lyzard's list: once more unto the obscurity, dear friends - Part Two

Owls of Australia

Though it is known as both "the Australian grass owl" or the "Eastern grass owl", both of these names are misleading as this species is found all over Asia and the Pacific as well as in Australia; and although the main local population is found from Cape York in Queensland to the Manning River district of northern New South Wales, they are also found in the grasslands of the Channel Country and the Barkly Tableland, with other, isolated populations around the country. As their name suggests, grass owls nest on the ground and are therefore vulnerable to many human activities; their numbers also fluctuate according to the numbers of the rodents on which they almost exclusively feed. The female both incubates the eggs and cares for the chicks; the male hunts at night and roosts with his mate during the day. Male grass owls have a pale facial disk, while females are a brown-buff colour. This ground-dwelling species is particularly noted for its long legs.

    

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Currently reading:



Hangman's Holiday by Dorothy L. Sayers (1933)

January:

1. Murder At Wrides Park by J. S. Fletcher (1931)
2. Tom Strong, Washington's Scout: A Story Of Patriotism by Alfred Bishop Mason (1911)
3. Fear Stalks The Village by Ethel Lina White (1932)
4. Murder At The College by Victor L. Whitechurch (1932)
5. The Princess Passes by Ruby M. Ayres (1931)
6. The Billiard-Room Mystery by Brian Flynn (1927)
7. The Porro Palaver by Adam Broome (1928)
8. Amos The Wanderer by William Babington Maxwell (1932)
9. 13 Thirteenth Street by Natalie Sumner Lincoln (1932)
10. The Lady Of The Decoration by Frances Little (1907)
11. Murder In The Maze by J. J. Connington (1927)
12. The Secret Of The Morgue by Frederick G. Eberhard (1932)
13. They Were Defeated by Rose Macaulay (1932)
14. The New Woman And The Victorian Novel by Gail Cunningham (1978)
15. Lonesome Road by Patricia Wentworth (1939)
16. April Lady by Georgette Heyer (1957)
17. Murder In The Mews: And Other Stories by Agatha Christie (1937)
18. Mrs Tim Carries On: Leaves From The Diary Of An Officer's Wife In The Year 1940 by D. E. Stevenson (1941)
19. All This, And Heaven Too by Rachel Field (1938)

February:

20. Marriage by Susan Ferrier (1818)
21. Lucia's Progress by E. F. Benson (1935)
22. The Murder Of Mrs Davenport by Anthony Gilbert (1928)
23. The Owl's Warning by Herman Davenport (1932)
24. Love's Hour by Elinor Glyn (1932)
25. The Murder Of Caroline Bundy by Alice Campbell (1932)
26. The Madonna Of Seven Moons by Margery Lawrence (1931)
27. Mr Crewe's Career by Winston Churchill (1908)
28. Trent's Last Case by E. C. Bentley (1913)
29. The Three Taps: A Detective Story Without A Moral by Ronald Knox (1927)

March:

30. Sylvester; or, The Wicked Uncle by Georgette Heyer (1957)
31. Trouble For Lucia by E. F. Benson (1939)
32. Dumb Witness by Agatha Christie (1937)
33. The Imperfect Crime by Bruce Graeme (1932)
34. Dusty Death by Clifton Robbins (1931)
35. Rupert Of Hentzau by Anthony Hope (1898)
36. The Inner Shrine by Basil King (1909)
37. The Fortress by Hugh Walpole (1932)
38. Venetia by Georgette Heyer (1958)
39. As A Thief In The Night by R. Austin Freeman (1928)
40. The Red Seal by Natalie Sumner Lincoln (1920)

April:

41. I Spy by Natalie Sumner Lincoln (1916)
42. Inspector French And The Cheyne Mystery by Freeman Wills Crofts (1926)
43. The Crooked Cross by Charles J. Dutton (1926)
44. Hangman's Holiday by Dorothy L. Sayers (1933)
45. The Mystery Of Edwin Drood by Charles Dickens (1870)
46. Epilogue by Bruce Graeme (1933)
47. The Unknown Ajax by Georgette Heyer (1959)

Reading projects 2016:

Blog reads:
Chronobibliography: Lisarda; or, The Travels Of Love And Jealousy
Authors In Depth: Lady Lisle by Mary Elizabeth Braddon
Reading Roulette: The Holy Lover by Marie Conway Oemler
Australian fiction: The Hermit In Van Diemen's Land by Henry Savery
Gothic novel timeline: Miscellaneous Pieces, In Prose by John and Anna Laetitia Aikin
Early crime fiction: Hargrave by Frances Trollope / The Mysteries Of London by Paul Feval
Related reading:

Group / tutored reads:
Now: Marriage by Susan Ferrier (thread here)

Upcoming: The Prime Minister by Anthony Trollope
Upcoming: Emma by Jane Austen
Upcoming: Camilla by Fanny Burney

The evolution of detective fiction:
Next up: The Mysteries Of London by Paul Feval (R. Stephenson, translator)

Virago chronological reading project:
Next up: Marriage by Susan Ferrier

America's best-selling novels (1895 - ????):
Next up: The Rosary by Florence L. Barclay

Agatha Christie mysteries in chronological order:
Next up: Death On The Nile

Georgette Heyer historical romances in chronological order:
Next up: The Unknown Ajax

Random reading 1940 - 1969:
Next up: Jenny Devlin by Sophie Kerr / Amberwell by D. E. Stevenson

Potential decommission:
Next up: Strange Wine by Harlen Ellison

Possible future reading projects:
- Nobel Prize winners who won for fiction
- Daily Telegraph's 100 Best Novels, 1899
- 1898 C.K. Shorter List of Best 100 Novels
- James Tait Black Memorial Prize
- Berkeley "Books Of The Century"
- Mystery League books (and their covers)
- Collins White Circle Crime Club / Green Penguins
- Dell paperbacks

Books in transit:

On interlibrary loan / branch transfer / storage request:

Purchased and shipped:

On loan:
**The Lady Of The Decoration by Frances Little (05/04/2016)
*Marriage by Susan Ferrier (05/04/2016)
**They Were Defeated by Rose Macaulay (05/04/2016)
*The Fortress by Hugh Walpole (05/04/2016)
Hangman's Holiday by Dorothy L. Sayers (05/04/2016)
*Inspector French And The Cheyne Mystery by Freeman Wills Crofts (05/04/2016)
**The New Woman And The Victorian Novel by Gail Cunningham (05/04/2016)

Follow up:
The Holy Lover by Marie Conway Oemler {academic loan / State Library NSW, held}
The Sign Of the Glove by Carlton Dawe {academic loan / State Library NSW, held}
Daylight Murder by Paul McGuire {academic loan / State Library NSW, held}

One-Man Girl by Maysie Greig {interlibrary loan}
Forgive Us Our Trespasses by Lloyd C. Douglas {interlibrary loan}
Amberwell by D. E. Stevenson {interlibrary loan}
Seven Times Seven by John Creasey {interlibrary loan}

The Thirty-Nine Steps by John Buchan {Sutherland}
Hatter's Castle by A. J. Cronin {Sutherland stack}

Whitehall by E. V. Timms {Fisher storage}

Hunting Shirt by Mary Johnston {online}

The Avenging Parrot by Anne Austin {rare, expensive}
Mystery Stories For Girls by Agnes Miller {Michigan?}

Series and sequels 1866 - 1920:

(1866 - 1876) **Emile Gaboriau - Monsieur Lecoq - The Widow Lerouge (1/6) {ManyBooks}
(1867 - 1905) **Martha Finley - Elsie Dinsmore - Elsie's Womanhood (4/28) {ManyBooks}
(1867 - 1872) **George MacDonald - The Seaboard Parish - Annals Of A Quiet Neighbourhood (1/3) {ManyBooks}
(1878 - 1917) **Anna Katharine Green - Ebenezer Gryce - The Doctor, His Wife And The Clock (7/12) {Project Gutenberg}
(1896 - 1909) **Melville Davisson Post - Randolph Mason - The Corrector Of Destinies (3/3) {Internet Archive}
(1894 - 1898) **Anthony Hope - Ruritania - Rupert Of Hentzau (3/3) {Project Gutenberg}
(1895 - 1901) **Guy Newell Boothby - Dr Nikola - Dr Nikola (2/5) {ManyBooks}
(1897 - 1900) **Anna Katharine Green - Amelia Butterworth - That Affair Next Door (1/3) {Fisher Library}
(1898 - 1915) **Kate Douglas Wiggins - Penelope - Penelope's Progress (1/4) {Project Gutenberg}
(1899 - 1909) **E. W. Hornung - Raffles - Raffles: The Amateur Cracksman (1/4) {ManyBooks}
(1899 - 1919) **Finley Peter Dunne - Mr Dooley - Mr Dooley In Peace And In War (1/8) {Internet Archive}
(1900 - 1974) *Ernest Bramah - Kai Lung - Kai Lung's Golden Hours (2/6) {ManyBooks}

(1901 - 1919) **Carolyn Wells - Patty Fairfield - Patty In Paris (5/17) {ManyBooks}
(1901 - 1927) **George Barr McCutcheon - Graustark - Graustark (1/6) {Project Gutenberg}
(1903 - 1904) **Louis Tracy - Reginald Brett - The Albert Gate Mystery (2/2) {ManyBooks}
(1905 - 1925) **Baroness Orczy - The Old Man In The Corner - Unravelled Knots (3/3) {Project Gutenberg Australia}}
(1905 - 1928) **Edgar Wallace - The Just Men - The Law Of The Four Just Men (4/6) {Project Gutenberg Australia}
(1906 - 1930) **John Galsworthy - The Forsyte Saga - Indian Summer Of A Forsyte (short story) (2/11) {Project Gutenberg}
(1907 - 1912) **Carolyn Wells - Marjorie - Marjorie's Vacation (1/6) {ManyBooks}
(1907 - 1942) *R. Austin Freeman - Dr John Thorndyke - Mr Pottermack's Oversight (17/26) {Roy Glashan's Library}
(1907 - 1941) *Maurice Leblanc - Arsene Lupin - Arsène Lupin contre Herlock Sholmès (2/21) {ManyBooks}
(1908 - 1924) **Margaret Penrose - Dorothy Dale - Dorothy Dale: A Girl Of Today (1/13) {ManyBooks}
(1909 - 1942) *Carolyn Wells - Fleming Stone - The Mystery Girl (13/49) {Kindle}
(1909 - 1929) *J. S. Fletcher - Inspector Skarratt - Marchester Royal (1/3) {Kindle}
(1910 - 1936) *Arthur B. Reeve - Craig Kennedy - The Treasure-Train (6/11) {ManyBooks}
(1910 - 1946) A. E. W. Mason - Inspector Hanaud - The Ginger King (short story) (5/6) {Roy Glashan's Library}
(1910 - ????) *Edgar Wallace - Inspector Smith - Kate Plus Ten (3/?) {Project Gutenberg Australia}
(1910 - 1930) **Edgar Wallace - Inspector Elk - The Joker (3/6?) {ManyBooks}
(1910 - ????) *Thomas Hanshew - Cleek - The Riddle Of The Night (3/?) {Internet Archive}
(1910 - 1918) **John McIntyre - Ashton-Kirk - Ashton-Kirk, Secret Agent (2/4) {Project Gutenberg}
(1910 - 1931) *Grace S. Richmond - Red Pepper Burns - Mrs Red Pepper (2/6) {Project Gutenberg}
(1910 - ????) *Jeffery Farnol - The Vibarts - The Way Beyond (3/?) {Project Gutenberg Canada}

(1911 - 1935) G. K. Chesterton - Father Brown - The Scandal Of Father Brown (5/5) {branch transfer}
(1911 - 1937) Mary Roberts Rinehart - Letitia Carberry - Tish Marches On (5/5) {Kindle}
(1911 - 1919) **Alfred Bishop Mason - Tom Strong - Tom Strong, Washington's Scout (1/5) {Internet Archive}
(1912 - 1928) **Louis Tracy (aka Gordon Holmes) - Winter and Furneaux - No Other Way (1/9) {Amazon domestic}
(1913 - 1934) *Alice B. Emerson - Ruth Fielding - Ruth Fielding In Moving Pictures (9/30) {feedbooks}
(1913 - 1973) Sax Rohmer - Fu-Manchu - The Bride Of Fu-Manchu (6/14) {interlibrary loan}
(1913 - 1952) *Jeffery Farnol - Jasper Shrig - Peregrine's Progress (2/9) {ManyBooks}
(1914 - 1950) Mary Roberts Rinehart - Hilda Adams - Episode Of The Wandering Knife (5/5) Better World Books}
(1914 - 1934) *Ernest Bramah - Max Carrados - The Eyes Of Max Carrados (2/4) {Roy Glashan's Library}
(1916 - 1941) John Buchan - Edward Leithen - Sick Heart River (5/5) {Fisher Library}
(1915 - 1936) *John Buchan - Richard Hannay - The Thirty-Nine Steps (1/5) {Fisher Library / Project Gutenberg / branch transfer}
(1916 - 1917) **Carolyn Wells - Alan Ford - Faulkner's Folly (2/2) {owned}
(1916 - 1927) **Natalie Sumner Lincoln - Inspector Mitchell - I Spy (1/10) {Project Gutenberg}
(1917 - 1929) **Henry Handel Richardson - Dr Richard Mahony - Australia Felix (1/3) {Fisher Library / City of Sydney}
(1918 - 1923) **Carolyn Wells - Pennington Wise - The Room With The Tassels (1/8) {Project Gutenberg}
(1918 - ????) *Valentine Williams - Okewood / Clubfoot - The Return Of Clubfoot (3/?) {ManyBooks}
(1919 - 1966) *Lee Thayer - Peter Clancy - The Key (6/60) {expensive / Rare Books}
(1919 - 1921) **Octavus Roy Cohen - David Carroll - The Crimson Alibi (1/3) {Rare Books}
(1920 - 1939) E. F. Benson - Mapp And Lucia - Trouble For Lucia (6/6) {interlibrary loan}
(1920 - 1948) *H. C. Bailey - Reggie Fortune - Mr Fortune, Please (4/23) {State Library NSW, interlibrary loan}
(1920 - 1949) William McFee - Spenlove - The Beachcomber - (3/6) {AbeBooks / Better World Books}
(1920 - 1932) *Alice B. Emerson - Betty Gordon - Betty Gordon At Bramble Farm (1/15) {ManyBooks}
(1920 - 1975) Agatha Christie - Hercule Poirot - Dumb Witness (16/39) {owned}
(1920 - 1921) **Natalie Sumner Lincoln - Ferguson - The Unseen Ear (2/2) {HathiTrust}
(1920 - 1937) *H. C. McNeile - Bulldog Drummond - Bull-Dog Drummond (1/10 - series continued) {Project Gutenberg / Fisher storage}

