September Follow the Clues Reviews

September Mount TBR Reviews

September Key Word Reviews

September Key Words: Always, Fall, Sleep, School, Teach, Call, Leave, Chase, Below

Please note that you may also post any catch-up reviews here as well--just be clear when name your link-up if you are posting for a previous month.

September Just the Facts Reviews

   

    An InLinkz Link-up
   

The Blind Spot: Review

The Blind Spot (1952; original title: Inspector West at Bay; apa The Case of the Acid Throwers) by John Creasey

It's not often that a criminal goes in for personal revenge against the policeman who put him behind bars. Sure, they often spout off threats as they're convicted and taken away to jail, but by the time they get released (if they do) they usually have their minds on other things. Revenge isn't unknown...but it is rare. So when Inspector Roger West catches a spray of vitriol in the face (luckily just as he's wiping his brow with his handkerchief, so the damage isn't too bad) that has also hit a young woman on the pavement beside him, it's natural for him to wonder what made the women the target of such spite. But the attack is followed with anonymous notes proclaiming

This is only the beginning.

Then his associate on many cases, Mark Lessing, is also attacked and the unknown assailant starts getting closer and closer to West's family. He realizes that someone from his past hasn't forgotten who put them behind bars and is perfectly capable of exacting a horrible vengeance on West, on Lessing...on anyone who might get in their way.

West and Lessing start sifting through old cases looking for criminals who might hold a grudge and who have recently rejoined society. They come up with three possibilities and the longer it takes to find proof of who's behind the attacks the more connections are found among the three. Is it possible that they have combined forces to exact revenge? The two men race against the clock to prevent their loved ones from becoming collateral damage....and it all culminates in a showdown at villain's home where one final surprise waits for West.

This was a fast-moving, suspense-filled novel. Creasey's writing is economical without leaving out anything important. One hundred and fifty-nine pages doesn't seem like a lot of room to introduce characters, fill in background on the criminals in question, and put West and his family through several vicious attacks, but Creasey makes the most of them. Interesting twists and a few suspicions cast on what seems to be friendly associates make this an exciting ride from start to finish. If West's boys hadn't been in danger, I might have rated this one a bit higher--but I just don't care for child-in-danger story lines. ★★★ 

[Finished 8/23/18]

Great True Stories of Crime, Mystery & Detection: Review

Great True Stories of Crime, Mystery & Detection (1965) is a collection of supposedly factual stories edited by the Reader's Digest Association and written by a variety of authors. It includes accounts of  famous crimes and criminals such as the assassination of President Lincoln and the capture of Al Capone as well as lesser-known stories of a murderous Harvard professor, the Great Portuguese Bank-Note Swindle, and the secrets of a Soviet assassin among others. It covers everything from forgery to kidnapping to murder and it also includes tales with supernatural overtones.

These "true" stories are told in such an informal, anecdotal manner that it is really difficult to take them seriously. Especially those that involve ghostly goings-on (which apparently fits under the broad mystery category). I also had the feeling that I had read some of these accounts before in books aimed at children--the story about John Wilkes Booth especially brought my elementary school library to mind. Perhaps it's the illustrations found among the stories; because they also remind me of those Alfred Hitchcock collections that I used read when I was young. The writing is very simplistic (far more simplistic than I remembered from Reader's Digest stories) and there is little investigative features to the reports. If someone is looking for bare-bones stories of true crime in very basic language then this is a book for them. ★★ and a half.

[Finished 8/22/18]

Even though I don't think I'd personallycount the supernatural tales as true stories of crime, mystery or detection, I am totally counting this as the True Crime entry for the PopSugar Challenge--after all, who am I to argue with Reader's Digest?

Bout of Books 23 Wrap-Up

Bout of Books Final Tally: 

Well, I both did and didn't fulfill my goal for the Bout of Books Read-a-Thon this year. My state goal was a total of five books and I did manage that--and a little over (see below). However, I went off-script and read three Basil of Baker Street books instead of finishing Angels in the Gloom plus Thank You, Jeeves by P. G. Wodehouse and

Raisins & Almonds by Kerry Greenwood. BUT--getting that much reading done during one of my busiest work weeks of the year was a definite win and I want to thank Amanda and Kelly for sponsoring this event and encouraging us to read, read, read!

