A couple of "golden age" mysteries

Both Rue Morgue Press and the British Library Crime Classics (published in the U.S. by Poisoned Pen Press) have extensive lists of reprints of "golden age" mysteries.  I recently finished one book published by Rue Morgue and one by Poisoned Pen.

Our First Murder
Torrey Chanslor
Rue Morgue Press (1940; reprinted 2011)
ISBN 0-915230-50-x

The Beagle sisters (Amanda and Lutie) inherit a PI agency from their brother Ezekiel, and, with and their cousin (Martha Meecham), move to New York to take it over.  Their first case, is, of course, murder.  A headless body is found in the bed in the apartment of a young woman, by the wealthy young man who loves her.  Amanda and Lutie decide to investigate (and Martha narrates the story).  This was a fun book.  But the solution--which requires 22 pages of explanation by Lutie--is incredibly complicated.  The number of moving parts to the murder plot is more than anyone could possibly expect to actually work.  Still, assuming Our Second Murder is this good, I'm sorry Chanslor wrote only the two mysteries.  (I also have to say, I suspect that Richard and Frances Lockridge knew these books, because the Beagle sisters seen to be a possible inspiration for Pam North's maiden aunts from Cleveland, the Misses Whitsett, in Murder Comes First.)  ☆☆☆☆

The Sussex Downs Murder
John Bude
Poisoned Pen Press (1940, reprinted 2015)
ISBN978-1-4642-0371-8

Superintendent Meredith investigates the case of the murder of John Rother, who owned a farm and lime kiln with his brother William.  It appears that John and William's wife Janet may have been involved.  Human bones are found in the lime kilns, but Meredith's investigation seems to be going nowhere--until he discovers that John had, for the 18 months prior to his death, spent most weekends elsewhere.  An investigation of that leads to a house owned  by one Jeremy Reed, who shows up only on weekends.  Janet decamps (and disappears).  William commits suicide--or is murdered.  As with Our First Murder, the murderer's plan is way too complicated to work outside of a book.  But the story is well told (save for way too many excursions into local dialect speech).  Bude had a 20+ reasonably successful career (1936-1956) as a crime writer.  (Incidentally, the setting is near Findon, which is also the home town of Ethelred Tessider, L.C. Tyler's mystery writer and reluctant sleuth.)  ☆☆☆☆

The Return of Copycat Photoblogging

Over at Crooked Timber, Chris Bertram  has a beautiful photograph of the church of Sant’Andrea della Valle.

I have a slightly lower-key image of the interior of the synagogue in the Tuscan hill town of Pitigliano (taken in 2002):

L. C Tyler, Herring on the NIle

L. C. Tyler, Herring on the Nile [2011 (UK); 2012 (US)]
Felony and Mayhem Press (US)
ISBN 978-1-937384-02-9
Available in print and as an ebook
 
This is the fourth in the series, and (to date) the second best.  (The first--The Herring Seller's Apprentice--seems to me slightly better.)  Following the events in The Herring in the Library, crime writer Ethelred Tressider decides to take a Nile cruise (for research purposes...but he also intended to have company).  Things don't work out exactly as planned, as his expected company does not accompany him--but his agent, Elsie Thirkettle, does. 

Ethelred is cornered by another passender on the boat, a Mr. Purbright, who alleges himself to be an agent of M.I.6, and, mistaking Ethelred (one of whose pen names is Peter Fielding) for Paul Fielder, a best-selling thriller writer' he's seeking help in dealing with possible terrorists and needs some backup.  The other passengers on the boat are the usual strangely assorted lot, none of whom may be quite what they seem to be.  (Among the passengers is Herbie Proctor, a somewhat sleazy and incompetent PI there to protect a client he has never met.  We have encountered Herbie before.)
 
Not too surprisingly, death intrudes, and Ethelred and Elsie (more or less independently) try to determine what's going on.  For the reader, identifying the murderer should be fairly simple...but figuring out the motive is somewhat less simple.
 
Be on the lookout for a mention of a famous mystery author (other than Agatha Christie, whose name pops up quite often) and one of that author's books.  Also, treat yourself to Ethelred's responses to a set of interview requests (questions to be answered by email) from various newspapers in England.
 
A very good entry in what is, so far, a very satisfying series.

The Herring-Seller's Apprentice

L. C. Tyler, The Herring-Seller's Apprentice
Felony and Mayhem 2009
(Original publication, Macmillan New Writing 2007)
ISBN 978-1-934609-23-1

 

I'm not sure why I had not heard of these books before, nor do I remember exactly what called them to my attention.  But I am extraordinarily glad to have made the acquaintance of Ethelred Tressider (author of three series of novels under three names) and Elsie Thirkettle (his agent).