*** Incompletely available series
** Series complete pre-1931
* Present status pre-1931

Series and sequels 1921 - 1929:

(1921 - 1929) ** / ***Charles J. Dutton - John Bartley - Flying Clues (8/9) {AbeBooks}
(1921 - 1925) **Herman Landon - The Gray Phantom - Gray Terror (3/5) {Amazon}
(1922 - 1973) *Agatha Christie - Tommy and Tuppence - N. Or M.? (3/5) {owned}
(1922 - 1927) *Alice MacGowan and Perry Newberry - Jerry Boyne - The Mystery Woman (2/5) {ordered}
(1922 - 1931) *Valentine Williams - Inspector Manderton - The Yellow Streak (1/4) {Project Gutenberg}
(1923 - 1937) Dorothy L. Sayers - Lord Peter Wimsey - Hangman's Holiday (9/15) {Fisher Library}
(1923 - 1924) **Carolyn Wells - Lorimer Lane - The Fourteenth Key (2/2) {eBay}
(1923 - 1931) *Agnes Miller - The Linger-Nots - The Linger-Nots And The Mystery House (1/5) {AbeBooks / Amazon}
(1923 - 1927) **Annie Haynes - Inspector Furnival - The Abbey Court Murder (1/3) {Kindle}
(1924 - 1959) Philip MacDonald - Colonel Anthony Gethryn - Persons Unknown (aka "The Maze") (5/24) {academic loan / State Library NSW, held}
(1924 - 1957) *Freeman Wills Crofts - Inspector French - The Cheyne Mystery (2/30) {Fisher Library}
(1924 - 1935) * / ***Francis D. Grierson - Inspector Sims and Professor Wells - The Lost Pearl (3/13) {owned}
(1924 - 1940) *Lynn Brock - Colonel Gore - Colonel Gore's Second Case (2/12) {AbeBooks / State Library NSW, held / Kindle?}
(1924 - 1933) *Herbert Adams - Jimmie Haswell - The Crooked Lip (2/9) {Rare Books}
(1924 - 1944) *A. Fielding - Inspector Pointer - The Charteris Mystery (2/23) {AbeBooks / Rare Books}
(1924 - 1928) **Ford Madox Ford - Parade's End - Some Do Not... (1/4) {interlibrary loan}
(1925 - 1961) ***John Rhode - Dr Priestley - Death In The Hopfields (25/72) {HathiTrust / State Library NSW, held}
(1925 - 1953) *G. D. H. Cole / M. Cole - Superintendent Wilson - The Murder At Crome House (4/?) {academic loan / State Library NSW, held}
(1925 - 1937) *Hulbert Footner - Madame Storey - Madame Storey (2/10) {mobilereads / Project Gutenberg Canada}
(1925 - 1932) *Earl Derr Biggers - Charlie Chan - The Chinese Parrot (2/6) {feedbooks}
(1925 - 1944) *Agatha Christie - Superintendent Battle - Murder Is Easy (4/5) {owned}
(1925 - 1934) *Anthony Berkeley - Roger Sheringham - The Poisoned Chocolates Case (5/10) {City Of Sydney, on loan}
(1925 - 1950) *Anthony Wynne (Robert McNair Wilson) - Dr Eustace Hailey - The Double-Thirteen Mystery (2/27) (aka "The Double Thirteen") {AbeBooks / Rare Books}
(1925 - 1939) *Charles Barry (Charles Bryson) - Inspector Lawrence Gilmartin - The Smaller Penny (1/15) {AbeBooks}
(1925 - 1929) **Will Scott - Will Disher - Disher--Detective (aka "The Black Stamp") (1/3) {AbeBooks, expensive}
(1926 - 1968) * / ***Christopher Bush - Ludovic Travers - Dead Man Twice (3/63) {owned}
(1926 - 1939) *S. S. Van Dine - Philo Vance - The Canary Murder Case (2/12) {owned}
(1926 - 1952) *J. Jefferson Farjeon - Ben the Tramp - The House Opposite (2/8) {Kindle, upcoming/ State Library NSW, held}
(1926 - ????) *G. D. H. Cole / M. Cole - Everard Blatchington - Burglars In Bucks (aka "The Berkshire Mystery") (2/6) {Fisher Library}
(1927 - 1933) *Herman Landon - The Picaroon - The Picaroon Does Justice (2/7) {Book Searchers}
(1927 - 1932) *Anthony Armstrong - Jimmie Rezaire - The Secret Trail (2/5) {Kindle}
(1927 - 1937) *Ronald Knox - Miles Bredon - Footsteps At The Lock (2/5) {mobilereads}
(1927 - 1958) *Brian Flynn - Anthony Bathurst - The Case Of The Black Twenty-Two (2/54) {Amazon}
(1927 - 1947) *J. J. Connington - Sir Clinton Driffield - Tragedy At Ravensthorpe (2/17) {Murder Room ebook}
(1927 - 1935) *Anthony Gilbert (Lucy Malleson) - Scott Egerton - Death At Four Corners (3/10) {State Library NSW, interlibrary loan}
(1927 - 1932) *William Morton (aka William Blair Morton Ferguson) - Daniel "Biff" Corrigan - Masquerade (1/4) {expensive}
(1927- 1929) **George Dilnot - Inspector Strickland - The Crooks' Game (1/2) {AbeBooks / Amazon}
(1928 - 1961) Patricia Wentworth - Miss Silver - In The Balance (aka "Danger Point") (4/33) {State Library NSW, interlibrary loan}
(1928 - 1936) *Gavin Holt - Luther Bastion - The Garden Of Silent Beasts (5/17) {academic loan / State Library NSW, held}
(1928 - ????) Trygve Lund - Weston of the Royal North-West Mounted Police - In The Snow: A Romance Of The Canadian Backwoods (4/?) {AbeBooks}
(1928 - 1936) *Kay Cleaver Strahan - Lynn MacDonald - October House (4/7) {AbeBooks}
(1928 - 1937) *John Alexander Ferguson - Francis McNab - Murder On The Marsh (2/5) {Internet Archive / Rare Books / State Library NSW, held}
(1928 - 1960) *Cecil Freeman Gregg - Inspector Higgins - The Murdered Manservant (aka "The Body In The Safe") (1/35) {rare, expensive}
(1928 - 1959) *John Gordon Brandon - Inspector Patrick Aloysius McCarthy - Red Altars (aka "The Secret Brotherhood") (1/?) {do I own this?}
(1928 - 1935) *Roland Daniel - Wu Fang / Inspector Saville - The Society Of The Spiders (1/?) {unavailable}
(1928 - 1946) *Francis Beeding - Alistair Granby - The Five Flamboys (2/18) {State Library NSW, interlibrary loan}
(1928 - 1930) **Annie Haynes - Inspector Stoddart - The Man With The Dark Beard (1/4) {Project Gutenberg Australia / Kindle?}
(1928 - 1930) **Elsa Barker - Dexter Drake and Paul Howard - The Cobra Candlestick (aka "The Cobra Shaped Candlestick") (1/3) {AbeBooks / Rare Books}
(1928 - ????) Adam Broome - Denzil Grigson - Crowner's Quest (2/?) {AbeBooks / eBay}
(1929 - 1947) Margery Allingham - Albert Campion - Sweet Danger (5/35) {Fisher Library}
(1929 - 1984) Gladys Mitchell - Mrs Bradley - Death At The Opera (5/67) {interlibrary loan}
(1929 - 1937) ***Patricia Wentworth - Benbow Smith - Walk With Care (3/4) {expensive}
(1929 - ????) Mignon Eberhart - Nurse Sarah Keate - Murder By An Aristocrat (aka "Murder Of My Patient") (5/8) {Rare Books / Kindle US / academic loan}
(1929 - ????) ***Moray Dalton - Inspector Collier - ???? (3/?) - Death In The Cup {unavailable}, The Wife Of Baal {unavailable}
(1929 - ????) * / ***Charles Reed Jones - Leighton Swift - The King Murder (1/?) {AbeBooks}
(1929 - 1931) Carolyn Wells - Kenneth Carlisle - Sleeping Dogs (1/3) {Amazon / eBay / Rare Books}
(1929 - 1967) *George Goodchild - Inspector McLean - McLean Of Scotland Yard (1/65) {State Library NSW, held}
(1929 - 1979) *Leonard Gribble - Anthony Slade - The Case Of The Marsden Rubies (1/33) {AbeBooks / Rare Books}
(1929 - 1932) *E. R. Punshon - Carter and Bell - The Unexpected Legacy (1/5) {expensive, omnibus / Rare Books}
(1929 - 1971) *Ellery Queen - Ellery Queen - The Roman Hat Mystery (1/40) {interlibrary loan}
(1929 - 1966) *Arthur Upfield - Bony - The Barrakee Mystery (1/29) {Fisher Library}
(1929 - 1931) *Ernest Raymond - Once In England - A Family That Was (1/3) {State Library NSW, interlibrary loan}
(1929 - 1937) *Anthony Berkeley - Ambrose Chitterwick - The Poisoned Chocolates Case (1/3) {City of Sydney / Fisher Library}
(1929 - 1940) *Jean Lilly - DA Bruce Perkins - The Seven Sisters (1/3) {AbeBooks / expensive shipping}
(1929 - 1935) *N. A. Temple-Ellis (Nevile Holdaway) - Montrose Arbuthnot - The Inconsistent Villains (1/4) {AbeBooks / expensive shipping}
(1929 - 1943) *Gret Lane - Kate Clare Marsh and Inspector Barrin - The Cancelled Score Mystery (1/9) {unavailable?}
(1929 - 1961) *Henry Holt - Inspector Silver - The Mayfair Mystery (aka "The Mayfair Murder") (1/16) {AbeBooks}
(1929 - 1930) *J. J. Connington - Superintendent Ross - The Eye In The Museum (1/2) {Kindle}
(1929 - 1941) *H. Maynard Smith - Inspector Frost - Inspector Frost's Jigsaw (1/7) {AbeBooks, omnibus}
(1929 - ????) *Armstrong Livingston - Jimmy Traynor - The Doublecross (1/?) {AbeBooks}
(1929 - 1932) Clemence Dane and Helen Simpson - Sir John Saumarez - Re-Enter Sir John (3/3) {Fisher Library storage}
(1929 - 1940) *Rufus King - Lieutenant Valcour - Murder By The Clock (1/11) {AbeBooks / omnibus}
(1929 - 1933) *Will Levinrew (Will Levine) - Professor Brierly - Murder On The Palisades (2/5) {Rare Books}
(1929 - 1932) *Nancy Barr Mavity - Peter Piper - The Body On The Floor (1/5) {AbeBooks / Rare Books / State Library NSW, held}
(1929 - 1934) *Charles J. Dutton - Professor Harley Manners - Streaked With Crimson (1/6) {AbeBooks / Amazon}

*** Incompletely available series
** Series complete pre-1931
* Present status pre-1931

Series and sequels 1930 - 1953:

(1930 - ????) ***Moray Dalton - Hermann Glide - ???? (3/?) {see above}
(1930 - 1932) Hugh Walpole - The Herries Chronicles - The Fortress (3/4) {Fisher Library}
(1930 - 1932) Faith Baldwin - The Girls Of Divine Corners - Myra: A Story Of Divine Corners (4/4) {owned}
(1930 - 1960) ***Miles Burton - Desmond Merrion - Death In The Tunnel (11/57) {Poison Pen Press, May 2016}
(1930 - 1960) ***Miles Burton - Inspector Henry Arnold - Death In The Tunnel (12/60) {Poison Pen Press, May 2016}
(1930 - 1933) ***Roger Scarlett - Inspector Kane - Murder Among The Angells (4/5) {online shopping}
(1930 - 1941) *Harriette Ashbrook - Philip "Spike" Tracy - The Murder Of Sigurd Sharon (3/7) {AbeBooks}
(1930 - 1943) Anthony Abbot - Thatcher Colt - About The Murder Of The Night Club Lady (3/8) {AbeBooks}
(1930 - ????) * / ***David Sharp - Professor Henry Arthur Fielding - My Particular Murder (2/?) {owned}
(1930 - 1950) *H. C. Bailey - Josiah Clunk - Garstons aka The Garston Murder Case (1/11) {AbeBooks}
(1930 - 1968) *Francis Van Wyck Mason - Captain North - Seeds Of Murder (1/41) {rare, expensive}
(1930 - 1976) *Agatha Christie - Miss Jane Marple - The Body In The Library (3/12) {owned}
(1930 - ????) *Anne Austin - James "Bonnie" Dundee - The Avenging Parrot (1/?) - {AbeBooks, expensive shipping}
(1930 - 1950) *Leslie Ford (as David Frome) - Mr Pinkerton and Inspector Bull - The Hammersmith Murders (1/11) {AbeBooks / Rare Books}
(1930 - 1935) *"Diplomat" (John Franklin Carter) - Dennis Tyler - Murder In The State Department (1/7) {expensive}
(1930 - 1962) *Helen Reilly - Inspector Christopher McKee - The Diamond Feather (1/31) {AbeBooks, expensive shipping / Rare Books}
(1930 - 1933) *Mary Plum - John Smith - The Killing Of Judge MacFarlane (1/4) {AbeBooks / Rare Books}
(1930 - 1945) *Hulbert Footner - Amos Lee Mappin - The Mystery Of The Folded Paper (aka The Folded Paper Mystery (1/10) {mobilereads / omnibus}
(1930 - 1940) *E. M. Delafield - The Provincial Lady - The Provincial Lady In Wartime (4/4) {Fisher Library}
(1930 - 1933) *Monte Barrett - Peter Cardigan - The Pelham Murder Case (1/3) {Amazon}
(1930 - ????) Vernon Loder - Inspector Brews and Ned Hope - The Essex Murders (aka "The Death Pool") (1/?) {Kindle}