Completed Reading

Great True Stories of Crime, Mystery & Detection by various authors; edited by Reader's Digest

The Blind Spot by John Creasey

Basil of Baker Street by Eve Titus

Basil & the Pygmy Cats by Titus

Basil in Mexico by Titus

Angels in the Gloom by Anne Perry (76 pages out of 337)

Bout of Books Day 6

Bout of Books Day 6 Update: 

So far I've read five books--two from my original list and then I took a detour through Eve Titus's children's books featuring that great mouse detective, Basil of Baker Street. I've started a sixth book (and third on my proposed list), Angels in the Gloom by Anne Perry. We'll see if I can finish that one before the Bout is over.

Great True Stories of Crime, Mystery & Detection by various authors; edited by Reader's Digest

The Blind Spot by John Creasey

Basil of Baker Street by Eve Titus

Basil & the Pygmy Cats by Titus

Basil in Mexico by Titus

The Tale of Brownie Beaver: Mini-Review

The Tale of Brownie Beaver (1916) is one of a series of classic animal stories by Arthur Scott Bailey. Bailey uses humorous tales of very people-like animals to introduce children to woodland creatures--explaining their habits and behaviors in short, intertwined stories. Brownie Beaver is a hard-working mammal who works with his fellow beavers and other animals living in his "village" to build and protect their homes from weather, outsider animals, and men. Children learn how beavers build their dams and lodges, what beavers like to eat, and how they warn one another of danger. 

The stories are charming with excellent color illustrations by Harry L. Smith. Young readers should thoroughly enjoy the stories about Brownie and his friends. ★★★  

[Finished 8/19/18]

Overture to Death: Review

When reading the synopsis for Overture to Death (1939) by Ngaio Marsh, one can be excused for thinking that this will be another of her theatrical mysteries. After all, it tells us that a group of seven amateur actors are preparing to put on the play Shop Windows when Rachmaninoff's "Prelude in C Sharp Minor" is set for the overture. Then on opening night the pianist barely gets started--playing three chords and then stepping on soft pedal--before a loud bang is heard and Miss Idris Campanula falls dead against the sheet music. There's no performance and the play setting itself features very little in the plot other than to provide a way for Marsh to insert a rather ingenious method of murder. I'm quite sure I'd never come across a deadly piano before I read this one the first time (long ago and far way from our local library).

The stars of Marsh's show are Miss Campanula and her bosom friend Miss Eleanor Prentice, two embittered old maids who like nothing more than to spread dreadful rumors about their neighbors and then confess their sins to the handsome rector. Of course, the dear friends are also rivals for the rector's regard--each woman imagining herself to be the front-runner in the "rector's wife" stakes.  When Inspector Roderick Alleyn arrives on the scene to decide who gave Miss Campanula such a dramatic death scene, he finds that he must first discover if the murderer has cast the right woman as victim. For until about twenty minutes or so before curtain time, everyone assumed that Miss Prentice would be playing her standard piece as the opening. She is prevented from doing so by an infected finger and only agrees to give up her martyr's determination to play no matter how much it hurt after the rector convinces her. There seems to have been no time for the gun to have been rigged up in the piano after the change in pianists took place--so was Miss Prentice the intended victim? And what was the motive? Do people really kill just because someone is a meddling, gossipy busybody?

This was an enjoyable entry in the Alleyn case files. A cast of interesting characters from repressed village spinsters and the handsome cleric to the county squire and the young lovers (whose parents are forbidding the match) to the doctor and his adulterous love interest, the attractive widow; a clever murder method; a heaping helping of red herrings (some provided courtesy of the young scamp George Biggins; and plenty of humor and excellent dialogue. Alleyn does an amusing turn as Holmes and we (blessedly) see little of Nigel Bathgate (I am getting a bit tired of Mr. Bathgate).  Great fun even though I remembered who the culprit is. ★★★ and a half.

[Finished 8/19/18]

A Very Private Enterprise: Review

A Very Private Enterprise (1984) by Elizabeth Ironside* was the 1984 winner of the John Creasey Award for a crime fiction debut. It's all about the death of Hugo Frencham, a has-been British civil servant who has landed a position in Delhi where he was destined to spend his days till retirement. Except somebody decided to retire him (permanently) a bit ahead of schedule. He's found stabbed to death in the garden of his diplomatic bungalow--having unaccountably left a party in the British enclave much earlier than normal. Did he have a secret rendezvous that led to his death? Or are there other motives?

