doubt indirectly responsible for [redacted]'s death, and I cannot say that it is likely to weigh very heavily upon my conscience."
*************

Deaths = 4 (one beaten; one railway accident; two snake bite)

The Inheritance Games

 The Inheritance Games (2020) by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

Avery Grambs, who has an absent father and a mother who died unexpectedly, lives with her half-sister and both have to work extraordinary hours to get by. Avery is highly intelligent and puts in just enough effort to keep her GPA in the scholarship range, but devotes every other bit of energy to earning enough to help Libby make the rent. And then everything changes. 

One day, Jameson Hawthorne shows up at Avery's school with a summons from his grandfather's lawyers. Avery must appear in order for Tobias Hawthorne's will to be read. Avery is certain she has never heard of, let alone met Tobias Hawthorne and she and Libby can't figure out why the elderly billionaire wanted her to be at the reading of the will. When the family and Avery (and Libby) gather to hear how Hawthorne left his money, they are astonished to hear that almost everything has been left to Avery. She is set to be the richest teenager in America. While Hawthorne's four grandsons and two daughters get chicken feed in comparison. In fact, the servants get more than they do. The only catch for Avery is she must spend one year in Hawthorne House--living with the family members who have every reason to hate her and wish her dead. Except even if she dies, they won't get the money.

She learns a lot about the man who left her practically everything he had. Everything except why he chose her. Most of all, she learns that he loved puzzles and games and everything around her is a puzzle to be solved--from figuring out which key on a huge bunch full of odd-looking keys fits the front door to what the brief messages he left for her and his grandsons really mean. She and Jameson, Grayson, Xander, and Nash aren't sure they can trust each other--but if they're going to solve Tobias Hawthorne's last riddle they're going to have to work together.

Okay...this is a bit of a mixed bag for me. I picked it up for one of the challenges I'm doing (big surprise). For this part of the challenge, I have to read books that other people have picked. This makes it even more challenging for me because my tastes don't seem to coincide with most the others in the challenge. Having steered clear of the books that were what I call trauma drama and the intense thrillers, I opted for a young adult mystery. Young adult isn't one of my go-to genres either, but the premise sounded good. And, for the most part, the premise is good. I liked the puzzle-aspect to the plot. But there wasn't enough of it and the puzzles and riddles weren't the all-time best. As far as the characters go, I like Avery. I like Grayson and Nash. Jameson gets on my nerves. I'm just meh about Xander. And I really like Avery's newly-acquired bodyguard Oren. Libby, I'm not so much a fan of. She needed to kick Drake to the curb and leave him there a long time ago. I also wasn't terrible keen on the little romance triangle Avery had going on with Grayson and Jameson. I'm guessing that sort of thing is standard in YA, but it didn't do anything for me. And I was disappointed that the end of the book isn't really the end of the story. We didn't find out exactly why Avery was chosen. I have this sneaking suspicion that there is a connection between Avery's mom and Hawthorne given that they both loved games. And Avery's mom repeatedly told her that she had a secret. Overall, I liked it, but didn't love it. ★★★

First line: When I was a kid, mom constantly invented games.

Last line: Find Tobias Hawthorne II.
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Deaths = three natural

Grand Cru Heist

 Grand Cru Heist (2004) by Jean-Pierre Alaux & Noël Balen

Benjamin Cooker, renowned wine critic, is waylaid while on a trip to Paris. He is beaten and his prized classic Mercedes is hijacked. But as upset as he is about the stolen car, he is more upset about the briefcase with his wine-tasting notebook which held years' worth all the wines he had tasted the world over. He is sure he will never see any of his possessions again. He is sent to the Tours region to recover where he meets a suave Englishman a car even better than a Mercedes. Cooker has always wanted a Morgan Plus 8--or at least to ride in one. So he makes friends with Sir Robert Morton and fulfills his dream. 

While Cooker is in Tours a series of thefts involving priceless Grand cru wines takes place. The wines belong to a friend of Cooker. And the very night that Morton leaves the hotel the young woman with whom he had arrived (and who had packed up and left while he and Cooker were out joy-riding) is found strangled. This discovery is followed by the apparent suicide of the concierge--a young man who Cooker had made friends with. The police believe it to be an easy case--Gaetan, the concierge, had strangled the woman and then killed himself in a fit of remorse. But Cooker doesn't believe it and points out a few inconsistencies to the police. But if not Gaetan, then who--and why? Cooker and his assistant Virgile manage to answer those questions as well as help their friend Boüard  get to the bottom of the wine thefts. Oh...and Cooker gets his Mercedes and the notebook back intact too!

This is a perfectly fine little story. Most interesting for the locale and the interesting tidbits about wine. I also really enjoyed Cooker and Virgile and their working relationship. There is, however, no great complex mystery. For one, there just aren't really a lot of suspects to sift through. It's not difficult to figure out whodunnit. Definitely more of a comfort read than an intellectual puzzle. My biggest question is--did the culprit just happen to be in Tours at the same time as Cooker or was it planned? And if was planned, how did they know he'd be there? ★★★

First line: Paris finally returned to its splendor at dusk.