(1931 - 1940) Bruce Graeme - Superintendent Stevens and Pierre Allain - Epilogue (3/8) {ordered}
(1931 - 1951) Phoebe Atwood Taylor - Asey Mayo - The Mystery Of The Cape Cod Players (3/24) {AbeBooks / State Library NSW, held}
(1931 - 1955) Stuart Palmer - Hildegarde Withers - Murder On Wheels (2/18) {Kindle?}
(1931 - 1951) Olive Higgins Prouty - The Vale Novels - Now, Voyager (3/5) {interlibrary loan}
(1931 - 1933) Sydney Fowler - Inspector Cleveland - Arresting Delia (4/4) {Book Depository / Rare Books}
(1931 - 1934) J. H. Wallis - Inspector Wilton Jacks - The Capital City Mystery (2/6) {AbeBooks, expensive}
(1931 - ????) Paul McGuire - Inspector Cummings - Daylight Murder (aka "Murder At High Noon") (3/5) {academic loan / State Library NSW, held}
(1931 - 1937) Carlton Dawe - Leathermouth - The Sign Of The Glove (2/13) {academic loan / State Library NSW, held}
(1931 - 1947) R. L. Goldman - Asaph Clume and Rufus Reed - The Murder Of Harvey Blake (1/6) {AbeBooks}
(1931 - 1959) E. C. R. Lorac (Edith Caroline Rivett) - Inspector Robert Macdonald - The Murder On The Burrows (1/46) {rare, expensive}
(1931 - ????) Clifton Robbins - Clay Harrison - The Man Without A Face (2/?) {owned}
(1931 - 1972) Georges Simenon - Inspector Maigret - La Nuit du Carrefour (7/75) {branch transfer}
(1931 - 1934) T. S. Stribling - The Vaiden Trilogy - The Store (2/3) {academic loan / State Library, held}
(1931 - 1935) Pearl S. Buck - The House Of Earth - Sons (2/3) {Fisher Library}
(1931 - 1942) R. A. J. Walling - Garstang - The Stroke Of One (1/3) {Amazon}
(1931 - ????) Francis Bonnamy (Audrey Boyers Walz) - Peter Utley Shane - Death By Appointment (1/8){AbeBooks / Rare Books}
(1931 - 1937) J. S. Fletcher - Ronald Camberwell - Murder In Four Degrees (2/11) {Kindle / State Library NSW, held}

(1932 - 1954) Sydney Fowler - Inspector Cambridge and Mr Jellipot - The Bell Street Murders (1/11) {AbeBooks / Rare Books}
(1932 - 1935) Murray Thomas - Inspector Wilkins - Buzzards Pick The Bones (1/3) {AbeBooks, expensive}
(1932 - ????) R. A. J. Walling - Philip Tolefree - Follow The Blue Car (2/?) {expensive}
(1932 - 1962) T. Arthur Plummer - Detective-Inspector Andrew Frampton - Shadowed By The C. I. D. (1/50) {unavailable?}
(1932 - 1936) John Victor Turner - Amos Petrie - Death Must Have Laughed (1/7) {Rare Books}
(1932 - 1944) Nicholas Brady (John Victor Turner) - Ebenezer Buckle - The House Of Strange Guests (1/4) {unavailable?}
(1932 - 1932) Lizette M. Edholm - The Merriweather Girls - The Merriweather Girls In Quest Of Treasure (3/4) {ManyBooks}
(1932 - 1933) Barnaby Ross (aka Ellery Queen) - Drury Lane - The Tragedy Of Z (3/4) {Rare Books}
(1932 - 1952) D. E. Stevenson - Mrs Tim - Mrs Tim Flies Home (4/5) {interlibrary loan}
(1932 - ????) Richard Essex (Richard Harry Starr) - Jack Slade - Slade Of The Yard (1/?) {AbeBooks}
(1932 - 1933) Gerard Fairlie - Mr Malcolm - Shot In The Dark (1/3) (State Library NSW, held}

(1933 - 1959) John Gordon Brandon - Arthur Stukeley Pennington - West End! (1/?) {AbeBooks / State Library, held}
(1933 - 1940) Lilian Garis - Carol Duncan - The Ghost Of Melody Lane (1/9) {AbeBooks}
(1933 - 1934) Peter Hunt (George Worthing Yates and Charles Hunt Marshall) - Allan Miller - Murders At Scandal House (1/3) {AbeBooks / Amazon}
(1933 - 1968) John Dickson Carr - Gideon Fell - Hag's Nook (1/23) {Better World Books / State Library NSW, interlibrary loan}
(1933 - 1939) Gregory Dean - Deputy Commissioner Benjamin Simon - The Case Of Marie Corwin (1/3) {AbeBooks / Amazon}
(1933 - 1956) E. R. Punshon - Detective-Sergeant Bobby Owen - Information Received (1/35) {academic loan / State Library NSW, held / Rare Books}
(1933 - 1970) Dennis Wheatley - Duke de Richlieu - The Forbidden Territory (1/11) {Fisher Library}
(1933 - 1934) Jackson Gregory - Paul Savoy - A Case For Mr Paul Savoy (1/3) {AbeBooks / Rare Books}
(1934 - 1936) Storm Jameson - The Mirror In Darkness - Company Parade (1/3) {Fisher Library}
(1934 - 1953) Leslie Ford (Zenith Jones Brown) - Colonel John Primrose and Grace Latham - The Clock Strikes Twelve (aka "The Supreme Court Murder") (NB: novella) {owned}
(1934 - 1949) Richard Goyne - Paul Templeton - Strange Motives (1/13) {unavailable?}
(1934 - 1941) N. A. Temple-Ellis (Nevile Holdaway) - Inspector Wren - Three Went In (1/3) {unavailable?}
(1934 - 1953) Carter Dickson (John Dickson Carr) - Sir Henry Merivale - The Plague Court Murders (1/22) {Fisher Library}
(1934 - 1968) Dennis Wheatley - Gregory Sallust - Black August (1/11) {interlibrary loan / omnibus}
(1935 - 1939) Francis Beeding - Inspector George Martin - The Norwich Victims (1/3) {AbeBooks / Book Depository / State Library NSW, held}
(1935 - 1976) Nigel Morland - Palmyra Pym - The Moon Murders (1/28) {State Library NSW, held}
(1935 - 1941) Clyde Clason - Professor Theocritus Lucius Westborough - The Fifth Tumbler (1/10) {unavailable?}
(1935 - ????) G. D. H. Cole / M. Cole - Dr Tancred - Dr Tancred Begins (1/?) (AbeBooks, expensive / State Library NSW, held / Rare Books}
(1935 - ????) George Harmon Coxe - Kent Murdock - Murder With Pictures (1/22) {AbeBooks}
(1935 - 1959) Kathleen Moore Knight - Elisha Macomber - Death Blew Out The Match (1/16) {AbeBooks / Amazon}
(1936 - 1974) Anthony Gilbert (Lucy Malleson) - Arthur Crook - Murder By Experts (1/51) {interlibrary loan}
(1936 - 1952) Helen Dore Boylston - Sue Barton - Sue Barton, Student Nurse (1/7) {interlibrary loan}
(1939 - 1942) Patricia Wentworth - Inspector Lamb - Who Pays The Piper? (aka "Account Rendered") (2/3) {State Library NSW, interlibrary loan}
(1947 - 1974) Dennis Wheatley - Roger Brook - The Launching Of Roger Brook (1/12) {Fisher Library storage}
(1953 - 1960) Dennis Wheatley - Molly Fountain and Colonel Verney - To The Devil A Daughter (1/2) {Fisher Library storage}

*** Incompletely available series
** Series complete pre-1931
* Present status pre-1931

Unavailable series works*:

Charles J. Dutton - John Bartley
The Second Bullet (#5)

John Rhode - Dr Priestley
The Paddington Mystery (#1)
Tragedy At The Unicorn (#5)
The Hanging Woman (#11)

Christopher Bush - Ludovic Travers
The Plumley Inheritance (#1)

Patricia Wentworth - Benbow Smith
Walk With Care (#3)

Moray Dalton - Inspector Collier
>#3 onwards (to end of series)

Moray Dalton - Hermann Glide
>#3 onwards (to end of series)

Miles Burton - Desmond Merrion / Inspector Arnold
>everything from #2 - #11 inclusive

David Sharp - Professor Fielding
When No Man Pursueth (#1)

Francis D. Grierson - Inspector Sims and Professor Wells
The Double Thumb (#2)

Roger Scarlett - Inspector Kane
>#4 onwards (to end of series)

(*Treating works held by my academic library's Rare Books section as 'available')

Timeline of detective fiction:

Pre-history:
Things As They Are; or, The Adventures Of Caleb Williams by William Godwin (1794)
Mademoiselle de Scudéri by E.T.A. Hoffmann (1819)
Richmond: Scenes In The Life Of A Bow Street Officer by Anonymous (1827)
Memoirs Of Vidocq by Eugene Francois Vidocq (1828)
Le Pere Goriot by Honore de Balzac (1835)
Passages In The Secret History Of An Irish Countess by J. Sheridan Le Fanu (1838); The Purcell Papers (1880)
The Murders In The Rue Morgue: The Dupin Tales by Edgar Allan Poe (1841, 1842, 1845)

Serials:
The Mysteries Of Paris by Eugene Sue (1842 - 1843)
The Mysteries Of London - Paul Feval (1844) (Internet Archive, R. Stephenson)
The Mysteries Of London - George Reynolds (1844 - 1848)
The Mysteries Of The Court Of London - George Reynolds (1848 - 1856)
John Devil by Paul Feval (1861)

Early detective novels:
Recollections Of A Detective Police-Officer by "Waters" (William Russell) (1856)
The Widow Lerouge by Emile Gaboriau (1866)
Under Lock And Key by T. W. Speight (1869)
Checkmate by J. Sheridan LeFanu (1871)
Is He The Man? by William Clark Russell (1876)
Devlin The Barber by B. J. Farjeon (1888)
Mr Meeson's Will by H. Rider Haggard (1888)
The Mystery Of A Hansom Cab by Fergus Hume (1889)
The Queen Anne's Gate Mystery by Richard Arkwright (1889)
The Ivory Queen by Norman Hurst (1889) (Check Julius H. Hurst 1899)
The Big Bow Mystery by Israel Zangwill (1892)

Female detectives:
The Diary Of Anne Rodway by Wilkie Collins (1856)
The Female Detective by Andrew Forrester (1864)
Revelations Of A Lady Detective by William Stephens Hayward (1864)
The Law And The Lady by Wilkie Collins (1875)
Madeline Payne; or, The Detective's Daughter by Lawrence L. Lynch (Emma Murdoch Van Deventer) (1884)
Mr Bazalgette's Agent by Leonard Merrick (1888)
Moina; or, Against The Mighty by Lawrence L. Lynch (Emma Murdoch Van Deventer) (sequel to Madeline Payne?) (1891)
The Experiences Of Loveday Brooke, Lady Detective by Catherine Louisa Pirkis (1893)
Dorcas Dene, Detective by George Sims (1897)
- Amelia Butterworth series by Anna Katharine Grant (1897 - 1900)
Miss Cayley's Adventures by Grant Allan (1899)
Hilda Wade by Grant Allan (1900)
Dora Myrl, The Lady Detective by M. McDonnel Bodkin (1900)
The Investigators by J. S. Fletcher (1902)
Lady Molly Of Scotland Yard by Baroness Orczy (1910)
Constance Dunlap, Woman Detective by Arthur B. Reeve (1913)

Related mainstream works:
Adventures Of Susan Hopley by Catherine Crowe (1841)
Men And Women; or, Manorial Rights by Catherine Crowe (1843)
Hargrave by Frances Trollope (1843)
Clement Lorimer by Angus Reach (1849)

True crime:
Clues: or, Leaves from a Chief Constable's Note Book by Sir William Henderson (1889)
Dreadful Deeds And Awful Murders by Joan Lock

Books currently on loan:

    

      

  

Blog, to be written up:



Blog, pending:

      

Other projects:

        

      

Short-list TBR:

        

        

You read a lot of books thus far! Incredible accomplishment!!!

Hi, Linda - thanks for visiting! Yes, it's been a good start to the year but I'm beginning to flag a bit now... :)

I think I might be slowing down near the end of next month, when uni classes start up again. I'm sure I will, actually :)
Nice owls, again. My dads fave animal.

