Monday, February 10, 2025

Capital Crimes: London Mysteries


 Capital Crimes: London Mysteries (2015) by Martin Edwards (ed)

Martin Edwards and the British Library Crime Classics team take on the Big Smoke in this collection of mysteries set in England's capital city. We have stories set in the late Victorian period through the 1940s and a range of authors from the well-known Sir Arthur Conan Doyle to those less well-known for mysteries such as E. M. Delafield (whom I had never heard of) and Hugh Walpole (whom I don't associate with mysteries). I have to say that this is one of the strongest collections of short stories I've read yet. The weakest--and this is purely in their attraction for me--are Doyle's non-Holmesian story which is just plain cruel, the Walpole story (I just wanted to shake some sense into the heroine), and the Delafield (where no real crime happens on the page even though it's heavily implied). But overall a very strong selection. ★★★★

"The Case of Lady Sannox" by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle: A non-Holmesian tale of diabolical revenge exacted by a cuckolded husband upon his beautiful wife and her lover.

"A Mystery of the Underground" by John Oxenham: A serial killer takes aim at lone travelers riding the underground each Tuesday night. Our intrepid newspaper reporter and a Scotland Yard man join forces to run him to ground. (five shot; one fell from height)

"The Finchley Puzzle" by Richard Marsh: A woman who works at a deaf school and who is proficient in lip-reading finds herself the target of a murderous plot. The villain believes that she has "overheard" a conversation he had with a confederate and her knowledge of it isn't healthy for anyone. (three snake bite)

"The Magic Casket" by R. Austin Freeman: The discovery of an abandoned handbag leads Dr. Thorndyke into a mystery of stolen jewels, a mysterious casket, and a murderous Japanese thief, (one stabbed; one natural; one shot)

"The Holloway Flat Tragedy" by Ernest Bramah: Mr. Poleash comes to Carlyle with a story of a jealous lover of a shop girl he (Poleash) has flirted with and spurned when she pressed him for marriage. (He's married.) He's sure the man is out to get him. When Poleash is found dead, Carrados suspects a much deeper plot. [one beaten to death; one shot]

"The Magician of Cannon Street" by J. S. Fletcher: Paul Campenhaye meets up with his old friend Tregarthen in an attempt to capture a killer who got away from them once. [one shot; one poisoned]

"The Stealer of Marble" by Edgar Wallace: The mystery of a woman caught stealing a suitcase full of marble. Who knew that marble could be used like that? [one poisoned

"The Tea Leaf" by Robert Eustace & Edgar Jepson: In which the daughter of a disagreeable man proves her ex-fiancé innocent of her father's murder--through the evidence of a tea-leaf and the help of a dream. [one stabbed]

"The Hands of Mr. Ottermole" by Thomas Burke: Burke manages to tell a fine tale of a serial killer who gets away with murder in a story of just 17 pages or so. In shortened form, you would expect to find less tension and less room for the true horror of multiple killings. After all, the author can't build things up and taunt the reader with victim after victim. And he can't spend a lot of time letting you become attached to the victims as they're casually strangled one by one. [four strangled--plus four more not named]

"The Little House" by H. C. Bailey:  Reggie Fortune decides to look into the case of the lost Persian kitten--a "crime" too small to interest the police--and discovers a dreadful world of dope and revenge. [one died of exposure]

"The Silver Mask" by Hugh Walpole: An older woman falls prey to a young confidence man. Sometimes it is a kind heart that kills.

"Wind in the East" by Henry Wade: Burglary and murder go hand-in-hand in this Inspector Poole short story.  [one hit on head]

"The Avenging Chance" by Anthony Berkeley: A box of poisoned chocolates--sent to one man and brought home by another--kills Joan Beresford. Who was the intended victim? [one poisoned]

"They Don't Wear Labels" by E. M. Delafield: Sometimes appearances can be deceiving, but the landlady doesn't know that. Not really a crime story--that is no crime is detected. The reader knows what's going on though.

"The Unseen Door" by Margery Allingham: A very short locked room mystery in a gentleman's club. How could a man be killed in the billiard room when the the doorman swore there had been only one visitor--a man he knew well and who hadn't the strength for the crime? [one strangled]

"Cheese" by Ethel Lina White: A young woman fresh up from the country is set as bait to catch a nasty killer. If she survives, she'll earn a 500 pound reward....[one strangled]

"You Can't Hang Twice" by Anthony Gilbert: An unassuming man can offer testimony to help Arthur Crook's client escape the hagman. If he can stay alive long enough... [one strangled; one hit on head]

First line (1st story): The relations between Douglas Stone and the notorious Lady Sannox were very well known both among the fashionable circles of which she was a brilliant member, and the scientific bodies which numbered him amon their most illustrious confrères.

