Genius detective

#1416: How Weary, Stale, Flat and Unprofitable – Crime Fiction Clichés from The Mystery Writer’s Handbook (1956) ed. Herbert Brean

/ JJ / 10 Comments

Being something of a fan of the mystery writer Herbert Brean, I am ever on the lookout for work by him, especially the short stories ‘Murder Buys a Ticket’, a.k.a. ‘Nine Hours Late on the Opening Run’ (1941) and ‘The Man Who Talked with Spirits’ (1943) listed in Adey. In these searches, I recently discovered that Brean acted as editor for The Mystery Writer’s Handbook (1956), in which members of the Mystery Writers of America (MWA) provided advice for people looking to write “detective, suspense, mystery, and crime stories”.

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#1250: “The mere facts are obvious enough; it is their interpretation that yields the knowledge.” – The Puzzle Lock [ss] (1925) by R. Austin Freeman

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The last time I read a book by Richard Austin Freeman, my House of Stratus edition told me it was a collection of short stories only for it to turn out to be a novel. So it’s fitting that my next encounter with Dr. John Thorndyke should reverse the situation and what is pitched on the back cover as a novel turn out to be a collection of short stories.

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#1245: Peril at End House (1932) by Agatha Christie

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Peril at End House

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Thursdays in January, I have decided — to get me through the start of year meh — are going to be books I loved before blogging and now want to revisit to get some thoughts on record.  Which brings us to Peril at End House (1932) by Agatha Christie, which I picked as one of my 10 Favourite Mysteries of the 1930s before thinking ‘Hmmm, I should probably reread that to see if it stands up’.  So, 20+ years later, here I am again. And, y’know what? While it has a few flaws that I would have been less awake to on first reading, I had a great time with this second visit: it’s fast, crammed with incident, and holds up in all the ways I remembered. Man, this project is off to a strong start.

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