God, this was tedious.
Continue readingThe Tuesday Night Bloggers
#748: Mining Mount TBR – The Curse of Khatra (1947) by T.C.H. Jacobs
Picture the scene: it is 1946 and T.C.H. Jacobs is discussing his next novel with his agent, lamenting “So many types of detective story have successful during this Golden Age, in what style should I write? Some scientific detection? A police procedural? A pulpy shocker? Should I have an amateur detective? A gentleman detective? A criminal gang?” and his agent leans forwards slowly, steeples his fingers, and says simply, “Yes”.
Continue reading#745: Mining Mount TBR – Menace for Doctor Morelle (1947) by Ernest Dudley
The joy of running this blog comes not from the screaming fans that hound my every step, nor the piles of untaxable cash that seemed to just appear from day one, but from the discussions it and others allow me to have with like-, and sometimes unlike-, minded enthusiasts of Golden Age detective fiction. What to do, then, when I have a book that probably no-one is going to want to talk about?
Continue reading#742: Minor Felonies – Encyclopedia Brown Keeps the Peace [ss] (1969) by Donald J. Sobol
You may find yourself helplessly mired in the post-Christmas, pre-New Year hinterland of nothingness; I am here to help. Firstly, if it’s not Tuesday where you are, it will be soon. We shall get through this together. Here are some quick thoughts on Encyclopedia Brown Keeps the Peace (1969) to get you functional again.
Continue reading#739: Minor Felonies – Mistletoe and Murder (2016) by Robin Stevens
Last week, I wasn’t expecting a Christmas mystery and arguably didn’t get one; but for the week of Christmas itself I wanted to be on firmer ground.
Continue reading#736: Minor Felonies – The Mystery of the Iron Box (1952) by Bruce Campbell
At the risk of appearing to stoke the thoroughly-raked embers of the “Is Die Hard (1988) a Christmas movie?” conversation — it’s not, by the way — how much Christmas should appear in your mystery in order for it to be considered a Christmas Mystery?
Continue reading#733: Minor Felonies – The Way to Sattin Shore (1983) by Philippa Pearce
#729: Minor Felonies – The Mystery of the Pantomime Cat (1949) by Enid Blyton
Here’s a question for you: at what point did the Five Find-Outers series by Enid Blyton peak?
Continue reading#726: Reflections on Detection – The Knox Decalogue 7: The Detective-as-Criminal
I hope I’ll finish this undertaking before another year passes, but with the end of November upon us this is my last post on the Knox Decalogue for this year. So, what have we got?
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