Last lines: "A miracle, yes," Hubert de Boüard said "But also a blessing." 
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Deaths = 3 (two strangled; one drowned)

Zombies of the Gene Pool

 Zombies of the Gene Pool (1992) by Sharyn McCrumb

Jay Omega (Professor James Owen Mega) is back for another mystery set in the world of science fiction fans. This time Erik Giles, fellow professor in the English department (who, once upon a time, was an early fan of science fiction and SF author C. A. Stormcock), invites Omega's partner Professor Marion Farley and Omega to what promises to be the Fan event of the year. In the 1950s Giles was member of a fan group known as the "Lanthanides"--several members went on the be famous as either authors, critics of the genre, or, in the case of "Bunzie" (Reuben Bundschaft Mistral), a famous Hollywood movie producer. 1954 saw the group decide to go cross-country from Wall Hallow, Tennessee to the Worldcon in San Francisco, but their car broke down and they had to return home to the FanFarm. So, they held their own convention and buried a SF time capsule with short stories from all members along with other SF memorabilia. It's time for a reunion and Mistral has set it up with plenty of fanfare. News outlets will be on hand as will representatives of various publishing houses who will bid for the right to sell the collection of SF stories.

But there are a few surprises in store. First, Pat Malone, one of their number who supposedly died long ago, crashes the reunion party. Malone had always been the most caustic of the group and was most famous in fandom for having written a treatise saying most fans and authors had sold out. He hasn't changed a bit and makes several references to events the other Lanthanides would rather forget. Someone decides they don't want Malone ruining their chances for a terrific book deal and poisons him. So Omega goes to work finding out if Malone really did rise from the dead only to be killed or if something else is going on... 

This one didn't have as much charm as the first Jay Omega book (Bimbos of the Death Sun). Part of the fun of that first one was the SF convention setting. The send-up of science fiction fans felt more light-hearted and thought it poked fun at the ways and mores of those fans, it didn't seem mean-spirited. Zombies seems to have a touch of meanness. We also have to wait way too long for the murder to happen and then it's wrapped up in a rush. And then there's the fact that there really isn't any way for readers (this reader, anyway) to figure out who did it and why. There's a whisper of a hint early one, but you'd really have to read between the lines (with a crystal ball in hand) to figure out what it really means. There is a surprise at the end that could make up for some of this--but I had a feeling something like it might be in the works. Again--no real clues to say so, but once a similar idea floated through my mind the ending didn't surprise me as it could have. ★★ and 1/2

First line: Jay Omega decided to wait until the shouting stopped before he knocked.

I don't see any harm in keeping quiet about this for the time being. It isn't obstructing justice to refrain from mentioning a death to a bunch of reporters and book editors. (Jim Conyers, p. 116)

Last line: He glanced at it and laughed again. "Fuggheads."
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Deaths = 6 (one car accident; four natural; one poisoned)

Daisy Darker (Spoilerific)

 Daisy Darker (2022) by Alice Feeney

It's time for Nana (Beatrice) Darker's 80th birthday and she decides to invite her dysfunctional family to her tiny tidal island for the celebration. They all come--Daisy Darker, Nana's favorite granddaughter and our narrator. Nancy and Frank Darker, Daisy's parents (now divorced); Rose and Lily, Daisy's sisters (who seem more like the evil stepsisters from Cinderella); and Trixie, Daisy's beloved niece. Also on hand, though late to the party, is Conor Kennedy--a young man who grew up with the Darker girls and was treated like family when his father was "unwell" (read drunk). It's not surprising that the family has gathered, even if they haven't gotten along well for quite some time. Because Nana believes what a fortune teller once told her...that she will die in her 80th year...and plans to reveal what's in her will. They all could use an inheritance and don't mind spending eight hours in each others' company if that means they're in the will. Eight hours? Well, for eight hours after the tide comes in, the Darkers will be cut off from the mainland. And, of course, a nasty storm is thrown in for good measure--just in case someone wants to leave by boat (or swimming) before the tide goes out again.

And why would they want to leave you might ask. Well...just after midnight, Nana is found dead in the kitchen. She appears to have fallen from a chair while chalking a particularly nasty poem on the wall and has a gash on her head where she may have hit the table. But then when other Darkers start dying every hour on the hour, it looks like someone in the house has it in for the family. Which of them is doing it? Or is there someone else on the island that they don't know about? But if so--who could have a grudge against an entire family.

SPOILERS AHEAD! The only way to give my full reaction is to spoil the ending. If you haven't read this and think you might want to, you might want to stop reading the review now.