Last line (last story): And they tell you animals are a lower order of creation!

Murder Every Monday: Double Trouble

 


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 Titles with Two Words. 

Stately Homicide ~S. T. Haymon (which is totally giving off a 1980s horror novel vibe)
Golden Rain ~Douglas Clark
Bloody Instructions ~Sara Woods

Parting Breath ~Catherine Aird
Invisible Green ~John Sladek
Thirteen Guests ~J. Jefferson Farjeon

Unholy Dying ~R. T. Campbell
Blood Brotherhood ~Robert Barnard
Servant's Problem ~Veronica Parker Johns


Blind Corner ~Dornford Yates
Family Affair ~Ione Sandberg Shriber
Smooth Justice ~Michael Underwood


Devious Murder ~George Bellairs
Murderer's Choice ~Anna Mary Wells
Gownsman's Gallows ~Katharine Farrer

Colour Scheme ~Ngaio Marsh
Haunted Lady ~Mary Roberts Rinehart
Cold Steal ~Alice Tilton

Toby's Folly ~Margot Arnold
Poisoned Ivy ~M. D. Lake
Black Orchids ~Rex Stout

Drawn Conclusion ~Willetta Ann Barber & R. F. Schabelitz
Sad Cypress ~Agatha Christie
Aaron's Serpent ~Emily Thorne

Death Swap ~Marian Babson
Mister Splitfoot ~Helen McCloy
Black Widower ~Patricia Moyes

Quick Curtain ~Alan Melville
Midsummer Nightmare ~Christopher Hale
Which Doctor ~Edward Candy

Dewey Death ~Charity Blackstock
Pilgrim's Rest ~Patricia Wentworth
Night Walk ~Elizabeth Daly


Thursday, February 6, 2025

The Girl from the Mimosa Club


 The Girl from the Mimosa Club (1957) ~Leslie Ford (Zenith Jones Brown)

When the newly-minted young lawyer Johnny Brayton is sent to represent the girls from the Mimosa Club, he doesn't expect to fall in love with one of them.. But life is funny that way. His uppercrust family doesn't really approve of his relationship with Kerry O'Keefe, a "sitter" (hostess expected to sit with and entertain gentlemen at the club), but he doesn't care. Then his father is found shot to death in his study. His mother is suspect number one. And Kerry is a star witness for the prosecution.

Unknown to Johnny, Kerry is an undercover policewoman working as a sitter to investigate vice. All he knows is she seems determined to send his mother to the electric chair. Of course, it doesn't help that his mother seems equally determined to wind up there. She does nothing to make a black situation any less bleak. Her reactions in court only make her look more guilty. Johnny knows his mother could never have shot anyone, but how can he prove it was anyone else when Kerry testifies to sitting outside the house and seeing no one else go in? And then an unexpected witness pops up...just in time.

I've finally decided that I'm just not a big fan of Ford's standalone thriller/suspense mysteries. This is a perfectly fine example of one of those and I have no real complaints about the mystery itself. I just found the romance a bit forced as well as the difficulties thrown in their way. And why on earth Johnny's mother had to behave in such a guilty manner is beyond me. If she didn't want to say anything to implicate someone else, fine. If she wanted to play society madam and "this is all beneath me," fine. But to start and stare like a guilty thing? Really? Too much melodrama to no good purpose. I much prefer her Grace Latham and Colonel Primrose mysteries. They are fun and filled with witty comments between the two protagonists. But--if you like suspense and mysteries where an obviously innocent person is in danger of conviction with last-minute revelations that save the day, then this just might be the book for you. ★★

First line: Johnny Brayton squeezed his car in to the curb between a snowball stand and a beat-up cart of canteloupes (sic), sweet corn and lima beans, turned off his engine and put the keys in his pocket.

Last lines: They started over. But not from scratch.
*****************

Deaths = one shot

The Book of Killowen (spoilerish)


 The Book of Killowen (2013) by Erin Hart

The fourth book in the Nora Gavin series finds Nora and Cormac Maguire back in Ireland after Nora returned to the United States to try and finally bring her sister's murderer to justice. This time they are drawn into forensic case that combines the discovery of an ancient "bog man" with a modern-day murder. 

An excavator digging in the peat bog near Tipperary, discovers a sunken car. When the peaty turf is removed from the boot (trunk), it reveals the remains of a ninth century (or thereabouts) man. Nora, Cormac, and Niall Dawson, all experts in archaeology and pathology, are called in by Detective Stella Cusack and the local authorities to examine the remains. But the real question is how did a ninth century man wind up in the boot of a modern day vehicle? 

