harrygbutler aims for 75+ in 2016 -- Part 2

Some of our tulips.

Welcome to my second thread for 2016. I’m Harry, and I’ve joined in the 75 Books Challenge for the first time in 2016. By training I'm a medievalist, by occupation an editor; my taste in reading runs to Golden Age and earlier mysteries, pulp detective and adventure fiction, Late Antique and medieval literature, and westerns, among others. I also have a fondness for collections of cartoons and comic strips. A fairly recent discovery for me is the appeal of late nineteenth and early twentieth century popular fiction, including regional fiction such as the novels of Joseph Crosby Lincoln about Cape Cod and the Scottish stories of J. J. Bell. I usually have a few books going at once.

My wife Erika and I live in eastern Pennsylvania with three cats — Elli, Otto, and Pixie — and a dog, Hildy. My other interests include model railroading, gardening, and birding.

I hope to provide some sort of comment on all the books I read, though probably not full-blown reviews.

Books completed in the second quarter

Books completed in the first quarter

Books completed in the first quarter of 2016

1. Gesta principum Polonorum (The Deeds of the Princes of the Poles)
2. The Day the World Ended, by Sax Rohmer
3. The Wedding-Chest Mystery, by A. E. Fielding
4. The Green Toad, by Walter S. Masterman
5. The Man from Scotland Yard, by David Frome
6. The House of a Thousand Candles, by Meredith Nicholson
7. The Life of Moses, by Gregory of Nyssa
8. The Crimson Alibi, by Octavus Roy Cohen
9. Black John of Halfaday Creek, by James B. Hendryx
10. Murder Ends the Song, by Alfred Meyers
11. Ipomadon (anonymous)
12. Three Byzantine Saints, trans. by Elizabeth Dawes & Norman Baynes
13. Information Received, by E. R. Punshon
14. Thirteen Guests, by J. Jefferson Farjeon
15. Prince Valiant, Vol. 1: 1937-1938, by Hal Foster
16. Uncle William, by Jennette Lee
17. The Hog's Back Mystery, by Freeman Wills Crofts
18. The Parlement of the Thre Ages (anonymous)
19. The King of Elfland's Daughter, by Lord Dunsany
20. Something Fresh, by P. G. Wodehouse
21. The Legend of Duke Ernst, trans. by J. W. Thomas and Carolyn Dussère
22. The Mayfair Mystery, by Frank Richardson
23. The Three Taps, by Ronald Knox
24. Keziah Coffin, by Joseph C. Lincoln
25. On Wealth and Poverty, by Saint John Chrysostom
26. Ywain and Gawain (anonymous)
27. The Green Dragon, by J. Jefferson Farjeon
28. Generydes (anonymous)
29. Death Under Sail, by C. P. Snow
30. Blood of the North, by James B. Hendryx
31. The Mysterious Affair at Styles, by Agatha Christie
32. The Days of Auld Lang Syne, by Ian Maclaren
33. Athelston (anonymous)
34. Departmental Ditties and Ballads and Barrack-Room Ballads, by Rudyard Kipling
35. Thebaid: A Song of Thebes, by P. Papinius Statius
36. The Nursing Home Murder, by Ngaio Marsh
37. Prince Valiant, Vol. 2: 1939-1940, by Hal Foster
38. The History and Topography of Ireland, by Gerald of Wales
39. The Whispering Ghost, by Stephen Chalmers
40. Moralia, Volume II, by Plutarch
41. Octovian (anonymous)
42. Lad: A Dog, by Albert Payson Terhune
43. The Black Coat, by Constance Little and Gwenyth Little
44. Jim, by J. J. Bell
45. The Lord of the Isles, by Sir Walter Scott
46. The Secret Adversary, by Agatha Christie
47. Doctor Syn, by Russell Thorndike
48. The Hobbit, by J. R. R. Tolkien
49. The March Hare Murders, by E. X. Ferrars
50. The Lives of Simeon Stylites, translated by Robert Doran
51. The Guns of Navarone, by Alistair MacLean
52. Resorting to Murder: Holiday Mysteries, ed. by Martin Edwards
53. The Temple of Glas, by John Lydgate
54. Concordia: The Lutheran Confessions
55. Bat Wing, by Sax Rohmer
56. Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch, by Alice Caldwell Hegan
57. Panic in Box C, by John Dickson Carr
58. The Murder on the Links, by Agatha Christie
59. Prince Valiant, Vol. 3: 1941-1942, by Hal Foster