Hi, Megan - yeah, going back to work put the brakes on rather unpleasantly! Glad you like my owls. :)

LOVELY NEW THREAD!

Happy new thread Liz! I'm halfway through Murder in the Mews (I know, I know, getting behind on the AC reads and then deciding to join you with this month's means I am now reading them out of order) and have made a good start on Mrs Tim Carries On.

Congratulations on the new thread, Liz. Love the owls.

I read Mrs. Tim of the Regiment and liked it very much. I need to get my hands on Mrs. Tim Carries On.

They did a play adaptation of her Miss Buncle's Book here that was charming.

The grass owls are very pretty! I had never heard of owls that nested on the ground before. Seems like a waste of wings, if you ask me. :-)

I finished April Lady and now I remember why it wasn't one of my favorites when I read it the first time. I can't stand the romance trope of trouble that would be instantly solved if two people WHO ARE MARRIED TO EACH OTHER would just open their cakeholes and TALK to each other about how they feel. Sheesh. There's still some delightful dialogue, of course, and between Felix, Letty, and Dysart plenty of laughs to go around, but I'd smack both Nell and Cardross if I could.

So many books read! I'm in awe!

Three BB's from thread number 1. What on earth will happen this month??

Stopping by to wish you a lovely weekend Liz only to discover that I am a whole thread behind. Good grief!

Going back to your previous thread, I did enjoy advert. Sorry, I don't live in or near Ottawa and as a transplanted Albertan to BC, I choose not to comment on products that may be available only "back East", as we say. ;-)

Loved the sloth on the last thread. Soooo cute.

.... and before I forget. Happy New Thread!

Happy new thread! I see you have one of my favorite Christies coming up in your reading project. I have a soft spot for dogs!

>18 ronincats:

THANKS, RONI!! :)

>19 souloftherose:

Well, on THAT basis I'm not sure I want to associate with you!! (Aw, who am I kidding, anything for a shared read!)

>20 jnwelch:

Hi, Joe - thanks! Mrs Tim Carries On seems to be the most difficult of the series to locate, so I hope you have good luck finding a copy.

>21 rosalita:

Well, they live where trees are scarce, so there's that! :D

I agree with you about that trope in general, but in this case Nell does want to talk, but she wants to clean up her mess first. It's also a reflection of the way marriages were made; these are two people who have been at cross-purposes from the outset, not a couple who married knowing and understanding one another. So I can forgive it.

>22 Matke:

Hi, Gail - thank you! - though truthfully I'm suffering a bad case of reading over-commitment at the moment. :)

Yay, BBs!! {*hurt feelings soothed*}

>23 lkernagh:

Thanks!

Hey, you know what January is like, Lori! Aw, you mean I have to do without my Bee's Laxative Cough Syrup? How will I ever survive??

I'm behind in my reviews at the moment but hopefully there will be more sloths before too much longer. (Also red-heads!)

>24 cbl_tn:

Thanks, Carrie! Yes, that's a very English cover image, isn't it? Bob is a great character! :)

Finished Mrs Tim Carries On for TIOLI #20.

Still reading All This, And Heaven Too---and thanks ('thanks'?) to a violent electrical storm and a lengthy blackout yesterday, where there was really nothing else to do but press up against a glass door and read in what light there was, I may actually get this finished!...

...though that said, I must also make a proper start on Susan Ferrier's Marriage; I will be putting up the group read thread today.

Halloo, Liz! I'm just skulking around the threads, trying to unblock my "pen" and getting a few book reports written and posted. I salute you on all the reading you do, and the speed with which you do it.

Happy new thread, Liz!

>27 weird_O:

Hi, Bill - thank you! Yes, me too; very selfish of those reviews not to just write themselves, isn't it?

>28 scaifea:

Thanks, Amber!

Finished All This, And Heaven Too for TIOLI #11, just in under the wire!

Now reading Marriage by Susan Ferrier.

...and speaking of which, the Virago group read of Marriage is now underway - all welcome!

The thread is here.

Happy new thread!

>25 lyzard: OK, one last point about April Lady and then I'll let it go, promise. About that trope: The thing is, she found out fairly early on that Cardross had in fact married her for love and not convenience. Once she figured that out, she should have just fessed up and everyone could have just gotten on with their dang lives. Which, I realize, would not have made for much of a book. :-)

So, is it Sylvester that we are reading next? I spied that one in your cornucopia of covers up there ...

Interesting thoughts on April Lady. Still, I think it won't be the next Georgette Heyer book that I read. :)

>33 rosalita:

Well, I still think it's not that straightforward, but we shan't dispute! :)

Yes, Sylvester is up next. Keeping my nose to the one-a-month grindstone!

>34 The_Hibernator:

Hi, Rachel! I find April Lady interesting but it's certainly not representative.

>35 lyzard: Yes, no fighting with Liz! Thank you for letting me have my say. :-)

They Were Defeated (US title: The Shadow Flies) - Rose Macaulay's 1932 novel is a complex historical drama set in the early decades of 17th century England. Though most of the characters long for and talk endlessly of London, where Charles I confronts an increasingly fractious Parliament, the main action is divided between the small Devonshire town of Dean Prior and Cambridge, at a time of extraordinary poetical achievement. In the former presides Robert Herrick, a most unministerial minister, and a poet clinging stubbornly to his pastorals and love poetry, and to his high opinion of himself, despite the patronising scorn of the rising generation; in the latter live and work John Milton, Abraham Cowley, Andrew Marvell and John Cleveland, among others; and in both, resist as they may, these artists find their poetry subsumed by politics, as religious conflict escalates, and England moves slowly but inexorably towards Civil War... They Were Defeated is a dense, sometimes difficult novel, couched in the language of its time and setting; but Macaulay's understanding of the period and its artists (not least Robert Herrick, a distant ancestor), and the irreconcilable conflicts that arose between art, politics and religion, is remarkable. As is often the case in Macaulay's writing, the focus of the narrative is upon a woman set apart by her idiosyncratic vision of life: here it is young Julian Conybeare, whose gift for learning, hunger for knowledge and love of poetry mark her as dangerously individualistic. Julian's precocious scholarship has been encouraged by her stubborn, iconoclastic father, Dr Michael Conybeare, who clings to his own defiant atheism in the teeth of a growing threat from Anglicans, Catholics and Puritans alike. When the doctor interferes in a local witch-hunt, he and Julian find Dean Prior no longer a safe haven, and set out with their friend Robert Herrick for Cambridge, overtly to visit Julian's brother, Kit. Julian, whose own ambitions centre in poetry, is overwhelmed to find herself in this centre of art and learning; while her father too believes he has found a refuge of like minds. But in Cambridge, too, politics have come to the fore, with the election of Oliver Cromwell. External and internal tragedy finally mirror one another in Macaulay's narrative, as England becomes a nexus of warring beliefs and ambitions, and the inexperienced Julian, too, becomes caught between conflicted desires, when she falls in love with the charismatic John Cleveland, who has nothing but contempt for the idea of female scholarship, and who sees the beautiful, brilliant young girl as a mere play-thing...

Julian got up, still frowning tears back from her eyes. She stood, her hands close locked behind her, looking at this strange, laughing, masterful man who had burnt her thesis and bade her forget philosophy. She was sharply, deeply hurt; she felt cold and bewildered with pain. What did he desire of her, then, if he did not desire her mind, her very self, all she cared for? He could not, in that case, desire her at all---or only for kissing, and such, as if, thought she, she had been a kitten or a babe. Her eager and unfolding mind, expanding so wide of late to new learning, as it had been a flower opening to the sun and air, shrank back on itself, as if a sudden frost had shrivelled it. Mr Cleveland did not wish her to learn. It was like a hard pebble flung at her heart. What then of love...?

I fondly remember laughing out loud at several points when I first read Sylvester--it's definitely a farce, but I have a soft spot for Phoebe. I look forward to reading it again.

Hi, Roni! Sylvester kills me because I really want to read Phoebe's novel!! :D

The New Woman And The Victorian Novel - Gail Cunningham's 1978 study of one of the more idiosyncratic subgenres of the Victorian novel is a fairly short work---understandably since, as she points out, the "New Woman" novel was an ephemeral phenomenon, lasting only a decade or so, wildly popular yet quick to wear out its welcome with critics and readers alike. This subgenre did, however, provide a graphic illustration of the extraordinary evolution of "the woman question" over the course of the 19th century, as well as - more importantly in the overall literary sense - breaking new ground with respect to what a mainstream novel could acceptably address. Cunningham traces the way that the Victorian novel nervously lagged behind the public discourse on topics such as the marriage and divorce laws, the double sexual standard, sex outside of marriage, prostitution and venereal disease, as well as highlighting the still more nervous attempts to advance the cause of women's rights, before considering the works of the most controversial of the "New Woman" novelists: Sarah Grand (The Heavenly Twins), Olive Schreiner (The Story Of An African Farm), Mona Caird (The Daughters Of Danaus), Menie Muriel Dowie (Gallia), Emma Frances Brooke (A Superfluous Woman), "Iota" (A Yellow Aster), "George Egerton" (Keynotes and Discords)---and Grant Allen, the rogue male, who managed simultaneously to write the ne plus ultra New Woman novel and kill off the genre altogether, with The Woman Who Did. Almost all of these novels, Cunningham points out, end miserably, with their rebellious heroines either dying or giving up the fight against Society's smothering conventionality; clearly women were viewed as still having a long, hard road ahead of them in the fight for equality. Cunningham also argues that while these novels are all interesting, most of them are extremely flawed: that their real importance is less what they say than the extent to which they pushed back the barriers of censorship---thus opening up new territory for better novelists to occupy. The final section of this study considers the works of three men who became viewed as "New Women" novelists without their volition and, in two cases, much to their disgust: George Meredith, a genuine feminist, who believed in opportunities and education for women both for their own benefit and the benefit of society as a whole; George Gissing, arch-pessimist, who also wanted women educated and trained, but only so that men were no longer burdened with them; and Thomas Hardy, who shared the anti-marriage attitude of the real "New Woman" novelists but from the man's point of view, and whose one-two punch of Tess Of The D'Urbervilles and Jude The Obscure drew a new line in the sand of literary censorship.

Thus the emergence of the New Woman as a social phenomenon was matched by an increasing interest among novelists in the woman question as a source of artistic inspiration. Minor writers in particular, content for the most part to parade their arguments unencumbered with the literary trappings of imaginative power or psychological plausibility, gave stark and forceful expression to the new feminist ideas. And the themes they tackled were integrated with greater skill into the works of more talented novelists. Where these works differed from the mainstream of earlier Victorian fiction was in the extent to which they were prepared to provoke a clash with accepted social convention which would reverberate outside the world of the novel. In portraying marital breakdown, adultery, free love or bachelor motherhood unaccompanied by the approved moral retribution---or indeed supported by an impassioned moral defence---these novels were ruthlessly hacking away the foundations of idealised femininity on which much of the Victorian moral structure was built. More or less overtly they were broadcasting the of the New Woman, and an avid public hung on their every word, eager to be either loftily inspired or deliciously shocked.

Finished Marriage for TIOLI #12.

Now reading Lucia's Progress by E. F. Benson.

Lonesome Road - This 1939 work by Patricia Wentworth is the third to feature private investigator Miss Maud Silver, and the strongest of the series so far. Miss Silver plays a more prominent role than previously, leaving her office and going undercover in her client's home, in the guise of an indigent ex-governess; and while, as always with Wentworth, there is a prominent romance subplot, in this case it is far better integrated into the main narrative. Best of all, not only is the novel's heroine someone who at time of writing would certainly have been considered "a middle-aged spinster", she's in the mess she's in because her father, recognising in her both brains and backbone, left her control of the family fortune. Rachel Treherne was only twenty-two when she came into her inheritance; now, seventeen years later, she is painfully aware that in her eagerness not to take personal advantage, she has gone too far in encouraging her family to rely upon her support. Not that they are grateful: caught between a resentful older sister, a demanding brother-in-law, a greedy niece and nephew, and a raft of cousins of various degrees of neediness, Rachel is being worn down by the constant demands made upon her. Even so, it takes some considerable time and several near misses before she can accept that someone in her family is trying to kill her... It is perhaps more correct to call Lonesome Road a thriller than a mystery; it is a novel of escalating suspense, with the plot turning on race-against-time efforts to expose a would-be killer before murder can be committed. There is also a strong psychological component to the story, in Rachel's reaction to her situation and her refusal to save herself by showing everyone that they are under suspicion, which is both exasperating and understandable: though as Miss Silver points out sternly, who she prefers to be the killer, and who she refuses to believe could be, is beside the point---except so far as it increases her danger. Surrounded by potential killers, Rachel turns with relief to visiting American businessman Gale Brandon, who is staying in the neighbourhood, and with whom she is beginning to fall in love. But when her second cousin, Cosmo Frith, discovers that Brandon is using a false identity - that a secret from his past links him to Rachel and her inherited fortune - Rachel is forced to accept that the man she loves, too, must be considered a suspect...

    Rachel crossed the room. When she came to the door that led into her bedroom she leaned against it. It was as if she could not go any farther. She kept hold of the half-turned handle and breathed deeply. Then she said:
    "I can't take it---I can't. I've told you why. They're my people. They're all I've got. I love some of them---very much. I owe something to all of them---because we are a family. I can't just---save myself and leave them all---under suspicion. If I took your---good advice, there would never be any love or confidence again---there couldn't be. I don't feel as if I could live like that. I want to live---very much. but it's too big a price---I can't pay it. I must know the truth. I must know whom I can trust and whom I can love. I'll take any risk to find that out."
    She straightened up and looked blindly and piteously at Miss Silver. "Find out," she said.