As Nora begins her examination of the body in situ, she realizes that there are one too many feet. There's another body underneath the bog man--and it winds up being Benedict Kavanaugh, a well-known philosopher and TV personality who has been missing for a few months. Why are the two bodies together? What was Kavanaugh doing in the area? And why didn't anyone see him and/or come forward when appeals were made at the time of his disappearance? All trails seem to lead to Killowen, a local artist's colony. Kavanaugh's wife and her "assistant" often stayed there. All of the inhabitants seem to be a bit skittish on the subject of Kavanaugh. And...once upon a time the philosopher that Kavanaugh was most interested in stayed at a local monastery. Nora, Cormac, and Stella Cusack find themselves in the middle of a mystery with ties to blackmail, treasure trove, secret identities, and ancient heresy. The past and present mingle and it's sometimes difficult to discern how much the past has influenced the murder of Kavanaugh. And why does the killer seem to be able to anticipate their every move?

---Spoiler ahead!!!---

I thoroughly enjoyed Hart's Haunted Ground, the debut novel in this series. I found her combination historical/modern mystery very intriguing and well done. The second novel, Lake of Sorrows, wasn't quite as captivating and I never could bring myself to read False Mermaid (which tells the story of of bringing Nora's sister's killer to justice). The blurb on that one indicates that once again the more recent murder had ties to a more historical one in Ireland and I just couldn't see how that would work. I was glad to see that Nora and Cormac were back at work in Ireland for this one. The tie-up between the ancient philosopher's murder and Kavanaugh's made sense and, for the most part, the mystery works well. The characterization is strong and vibrant--even more so than the debut novel. And it was interesting to meet the various inhabitants of the artist's colony. But.... (here's where the spoilery bit comes in)


I was disappointed that there was more than one killer involved. Generally speaking, I like there to be plenty of motives to go around so the reader has to sift the evidence and figure out which one is the one that pushed someone to kill. Nearly everyone at the colony has a skeleton in their closet which gives us a nice set of suspects to think about. But it makes things a bit too murky when there are several murderers to go along with the several motives. If it weren't for that little quibble, I'd give this a full four-star rating for sure. ★★ and 3/4

First line (Prologue): The oak wood was still.

First line (1st Chapter): Kevin grasped the twin joysticks and thrust the right one forward, feeling the fierce hydraulic power in the arm of his backhoe.

Stella was fond of books. She liked holding them, savoring their inky, wood-pulp smell. She especially loved wasting a whole weekend whenever she could manage it, holed up with a glass of wine and a juicy potboiler. (p. 164)

Blackmail, if that was Claffey's game, was like playing with a serpent: in order to profit, you had to get close enough to risk a deadly bite. (p. 170)

Last line: She leaned forward and laid her head on his shoulder, and he could feel her heart beating, through solid flesh, in quiet double rhythm with his own.
****************

Deaths: 6 (one stabbed; one smothered; one hit on head; one fell from height; one poisoned; one suicide)

Monday, February 3, 2025

Murder Every Monday: Clothe Me in Murder

 


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 crime fiction with a type of fabric in the title.


The Detective Wore Silk Drawers ~Peter Lovesey
The Grey Flannel Shroud ~Henry Slesar
The House of Silk ~Anthony Horowitz

The Case of the Velvet Claws ~Erle Stanley Gardner
The Velvet Fleece ~Lois Eby & John C. Fleming (two for the price of one!)
The Clue of the Velvet Mask ~Carolyn Keene

The Mystery of the Velvet Gown ~Kathryn Kenny
The Secret in the Old Lace ~Carolyn Keene
Dying in the Wool ~Frances Brody


Bury Me in Gold Lamé ~Stanton Forbes
Died in the Wool ~Ngaio Marsh
The Silk Stocking Murders ~Anthony Berkeley


Saturday, February 1, 2025

The Snow Queen


 The Snow Queen (1980) by Joan D. Vinge

On the planet Tiamet, a far-flung outpost planet of the Hegemony (a league of eight worlds, things are about to change. For eons, the Winter folk have held sway for 150 years while the Black Gate was open and trade could be commenced between Tiamet and the other worlds of the league. The Winters prospered, taken advantage of technology and the means to make their lives comfortable. The richest also take advantage of the "water of life," an agent harvested from the mers who swim the ocean, an agent that provides long-life to those who can afford it. Meanwhile, the Summers lived a simpler life--fishing and working the land. But after 150 years, the Gate closes and Tiamet is cut off from the other worlds. Offworlders leave and many of the Winters with them. They take all technology with them and leave the world in darkness. And the Queen of Winter, who has reigned (benefit of the "water of life") the entire 150 years gives place to the Summer Queen who rules according to Tiamet legend and Summer practices.