Books completed in the second quarter of 2016

60. Cartoon Cavalcade, ed. by Thomas Craven
61. Moralia, Volume III, by Plutarch
62. Tales of a Wayside Inn, by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
63. Jonathan and David, by Elizabeth Stuart Phelps
64. More Cartoon Classics from Medical Economics
65. Insurance Thrillers: Sinister Mysteries Centering About Insurance Frauds Originally Published in The Weekly Underwriter During 1932
66. The Hand of Power, by Edgar Wallace
67. A Study in Scarlet, by Arthur Conan Doyle
68. Pirates of Venus, by Edgar Rice Burroughs
69. The Cut Direct, by Phoebe Atwood Taylor
70. Sackett’s Land, by Louis L’Amour
71. The Moving Target, by Ross Macdonald
72. Three Alliterative Saints’ Hymns: Late Middle English Stanzaic Poems
73. Rose o’ the River; The Old Peabody Pew; Susannah and Sue, by Kate Douglas Wiggin
74. Ruggles of Red Gap, by Harry Leon Wilson
75. The Man in the Brown Suit, by Agatha Christie
76. The Temptress, by Carter Brown
77. Fashioned for Murder, by George Harmon Coxe
78. Death in the Box, by Marcus Magill
79. The Life of Saint Columba, by Adomnan of Iona
80. Poirot Investigates, by Agatha Christie
81. Heroes of the French Epic: A Selection of Chansons de Geste
82. Silver Chief, Dog of the North, by Jack O'Brien
83. Mariken van Nieumeghen (anonymous)
84. Arsenic for the Teacher, by "Oliver Keystone" (James H. Mantinband)
85. Lin McLean, by Owen Wister
86. Rose's Last Summer, by Margaret Millar
87. The Vizier of the Two-Horned Alexander, by Frank R. Stockton
88. Hot Water, by P. G. Wodehouse
89. The Black Piano, by Constance and Gwenyth Little
90. The Light Princess and Other Fairy Tales, by George MacDonald
91. Belief and Faith, by Josef Pieper
92. Spring Harrowing, by Phoebe Atwood Taylor
93. World Trigger 1, by Daisuke Ashihara
94. Romeo and Juliet, by William Shakespeare
95. With Taro and Hana in Japan, by Etsu Inagaki Sugimoto and Nancy Virginia Austen
96. Murder on "B" Deck, by Vincent Starrett
97. Freckles, by Gene Stratton-Porter
98. The Z Murders, by J. Jefferson Farjeon
99. Strange Doings on Halfaday Creek, by James B. Hendryx
100. The House of Terror, by Edward Woodward
101. The Gyrth Chalice Mystery, by Margery Allingham
102. The House Without the Door, by Elizabeth Daly
103. The Postmaster, by Joseph C. Lincoln
104. Dr. Sam: Johnson, Detector, by Lillian de la Torre
105. The Chronicle of the Czechs, by Cosmas of Prague
106. Behind the Monocle and Other Stories, by J. S. Fletcher
107. The Harvester, by Gene Stratton-Porter
108. The Secret of Chimneys, by Agatha Christie

Happy new thread :-)

Starred!

Happy new thread Harry. My posts are a little truncated at the moment because my keyboard is playing up a little.

>4 FAMeulstee: >5 fuzzi: >6 PaulCranswick: Thanks!

60. Cartoon Cavalcade, ed. by Thomas Craven


(Unfortunately, my copy lacks this dust jacket.)

Published in 1943, Cartoon Cavalcade provides a history of the development of cartoon and newspaper comic art in the U.S. in the preceding half-century or so. It has some omissions (magazine illustrations are much more prominent than newspaper comics, and in particular Sunday comics seem lacking, perhaps because of the lack of color in the book). It also suffers from somewhat muddy reproductions, which is particularly noticeable in the earlier content, where the available source material may have been less sharp. Still, an amusing array of cartoons.

Recommended.

61. Moralia, Volume III, by Plutarch



Moralia, Volume III is the best one yet. Most of the contents are collections of the sayings of kings, commanders, Romans, and Spartans, and there is also a collection of anecdotes on the bravery of women. Many of the sayings are familiar, but there are plenty that I found fresh and interestingly unique.

It may be worth noting that when Plutarch preserved the original Doric dialect of a Spartan’s saying, the translator opted to use a Scots dialect. This is infrequent — and I’d rather have that than a translation that suppressed the difference.

Recommended.

62. Tales of a Wayside Inn, by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

April TIOLI Challenge #3: Read a book by an author with a triple-barrelled name



Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s Tales of a Wayside Inn is probably best known (to the extent it is known), as the source of “Paul Revere’s Ride” (“Listen, my children, and you shall hear, / Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere, / On the eighteenth of April, in Seventy-five; / Hardly a man is now alive / Who remembers that famous day and year.”). But Longfellow’s modern Canterbury Tales has much more to recommend it, as the variety of speakers (apparently all based on friends of the author) relate a variety of stories in a variety of verse forms.
The longest and most ambitious is that of the musician, whose “The Saga of King Olaf” tells in a series of 22 separate poems the story of King Olaf Tryggvason and the coming of Christianity to Norway (drawn chiefly from Snorri Sturluson’s Heimskringla). According to Wikipedia, it was the favorite poem of Theodore Roosevelt.