So....I have mixed feelings about this one. I loved the set-up. Feeney plays nicely on Christie's And Then There Were None theme--with the group trapped on the island, the poems to match the murders, and the murders themselves. She also uses Christie's red herring--again with a twist. The accomplice in this case actually does some killing and isn't knocked off by the herring.  The atmosphere is great and the family relationships (or lack thereof) add to the tension. Feeney does a pretty good job of using Christie-like sleight of hand to mislead the reader about the true nature of our narrator. I had to really think about previous scenes to realize that she hadn't played unfairly. BUT....a ghost? Really? And how on earth is Trixie not going to be arrested and convicted of murdering everyone? We're told that names have been changed--but surely in the "real" world someone will notice that these people who have lives outside of Seaglass island are suddenly not showing up where they're supposed to be and an investigation will be made. Maybe Trixie plans on doing a disappearing act. But we're not told that. 

I had two ideas about the killer (neither correct, of course). One: that Daisy wasn't a ghost and actually did it (after all, she tells us straight up that she lies sometimes and we get to see how she could take revenge). Two: that Conor's dad was really still alive and was hidden on the island and doing it all. I'm still trying to figure out where the men's boots came from....So, yeah, there are a few loose ends here and there.

But overall--I think this was a pretty good effort to walk in Dame Agatha's footprints and I did enjoy it. So.... ★★★ and 1/2.

First line: I was born with a broken heart.

Doesn't everyone wonder who they would have been if they weren't who they were? (p. 22)

My mother used to button up her resentment, but it has grown over the years, and no matter how much she tries to hide it, a little is always left on show. (p. 25)

Sometimes, if the thoughts inside her own head are not forthcoming, she'll scribble an inspirational quote from a dead author on there. The dead often seem to know more about living than those still alive. (about Nana; p. 33)

"There are much cleverer ways of ending a person than killing them." (Nana; p. 36)

We make moments with our families. Sometimes we stitch them together over time, to make more of them than they were. We share them and hold on to them together as if they were treasure, even when they start to rust. (p. 139)

The trouble with little white lies is that they sometimes grow up to become big dark ones. (p. 172)

Life is a performance, and we don't all like the scripts we're given; sometimes it's best to write your own. (p. 181)

When you love someone, you can't just turn it off, there isn't a switch. Even if you hate someone that you once loved, there is still a little bit of love there. Love is like the soil that hate needs in order to grow. (Rose; p. 234)

Where does the love go when someone dies? Their last breath disappears into the atmosphere, their body gets buried in the ground, but where does the love go? If love is real, it must go somewhere. (Trixie; p.328)

Last line: There are some stories only time will tell.
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Deaths =  9 (five poisoned; three fell from height; one shot)

Red Bones

 Red Bones (2009) by Ann Cleeves

Hattie James is an intense, sometimes troubled young graduate student working on an archaeological dig on a croft in the Shetland Island. She hopes to prove a theory that a large merchant house was once on the land. When human bones are discovered and sent to be dated, she's hoping it will at least prove that the place was occupied during the period she's interested in. Mima, the owner of the land, is very enthusiastic about the dig, until she turns white at the sight of the skull. Hattie can't figure out why Mima should be so affected. 

Then Mima is found shot to death the next foggy night. It looks like a horrible accident. Ronald Clouston, with a few drinks under his belt, went out to "lamp" rabbits (shine lights on them to make them easy pickings for shooting) and it seems that he must have hit Mima in the dark. But DI Jimmy Perez isn't so sure. What was Mima doing out in that weather at that time of night? Then when Hattie's body is found--an apparent suicide--just after she had made a second, more significant discovery at the dig site, Perez is certain that the two deaths are really murder. But do the murders tie to the archeological discoveries or to some secrets buried in the past lives of current inhabitants. That's what Perez must find out before anyone else is killed.

I've read a couple of Ann Cleeves novels in the past (one Inspector Ramsay and one George & Molly Palmer Jones)--both before I began blogging and keeping detailed notes/reviews. Both were marked as pleasant, middle-of-the-road mysteries (three stars each) and I seemed to think they were "cozy." This particular Jimmy Perez story seems to be at about the same level, though I wouldn't call it cozy. Nor would I really label it a thriller (though I am totally claiming it as such for one of my challenges, since they stuck it right there on the cover). In my book, thrillers should be more tense, suspenseful, and action-driven. The murders are definitely more brutal than a cozy mystery should allow and there's a bit of psychological drama going on, but nothing too heavy. 

The location is as much a character as any of the people in the book. The croft and the surrounding area becomes very real with Cleeves's descriptions and use of locale in the polit. She also did a good job of keeping the killer's identity from me. I absolutely did not see the ending coming. I really like DI Perez--I like his humanity, his way of listening more than talking in his interviews, and the way he deals with Sandy Wilson, the island's constable. Sandy is seen as a dim-witted policeman, but Perez sticks up for him and even gives him some pretty important assignments to assist the investigation. 

A very good introduction to the series (for me--this is actually the third of the Perez books). ★★★ and 1/2

First line: Anna opened her eyes and saw a pair of hands, streaked and shiny with blood.

Last line: "I was thinking," she said, "that we could ask them to the wedding."
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Deaths = 4 (one drowned; two shot; one stabbed)