Tom Mead's Death and the Conjuror has a lot of things going for it, but what impressed me the most was its measurement. The narrative events (revelations for you non-mystery fanatics) are doled out in such a way that our attention to the suspects resembles a whirlwind, returning back to characters we had confidently crossed… Continue reading Death and the Conjuror
John Stephen Strange's Let the Dead Past began with a ton of demerits. The book's small print coupled with my eyes' sudden deterioration gave me a headache. The condition of the book was even worse--by the final chapter, it started falling apart in my hands. To top it all off, the very first sentence revealed… Continue reading Let the Dead Past
John Russell Fearn's Pattern of Murder is a fiendishly clever crime novel with a murder weapon and method so delightful that I forgive it for being inverted. It's well-written in the sense that it moves. Fearn doesn't care about painting a picture or demonstrating his vocabulary. He's a got a singular world (the inner workings… Continue reading Pattern of Murder
It's a common murder-mystery tactic - isolating characters in one place. Yes, authors employ this device to ratchet up the panic and tension, but I suspect their main reason is to prevent the victims/suspects from simply leaving. "What's that? There's an unknown murderer in the house? I know! I'll drive to New Jersey, change my… Continue reading The Red Death Murders
Though I am not familiar with a lot of juvenile mysteries, I imagine they focus on scenes of adventure rather than detection. After all, a few thrills help the medicine go down and tweens need action to go with their plots. It's nice though when an adventure story includes clues and false solutions while trekking… Continue reading The Viking Claw
James Scott Byrnside 