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FFB: Murder Yet To Come - Isabel Briggs Myers
The first thing that struck me as remarkable about Murder Yet to Come (1930) was the author's gutsy use of The Moonstone and several other Wilkie Collins novels as a framework for her plot. Can it be...
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The Enigma of the New McClure's Mystery Contest
Yesterday, I wrote a review about Murder Yet To Come. I mentioned in passing that the novel won a whopping $7500 prize in a mystery writing contest. If you have a copy of the CAPT 1995 reprint you...
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JACKET REQUIRED: Frosty Wind Made Moan
After a few weeks of relatively balmy late fall weather the temperatures are finally plummeting, frigid wind is blowing off Lake Michigan and it's only December 2. We may not be in the bleak midwinter...
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The Invisible Man Murders – Richard Foster
While making a movie about a murderous invisible man called The Man from Nowhere, one of the actors is shot. With the camera still rolling cast and crew stand around trying to figure out from where the...
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IN BRIEF: Burglars in Bucks - G.D.H. & Margaret Cole
Burglars in Bucks (1930) is something of a threefold literary experiment. It is a detective novel without a murder, it has multiple points of view, and it attempts to tell a story in real time. I would...
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Tick...Tick...Tick...
Just a reminder to all those interested in entering the "Challenge to the Reader Trivia Contest": you have only six days left. Contest closes midnight (US Central Time) on December 16. Winners will...
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Death on a Ferris Wheel - Aylwin Lee Martin
Here's a pop quiz, class. What do you think is the most overused plot gimmick in the world of vintage detective novels?A. The secret passagewayB. Oxalic acid as a murder weaponC. A twin or triplet is...
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There & Back Again
The winners of the "Challenge to the Reader" Trivia Contest will be posted later this evening. I was away from Dec 14 - Dec 17 in New York City for my big blast of a birthday bash. We saw five plays in...
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And...She Scores! (and he does, too)
May I have the envelope please? The winner of the "Challenge to the Reader" Second Annual Trivia contest is...Bev of the blog My Reader's Block with a whopping score of 105 out of a possible 110!Second...
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FFB: The Sunday Pigeon Murders - Craig Rice
According to an ad from Simon & Schuster I found in a Saturday Review issue from 1942 Craig Rice "spent a hectic six days in New York" where she "accumulated more information about that town than...
View ArticleThe Best Kind of Wish
Here's the last ten minutes of "Night of the Meek" a special Christmas episode from The Twilight Zone originally broadcast Dec 23, 1960.May you all discover your own personal holiday magic within or...
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DRAWING ON THE PAST: In Homage to Oscar Wilde
It's the 158th anniversary of the birth of one of my idols -- Oscar Wilde. Ages ago (when I was still in high school!) I wrote my first thematic analogy paper that examined the similarities between The...
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Just the Stats, Ma'am
I am astonished that I read a total of 116 books last year. In reviewing my monthly notes I see that a large portion of the books I read last year were paperback originals from the 1950s and 1960s....
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Vintage Mystery Challenge 2012 Wrap-up
Ever the procrastinator, that's me. Truly it's not so much putting off as it is trying to find the time to sit down and type up these reports. And so here I am with my full report on last year's...
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Pick a Category, Any Category
A new year means another Vintage Mystery Reading Challenge sponsored by my pal Bev at My Reader's Block. How do you like that new logo for the challenge? It's from the UK publisher T.V. Boardman's...
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FFB: Room to Swing - Ed Lacy
I have a thing about the Edgar Awards. I happen to think a lot of the award winners didn't deserve that little statue of Poe. Only occasionally do I come across a truly worthy Edgar winning mystery...
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You Like Me! You Like Me!
Yes, that's me embarrassing myself with an allusion to Sally Field's embarrassing effusion when she won her second Academy Award. I learned over the weekend that I was given quite an award -- Best Blog...
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Moment of Untruth - Ed Lacy
Touie Moore returns in a sequel of sorts to Room to Swing. Seven years have passed since his debut and he is now married to Fran who he met at the boarding house in Bingsten, Ohio. As the story opens...
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FFB: From This Dark Stairway - Mignon G Eberhart
From This Dark Stairway (1931) is Eberhart's fourth book to feature the sleuthing team of Nurse Sarah Keate and policeman Lance O'Leary. It follows her bravura locked room detective novel The Mystery...
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LEFT INSIDE: Grow Your Own Sprouts!
This is a 1970s era greeting card with a newsy letter that includes a helpful hint about growing alfalfa sprouts. It was left inside a copy of The Misadventures of Sherlock Holmes, a short story...
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