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NEW STUFF: Untamed Shore - Silvia Moreno-Garcia
Untamed Shore by Silvia Moreno-GarciaAgora/Polis BooksISBN: 978-1-947996-92-1284 pp $25.99Publication date: February 2020 I can never resist marketing hype. Why? I should know better. I really should....
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Behind the Bolted Door? - Arthur E. McFarlane
Browsing through the pages of Robert Adey's Locked Room Murders I came across an obscure book from the early 20th century by an utterly forgotten writer with the impossible situation described as a...
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Advent Ghosts 2020: A Pair of Ghostly Vignettes
Once again we find ourselves in the week before Christmas and Loren Eaton of I Saw Lighting Fall has invited various writers to contribute their frissons of ghostly yuletide frights and visitations...
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MOONLIGHTERS: Will Oursler, Son of a Mystery Writer
The first novel Will Oursler wrote was also his first detective novel. The Trial of Vincent Doon (1941) is presented as if it were an actual murder case and consists entirely of a facsimile of the...
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REAL LIFE: The Case of the Autographed Corpse
Gardner dictating one of hismany Perry Mason novelsMuch has been written about mystery writers and their involvement in real life crime cases. Arthur Conan Doyle used his skills as an amateur sleuth...
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Herald of Death - Max Dalman
THE STORY: Sound the bugle! Mount your horses! The fox hunt has begun. But this fox hunt ends with a decidedly different killing. Richard Marney is found stabbed with an ornate stiletto just short of...
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FIRST BOOKS: The Hanging Sword! – Andrew Soutar
A publicity blurb on the inside of my copy of The Hanging Sword! (1933) states: “Andrew Soutar … has said that he writes mystery stories as a relaxation from the strain of writing long and serious...
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MOONLIGHTERS: Herbert Best, A British Civil Servant in Africa
This may be the first, but not the last, Moonlighter who is also a one hit wonder mystery writer. And it may also be one of the best novels to read about pre-WW2 era Africa in these days of diversity...
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The Magic Grandfather - Doris Miles Disney
Something Special! The exclamation mark in a circle on the bottom of the front flap of The Magic Grandfather's hardcover 1st edition dust jacket indicates that this Doris Miles Disney mystery defies...
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POETRY SPECIAL: Wayside Bundle - Constance Hargreaves (actually Frank Baker)
Here's an unusual post for Pretty Sinister Books and the second one inspired by a post I read at A Hot Cup of Pleasure, a book blog hosted and written by Neeru. This is not unrelated to the content...
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NEW STUFF: The Readers' Room - Antoine Laurain
Antoine Laurain said in a recent interview on the Words with Writers website that he believes “…we need fairy tales not only for children, but for grown-ups too” and that “Novels have to be better than...
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FFB: Ducats in Her Coffin - Thurman Warriner
THE STORY: Patricia Shearstone meets Mr. Ambo by chance in an antiquarian bookshop. She chooses to confide in him based solely on his “uncle-like” appearance and demeanor. The 17 year-old is fear for...
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NEW STUFF: The Cabinets of Barnaby Mayne – Elsa Hart
Collector mania. Why have I read yet another book about an aspect of my own life? Am I really that self-obsessed? Must I read about collecting in order to understand my own obsession with obscure genre...
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FFB: Someone from the Past – Margot Bennett
Sarah Lampson tells her friend and co-worker, Nancy Graham of some threatening anonymous letters. The gist is that the writer is one of her former lovers and he’s planning on killing her. The next day...
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Cherry Harvest – E. H. Clements
In the intriguing opening of Cherry Harvest (1944) set on a train filled with soldiers Duncan Carey in a fit of nostalgia is headed to Burbury Manor. He remembers visiting the place as a child and has...
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FFB: The Hidden Light - Max Dalman
THE STORY: Loathsome portrait painter James Garrow is shot in his locked, bolted and barred studio. There are only two entrances and Garrow has the only two set of keys. One set of those keys is kept...
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Don't Rely on Gemini - Vin Packer
What’s your sign, girl?Is it compatible to mine? If your sign matches mineThink of what we'll haveWe'll be making babies together, forever“What’s Your Sign, Girl?” - Danny Pearson/Tony Sepe When I...
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FFB: Dead of Winter - Christopher Hale
One day last week I was literally snowbound and decided to dig into my various winter themed murder mysteries which led me to Dead of Winter (1941) by Christopher Hale. Initially, I had set aside a...
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IN BRIEF: I Did Not Kill Osborne - Victor Bridges
This is the year I’ve been reading books by several writers who I’ve known about for a long time and have been dancing around the periphery of my interest level. One of these writers is Victor Bridges...
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The Hanging Doll Murder - Roger Ormerod
Can a murder mystery about a locked room with a broken window still be considered as an impossible crime? The bloody shotgun murder in The Hanging Doll Murder (1983) sure seems like one. A man has been...
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