Haunt of the Nightingale—John R. Riggs–1988–Dembner Books–used Ok, before you start thinking, ‘oh no, another obscure title from a small press no one’s ever heard of,” let me give you some quotes: “When it is all over, the situations and characters linger in the mind, which means that The Last Laugh is the work of … Read more
The January Corpse—Neil Albert – 1991-used When I started doing the 100 mysteries, I thought I had an airtight lineup–the books I remembered as being my favorites were arranged, rearranged, thought about, changed , eliminated, returned, and finalized. Yeah, right. Then out of the blue, I remember a book I thought was fantastic, and I … Read more
By now I believed I’d pretty much acquainted myself with all of the important Golden Age mystery authors, or at least up until the 50s. Even if never read, I recognize their names as ones that wrote classic or bad mysteries, or even mediocre ones. But the other day in trying to locate info about … Read more
The Last Will and Testament of Constance Cobble—Stanton Forbes–1980–used A mystery within a mystery makes this a standout among many Stanton Forbes’ excellent novels. I first came across Ms. Forbes the summer after my first year at college. I was at loose ends, didn’t have a job, couldn’t figure out what to do, so I … Read more
This is getting ridiculous. A Study In Scarlet has been removed from a Virginia 6th grade curriculum–why? Because some of the passages are florid descriptions of what Arthur Conan Doyle believed were Mormon religious views and activities. And yes, again, on the basis of ONE complaint, a book that had been taught for years as … Read more
Meet the Tiger—Leslie Charteris-1928–used I was first introduced to the character of The Saint, or Simon Templar as he was usually known, through another novel. I was a pre-teen reading a slew of Gothics, the—‘did I marry a murderer after only knowing him 3 weeks?’—type of plot. One book stood out, not as a Gothic, … Read more
Big Trouble—Dave Barry–Putnam–1999–in print There’s a famous saying “dying is easy, comedy is hard,” and it couldn’t be more true in the case of humor author, Dave Barry and his first crime novel. So many seem to look down upon the satirical and or downright funny mystery, as if the fact the it’s not all … Read more
What have you done, and what would you do, short of commit a crime, to attain a certain book you can’t live without. I mean, you really don’t think that life would nearly be as wonderful if you don’t buy the book sitting on the desk, or up in the bookcase, or in a shaded … Read more