I have a few Miss Silvers in the TBR stash but I've only read one so far.

*Whispers.* And it was out of order.

>42 lyzard: Lonesome Road sounds quite good! I'll look forward to getting to it in my reading of the Miss Silver novels, which I'm aiming to read in order, but I'm somewhat hampered by the fact that they seem to be scattered around the house in a few different locations depending on when they were acquired (a problem I'm also facing with the Roderick Alleyn series). I've instead started another series, with The Three Taps.

>43 cbl_tn:

{*swoons dramatically*}

{...picks herself up...}

You shouldn't taunt me like that, Carrie, it isn't kind! :D

>44 harrygbutler:

Yes, yes - I'm very familiar with the scattered book phenomenon!

HA!! I actually started The Three Taps last month but put it aside when my ILL of All This, And Heaven Too belatedly arrived. I don't know if I'll get back to it this month as I am, once again, grossly over-committed, sigh.

>43 cbl_tn: >45 lyzard: It was loaned to me by a friend who apparently doesn't understand that series must be read in order.

>45 lyzard: Too bad — no shared read! The Three Taps fits TIOLI #5 or of course #12.

>46 cbl_tn:

Then they can hardly be called a friend, now, can they??

>47 harrygbutler:

We-ee-eell... I might see you there. No promises, though!

>48 lyzard: You're welcome if you do! I have it listed in #12 right now, but I could move it.

No, that's fine: I usually end up with one "default" challenge each month and that looks like it might be it this time. (Yours, too!)

Finished Lucia's Progress for TIOLI #10.

Now reading The Murder Of Mrs Davenport by Anthony Gilbert.

Finished The Murder Of Mrs Davenport for TIOLI #13.

Now reading The Owl's Warning by Herman Landon.

Finished The Owl's Warning for TIOLI #8.

Now reading Love's Hour by Elinor Glyn.

Just checking in — I finished Sylvester, or The Wicked Uncle and found I liked it better this time around than the first time I read it. I'm not sure why, really. Like you, I really want to read Phoebe's book! I also was happy to see that bratty young people have been ever with us, making travel miserable no matter the century.

I know there's been some weirdness with touchstones lately, but I'm amused that my Sylvester touchstone came up as The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, which I admit I've never read but doesn't seem very Heyer-like from what I've heard about it...

>42 lyzard: Lonesome Road sounds interesting but I feel like I'm doing so badly with series reading at the moment that I'm not sure I should start another.

No Liz sighting for a few days - everything ok?

Stopping by to leave this for you, Liz.

Happy Valentine's Day!

I thought of you tonight. I was listening to the Museum of Curiosity and one of the guests was a sloth fan, so much so that she donated a pygmy sloth to the museum. Hope you're doing OK.

Edited to add that this is not a real museum and the donation was not a real sloth, it's on Radio 4 and the museum itself is entirely imaginary.

>54 rosalita:

Good to hear, Julia! I haven't had much reading time lately and am behind where I hoped to be this month, but I am determined to get to Sylvester!

(Touchstones are working for that now but on the other hand I have now read three different books for which the top touchstone is The Bookseller of Kabul...and none of them are The Bookseller of Kabul!)

>55 souloftherose:

Oh, well, if you're going to let a little thing like that stop you---!? :D

Yeah, unfortunately I've been AWOL most of the last week; I've just been catching up on the Marriage thread.

>56 lkernagh:, >57 The_Hibernator:

Thank you, Lori and Rachel - hope you both had a great day!

>58 Helenliz:

Aw, thanks, Helen! :)

Meanwhile---

Finished Love's Hour by Elinor Glyn for TIOLI #7, and The Murder Of Caroline Bundy by Alice Campbell for TIOLI #17.

Now reading The Madonna Of Seven Moons by Margery Lawrence.

Finished The Madonna Of Seven Moons for TIOLI #9.

Now reading Mr Crewe's Career by Winston Churchill.

>59 lyzard: (Touchstones are working for that now but on the other hand I have now read three different books for which the top touchstone is The Bookseller of Kabul...and none of them are The Bookseller of Kabul!)

Maybe we're looking at this all wrong. Instead of faulty touchstones, maybe this is a super special recommendation feature:

You liked X? We think you'll love The Bookseller of Kabul!

;-)

...and we're going to keep bugging you until you read it! :D

April Lady - After only a year of marriage, an estrangement is growing between the Earl and Countess of Cardross. Though Nell is in love with her husband, she has had it drummed into her by her mother that her main marital duty is not to bother or make demands upon her husband---and so well has Nell concealed her feelings, she has succeeded in convincing the disillusioned Earl that she only married him for his money. When the truth of her situation is made known to her, Nell is desperate to convince Cardross that she does indeed care for him---but an unpaid debt, which she has concealed and deceived him about, creates a barrier between them that threatens to become an impassable gulf... Georgette Heyer was pressured into writing this 1957 novel by her publishers, and it shows in an uncomfortable plot that offers the reader perhaps too large a dose of reality with its picture of marriage amongst the Regency aristocracy, where birth and money are the driving forces, adultery taken for granted, and the idea of a husband and wife spending time together - let alone caring for one another - a subject for ridicule. Though Nell loves the man she marries, her situation - married off by her parents at only eighteen, to a man she has known scant weeks - could easily have been a recipe for lifelong disaster---as it often was. If April Lady ends happily, it is only because Heyer chose that it should; it is easy to imagine how such marriages usually turned out in real life. The rocky relationship between Nell and her husband is curiously contrasted with the opposites-attract secondary romance of Cardross's volatile and headstrong young half-sister, Letitia, and her staid, serious-minded suitor, Jeremy Allandale---who frankly have always struck me as having a better chance at permanent happiness than our central couple. (Allandale's final speech - he's given to making speeches - and Letty's reaction to it is in fact my favourite moment in the novel.) But whatever its shortcomings as a conventional romance, April Lady, like the earlier Regency Buck, offers the reader a wealth of detail about Regency life---in Nell's story, the exhausting but unavoidable social demands made upon someone in her situation, which are one of the main things keeping her and Cardross apart; and in the subplot concerning her brother, Lord Pelham, an overview of the disreputable "amusements" available to dissolute young men intent upon going to the dogs. This is, ultimately, a novel that is perhaps more interesting than overtly enjoyable---not least in its position as a dry-run of sorts for Heyer's far more serious and complex A Civil Contract, which she published four years later.

It was almost with relief that Nell, a few days later, bade her husband a polite farewell. When he had asked her to go to Merion, she had wanted very much to do so (though not with an indignant Letty in her train); but from the moment that Madame Lavelle's bill had arrived to blacken her life she had dreaded that he might renew her persuasions. There was nothing now she wanted less than to be in his company, for the sense of guilt, which already laid heavily on her spirits, almost crushed her when he was with her. If he smiled at her she felt herself to be a deceiving wretch; if there was a coolness in his manner she fancied he had found her out, and was ready to sink. It did not occur to her, in this disordered state of mind, that the scruples which forbade her to let him see her heart were prompting her to pursue a course that might have been expressly designed to confirm him in his suspicion that she cared for nothing but wealth, fashion and frivolity. There was no lack of parties, at the height of the season, to fill her days; and no lack of eager escorts for the beautiful young Countess...

Finished Mr Crewe's Career for TIOLI #17.

Now reading Trent's Last Case by E. C. Bentley.

I've only read one book by Heyer, but I don't think April Lady will be my next choice, based on what I've heard of it. :)

>64 lyzard: 'Georgette Heyer was pressured into writing this 1957 novel by her publishers, and it shows'

I didn't realise that. Enjoyed your comments about this being one of the more realistic Regencies and can now appreciate that aspect of the novel more.

Do you still plan to squeeze in Sylvester this month?

>65 lyzard: I may join you with Trent's Last Case as I have that one on my kindle.

>66 The_Hibernator:

Hi, Rachel! Well, there are two schools of thought on that: some people feel April Lady is better read early on, before your Heyer expectations are too set; Judy did that and loved it, for one. And if you are new to that sort of novel, it is full of interesting period details. So, swings and roundabouts. :)

>67 souloftherose:

Yes, she was having health issues and didn't have anything planned, but her publishers were trying to keep her to a strict schedule and she eventually gave in to them.

Sylvester I'm still hoping / expecting to squeeze, though I'm anticipating that Dumb Witness will have to pay the price of it.

I have just finished Trent's Last Case and would love to have you join me! It's not on TIOLI yet but I will edit here when I've placed it---see you there! :)

ETA: I have added it to TIOLI #14 (various instances of leaping).

So, yes---finished Trent's Last Case for TIOLI #14.

Now reading The Three Taps by Ronald Knox.

>69 lyzard: Now reading The Three Taps by Ronald Knox.

Hurrah! :-)

...I think I can, I think I can... :D

Finished The Three Taps for TIOLI #12.

Now reading Sylvester by Georgette Heyer.

>72 lyzard: 'Now reading Sylvester by Georgette Heyer.'

How is it nearly the end of the month? '...I think I can, I think I can...'

>72 lyzard: & >73 souloftherose: Three cheers for Liz! Three cheers for Sylvester! Three cheers for Heather! Cheer! Cheer! Cheer!

>73 souloftherose:

I know! And it's been such an awful month that I ought to be glad to see the back of it, but as the end gets nearer I'm getting more and more panicky about uncompleted tasks (reading and otherwise).

>74 rosalita:

:D

Thank you, my dear, much appreciated!

>72 lyzard: Excellent! (And I hope you have a better March!)

Sat up late last night finishing it and everything!

Thanks, I hope so too...

>69 lyzard: Ooh! I had just put Trent's Last Case on my Wishlist recently!

>64 lyzard: I added a number of Georgette Heyer books which were on special offer when I was last in the UK and your excellent review makes it far more likely that I'll read one of 'em soon. Have a great weekend, Liz.

Just stopping by to say that sadly I failed to finish Sylvester in February but did enjoy it and have at least got my first book for March under my belt.

>78 rretzler:

Hi, Robin - thanks for visiting! Trent's Last Case was ahead of its time in some ways, and very influential upon other 'Golden Age' writers like Dorothy Sayers. I hope you enjoy it!

>79 PaulCranswick:

Thanks, Paul. Don't be frightened off by the 'romance' tag, the Heyers are great fun!

>80 souloftherose:

Alas, me too! - I'll be finsishing this morning. Have you listed it in a challenge? I was going to put it in my own, for obvious reasons! :D

...and indeed:

Finished Sylvester; or, The Wicked Uncle for TIOLI #2.

Now reading Trouble For Lucia by E. F. Benson.

...and we're back to the dreadful and inappropriate Heyer covers:


        

>83 lyzard: Ouch!

I have no idea who any of those people are, but they're certainly not Phoebe and Sylvester! :D

Oh my goodness. That first one! That hat! Horrific.

>85 lyzard: I don't know anything about Phoebe or Sylvester, but I *must* have that wind-powered lampshade that Doris Day rocks on the first cover.

Oh my God yes, BRILLIANT call!!!!

(And seriously---that cover dates from around the Pillow Talk / Lover, Come Back period, so it's not out of the question...)


        

Liz, do you have a possible start date/week for The Prime Minister group read? I'm just trying to plan ahead, to be sure I'm not in the middle of something else--want to be free & clear for Planty Pal.

Last week I watched the first 19 episodes of the BBC's 1974 "The Pallisers" (through Phineas Redux), and I will hold off watching more episodes until we're done with The Prime Minister. I found Plantaganet Palliser a much more sympathetic character in the TV series than in the book; on the flip side, I could barely tolerate the portrayal of Mr. Finn. He seemed to whine and complain a lot more than I remember in the book. Lady Glencora was just about perfect; and Madame Max was good, too. For some reason, I usually adore Anna Massey, but she didn't seem right to me for Lady Laura Standish. And Derek Jacobi was a pleasant (and young) surprise.

>83 lyzard: That Doris Day cover is so bad that it's good! I also thought of that actress when I saw the cover and then I thought the gentleman looked like Rex Harrison!

>88 lyzard: Wow! Hilarious. That first hat must've protected her from alien brainwaves.

>83 lyzard: >87 swynn: >90 DeltaQueen50: Same for me! Doris Day in anything and Rex Harrison a la Doctor Doolittle maybe!



Hmmm. Close!

>89 kac522:

Uhhhhhhh...no.

I actually touched base with Heather about this: we're both going through a difficult patch and we agreed to postpone the start for at least a couple of weeks.

And then I forgot to say anything about it. Sorry!

I would like to say the answer is still "a couple of weeks" but realistically I need to drag myself out of a horror stretch at work (lots of weekend work) and I don't have an end point for that yet---I'd rather not guess then have to reschedule again. However, I will try to keep people informed.

I think the books spent more time in Phineas's head; the series had to make him say things, so the viewer knew where he was at. I don't think the actual level of self-pity was any different, though. :)

But to be fair (as we discussed re: Phineas Redux), it isn't for other people to tell you how long it should take you to "get over" something, nor should they have the right to blame you if you can't.

>90 DeltaQueen50:

The resemblance between that cover and Image B (hairstyle and all) is very suspicious...