But this time, Arienrhod, the Winter Queen, has plotted to circumvent the descent into technological ignorance. She wants to live on--through a carefully chosen clone, outwit the Hegemony's officials, and keep technology. Does she want to do this to benefit the people of Tiamet? Not really--she just can't stand the thought of the Summers taking over again. And if she can't be the one to rule as Summer Queen, at least her clone can be groomed to take her place. That's almost the same thing...

Or is it? Of the nine clones implanted during the last cycle's festivities (masked revellers drinking and paring up in the grand finale), only Moon Dawntreader Summer is suitable. Moon doesn't know she's the Queen's clone. She doesn't know that the Queen has plans for her. She only knows that she wants to be a sibyl--one of Summer people's wise women (and men) who see visions and answer questions. But when she begins her journey, she learns that there is more behind the sibyls than a connection to the Lady (the Summers' goddess of the sea). Her knowledge brings her to the realization that she should be the Summer Queen....but not the Summer Queen that Areinrhod has planned. There is battle coming--not of weaponry--but a battle nonetheless for the future of Tiamet. Oh...and there's the battle for Moon's pledged love, Sparks, who was convinced to turn to the Queen when he thought he'd lost Moon forever.

I fell in love with this book when I discovered it back in the '80s. I had worked my way from Star Trek novelizations to Ray Bradbury and Isaac Asimov and other male science fiction authors and was finally finding the women of science fiction. Vinge is one of the early feminist SF writers and she writes a powerful story. The world-building is terrific and my teenage self connected with the young Moon and Sparks as they tried to find their place in the world. I was rooting for them to find each other again and live the life together they had dreamed. Reading it today, I appreciate the nuances of the story which reflected the tensions in late 1970s/early 1980s society...tensions that haven't gone away as we hoped they might. There are still the haves and the havenots. People are still judged by where they come from or who their parents were. The rich still get richer and everyone else has to make do...or live without. I still like the hope that's given at the end. A hope that if everyone works together we can make the future better...for everyone. Currently, it's not looking likely--at least not in the near future. But maybe one day.

The other thing that really draws me in is Vinge's characters. She gives each one, even those who are peripheral characters, a depth and reality that make the reader feel like they know them. Some, like Arienrhod and the first Starbuck, we may wish we didn't know--but Moon and Sparks and all those they meet along the way we are glad to have met. Most of them we'd want on our side if we were going to take on an oppressive government and those who wanted to keep us down.  

I gave this ★★★★ when I first read it and I see no reason to change that now.

First line (Prologue): The door swung shut silently behind them, cutting off the light, music, and wild celebration of the ballroom.

First line (1st Chapter): Here on Tiamet, where there is more water than land, the sharp edge between ocean and sky is blurred; the two merge into one.

There are two tragedies in life. One is never getting your heart's desire. The other is getting it.

Most people simply aren't unhappy enough with the known to trade it for the unknown.

Maybe everything we do is meaningless. But we have to try, don't we? We have to go on looking for justice...and settling for revenge.

"I love you," he whispered again, wonderingly, as he understood at last how a lifetime together with someone that you loved could seem like an eternity, and yet not be long enough.

Indifference, Gundhalinu, is the strongest force in the universe. It makes everything it touches meaningless. Love and hate don't stand a chance against it. It lets neglect and decay and monstrous injustice goe unchecked. It doesn't act, it allows. And that's what gives it so much power.: (Commander Geia Jerusha PalaThion; p. 462)

Last line: He smiled, and then he began to laugh; and together they started back through the abandoned halls--returning to Carbuncle, going home.


February Reading by the Numbers Reviews

 


You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

February Virtual Mount TBR Reviews

 


You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

February Mount TBR Reviews

 


You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

February Scavenger Hunt Reviews

 



You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Friday, January 31, 2025

Poison for Teacher


 Poison for Teacher
(1949) by Nancy Spain

Miriam Birdseye (the Miriam Birdseye, former actress), has set herself up as a private investigator after a few episodes of mysterious adventures (Poison in the Play; Death Before Wicket; Murder--Bless It; and Death Goes on Skis). Business isn't particularly booming, but then her frequent partner in crime, Natasha DuVivien (ex-ballet dancer), leaves her husband and comes to live and work with her. She's barely arrived when the headmistress of Radcliff Hall School for Girls Miss Janet Lipscoomb arrives seeking detective services.

