Hello, all. I hope you're feeling swell and staying motivated. I've got 3 items of news to share. First, my e-books are on sale ($1.00 or an equivalent amount in your currency) until the end of April. The link is here. Second, my fourth book has a title -- The Five False Suicides. You can… Continue reading April 2021 Update
We've all read this type of mystery before. Great plot, very entertaining, capable detective--but there were not enough suspects, making the question of who done it far less satisfying than it should have been. In this regard, having too many suspects (while not ideal) is better than having too few. I'm thinking about suspects a… Continue reading Unnatural Suspects
I'm a sucker for out-of-print, non-dust-jacket-having, old-timey mysteries. For all the masterpieces on my bookshelves, The Stingaree Murders and The Mystery at Chillery are my favorite objects. It is entirely possibly that I overrate such books because of their feel. I love when they have eighty-year-old notes written in the flyleaves. I love the discoloration… Continue reading Murder Mansion (aka House of Murder) 1934
It's time for me to take a break from John Dickson Carr. Fortunately, I can't imagine a better novel with which to pause than Death Turns the Tables. After the unfocused nonsense of The Punch and Judy Murders, here is a novel with nearly perfect construction. Every chapter builds on the previous one, adding only… Continue reading Death Turns the Tables
There's a moment late in John Dickson Carr's The Punch and Judy Murders when we are told that the earlier parts of the evening had been an adventure yarn, but now it was time for the psychological study. In other words, 2/3 of this novel was a North by Northwest/The 39 Steps hybrid, and the… Continue reading The Punch and Judy Murders