>91 jnwelch:

I always loved that hat! (Which is from Lover, Come Back, 1961)

>92 rretzler:

Oh, Robin, I can't see that image - can you tweak it? The suspense is killing me! :)

Murder In The Mews: And Other Stories - This 1937 work by Agatha Christie consists of four longish short stories - short novellas? - featuring Hercule Poirot. In the title story, a young woman is found shot dead, evidently a suicide; but certain inconsistencies catch the eye of Hercule Poirot, as does the behaviour of the dead woman's roommate... In The Incredible Theft, a set of plans for a revolutionary new military bomber disappear during a country house party. Since amongst the guests is a woman known for certain suspicious European connections, the identity of the guilty party seems self-evident---but Hercule Poirot has other ideas... In Dead Man's Mirror, Hercule Poirot is abruptly summoned to the estate of Sir Gervase Chevenix-Gore, to handle with discretion a matter involving his family's honour; but when Poirot arrives, it is to discover that Sir Gervase has killed himself... In Triangle At Rhodes, a holidaying Poirot sees tragedy unfolding before his eyes---but as he sadly tells a young friend, there is no easy way to stop it when someone has murder in their heart... Murder In The Mews is one of the stronger collections of Agatha Christie's short stories---probably because the four tales are a bit longer than the norm, and she had more space in which to work out her plots. In that respect, it should be noted that Murder In The Mews marks another instance of Agatha "trying out" a plot in one of her short stories that she later used in one of her novels, which always makes for a disconcerting read. Though all four are of interest, the title story is the strongest, partly because it marks the sole appearance of our old friend Inspector Japp, but chiefly because of the ambiguous figure of Jane Plenderleith, whose immediate response to the suicide of her closest friend is to go out and play golf...

    Oh!" Pamela cried out. She stamped her foot. "You should have stopped it! Somehow! It should have been stopped!"
    "How?" asked Hercule Poirot.
    That brought her up short for the moment. "Couldn't you go to someone---to the police---?"
    "And say what? What is there to say---before the event? That someone has murder in their heart? I tell you, mon enfant, if one human being is determined to kill another human being---"
    "You could warn the victim," insisted Pamela.
    "Sometimes," said Hercule Poirot, "warnings are useless..."

All This, And Heaven Too - Like 1932's Forget-Me-Not by "Joseph Shearing" (Marjorie Bowen), this 1938 novel by Rachel Field is an historical drama recounting the notorious 1847 murder of his wife by the Duc de Choiseul-Praslin, an event which precipitated a popular uprising that led to the final overthrow of the French monarchy. The motive for the murder was evidently the Duc's passion for his children's governess, Henriette Deluzy-Desportes, who was subsequently arrested as an accessory, but at length released without charge; she later emigrated to America, where she married the New England minister, Henry Field---Rachel Field's great-uncle. Field had access to family papers, and talked with family members who remembered Henriette, and draws upon both in reconstructing Henriette's life; which she does to perhaps too great a length. It seems certain that Forget-Me-Not, which - though accepting that she was not the Duc's mistress - casts Henriette in a very ugly light, was Rachel Field's motivation in writing All This, And Heaven Too, in which she goes out of her way to rehabilitate Henriette's character, presenting her as a high-principled, deeply religious woman caught up against her will in the tide of history. The earlier novel effectively stops in the wake of Henriette's release from prison; but Field carries on the story to the end of her heroine's life some thirty years later. Though Field's good intentions are evident, as is her own absorbed interest in her family's history (which is interesting: the Fields seem to have known everyone who was anyone in 19th century American politics, journalism, literature and art), for the reader with no axe to grind the story of Henriette's life in America cannot compete with the drama of her few years in the Choiseul-Praslin household, where events unfold with all the sick fascination of a slow-motion car crash, building unavoidably to both a horrifying act of violence and a defining moment in French history. More than half of All This, And Heaven Too remains once Henriette is released from the Conciergerie, which I think many readers will find too much of a good thing.

    Her ears rang with a multitude of voices, all lifted together, yet all crying out different words. She made out now and again: "Guizot---Réforme---Thiers---Lamartine---République---Praslin!" She felt sure she had heard that name. It could not merely be some echo in herself. "Praslin!" She heard it again, and a man near her spat derisively at the word.
    "Mon Dieu!" she thought, drawing closer into the folds of her shawl. "If they knew my name! If they guessed who stood beside them, they would make short work of me!"
    It came over her then that here she was in the midst of a revolution she had indirectly helped to bring about. She had not chosen to play a part in this fierce storm that had overtaken Paris; the role had been thrust upon her. Her own sufferings and the calamity that had struck at the very core of her personal life were bound up with a French king taking leave of his throne...

It is amusing to note that the film version of All This, And Heaven Too, which stars Bette Davis and Charles Boyer, chooses to split the difference: it offers the same curtailed version of events as Forget-Me-Not, but adopts Field's interpretation of Henriette and the Duc.

>93 lyzard: Whew! The later, the better. I have plenty to keep me occupied until you're ready to re-visit the Pallisers. Thanks!

Oh, good - another vote for delay! You know, eases the guilt... :D

>83 lyzard: Oh dear re the awful Heyer covers.

>93 lyzard: Ugh re your horror stretch at work. Whenever works best for you is fine re The Prime Minister. I also have plenty to keep me going :-)

I will try to revisit the subject over the weekend - we have a deadline on Friday so hopefully the worst of the work stuff will be over by then.

Finished Trouble For Lucia for TIOLI #2...

...which means I have FINISHED A SERIES!!!!...

...a SIX-BOOK SERIES, which is a new record!!!!

Oh, how I love doing the strikeout! :D

Now reading Dumb Witness by Agatha Christie.

>101 lyzard: Woo-hoo! I'm throwing confetti in the air over here. And isn't that a fun series? I love the Mapp and Lucia books.

By the way, is it possible for me to ask which Heyer you will be reading next without causing a panic attack? If not, just pretend I didn't write this paragraph. :-)

Thank you!! Yes, I do too. :D

No, that's fine: Venetia is next on the list and, fingers crossed, I will get to it this month.

Loved Mapp and Lucia! And Venetia is a fun one.

Hi, Colleen - thanks for visiting! Yes, and yes. :)

GENERAL SPOILER ALERT!!!!

I am reading Dumb Witness at the moment (US title: Poirot Loses A Client), and since I know various people are "reading along" with the Christies, I thought I should issue a general warning that this novel contains major spoilers for:

The Mysterious Affair At Styles
The Mystery Of The Blue Train
The Murder Of Roger Ackroyd
Death In The Clouds

...and suggest that you don't read it until you've read them.

>103 lyzard: Venetia it is! I'll put it on the list for March, then.

And thanks for the heads-up about Dumb Witness. In my chronological reading of Poirot I'll be tackling The Mystery of the Blue Train next month. So I'll avert my eyes from your review until I get past Death In the Clouds.

It's okay, there won't be anything in my review---it's that at one point in Dumb Witness, Poirot starts musing on "murderers I have known".

Another object lesson in the benefits of reading IN ORDER. :D

>108 lyzard: As if you needed another object lesson for that! :-D

>101 lyzard: Woo hoo! Have a smiling sloth to celebrate:

>106 lyzard: Hmm, now you've got me interested in Dumb Witness. I've read the others, and I don't remember reading that one.

>101 lyzard: Well there are sequels to Mapp and Lucia written by other authors, but perhaps you didn't want to know that...

>109 rosalita:

Not me, no, but others seem still to need convincing. :)

>110 souloftherose:

Aw, thanks, Heather!

>111 jnwelch:

It stars a dog, and Poirot gets hired by someone's who's already dead - so I think you would remember it!

>112 CDVicarage:

I did know it, but other people's continuations aren't my thing so I shall be stopping here.

Finished Dumb Witness for TIOLI #6.

Now reading The Imperfect Crime by Bruce Graeme.

>113 lyzard: Ha! You're right. Just ordered a copy of Dumb Witness, which I must've missed along the way. It stars a dog? And the client is already dead? This will be new and different. :-)

I just re-read Dead Man's Mirror, a good Poirot with a client in similar straits.

Congratulations on finishing a series!

Enjoying you blaze a trail through the works of Agatha Christie, Liz. She was a pick for my British Author Challenge last month so I guess you inadvertently did a few in that challenge too.

>115 jnwelch:

Yes, as I mention re: Murder In The Mews, Agatha often did use her short stories to "try out" plot points, so you often get echoes in her work; though as you'd expect the novel offers a more complex set-up.

>116 lkernagh:

Thank you, Lori - I'm sure I shouldn't be as pleased with myself as I am! :D

>117 PaulCranswick:

So of course, last month was the one time I didn't read a Christie.

She said, tearing her hair out.

Finished The Imperfect Crime for TIOLI #1.

Now reading Dusty Death by Clifton Robbins.

Mrs Tim Carries On: Leaves From The Diary Of An Officer's Wife In The Year 1940 - This second entry in D. E. Stevenson's "Mrs Tim" series is unavoidably a more serious work than its light-hearted predecessor, being written during some of England's darkest days and when the fate of the nation hung in the balance. The immediacy of the story told is its greatest strength, as the war intrudes more and more upon daily life, with blackouts and rationing, young men departing and their places being taken by billeted Poles (the townspeople's attitude to these newcomers is refreshing), and the constant spectre of invasion. Mrs Tim Carries On opens with army-wife Hester Christie seeing her husband off as he departs for active service; and later we suffer along with her when Tim is not amongst the evacuees from Dunkirk. Hester herself is caught in a bombing raid in London, and when visiting Tim's family joins her uncle-in-law, an air warden, on patrol. Ultimately, however, this is a story of England "carrying on": as Hester explains, dwelling upon the war would be paralysing; and thus we find her and her friends holding their fears at bay by clinging stubbornly to an ordinary life of children's meals and shopping and social engagements; even if these mundane activities are joined by regular war-work, and a day in the country sometimes ends with the impromptu capture of downed German airmen. In spite of - or because of - these intrusions, there is still plenty of humour in this war-time tale, not least because of the sheer absurdity of the contrast, of which Hester is always vividly conscious. This time around there is a real gallantry about Hester's determination to wring enjoyment out of her various experiences, even as uncertainty about the future infuses her narrative with unconscious poignancy.

    How quiet it is! The moon is shining so brightly that there are no stars to be seen. I have the feeling that everyone in the world is asleep---but I know that it is not so. All over Europe there are people---men and women---keeping watch. There are aeroplanes, laden with death, speeding across the sky; there are sailors on the look-out; there are thousands of women like me who cannot sleep because their hearts are torn with anxiety...all over Europe the shadow of suffering lies.
    I sit and think about it, and in some strange way it is a relief to give way to misery. It does nobody any harm, for there is nobody to see. Just for a few moments I can take off the mask of cheerfulness and allow myself to think. Despair rolls over me like a breaking wave...despair, not only for myself, but for us all...

January stats:

Works read: 19 (a new record!)
TIOLI: 19 works in 10 different challenges, with 4 shared reads (also a record!)

Mystery / thriller: 10
Historical drama: 3
Contemporary drama: 2
Contemporary romance: 1
Historical romance: 1
Humour: 1
Non-fiction: 1

Series works: 8
Blog reads: 0
1932: 6
1931: 2
Virago / Persephone: 0
Potential decommission: 0

Owned: 4
Library: 8
Ebook: 7

Male authors : Female authors: 8 : 11

Oldest work: The Lady Of The Decoration by Frances Little (1907)
Newest work: The New Woman And The Victorian Novel by Gail Cunningham (1978)

Hmm, well. I'm not sure getting your January reads written up halfway through March is really something that warrants a celebration.

Or maybe just a tiny celebration.

So here's a tiny sloth:

>120 lyzard: Good review, Liz. I enjoyed the first Mrs. Tim, and I want to read this second one, even if it's understandably not as light-hearted. D.E. Stevenson has been a fun discovery for me in recent years, thanks to LT.

>122 lyzard: Aww! I'm sure Adrian would love to have a baby sloth to play with. It probably wouldn't do the sloth much good, though!

Lucia's Progress (US title: The Worshipful Lucia) - In this fifth entry in E. F. Benson's series about the social rivalry between Elizabeth Mapp and Emmeline "Lucia" Lucas, the deck is stacked so far in Lucia's favour that it's almost enough to make readers feel sorry for the dreadful Mapp. But we feel even sorrier for Major Benjy Flint, who since the events of Mapp And Lucia has been - persuaded? bullied? blackmailed? - into marrying Mapp, and is now repenting at leisure, while the whole of Tilling looks on with bated breath at the prospect of, um, a "happy event"... Meanwhile, much to Mapp's disgust, everything Lucia touches turns to gold---or at least, even when it turns to pyrite, as with the "Roman ruins" she discovers in her backyard, she manages to wriggle out of the potentially embarrassing consequences. Discovering within herself a talent for playing the stock-market (or rather, being so blessed as to discover a shrewd and intelligent stock agent) that puts her into a position of financial advantage, Lucia is able to reposition herself as the overt centre of Tilling's social life by the purchase of Mallards, with its advantageously positioned windows and its famous garden-room; while Major and Mrs Mapp-Flint are demoted to Lucia's old house of Glebe. Lucia's thoughts then turn to public affairs; and although her first venture, when she finds herself going head to head with Mapp over a vacant position on the Town Council, does not turn out as either of them hoped or expected, Lucia's appetite for power - real power, as opposed to the social kind she has always, for better or worse, wielded - has been whetted. The climax of Lucia's Progress finds two remarkable events occurring in Lucia's life, one public and one private, which set her on the road to a whole new level of social importance...she thinks...

The cause that chiefly conduced to the reconciliation of these two ultimate candidates was not Christian Charity so much as the fact that their unhappy estrangement wrecked the social gaieties of Tilling, for Georgie and Lucia would not meet Mallards and Mallards would not meet Irene as long as it continued, and those pleasant tea-parties with eight for sessions of bridge before and after, could not take place. Again, both the protagonists found it wearing to the optic nerve to do their morning's shopping with one eye scouting for the approach of the enemy, upon which both eyes were suddenly smitten with blindness. On the other hand the Padre's sermon the next Sunday morning, though composed with the best intentions, perhaps retarded a reconciliation, for he preached on the text, 'Behold, how good and joyful a thing it is, brethren, to dwell together in unity'... Both protagonists considered his discourse to be in the worst possible taste...