He was well-known as a collector of Tibetan and other Eastern art and a few recent acquisitions are found to be missing. Did someone have a deadly lust for a silver Buddha? But then George Sinclair, a secret service sleuth sent out from London, discovers a safe full of of gold bars in Hugo's office. Does Hugo's possession of so much (highly illegal!) gold have anything to do with his death? Sinclair works with the local Delhi police and members of the High Commission in Delhi, but it is visiting scholar Janey Somers who helps him find his way through all the red herrings to final solution.

Several years ago I discovered Death in the Garden by Elizabeth Ironside. It was an excellent historical mystery that I enjoyed very much (see review linked at the title). When I picked up A Very Private Enterprise, I had the vague idea that it was historical as well--possibly because that cover sortof implies it. It's not really (which--and admittedly this is my own fault for assuming--was disappointing). It is apparently set in the 1970s not long before its publication date, but there isn't anything in the text to definitely date it. In fact, as far as time frame goes, it has a very odd free-fall time period feel. You don't really feel like it takes place in a definite time at all. The way the British people in India behave it's like the British Empire is still going strong. But then it's obvious that India has its own government and police force and whatnot. It's apparent that this takes place before the regular use of computers and cell phones (but not too long) and, yet, the way parties and social interactions are described you could mistake it for pre-1950. 

In fact, I think this book would have been far better if Ironside had decided to make this a period piece from the days of Empire. I wasn't sold on the procedures of the (then) current investigating officers. It all seemed rather dated if I was supposed to believe that it was the late 1970s/early 1980s. The motive given in the final reveal also seems rather dated. The best part of the book was the character of  George Sinclair and his interactions with the various suspects, witnesses, fellow investigators, and, especially, Janey--who, of course, serves as a love interest. The production of red herrings and the road to the final reveal is quite good. This shows the promise of a good detective fiction writer, but I don't quite see why the book was chosen as the crime fiction debut award winner--unless, of course, all other debuts books that year were real duds (note to self--check out lists for 1984 debut crime fiction novels). A not-quite ★★★ read, but I feel generous and will round up anyway.

[Finished 8/16/18]

*Elizabeth Ironside is the pseudonym of Lady Catherine Manning, wife of the British Ambassador to the U.S (2003-2007).

Readers Imbibing Peril 13

I first came to the R.I.P. Event (Readers Imbibing Peril) in 2011 when Carl V over at Stainless Steel Droppings was knee-deep in hosting (working on the sixth year of fall perilous reading). He has since handed over the reins to Heather (aka capricious) and we're set to start a thirteenth round of frightful fall fun. For full details, click on the event link. The main object is to have fun and to share that fun with others while reading books that fall into one of the categories listed below.

Mystery
Suspense
Thriller
Dark Fantasy
Gothic
Horror
Supernatural.

There are several levels and while it's not a challenge per se, I always set a personal goal so I can add this to my list of "challenges" accepted and completed. I'll be going with my usual Peril the First (read four books that fit the categories). I may also get some viewing in, but we'll see. I don't have a set list yet, but I can say with great confidence that most, if not all, of the books (films) will come from the Mystery category. I'm a big weenie when it comes to horror and thrillers. I will post my list as they come.

Peril the First
1. The Invisible Thief by Thomas Brace Haughey (9/5/18) SPOILER (see below for how this connects even more to the R.I.P. Event than just through mystery)
2. The Grub-&-Stakers Pinch a Poke by Alisa Craig [Charlotte MacLeod] (9/10/18)
3. Murder at the Manor by Martin Edwards, ed. (9/14/18)
4. The Charles Dickens Murders by Edith Skom (9/15/18)
5. The Boy in the Pool by Camilla R. Bittle (9/16/18)
6. Foggy, Foggy Death by Frances & Richard Lockridge (9/22/18)
7. Death at the Bar by Ngaio Marsh (9/29/18)
8. Supernatural Sherlocks by Nick Rennison, ed (9/30/18)
9. The House of Sudden Sleep by John Hawk (9/30/18)
10. Death of a Peer by Ngaio Marsh (10/3/18)
11. Before Midnight by Rex Stout (10/4/18)
12. 'Til Death Do Us Part by Amanda Quick (10/4/18)
13. What Beckoning Ghost by Douglas G. Browne (10/16/18)
14. The Glass Mask by Lenore Glen Offord (10/21/18)
15. The Killing Strike by John Creasey (10/28/18)