 

Ethelred, on returning from a holiday in France, is asked by the police in his west-of-England town to identify a corpse, strangled, whom they suspect may be his wife.  After a rather circuitous path, we reach the resolution of the murder and of several, shall we say, difficulties in Ethelred's life.  Elsie leaps at the chance to assist in the solution of the murder (and to narrate parts of the story).  One of the aspects of the book I thought I would not care for is the attempts Ethelred makes at starting the new Inspector Fairfax book, but they work beautifully (most especially the last one). 

 

The resolution is entirely fair-play and (for me) not exactly a surprise, but it is well-done and emotionally satisfying.  The only thing I can't figure out is how we will from where Book 1 (this one) in the series ends and Book 2 (of 4 so far, Ten Little Herrings; book 5 is due out next month) begins.  But I'll find out, and quite soon--maybe tonight.  The Herring-Seller's Apprentice is a gem.  (And all the titles, so far, are plays on the titles of other mysteries, not very hard to figure out.)

Testing, 1...2...3...testing

I  bought a new camera today, a Nikon DSLR, with a potential image size of 24 megapixels. This image, of the fence out back, is a reduced image size of an image that was 12 mp--it's only 2.3 mp. I wasn't sure it would post to Blogger, so this is sort of a trial run at how large an image I can post here.

Bill Crider, Half in Love With Artful Death

Bill Crider, Half in Love With Artful Death
St. Martin's Publishing Group, 2014
ISBN 978-250-03967-5
Also available in ebook formats

 I first read one of Bill Crider's books some time around 1995.  I had been in Bloomington (Indiana), for an Indiana University system-wide meeting, and was driving back to Chicago.  I stopped in Lafayette to eat dinner, and at a bookstore there, looking for something to read, picked up a paperback copy of Shotgun Saturday Night (1987), partly because I liked the cover illustration (a lawman leaning back on a chair on what appeared to be a walkway, with a rifle of shotgun propped up on his knee, if I recall) and partly because the description in the back made the book sound interesting.  Which it was.

Crider's 21st book about Sheriff Dan Rhodes of Blacklin County, Texas is, first of all, a perfect representative of the series--well-written, funny, with a well-plotted mystery (fairly solved) at its core.  There's an art workshop and exhibition underway in part of a building that also houses an antique store.  Local curmudgeon Burt Collins complains to Rhodes about the presence of the artists and subsequently gets into an altercation outside the exhibition.  Later that day, Rhodes has to deal with a robbery at a convenience store and to help the animal control officer corral two wayward donkeys.  And to begin the investigation of Collins' death,

As usual, Rhodes' path to a solution is not direct, mostly because other things come up (a naked woman at a roadside rest stop, for example).  And he as usual has to deal with the jail staff (Hack, the dispatcher--who, incidentally, seems to work 24/7, and Lawton, the jailer), whose method of conveying information is, shall we say, roundabout.  He worries about his diet (and goes off it once in a while), plays with his dogs (Speedo and Yancey), and continues his loving relationship with his wife Ivy. 

I really only have one question about the book.  At one point, Rhodes wakes up in the morning, having had a dream  All he can remember about it is that it involved...well, I won't go into that here--you should have the pleasure of discovering it yourself.  What I want to know, Bill, did you have that dream?  Because it sounded fascinating.  And I'm looking into how Freud would interpret it.

If you are already familiar with Dan Rhodes, Blacklin County, and the town of Clearview, you already know that you don't want to  miss this one.  If you have yet to visit, what are you waiting for?

What's the Worst That Could Happen: A Dortmunder Novel by Donald Westlake

Donald Westlake, What's the Worst That Could Happen? (1997)
As an ebook: Mysterious Press (2012)
ASIN: B001GUXJU6

The answer to the question in the title of the book is "You don't want to know." 

Dortmunder's companion, May, receives a ring from her cousin, as May's part of the "estate" of an uncle.  Dortmunder likes it and begins wearing it.  The first thing that happens is that Dortmunder and a colleague find a householder at home when they go there to liberate some things.  The colleague fades away, but the homeowner, Max Fairbanks (a billionaire industrialist), who was unexpectedly at home, calls the cops and nabs Dortmunder.  And, once the cops arrive, Fairbanks claims that the ring is actually his, and takes it from him.  From there on, Dortmunder tries and tries to recover the ring, and strange things ensue.  But Dortmunder and the gang make out better than they usually do, and order is restored to the universe.  I can't believe I hadn't read this one before. 

That's not to say there are no flaws.  The corporate bankruptcy morphs into a personal bankruptcy.  The NYC cop who arrests Fairbanks in Las Vegas (well, technically, the Vegas cops do the collar) has signed extradition papers--that's not how extradition works.  And Fairbanks seems more like the head of a sole proprietorship than of a corporation,  Not withstanding this, a joy to read.