I recently lamented that I don’t really do much in the way of think-pieces on The Invisible Event any more, and some of you in the comments were like ‘Yeah, so do them again, then, idiot’. So here goes.
Continue readingWoo!
#1159: A Reading Round-Up for 2023 + Plans for 2024
I love a round-up post, a chance to reflect on what’s gone in the year before and to look ahead to what the future holds. So, following on from last year’s, here’s my review of bookish things for 2023.
Continue reading#874: Department of Self-Promotion – The Red Death Murders (2022) by Jim Noy
Hello, everyone. I’ve written a novel. It’s called The Red Death Murders (2022), and should appear on your local Amazon franchise at any minute if it hasn’t already.
Continue reading#789: Bodies from the Library 2021 – Recording Now Online
If it bothers you that you were not among the lucky souls able to attend last weekend’s online Bodies from the Library conference — and bother you it should, Bodies is always a great day out — some good news!
Continue reading#582: Cain’s Jawbone: A Novel Problem (1934) by Torquemada

No, this is not a review of Cain’s Jawbone (1934) by Torquemada, a.k.a. Edward Powys Mathers. In order to review it, I must first read it, and reading it presents a difficulty as many of you will be aware…
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#258: I’ll Grind Their Bones (1936) by Theodore Roscoe is Now Available from Bold Venture Press!

Here we are at last: the second (and final) Theodore Roscoe novel which I have been involved in republishing with the wonderful people at Bold Venture Press is now available to buy!
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#233: Murder on the (Givea)Way!

As I may have mentioned before, thanks to the wonderful people at Bold Venture Press I was, ahem, involved in the republication of Theodore Roscoe’s 1935 impossible crime zombie uprising novel Murder on the Way!.
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#218: Murder on the Way! (1935) and I’ll Grind Their Bones (1936) by Theodore Roscoe Are Being Republished by Bold Venture Press…
Last year, I put up this post lamenting the dearth of classic-era detective fiction, and then one claiming that I was going to try and do something about this. And then things went quiet. Very quiet. Almost too quiet, wouldn’t you say?
Well, see, that’s because I was working at trying to making it happen. And the result of that work is this: Bold Venture Press will be republishing two impossible crime novels by Theodore Roscoe — Murder on the Way! (1935) and I’ll Grind Their Bones (1936) — over the next couple of months or so, with yours truly having edited and prepared the texts for publication as well as writing introductions for each book.
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#208: The Iron Chariot (1909) by Stein Riverton is Now Republished by Abandoned Bookshop!

In a post from a little while ago about authors unexpectedly having recycled ideas in their novels from other sources, mention was made of the Norwegian writer Sven Elvestad’s novel Jernvognen (1909), published under the pseudonym Stein Riverton, the solution of which was…heavily borrowed for a famous novel of detection in the 1920s (and, in fact, another in the 1960s…hint hint…though no-one thought to mention that). The novel in question is rather explicitly mentioned in the comments, so, y’know, beware spoilers.
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#183: Merry Christmas!