>123 jnwelch:

Thanks, Joe! Though it's obvious that Stevenson was heavily influenced at the outset by E. M. Delafield's "Provincial Lady", those stop with the onset of war, and the fact that Stevenson's stories carry us through the war, and as it were in the first person, makes them quite a different proposition.

>124 cbl_tn:

Hi, Carrie! I don't think Adrian would find a sloth to be a very energetic playmate! :)

(NB: major spoilers for Lucia's Progress)


Trouble For Lucia - If Lucia's Progress found E. F. Benson stacking the deck a bit too far in Lucia's favour, he balances the ledger in this, the final work in his "Mapp and Lucia" series, with Lucia discovering to her mortification that Fate can sometimes be a right bee-yotch. Revelling in her new position as Mayor of Tilling, Lucia expects everything to fall into place for her, but trouble begins almost immediately when regulations require her to appoint a "Mayoress". Meaning to spike her main rival's guns, she offers the position to Elizabeth Mapp-Flint, only to realise that she has invited a viper into her nest: Mapp proceeds to secure vacant spot on the Council, from where she thwarts Lucia at every turn. Meanwhile, Georgie is discovering that life as the Mayor's husband is anything but a bed of roses, and finds his thoughts turning rebelliously to various means of escape; while Tilling in general, far from blindly following Lucia's lead as she had fondly imagined, shows itself likewise frighteningly ready to think and act for itself... There's no question in Trouble For Lucia that Lucia asks for most of what she gets; but so far has E. F. Benson accustomed us to siding with her, her various mortifications make us squirm as much as laugh, particularly her desperate "friendship" with a disinterested Duchess. However - peculiar as it may seem at first glance - we must keep in mind that Lucia was in many respects her creator's alter-ego (Benson became Mayor of Rye as Lucia does of Tilling), which helps to explain why he so often let her off the hook---as he finally does here, with Lucia reclaiming her social throne via an outrageous and sweeping denunciation of her friends - and on the steps of the church, no less! - and a final relenting by Fate. The second half of Trouble For Lucia is enlivened by the reappearance on the scene of opera prima-donna Olga Bracely, who shows an alarming willingness to flirt with a not-reluctant Georgie, and a cameo appearance from Miss Susan Leg, aka the novelist "Rudolph da Vinci", heroine of Benson's standalone comic novel, Secret Lives, who comes to Tilling looking for "material"---and finds it...

    "Poor thing, we must be very gentle with her, but what a lot of things we must avoid talking about!" Elizabeth enumerated them on her plump fingers. "Duchesses, Castles, photographs - I wonder if they were picture-postcards - prima-donnas, for I'm sure she'd have gone to Le Touquet, if she had been asked - portraits - it was my duty to recommend the Council not to accept that daub - gad-about husbands - I haven't got enough fingers. Such a lot of subjects that would tear old wounds open, and she's brought it all on herself, which makes it so much more bitter for her."
    Diva, who hated waste (and nothing would keep in this weather) ate Lucia's sardine tartlet. "Don't gloat, Elizabeth!" she commanded. "You may say sympathetic things, but there's a nasty tone in the way you say them. I'm really rather sorry for her."
    "Which is just what I have been trying to express," retorted Elizabeth.
    "Then you haven't expressed it well."

>126 lyzard: Adrian doesn't require a lot of energy. As long as it's living and breathing, he wants to be its friend.

One of these days I will get to the Mapp & Lucia books. And Mrs. Tim. Sigh.

The Murder Of Mrs Davenport - Though she may now call herself "Mrs Davenport", the woman in question is really Helen Courcy, who once notoriously stood trial for the poisoning murder of her husband. One of those who knows her is Sir Denis Brinsley, who as a young man was infatuated with the beautiful Mrs Courcy; now, a brilliant and rising scientist newly engaged to the lovely young heiress, Lucille Tudor, Sir Denis is determined not to be drawn back into her net---not least because he knows she did kill her husband. But Mrs Davenport has an anonymous blackmailer, and no means to pay him off; and in her desperation she threatens Sir Denis with his old love-letters, which at least might wreck his relationship with Lucille, at worst see him accused as an accessory to the murder of Colonel Courcy. When Mrs Davenport is found strangled to death, it is perhaps not surprising that Sir Denis Brinsley emerges as the prime suspect... This second novel in the series by "Anthony Gilbert" (Lucy Malleson) featuring MP and amateur detective Scott Egerton is an unusually structured work that uses changing perspectives and some clever sleight-of-hand to keep the reader guessing. The twisty story is, perhaps, even a little too clever for its own good - the murderer is almost preternatural in anticipating the reactions of others to his manoeuvres - but it is consistently suspenseful and builds to a tense climax. (A climax which leans very heavily on the events of the first Scott Egerton novel, The Tragedy At Freyne, so anyone thinking of reading these shouldn't space them out too far.) The first section of the novel follows the police as they investigate the murder of Mrs Davenport, and as the net closes inexorably around Sir Denis, in spite of the doubts of the lead investigator, who cannot reconcile the crime with what he knows of the scientist. But the evidence against him seems complete; perhaps even a little too complete. Caught out in various lies, Sir Denis is finally arrested and charged - and shows little disposition to defend himself. The matter is taken out of his hands by his friend Scott Egerton, who believes in his innocence and means to prove it. Egerton hires first an outstanding criminal barrister, Claude Arbuthnot, then a private detective, Felix Gordon, whose perspective becomes the novel's as he delves into the life and loves of Mrs Davenport, and tries to determine who may have framed Sir Denis. What Gordon discovers is suggestive but not conclusive, and finally Egerton must intervene, risking even his own life in a final, desperate attempt to draw the real killer out into the open...

    "Sir Denis"---he was stung by a fury of anger at the combined impertinence and idiocy of this enigmatic, pale, determined man confronting him---"I think you scarcely realise the position. You are asking me to defend you on a capital charge. The evidence against you is overwhelming. We shall need every ounce of intelligence and finesse and, above all, information, to win through. And you are deliberately withholding evidence that may be of the greatest value."
    Denis's expressionless face did not alter. "I'm sorry," he said. "I haven't anything more to say."
    "I should be justified," said Arbuthnot, speaking very quietly, "in abandoning the case, in the circumstances."
    Denis, very pale and stiff, asked, "Is that your intention?"
    "No," snapped Arbuthnot, "it isn't. Because, in spite of your lunacy on this point, I don't think you did murder the woman, and I should like to be the man to prove it..."

Love's Hour - This 1932 work by Elinor Glyn is an example of just about my least-favourite romance trope, a man and woman who take a passionate dislike to one another at first sight as a prelude to falling equally passionately in love. Our impossibly beautiful heroine is Aspasia Vernon, a young widow who has emerged emotionally untouched from a marriage of convenience made when she was orphaned at age eighteen, and who believes that she will never really fall in love. Our impossibly beautiful hero is Count Koháry Aladár, a Hungarian aristocrat concerned with the rebuilding of his country following WWI, who is determined that no woman will ever influence him. Naturally, they take an immediate dislike to one another... Since there is nothing really to keep her reluctant lovers apart, Glyn has to come up with an artificial barrier, and it's a doozy: no less than an instinctive fear of Aspasia on Aladár's part, brought on by the fact that they are the reincarnation of a pair of doomed lovers. Centuries before, it seems, she was a cold-hearted and evil Polish princess, while he was the young nobleman who died for love of her. Can the two of them overcome their fate, or will tragedy strike again? (Go on, take a wild guess...) This novel's one real virtue is its Hungarian setting, interesting in its unfamiliarity, although this is offset by some cringe-worthy class snobbery (aristocrats are just better than the rest of us, dontcha know?); while the absurdity of the plot is further enhanced via amusing touches like Glyn drawing attention to the fact that in Hungarian, the patronymic comes first---and then forgetting about it half the time.

    As for Aspasia, she was happy - just happy as she had never been in her life. She loved him, and she would give, not take - give everything he should ask.
    His strange behaviour in the studio she did not even wish him to explain. She knew that she had been simply stunned when she saw her own portrait, however disguised by different colouring and head-dress. Did he think of her as having been the Polish Princess? Well, perhaps she had been; perhaps that was the cause of the sudden changes in his attitude towards her which she had noticed several times before. Had he not told her as they drove to St. Domokos that the impulse he had had not to be introduced to her was caused because he felt that she would bring him evil - injure his soul? Now, if all this was true, how could she criticise him?

The Madonna Of Seven Moons - Margery Lawrence's 1931 novel was controversial at the time of its publication, not only for its plot, which turns on its heroine's split-personality - or Dissociative Identity Disorder, as it is now called - but for the twin traumas that are at the root of her condition, which may be shocking even for readers today; as, perhaps, may be the final resolution of the plot. The tale told in between is outrageously melodramatic and not a little overwritten, and stretches the reader's credulity, to put it mildly; but is anything but dull. Told initially from the perspective of Oliver Costello, an English doctor living in Italy, this is the story of Maddalena Labardi, the lovely and dignified wife of a wealthy wine-merchant. Convent-raised and devout, Maddalena lives somewhat withdrawn from the world and has little knowledge of, or sympathy with, modern mores; it is therefore, an unwelcome surprise when her daughter, Pina, returns home from her English education a thoroughly modernised young woman. Serious-minded, repressed to the point of prudishness, Maddalena is unutterably shocked by the behaviour of Pina and her crowd, though she struggles to be more broadminded when she sees that her bluff husband's sympathies are with Pina. Then, during her daughter's birthday party, Maddalena disappears. The shattered Guiseppe Labardi confesses to Dr Costello that this is not the first time his wife has vanished; that she has gone away before, several times, for a longer period each time; and each time returning with no knowledge of where she has been or what she has been doing... The novel's perspective then switches to the alternative existence of Maddalena - or Rosanna, as she is known in that world - who enjoys an exciting but dangerous existence as the mistress of Nino Ciappi, the head of Florence's leading gang of thieves and cutthroats. Maddalena's two worlds collide when, five years after her disappearance, Pina makes another attempt to find her mother. Shocked into premature adulthood by her family's dissolution, and with the care of her father having become her responsibility, Pina feels that she cannot go through with her own marriage without one final effort. Tiny clues lead her to Florence, where she recruits to her assistance a young man named Andrea Barducci, who she knows as a gigolo and a wastrel, but of whom she knows no real harm. But there is more than harm in Andrea---not least because he is the half-brother of Nino Ciappi...

Rosanna glanced down at the old lady. Her pale oval face and bright watchful eyes had a curiously "withdrawn" expression---there is no other word that quite described it. It was the expression of one who looks at life interested, alert, intent---yet looks on it as from a great distance, remaining curiously aloof, detached from it all. Her nickname---she owned to no other---of "Rosanna la Fiamma" seemed singularly appropriate, though she was dark and colourless as Vittoria was vivid and luscious. But although she was silent as the other was loquacious, frigid to all men, save her lover Nino, as Vittoria was melting, in some mysterious way she seemed, for all her mask of coldness, dark and smouldering. That detached, watchful air of hers definitely conveyed the impression of holding in reserve, as it were, some fiercely dynamic force, primitive, violent. She was like a volcano banked down, yet burning still just below the surface, ready to burst out at any moment. It was this curious sense of hidden forces, alluring, unknown, combined with her sweeping physical passion for him that met and matched his own for her, that had held Nino Ciappi, restless quicksilver creature of moods, these many years hopelessly and helplessly bound...

...and with that I have written up all of my imminently-due-back library books---whoo!! :D

>126 lyzard: I loved Provincial Lady way back when. I hadn't thought about the influence on Stevenson, but I can see it. I liked The Provincial Lady in London, too. I see there is a Provincial Lady in Wartime, which maybe provides some overlap?

I want to re-read those some day.

The Provincial Lady In Wartime is set right at the beginning of the war and ends at the time of the first bombing raids on London, so there is overlap; but it stops where, we would infer, Delafield thought the jokes should stop. Despite its humour Mrs Tim Carries On has a darker edge for being written during the most uncertain days of the conflict (though it's full of stiff upper lips). So they're coming from a slightly different place.

>122 lyzard: Oooh what cute wee slothie!

>125 lyzard: >127 lyzard: Lovely reviews, Liz. I do love how the series tilts the seat of power back and forth between Mapp and Lucia.

I've not read any of the Mrs. Tim books but I should look around for them as they sound quite interesting.

You're late. :)

Thanks, Julia! Yes - though truthfully they're both pretty awful!

I have only read the first two of the Mrs Tim-s, but on that basis they are certainly worth a look.

>128 cbl_tn:

Ooh, sorry, Carrie! - missed you in my flurry of review writing! :)

As long as "living and breathing" is the criterion, it sounds like a sloth would be perfect!

Just believe that we are ALL going to get to EVERYTHING...

>136 lyzard: You're late. :)

I think the sloth was too small to call loudly to me. I'll try to listen closer next time. :-)

Ah, yes, next time...when I've got February written up.

Sigh.

Finished Dusty Death for TIOLI #10.

Now reading Rupert Of Hentzau by Anthony Hope.

>134 lyzard: Thanks. Now I want to read both!

>141 jnwelch: I have always wanted to read the follow up to The Prisoner of Zenda and I will be interested to see whether it is a patch on it's more illustrious forerunner.

>141 jnwelch:

I'll be interested to hear what you think.

