#598: Reflections on Detection – The Knox Decalogue 3: Secret Passages
For the final time this year, then, let’s take another dive into one of Monsignor Knox’s detective fiction decalogue rules.
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#597: A Little Help for My Friends – Finding a Modern Locked Room Mystery for TomCat Attempt #13: Impolitic Corpses (2019) by Paul Johnston
Cast triskaidekaphobia aside! Sure, these modern impossible crime novels haven’t always shown the subgenre at its best, but Paul Johnston was one of the many contemporary crime fiction authors I read back in the early 2000s, and a chance to reconnect with him and the series that made his name can only be a good thing…right?
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#596: The Dartmouth Murders (1929) by Clifford Orr
The name Clifford Orr first came to my attention on account of the Roland Lacourbe-curated ‘100 Books for a Locked Room Library’ list featuring Orr’s second and final novel, The Wailing Rock Murders (1932). So when that title cropped up in this twofer of Orr’s complete output, I snapped it up and just had to wait for sufficient snow to clear from the peak of Mount TBR. And, as it happens, I’m posting this review of his debut novel The Dartmouth Murders (1929) a mere two days after what would have been Orr’s 120th birthday — entirely by accident, as anyone who has met me in real life will be able to attest. Such organisation is not one of my strong points.
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#595: Reflections on Detection – The Knox Decalogue 2: The Supernatural
Sometimes I regret saying I’ll do stuff; this week, I regret saying I’ll explore each of the rules of Ronald Knox’s Detective Fiction Decalogue in depth. Mainly because I’m busy, and so I’m not going to do this as well as I otherwise might. And that frustrates me doubly, because Rule 2 is the one that got me thinking about this in the first place.
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#594: The Punch and Judy Murders – A Case of Identity in Charade (1963) [Scr. Peter Stone; Dir. Stanley Donen]
Approximately two months ago, Kate at CrossExaminingCrime invited a bunch of bloggers to contribute to a collaborative post on our favourite mystery movies. You can view the results here — without my contribution, because, despite being given plenty of warning, I couldn’t organise myself in time.
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#593: Home Sweet Homicide (1944) by Craig Rice
As a rule, I start getting a bit nervous if it takes me more than three days to finish a book. I read Home Sweet Homicide (1944), the first of Georgiana Ann Randolph Craig’s novels I’ve ever attempted, over one week and one day and, quite honestly, would have happily kept reading it for another month or two. I’ve never gotten a sense of her as an author from her short stories — largely, I’d imagine, because of the need to cram in character and plot in less space — and, if I’m honest, didn’t relish the screwball antics her reputation seemed to promise. Well, no fear. This isn’t screwball, it’s not especially tightly plotted, and it’s possibly the best book I’ve read in a long ol’ time.
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#592: Reflections on Detection – The Knox Decalogue 1: The Criminal
So, here we go with an in-depth look at the principles espoused in the Ten Commandments for Detective Fiction as outlined by Ronald Arbuthnott Knox.
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#591: Spoiler Warning – Coming in January: The Box Office Murders, a.k.a. The Purple Sickle Murders (1929) by Freeman Wills Crofts
The Invisible Event 