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 readingJuvenile Mysteries
#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
In GAD We Trust – Episode 14: The Island of Coffins (2021) by John Dickson Carr + The 9.50 Up Express (2021) by Freeman Wills Crofts [w’ Tony Medawar]
We’re all prone to speculate at times about how wonderful it would be to discover a previously-unpublished work by a beloved Golden Age author, and for today’s podcast episode Tony Medawar rejoins me to tempt you with two forthcoming collections of hard-to-find material from two of the genre’s titans — John Dickson Carr and Freeman Wills Crofts.
Continue reading#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#722: Junk in the Trunk with The Mystery of the Talking Skull (1969) by Robert Arthur

Whatever happens to the series from here, it would be difficult to deny that creator Robert Arthur set Jupiter Jones, Pete Crenshaw, and Bob Andrews off to a magnificent start with his ten Three Investigators novels.
Continue reading#690: Minor Felonies – Alfred Hitchcock’s Solve-Them-Yourself Mysteries [ss] (1963): ‘The Mystery of the Four Quarters’ by Robert Arthur

For the fifth and final Tuesday in June — holy hell, that means the year is practically half over — the fifth and final story in this collection.
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#687: Minor Felonies – Alfred Hitchcock’s Solve-Them-Yourself Mysteries [ss] (1963): ‘The Mystery of the Man Who Evaporated’ by Robert Arthur