Someone is playing the most disagreeable tricks on the headmistress and the school. Flowerpots crash down near her when she's walking. Blackboards are wetted so they squeak horribly when written on. A hedgehog is put in her bath. The stairs are greased. Rude pictures drawn. And now, it's taken a more diabolical turn. Someone had frayed the gym ropes just before Miss Lipscoomb was to demonstrate "Flying Angels" to the fourth form girls. So, she wants Birdseye et Cie (Miriam's detective agency) to investigate. 

After hearing about how there is bad blood between Miss Lipscoomb and her ex-partner, Miss bbirch, after the latter left and took the elocution and dancing instructors with her, Miriam is sure that Miss bbirch is behind it all. But they need to find proof. So, Miriam and Natasha go undercover as the new elocution and dancing instructors with the hopes of discovering the trickster. What they don't anticipate is that they will soon be looking for a murderer as well. The first victim of the murderer is Miss Theresa Devaloys, the French mistress. She had a nasty, sly sense of humor and her nose in everyone's business...and little notebook with what looks like a list of blackmail victims. She's poisoned during the rehearsal for the school play (in which her character drinks from a fresh bottle) and the finger of suspicion soon falls on Peter Bracewood-Smith, who provided the bottle and whose name figured prominently in the woman's little notebook, as well as on Dr. Lariat, who has access to poisons and who had an affair with her. An affair that he wanted ended and she didn't...Of course, when they discover that Devaloys was behind the nasty tricks at the school then suspicion falls on Miss Lipscoomb as well. How far would she go to protect her school? The police choose their favorite and our detectives choose theirs, but which way will the evidence point?

This works much better as a period piece and study of standard character types than it does as a mystery. The culprit is obvious even though Spain tries very hard to give us red herring alternates. I never seriously considered the other contenders--especially when Sergeant Tomkins latches so firmly onto one of them.What Spain does do well is provide the reader with a solid look at what the reading public of the 1940s considered standard character types (whether they would pass muster today or not) and then lampoons them--she sends them over-the-top and manages to make readers (this one, anyway) believe that she didn't agree with the stereotypes at all. She also creates an atmosphere where sexual attraction of all sorts are represented and no one (well, nearly no one--Johnny DuVivien is a tad uncomfortable at one point) bats an eye. 

I hunted this down because it was an academic mystery and I do love those. I found it interesting because of the snapshot we get of the 1940s academic scene as well as the descriptions of the characters and the village where Radcliff Hall is located. But what I'm going to remember from the story is Natasha. She is a fervent little detective in the making and a delightful character all around. If anything makes me look for more Nancy Spain books, it will be Natasha. ★★

First line: "Of all the stinking, boring, belly-aching tunes," shouted Johnny DuVivien passionately, "that one jest about takes anyone's cake!"

"A curious thing about champagne, madam," said Bracewood-Smith, "is that one can usually find someone who does not mind drinking it." (p. 44)

It is a curious fact that novelists, when presented with romantic facts in real life, usually refuse to believe them. (p. 74)

He was intelligent and hard-working, untroubled be high-brow considerations. He had four shaming pen-names to which he admitted...he even wrote love-stories, calling himself Mavis Clare, for the women's magazines. He wrote very fast and glibly straight on to the typewriter, in double spacing on quarto sheets. He sent his manuscripts straight to the publisher as he typed them. There were seldom errors in spelling, punctuation, or typing. P. Bracewood-Smith's errors were all errors of taste. He wrote excruciatingly badly. (p. 82)

[about borrowing books]
"Can I take two, please, Miss Fork-Thomas?" said Molly Ruminara. "I do read ever so fast. Although it is against your rules."
"If you like," said Gwylan vaguely, still looking out of the window. "which two do you want?"
"...May I take Strong Poison, by Sayers, and Death and the French Governess, by P. Bracewood-Smith?"
"Do," said Gwylan, even more vaguely. "The Bracewood-Smiths aren't in the same class as the Sayers, of course, though." (p. 120)

"But, Miriam, we are supposed to be detectives, darling. You too should be interested in the contents

of handbags. It is the very first thing." (Natasha; p. 142)

[about murders happening at the Radcliff Hall school] "Shouldn't let that put you off, dear, about Joan....I should think your daughter will love them. Children always love a good murder." (Henry, a waiter; p. 166)

Natasha's instinct always worked in this disorderly way, flinging up startling messages to her sensitive and receptive mind. I had now presented her with a gambler's certainty without a shadow of evidence or proof. (p. 189)

Natasha was suffering from a fever of conceit, based on her immediate past [involvement in previous mysteries]. She was sick of enforced confessions and spectacular and unresolved endings. She wanted no more murderers committing suicide or leapong screaming into Broadmoor. Nothing short of the Old Bailey and a darling judge in a black cap would satisfy her. (p. 191)

Last line: The violent, unmistakable rash of scarlet fever had risen there, and was still rising.
*********************

Deaths = 4 (one fell from height; one natural; one poisoned; one shot)

Monday, January 27, 2025

Murder Every Monday: When It Rains, It Pours

 


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 Cover with an Umbrella on.

