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FFB: Maynard's House - Herman Raucher
THE STORY: Austin Fletcher has traveled to rural Maine to claim his inheritance. Fresh from war torn jungles of Vietnam Austin has left behind his friend Maynard, one of the many causalities of the...
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FFB: The Roses of Picardie - Simon Raven
THE STORY: Two academics follow a trail of clues encoded in 16th century paintings, ancient manuscripts and medieval legends hoping to find the location of a lost treasure – The Roses of Picardie...
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FFB: The Devil Snar'd - George R. Preedy
THE STORY: Grace Fielding and her writer husband Philip have come to Medlar's Farm in Northumberland as an escape from their marital discord. Philip is in love with Angela Campion. Grace acknowledges...
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Death Has Many Doors - Fredric Brown
A G rated drawing for the cover. In the novelSally is found dead au naturelIn the fifth book featuring Ed Hunter and his Uncle Ambrose the two have set up shop in their own private eye agency. Death...
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FFB: Don't Open the Door - Anthony Gilbert
Don't Open the Door (1945) is Anthony Gilbert's seventeenth novel featuring lawyer-detective Arthur Crook with an opening that calls to mind cliches of 19th century sensation fiction and old black and...
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FFB: Death at the Wheel - Vernon Loder
THE STORY: Two bodies found in cars, both shot dead, within days of one another. The first is a policeman who has been investigating a sting of jewel robberies. The second corpse is a two bit (or six...
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Best Vintage Mystery Reprint of 2018, part one
Here’s a list for you. Tell me if you know what they all have in common.Heart to Heart by Boileau-NarcejacWithered Murder by Anthony & Peter ShafferThe Midnight Mystery by Bertram AtkeyThree Dead...
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FFB: The Auctioneer - Joan Samson
THE STORY: Harlowe, New Hampshire has a new resident. Perly Dunsmore set up house in the old Fawkes place and is asked to help raise funds for a new crew of deputies for the town’s meager police force....
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Best Vintage Mystery Reprint of 2018, part two
Here's my second nomination for our vintage mystery blogging community competition to name the "Best Vintage Mystery Reprint of 2018." As you know, last week we all wrote about our first of two books...
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FFB: Valancourt Book of Victorian Christmas Ghost Stories, vol. 3
The Valancourt Book of Victorian Christmas Ghost Stories, vol. 3 (2018) is a brand new book, but the contents are mostly forgotten. In reviewing the Table of Contents I recognized only three writers'...
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Advent Ghosts 2018: Bring Me Flesh & Bring Me Wine
Another holiday season, another Advent Ghosts Day. Loren Eaton who blogs at I Saw Lightning Fall invites writers to dabble in a yuletide drabble each year at this time. It's his way to help honor the...
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To Face Unafraid, The Plans That We Made
MerryChristmas, HappyHolidays, BlessedSolstice ...and all that jazz!In a shameless promotion for a local theater group -- the Tony award-winning Lookingglass Theatre Company -- I offer up this little...
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FFB: The Frog Was Yellow - Francis Vivian
Prior to his ten novel series starring Inspector Gordon Knollis Francis Vivian wrote a brief string of books featuring another policeman detective in the lead. The Frog Was Yellow (1940) is the...
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FFB: Darkness of Slumber - Rosemary Kutak
THE STORY: Eve Minary has suffered a nervous breakdown and been in a catatonic state for seven years ever since the death of her father Judge Ladbrooke. Through the miracle of a new intravenous drug...
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FFB: The Deaths of Lora Karen - Roman McDougald
THE STORY: Philip Cabot, private investigator, has been asked to the home of Charles and Lora Karen at the behest of the wife. She believes that someone is trying to kill her, but is being stubbornly...
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FFB: Journey Downstairs - R. Philmore
THE STORY: Sir Geoffrey Howarth, M.P., is holding a dinner part at his estate called Kemble. Among the guests are schoolmaster Richard Philmore, his dear friend the writer and publicist Swan, Rev. John...
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HORROR SHOW: Crucified - Michael Slade
Let’s start with the only reason I kept reading this book -- a kind of "wink-wink, nudge-nudge" reference to one of the great mystery writers of the Golden Age:"How was Ack-Ack stabbed three times in...
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FFB: Death on the Outer Shoal - Anne Fuller & Marcus Allen
THE STORY: Hammerhead Island, pop. 27. This community of fishermen, their wives and children, have no official organized government nor any police force to ward off crime. When the gruesome accidental...
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NEWS FLASH: Jean Potts, Attention Getter
As many of you already know Go, Lovely Rose/The Evil Wish will soon be available for purchase from Stark House (release date Feb 15, 2019). Greg, the publisher, received a lovely notice from Booklist -...
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NEW STUFF: An Elderly Lady Is Up to No Good - Helene Tursten
An Elderly Lady Is Up to No Goodby Helene Turstentranslated from Swedish by Marlaine DelargySoho PressISBN: 978-1-64129-011-1185 pp. $12.99Publication date: Nov. 6, 2018I cannot resist any book about a...
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