>142 PaulCranswick:

Hi, Paul! Right now it seems to be shaping up as one of those sequels that undermines the original, but I'm only about a third in, so I'll let you know.

Liz, I'm sorry that I've missed your March 14 date, which can be expressed as 3.14 or pi. March 14 is/was Pi Day all around the world. To pay homage to pi, I was urging friends to have at least a taste of pie. I say, what the heck, have some pie and call it Pi Day.

>120 lyzard:, >125 lyzard: & >127 lyzard: Dodging book bullets only because I've read them already :-)

>122 lyzard: Yay for tiny sloth and reviews!

>134 lyzard: 'The Provincial Lady In Wartime is set right at the beginning of the war and ends at the time of the first bombing raids on London, so there is overlap; but it stops where, we would infer, Delafield thought the jokes should stop.'

Delafield died in 1943 and I've often wondered whether she intended to stop writing the Provincial Lady books there or whether, if she had lived longer, there would have been another volume. I don't know much about her life and have been meaning to find a biography to read up on it - from what I have read it sounds quite unusual.

>145 souloftherose: I've fairly recently read this biography - The Life of a Provincial Lady: Study of E.M.Delafield and Her Works by Violet Powell - but I wouldn't recommend it as Ms Powell made her and her life, which was interesting, sound very dull.

To make up for my tardy reaction to your tiny sloth last week, I have a present for you, Liz:Sloths or pain au chocolate?

>144 weird_O:

Thanks, Bill! That's okay, I'm used to things happening on the "wrong" date! :)

>145 souloftherose:

Well, as long as they were theoretically BBs...

I didn't know Delafield died that early; I had something else in my head, for some reason (or thought she had later-dated books).

>146 CDVicarage:

Thanks for the warning, Kerry!

>147 rosalita:

Aw, don't make me choose!!

(Though I'm sure sloths are better for me...)

Finished Rupert Of Hentzau for TIOLI #3...

...which means that I have FINISHED ANOTHER SERIES!!!!...

...well...

...a book, its sequel, and their prequel...

Shut up!! :(

Now reading The Inner Shrine by Basil King.

Not sure I'd want to mix up a sloth and a pain au chocolat. One might object to being dunked in hot chocolate!

>149 lyzard: a series is a series and a finish is a finish. So whoop!!!

(did anyone else see the article on how multiple exclamation marks are the sign of .... actually, I forget what they were on about... but it wasn't a good thing)

Hi, Helen! Yeah, whoop!!!

There are people who don't like ellipses, either...I plan to ignore both!!!!

Finished The Inner Shrine for TIOLI #3.

Now reading The Fortress by Hugh Walpole.

>149 lyzard: That is totally a series! You are on a series-completing roll these days.

Ah, but the best part is that I haven't added any more series to The List in, ooh, days!

Such a paragon of virtue, you are!

:D

I love hearing about the Christie's you are reading. She has always numbered among my favorite authors - I've been reading her books for 40 years!!

>146 CDVicarage: Oh, that's disappointing Kerry - I had that biography on my library list.

>149 lyzard: & >153 rosalita: Agreed, that totally counts as a series.

Have a wonderful Easter.

Real life...ugh. :(

>157 rretzler:

Hi, Robin! Yes, I have Christie longevity too - glad you're enjoying my "reminders". :)

>158 souloftherose:

Happy to be overruled on what constitutes "a series"!

By the way, I will probably fit in Venetia this month - don't know if you have the time / inclination?

>159 PaulCranswick:

Thanks, Paul - you too!

>150 Helenliz: >151 lyzard: Yeah...I read that article, and I plan to ignore it too...I love ellipses AND multiple exclamation marks!!! Besides, Grammarly doesn't correct me, so it must be okay...right???

I couldn't agree more...honestly!!!

Finished The Fortress for TIOLI #18.

Now reading Venetia by Georgette Heyer.

...and, oh dear, we're back in the land of the bilious cover.

What is it Freddy says about his sister Meg in Cotillion? - "Pink! Dashed if I know why it is, but a female's only got to have a yaller head, and nothing will do for her but to wear pink!"

The cover designers for Venetia seem to have been coming from the same unimaginative place:

    


Mind you, we're no better off with yellow:




...or with a combination:

>164 lyzard: Those are dreadful! And what's the world coming to when Freddy is the voice of reason?!

I finished Venetia last week, and wrote a little sort of review over on my thread. I won't clutter up yours with it, too, but I look forward to your comments when you've finished your re-read.

On a Heyer subject, I've just added challenge 15 to TIOLI for April. Which Heyer will you be on then? I'll add it and actually manage a shared read (for a change!).

I seem to remember a colour rhyme along the lines of "yellow & pink make you stink" The cover designers maybe ought to have heard that too...

>160 lyzard: I may well be able to squeeze Venetia in.

>164 lyzard: Oof, those are painfully pink. The cover of my edition is better from a colour perspective but I can't work out what's going on between the gentleman and the lady on the cover.

Those Venetia covers in >164 lyzard: are painful, aren't they? Eesh. I just had a great time reading the book. She's another memorable self-reliant character from GH.

>165 rosalita:

Now, now! - Freddy is very often the voice of reason! :D

Saw you review of Venetia, nice work!

>166 Helenliz:

Hi, Helen! Our next Heyer is The Unknown Ajax, a very underappreciated novel, I think!

>167 souloftherose:

I haven't added it to TIOLI yet. I was thinking of your re-read challenge if that would work for you (or if shared reads are allowed??), or perhaps the anagram challenge?

>168 jnwelch:

Hi, Joe - aren't they dreadful?? Glad you enjoyed Venetia!

>169 lyzard: Freddy the voice of reason?! You're touched in your upper works if you really think that. Although now that I think of it, Freddy was rather like one of those idiot savants who inadvertently spout bits of wisdom without quite realizing it. So perhaps it's I who have more hair than wit!

Ooh, The Unknown Ajax! Looking forward to revisiting that one!

You missed my cover of Venetia--not quite as bilious:


And The Unknown Ajax is one of my top three Heyers. I love Hugo!

OK, Ajax has been added to challenge 15 for April, so join me pleaseeeeee.

>170 rosalita:

Excuse me, there will be no criticism of The Honourable Frederick Standen on THIS thread!!

>171 ronincats:

Hi, Roni! No, afraid that one's just not bilious enough; don't know what it's designer was thinking! :D

I know you're amongst The Unknown Ajax converts - hopefully we'll pick up a couple more this month.

>172 Helenliz:

Definitely see you there, Helen!

there will be no criticism of The Honourable Frederick Standen on THIS thread!!

Heh. I love Freddy, I really do. A girl could do a lot worse!

>174 rosalita:

...and very nearly did! :D

So anyway...

Finished Venetia for TIOLI #16.

Now reading As A Thief In The Night by R. Austin Freeman.

Finished As A Thief In The Night for TIOLI #14.

Now reading The Red Seal by Natalie Sumner Lincoln.

...and while I continue to pillory the awful Heyer covers, I may say that I am impressed with the subtlety of this cover for As A Thief In The Night, which not only demonstrates conclusively that - gasp! - its designer read the book, but the significance of which is only apparent to the reader after he or she has read the book too:

>178 lyzard: I like that cover! And it's a good reminder that I should get back to R. Austin Freeman sometime soon.

>176 lyzard: Will add my copy of Venetia to the wiki.

I think that Venetia was the first Heyer I read. I can't remember the cover, but it was so long ago, I'm surprised that I remember that I read the book.

I am usually a lurker, but I thought I would say that I have enjoyed the Heyer books I've read in the past (can't remember them all) and recently reread Sylvester and will join you reading The Unknown Ajax which is also a TIOLI book for April.

>179 harrygbutler:

The Thorndyke series is one of the few I've managed to keep properly ticking over. :)

>180 souloftherose:

Good grief, *four* shared reads this month, I'm sure that's a record!

>181 NanaCC:

It was one of my early ones, too, Colleen---one of my grandmother's large-print library books.

>182 dallenbaugh:

Hi, Donna - thanks for visiting, and de-lurking! Glad you can join us for Helen's challenge. :)

Finished The Red Seal for TIOLI #9, and that will be the end of March...and I'm nowhere near done writing up February, sigh...

Now reading I Spy, also by Natalie Sumner Lincoln.

Hi Liz! I haven't really visited anyone lately because of RL getting in the way, but I'm keen on (re)reading Emma for our tutorial this month, if you're still up for it. I was thinking perhaps we could start mid-month? What say you?

Just stopping by and saying hello!

I'm just de-lurking to say hello, and I love your thread. And also to ask about the poem in Venetia that has puzzled me for years. Did Heyer make it up? Or does it really exist somewhere obscure? It's been a long time since I read the book, but I seem to remember the poem is attributed to Ben Jonson and is called Admir'd Venetia. But since the internet has nothing to say about it, I'm guessing Heyer made it up...

>185 Smiler69:

Hi, Ilana! Yes, that's very much my situation too: I'm in a difficult place at the moment and have completely dropped the ball on both Emma and The Prime Minister, though I definitely want to get to both as soon as I can. I will try and get in touch about it over the weekend and see if we can get something settled.

>186 souloftherose:

Thanks for dropping in, Heather, not much going on as you can see... :(

>187 ChocolateMuse:

Hi, Lorena - thanks for visiting! I'm glad you find stuff of interest here. :)

No, all Heyer's quotes in Venetia are genuine. The other Venetia is Lady Venetia Digby, nee Stanley, a celebrated beauty of the early 17th century. Her reputation prior to her marriage suggests she had quite a bit in common with our Venetia's mother, and she died young, possibly murdered!

A number of men wrote poems about her, including Ben Johnson, John Aubrey and Aurelian Townshend. The latter is the origin of Admir'd Venetia, in his Elegy:

What Travellers of matchlesse Venice say,
Is true of thee, admir'd Venetia;
Hee that ner'e saw thee, wants beliefe to reach
Halfe those perfections, thy first sight would teach.
Imagination can noe shape create
Airy enough thy forme to imitate;
Nor bedds of Roses, Damask, red, and white,
Render like thee a sweetnes to the sight.

Ben Johnson gives us Sweet mind, then speak yourself, which is the quote Dameral uses that Venetia doesn't recognise; it's from Johnson's Eupheme, also about and dedicated to Lady Venetia:

Sweet mind, then speak yourself, and say,
As you go on, by what brave way
Our sense you do with knowledge fill,
And yet remain our wonder still.

Oh wow! Thank you very much! You've just cleared up a long-held mystery in my life :) I always felt the Admir'd Venetia quotes had such a genuine ring to them and found it hard to believe she'd made them up, especially when it's plain that the quotes from other poems were genuine. I like how she goes for some of the obscurer 17th century poets (or maybe it's more my ignorance... probably). Those lines from Drayton quoted by Dameral come into my mind from time to time (which I enjoy spouting at appropriate moments, like when I'm putting the cat out...) I'll copy the whole sonnet here just for fun:

Since there’s no help, come let us kiss and part.
Nay, I have done, you get no more of me;
And I am glad, yea glad with all my heart,
That thus so cleanly I myself can free.
Shake hands for ever, cancel all our vows,
And when we meet at any time again,
Be it not seen in either of our brows
That we one jot of former love retain.
Now at the last gasp of Love’s latest breath,
When, his pulse failing, Passion speechless lies;
When Faith is kneeling by his bed of death,
And Innocence is closing up his eyes—
Now, if thou wouldst, when all have given him over,
From death to life thou might’st him yet recover!

Michael Drayton, Idea 61

And what's even better is the subtle way she uses that one, quoting the well-known first line and then leaving it unexplicated that the poem is about a man dumping his lover!

And I am glad, yea glad with all my heart,
That thus so cleanly I myself can free.
Shake hands for ever, cancel all our vows...

Personally, I would never say that to my cat...! :D

Oh I only say the first two lines, lol. I cancel no vows with my cat.

Well...that's all right, then!

>188 lyzard: Sorry to hear life is difficult at the moment :-( Please don't feel under any pressure re The Prime Minister - happy to get to it whenever things are better for you.

Missing you!

I hope life is being at least slightly less difficult for you...

My homepage informs me that today is your Thingaversary so happy Thingaversary and I hope you get some good reading done.

Happy thingaversary! Hope you get to buy something fun.

Happy thingaversary. Hope you're managing, amidst the noise and haste, to find sometime to settle down with a good book.

I've finished The Uncommon Ajax. I assume all the italicised references to Ajax are quotations form some (probably very famous) poem that I'm utterly oblivious to. I almost think Hugo's my favourite hero so far.

Happy Thingamyjig, Liz.

Sorry that you have followed so many of us down those dark avenues of RL intrusion. I hope you will be back to yourself soon my dear. Your well considered and erudite reviews of books so few of us have ever heard of is certainly missed in this little corner of the group. xx

Joining in the Thingaversary wishes! I hope RL settles into a comfortable rhythm for you very soon.

Happy Thingaversary, Liz!

I must add my Thingaversary wishes to everyone else's, Liz, along with a hope that your real life is treating you better, or will be soon. You are missed!

A little late but Happy Thingaversary!

Hope that you are keeping well Liz and that RL will get the heck out the way so you can enlighten us with another review or four.

Have a lovely weekend.

Stopping by as I slowly work my way though threads and realize that things seem to be rather quiet around here. I hope all is well with you, Liz. In the meantime, Here is a happy to face greet you when you come back:

Hope all is well Liz as we haven't seen anything of you in May.

Have a wonderful weekend. xx

Thanks to those of you who dropped in and left messages, and apologies for my non-response. I'm trying for a new start, so I've set up some new digs---please join me there!