The Female Detective ~Andrew Forrester (It's a tiny pink parasol, but it's there.)
Bad for Business ~Rex Stout
You'll Die Yesterday ~Marjorie J. Grove

Mrs. Jeffries Holds the Trump ~Emily Brightwell (...and the inspector holds the umbrella.)
Murder in the Mansions ~Sara Rosett
The Illusion of Murder ~Carol McCleary

13 Clues for Miss Marple ~Agatha Christie
The Pink Umbrella Murder ~Frances Crane (one of the most risque covers by Popular Library)
Maisie Dobbs ~Jacqueline Winspear

Miss Seeton Rocks the Cradle ~Hamilton Crane
Caught Dead in Philadelphia ~Gillian Roberts
Case Closed ~June Thomson

The Valley of Fear ~Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Some Danger Involved ~Will Thomas
Coffin Scarcely Used ~Colin Watson

The Incredible Umbrella ~Marvin Kaye
Best Max Carrados Detective Stories ~Ernest Bramah


Saturday, January 25, 2025

Dick Van Dyke: mini-review


 Dick Van Dyke (2025) by Christy Webster

My husband loves Dick Van Dyke. The Dick Van Dyke Show is one of his all-time favorites. So, when we saw that there was a Little Golden Book about Dick, I had to get it for him for an early Valentine's Day gift. And now we've both read it. It's a very cute biography just perfect for kids (or big kids) with excellent illustrations. A very enjoyable, quick read. ★★★★

Friday, January 24, 2025

The Cloisters


 The Cloisters (2022) by Katy Hays

Synopsis (from the book flap): When Ann Stilwell arrives in New York City, she hopes to spend her summer working as a curatorial associate at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Instead, she finds herself assigned to The Cloisters, a gothic museum and garden renowned for its collection of medieval and Renaissance art. There she is drawn into a circle of charismatic but enigmatic researchers, including Patrick Roland, the museum's mercurial curator who specializes in the history of tarot; Rachel Mondray, Patrick's beautiful curatorial associate and sometime muse; and Leo Bitburg, the gardener who nurtures the museum's precious collection of medicinal and poisonous plants.

Relieved to have left her troubled past in rural Washington behind her, Ann longs for the approbation of her colleagues and peers and is happy to indulge their more outlandish theories, only to find that their fascination with fortune-telling runs deeper than academic obsession. Patrick is determined to prove that ancient divination holds the key to the foretelling of the future. And when Ann stumbles across a breakthrough in the form of a mysterious and previously-believed lost deck of 15th-century Italian tarot cards, she finds herself at the center of a dangerous game of power, toxic friendship, and ambition.

Then there is an unexpected and devastating death and suddenly everyone becomes a suspect. As the game being played within the Cloisters spirals out of control, Ann must decide if the tarot cards can not only teach her about the past, but also about her future.

So...books with an academic bent are my jam (or whatever the trending phrase is now). When I had to pick a book from one of three celebrity book clubs for one of the challenges I do and I saw the synopsis for this one I was thrilled. So many of the books that wind up on these lists just aren't appealing to me. But mysterious goings on amongst researchers at a museum? Cool. Count me in.

Except, the plot just isn't all that. And the characters--same. Having closed the book, none of them have really stuck with me. I don't know if the whole point of the book was to prove that you can't change what's meant to be and that Fate (with a capital F) controls everything, but it just felt like a cheat. That Ann just happened to find notes referring to what they're researching in the haphazard box of junk that her mom ships her from her (deceased) father's study? That the whole story circles back to the death of her father and THAT just happened to be the answer to how he died. [Can't tell you what THAT is because that would be a major spoiler.] The final twist should have been more impactful, but by that point it just felt anticlimactic. ★★

First line (Prologue): Death always visited me in August.
First line (1st Chapter): I would arrive in New York at the beginning of June.

Last line: But now, like Rachel, I'd rather not know how the story ends.