******************
1. SPOILER for The Invisible Thief--there are soulless demons involved in the solution of the crime.

Bout of Books 23 Day 3

Day 3 of the Bout of Books Read-a-Thon

I'm still working away at my 576-page true crime book (almost done!). It would help read-a-thonning if I didn't have to work and it weren't the beginning of a new academic year here at the university. (Crazy-making!) But--joining in on the Bout of Books has definitely kept me more motivated in reading this week than if I hadn't participated.

~Update at 9 pm. I've finished my first  book! Yay!

Today's prompt--Literary Villains: Who are your favorite literary bad guys?

Here's a top ten list I made quite some time ago. I don't collect favorite villains as a rule, so this list still stands.

1. The White Witch from C. S. Lewis. One of the first baddies that I ran across (unless you count the Big Bad Wolf with the three little pigs or his cousin with Little Red Riding Hood). She was really slick wasn't she? Snaring little boys with Turkish Delight.

2. Professor Moriarty, Sherlock Holmes's arch-nemesis. How could I not list the "Napoleon of Crime"--"the organizer of half that is evil and of nearly all that is undetected in [London]"?

3. The Queen of Hearts in Alice in Wonderland. Gotta love a villain whose best line is "Off with her head!"

4. Big Brother in 1984. Government evil at its worst.

5. But wait, then there's the government that sends out the Firemen in Farenheit 451. A book blogger has GOT to hate those who condone and enforce book burning!

6. Iago in Othello. The ultimate, sneaky, behind-your-back, better-keep-your-eyes-on-him-at-all-times, butter-won't-melt-in-his-mouth, bad guy.

7. Cruella de Ville. Wants to murder puppies for a fur coat. What more need I say?

8. Dorian Gray. Willing to kill just so he won't be criticized by his "conscience" and so he can stay pretty.

9. Mr. Hyde. Letting loose all that's bad and horrible in man.

10. Mrs. Danvers. The original creepy housekeeper. Particularly as played by Judith Anderson in the Hitchcock version.

Bout of Books 23: Day 2

Here I am with my Bout of Books update. So far I have read 392 pages of my first book, Great True Stories of Crime, Mystery & Detection by various authors; edited by Reader's Digest. This book has 576 pages total and if it's the only book I get done during the read-a-thon, that's still a heck of a lot out of the way.

Yesterday's challenge was to comment at Bout of Books with an introduction of ourselves in six words. Mine was "Too many Books. Not Enough Time." Today, the challenge is to give the plot of a book in emojis. I'm no dab hand with emojis, so I'm just going to post this little update and get myself back to reading....

Bout of Books 23

For those of you who don't know what the Bout of Books is, here's the info straight from the source:

The Bout of Books read-a-thon is organized by Amanda Shofner and Kelly Rubidoux Apple. It is a week long read-a-thon that begins 12:01am Monday, August 20th and runs through Sunday, August 26th in whatever time zone you are in. Bout of Books is low-pressure. There are challenges, giveaways, and a grand prize, but all of these are completely optional. For all Bout of Books 23 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog. - From the Bout of Books team

I haven't participated for quite some time, not because I haven't wanted to but because it tends to fall right when I'm busiest at work. And that's true this year too. BUT I am woefully behind on the number of books I planned to read this year and I figure a read-a-thon's got to help. Right? Right! So, here goes....I'm officially signing up to see how many books I can knock out this week. Want to join me?

I'm not sure if I'll stick with these or not, but here are some books that I'd like to get done if possible:

Great True Stories of Crime, Mystery & Detection by various authors; edited by Reader's Digest

The Blind Spot by John Creasey

Angels in the Gloom by Anne Perry

Thank You, Jeeves by P. G. Wodehouse

Raisins & Almonds by Kerry Greenwood