Historical Mystery

#275: A Little Help for My Friends – Finding a Modern Locked Room Mystery for TomCat Attempt #3: The Secrets of Gaslight Lane (2016) by M.R.C. Kasasian

/ JJ / 16 Comments

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A late-Victorian private detective living in London who exhibits such traits as brilliant deductive skills (highlighted especially in his observations about strangers), a brusque and pompous manner, the application of reason and logic in all his encounters with crime, and a singular lack of personal relationships with anyone beyond his household, the members of the police he encounters, and his chronicler.  Sound familiar?

And, of course, he has that glass eye, too.  Wait, what?

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#265: The Big ‘Fore!’ – Classic GAD Allusions in Stableford on Golf (2010) by Rob Reef [trans. Alan Gross 2013]

/ JJ / 20 Comments

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What the hell?  This blog — preserve of the expired author, occupying as it does a dusty corner of the interwebs free from contemporary scrutiny — has now featured two living authors on consecutive weekends.  Clearly I’m courting popularity.  Next thing you know, there’ll be a guest post by Ed Sheeran [please note: I have no reason to believe a guest post by Ed Sheeran to be forthcoming].  And this one isn’t even an impossible crime.  Where does this road lead?  Rave reviews of Cozy Baking Mysteries?  Who even am I any more?

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#246: On Failing to Engage with the Imperial Sherlock Holmes – The Chinese Maze Murders (1951) by Robert van Gulik

/ JJ / 23 Comments

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It must be me and a nationalities thing — wow, maybe I’m some sort of literary xenophobe.  I’ve gotten off to a bad start with the first and second Ellery Queen books, and failed to connect with ‘Sweden’s John Dickson Carr‘, and have now been left cold by the opening salvo in Dutchman Robert van Gulik’s long-running and much-loved Ming Dynasty-set mystery series.  Is my oft-vaunted love of Paul Halter and huge enjoyment various honkaku texts just a bluff?  Who do I even trust any more?

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#244: A Little Help for My Friends – Finding a Modern Locked Room Mystery for TomCat Attempt #1: Murder in the Oval Office (1989) by Elliott Roosevelt

/ JJ / 6 Comments

Murder in the Oval Office

When I first realised that impossible crime fiction was a thing — oh, happy day! — I did an internet search and came up with two priceless resources: this variety of lists on Mystery*File with an excellent introduction by John Pugmire (who went to form Locked Room International) and this list of recommended books from locked room conoisseur TomCat.

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