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

Deaths = 6 (one hit by car; three drowned; one poisoned; one fell from height)

Wednesday, January 22, 2025

In Such Good Company


 In Such Good Company
(2016) by Carol Burnett

Carol Burnett's book focuses on eleven year run of her fabulous Carol Burnett Show. She gives a brief introduction to her ventures on the Broadway stage and appearances on other shows before being given the chance to start her own, but the bulk of the book is focused on how she and her husband built the show, bringing in fantastic regulars Harvey Korman, Lyle Waggoner, Vicki Lawrence, and eventually Tim Conway. It's difficult to believe that Tim wasn't a regular all along--his comedic presence seems to fill all of my memories of the show. But despite many guest appearances over the years, he wasn't a regular until season number nine. She shares memorable moments with some of her favorite guest stars from Lucille Ball to Bing Crosby, from Roddy McDowall to Rita Hayworth, and from Betty White to Dick Van Dyke. She gives detailed dialogue and descriptions of her favorite moments on the show--most of which were send-ups of the movies she and her grandmother would go see when she was growing up. 

I grew up on The Carol Burnett Show. It was shown in syndication and I adored it. A lot of the adult humor went over my head, but I recognized most the movies they were recreating and I thought Tim Conway and Harvey Korman were two of the funniest men on the planet. Tim's efforts to break Harvy up were incredible. The dentist sketch has got to be one of the all-time funniest moments on television. And I'll never forget seeing her come down the staircase as Starlett O'Hara in that outrageous green curtain dress.  It was such fun having Carol take me on a trip down the television memories of my younger years as well as reading some of the behind the scenes stories. It's a shame that the writers didn't make a good transition from Harvey Korman (who left at the end of season ten) to Dick Van Dyke (who came on board to take his place as a regular). Perhaps the show would have run a bit longer if the sketches had fit better with the regulars on board at the time. 

A really fun book. Not quite as laugh-out-loud funny as I expected. But definitely interesting to someone who watched the show back in the day. ★★★★

First line (intro): I recently had the extreme pleasure of accepting the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award, and in accepting the honor I talked about how much I loved going to the movies with my grandmother, Nanny, as a kid.

First line (Ch. 1): When I was growing up, theater and music were my first loves, so my original show business goals revolved around being in musical comedies on Broadway, like Ethel Merman and Mary Martin.

Last line: How lucky am I?

Monday, January 20, 2025

The Art School Murders


 The Art School Murders (1943) by Moray Dalton (Katherine Dalton Renoir)

This is the tenth installment in the Inspector Hugh Collier series. Collier and Sergeant Duffield are called upon to help the local police when an artist's model is stabbed to death at the Morosini School of Art. Althea Greville had once been a beautiful, in-demand model and a bit of a femme fatale. The first time she came to pose for the students, she had quite a following of men students and even the caretaker seemed to be taken with her. But when she returns to the Morosini School, she has lost her bloom, is down on her luck, and seems a bit desperate for money. Did her desperation drive her to do something that someone thought worth killing for? Perhaps blackmail? 

Collier is a bit discouraged at the beginning of the case. There are about fifty possible suspects--with students, the two instructors, Morosini himself, the caretaker and his wife, and the nephew of John Kent (one of the instructors). Kent's nephew, Arnold Mansfield, had attended the school during Althea's first stint as model and was one of her followers. He left the school--and town--and now has, coincidentally, arrived back home just when Althea has returned. Is there a connection? The Yard men are able to whittle the fifty suspects down to five, but not before another murder takes place. 

One of the young art students had gone back into the school to retrieve a scarf she had forgotten. When Betty Haydon and her friend Cherry Garth arrive at the school next morning to find the police in possession, Betty tells Cherry that she may have seen something important..."But it might not mean anything. I'm not going to talk until I know a lot more than we do now." She doesn't get the chance. Someone must have overheard the conversation and they made sure Betty would never tell what she saw with a quick stabbing in a dark movie theatre. 

Clues and evidence begin to pile up and John Kent becomes the obvious suspect with most of them pointing to him. Too obvious? Collier isn't sure, but he knows there are a few more leads to follow up before they will get their man.

So, last year I read the very first Collier book (One by One They Disappeared) and one of my small quibbles was that the suspect was so obvious. I certainly can't make that complaint here. The culprit was definitely not on my radar and I won't cry foul, because once Dalton reveals the solution, I could definitely think back to a few clues to the motive that I didn't pay attention to. I could have done with a better groundwork for how the particular motive connected to the particular suspect (if that was there, I missed it). 

I, as is generally the case, enjoyed the school setting, though it's not quite the going concern that most of the institutions in my academic mysteries are. The war is taking its toll and Morosini, a great artist, is not such a great businessman. He's too busy being a genius to attend to the details that would make his school continue to operate in the tough times. The war also plays a part in the plot--making it difficult to keep track of suspects in the blackout. Overall, a highly entertaining and quick-paced mystery. ★★★★

Kudos to Curtis Evans from The Passing Tramp for the very informative intro.

First line: At twenty minutes past eight, Mrs. Pearce came out of the cottage at the entrance to the school grounds and trudged up the cinder path to the main door.

If there is any place more dreary than an empty theatre, it is an empty school. (Inspector Collier; p. 23)

You know how it is in cinemas. You go straight in through the vestibule, plunk down your money, and the darkness swallows you up. If there's a queue the commissionaire is too busy throwing out his chest in his fancy uniform to notice the component parts. I really wonder more people aren't bumped off at the flicks. (Sgt. Duffield; p. 96)

It don't do to shoot off your mouth when superior officers are about. They do the telling and we jump to it. (P. C. Griffiths; p. 99)

Last line: They shook hands again, and then Wbua naq Pureel* climbed onto a bus, and Collier walked on to the Yard. [*ROT13 encoded to prevent spoilers]

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

Deaths = 4 [two stabbed; one pushed down stairs; one hanged]

Murder Every Monday: Puzzling Developments

 



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 a crossword on the cover. I had way fewer of these than I have of some of the items. At first, I didn't think I had any. Several books that I own that have words indicative of crosswords (from E. R. Punshon's Crossword Mystery to Write Murder Down by Richard Lockridge) didn't have appropriate images on them. Here's what I came up with...

Close Quarters ~Michael Gilbert
The Marlow Murder Club ~Robert Thorogood
The Seventh Crossword ~Herbert Resnicow

A Six-Letter Word for Death ~Patricia Moyes
The Clue in the Crossword Cipher ~Carolyn Keene
Write Me a Murder ~Amanda Carter




Thursday, January 16, 2025

The Deadly Truth


 The Deadly Truth (1941) by Helen McCloy

Honesty is the best policy. At least that the way the saying goes. But is it really? The guests of Claudia Bethune find out the answer when the wealthy beauty throws a dinner party with drinks laced with truth serum. Claudia is a fabulously wealthy socialite with a vicious sense of humor. She thinks it will be great fun to get her "friends" together and have them blurt out the truth and nothing but the truth. But she gets more than she bargained for and before the next morning comes, she's discovered strangled to death with her own platinum and emerald necklace.

Dr. Basil Willing, psychiatric consultant to the New York district attorney's office has been renting the "Hut" (a small cottage on the Bethune country estate) and he's soon asked by the local authorities to give them some help on the murder case. There's a houseful of suspects. Claudia's husband, Michael, was still in love with his ex-wife and after the beans got spilled at dinner about that little secret it may have been prudent for him to kill Claudia before she had time to cut him out of her will or divorce him. Phyllis Bethune (the aforementioned ex-wife) may have had the same thought. Charles Rodney, manager of Claudia's textile mill, has been playing games with the labor force and working on buying up stock cheap--he's almost got enough to hold the majority vote on the board. When that came out over drinks, Claudia threatened to put a stop to his anticipated future purchases. Maybe he thought it would be easier with Claudia completely out of the way. Dr. Roger Slater is the man who developed the new scopolamine derivative--and the man from whom Claudia stole the doses she dropped in the drinks. If the news of his carelessness (he left the tubes right there in front of her after all), he'll lose his job--and maybe never work again as a scientist. Peggy Titus was under a cloud of suspicion for theft and Claudia held the trump card that would prove her innocence. Peggy kept hanging around and searching the premises for the proof, but maybe she got tired of looking and decided to get rid of the source of the rumors. 

The interesting thing for me about this one is that even though motive is a driving force, it's not the important part of the investigation. The true motive is only revealed in the final pages of the story, but you don't need it to get to the solution. A lot of emphasis is placed on auditory clues and I am pleased that I can say I picked up all the correct ones (there are a few red herrings about--as you would expect in a nicely plotted mystery). I will say that if we consider the characters as real people then I am a bit surprised that the culprit fell into the trap laid for him in the semi-reconstruction-of-the-crime scene. Willing has just finished emphasizing one of the auditory clues. If I'm the killer, I'm certainly not going to follow that up by making my connection to that clue blazingly obvious. Did the culprit not hear a thing Willing just said? Maybe s/he subconsciously wanted to get caught and just couldn't help themselves.... Oh, well. Other than that, a nicely plotted and very interesting mystery.  ★★★★  

First line: A butterfly in a beehive could not have looked more out of place than Claudia Bethune in the vestibule of the Southerland Foundation.

The trooper seemed to think the fact that he had arrested Basil constituted a bond between them. In the circumstances, it was just as well. [p. 112]

No one every expects to fall in love. Perhaps no one ever really wants to. [Dr. Roger Slater; p. 136]

Last lines: "Only afterward did I realize that killing her was even more foolish than kissing her. She wasn't worth it..."
*******************

Deaths = 4 (two natural; one strangled; one shot)