Others I liked were “The Legend of Rabbi Ben Levi” and “King Robert of Sicily”; I didn’t really care for “The Falcon of Sir Federigo,” drawn from Boccaccio’s Decameron.

Recommended.

The collection of holiday stories on your last thread appeals to me.

Oh, boy, more BBs... ;)

I got behind with your last thread but here now to wish you a happy new thread!

>11 thornton37814: There are a couple other collections of short stories in the British Library Crime Classics series as well.

>12 fuzzi: Happy to oblige. :-)

>13 souloftherose: Thanks, Heather!

63. Jonathan and David, by Elizabeth Stuart Phelps

April TIOLI Challenge #18: Read a book where one letter is repeated at least three times within the author's name



Jonathan and David is a slight tale about an impoverished old man and his beloved dog, from whom he must part because he cannot afford the annual tax on it, and what happens to them thereafter. It is sentimental and perhaps unrealistic, but I liked it and am glad I gave it a chance.

Recommended.

64. More Cartoon Classics from Medical Economics



This collection of humorous material from the trade journal Medical Economics includes not only cartoons, but also anecdotes of the sort that might appear in Reader’s Digest features such as “Life in These United States,” submitted by medical professionals. Overall, I found the anecdotes more consistently amusing than the cartoons, but the collection was reasonably successful.

Recommended.

65. Insurance Thrillers: Sinister Mysteries Centering About Insurance Frauds Originally Published in The Weekly Underwriter During 1932

April TIOLI Challenge #2: Read a book that starts with APRIL



Insurance Thrillers is a fun collection of short stories that appeared in the trade journal The Weekly Underwriter during a single year (1932) in the midst of the Great Depression. The schemes for defrauding the insurance companies varied, and they included not only simple exaggerated claims, but arson and more. One interesting aspect of the stories was that frequently the insurance company was content with the guilty party signing an agreement abandoning the false claim or canceling the policy (and receiving back the premium paid) and didn’t pursue criminal prosecution. A number of the stories featured series characters. The diversity of schemes kept my interest throughout the nearly 400 pages, and I’m now curious whether stories were published in earlier or later issues of the journal — something I’ll have to research sometime.

Recommended.

The recent cold snap really hit our Virginia bluebells, with one that had plenty of flowers dying back right down to ground level, but one that was a bit later is flourishing.



We have gotten some flowers on one of my favorite native plants, Dutchman's breeches, too:



The shape of the flowers is a little hard to see in my photo. Here's one on Wikipedia that gives a better idea of the resemblance to breeches:


By Biosthmors - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=39489370

>18 harrygbutler: how pretty!

The two recent frosts/freezes did a number on my Canna Lilies and my Hydrangea, but they appear to be growing back. I hope we don't get any more freezing nights.

66. The Hand of Power, by Edgar Wallace

April TIOLI Challenge #13: Read a book in which a gang or gangs play a part



The Hand of Power is a moderately entertaining Edgar Wallace thriller, but not one that ranks among his best. The heroine was somewhat unconvincing, and the hero seemed more lucky than skilled. The apparent chief villain was a bit too outlandish, and the hidden mastermind was fairly obvious from the first. Still, even a lesser effort from Wallace is full of action, as the story moved right along.

>19 fuzzi: Thanks! We have more blooming now: Jacob's ladder and wood poppy have joined the bluebells, which are fading, plus a wild pink that we just got from the native plant sale at Bowman's Hill Wildflower Preserve, where we are members. A couple days ago I moved a pair of volunteer wood poppies and a pair of volunteer bluebells to a new shade garden spot; the poppies seem to have managed the transition fine, but the bluebells are questionable at this point.

67. A Study in Scarlet, by Arthur Conan Doyle

April TIOLI Challenge #19: Read a book that has 2+ consecutive embedded words of 2 or more letters each in the title



It has been many years since I’ve read the Sherlock Holmes stories, save perhaps one or two here and there, so I thought that I’d have a go at rereading them in order, beginning with the novel that started it all, “A Study in Scarlet.” Enough time had passed that the story was once more unfamiliar; I had likewise forgotten just how much of the story takes place after the solution of the mystery, by way of explaining the preceding circumstances. I’m looking forward to reading the rest.

Recommended.

>22 harrygbutler: I can't recall, have you read any of the Holmes/Russell series by Laurie King? If not, I highly recommend them. Start with The Beekeeper's Apprentice, the first book, as reading them out of order might be confusing.

>23 fuzzi: Thanks for the recommendation! I haven't read those Laurie King books, though my wife has.

68. Pirates of Venus, by Edgar Rice Burroughs

April TIOLI Challenge #3: Read a book by an author with a triple-barrelled name



Edgar Rice Burroughs’ major contribution to the sword-and-planet genre — responsible for its popularization — was the Barsoom series, the adventures of Virginian John Carter on Mars. A later, lesser series relates the adventures of Carson Napier on Venus (called Amtor by its inhabitants). In Pirates of Venus, Napier — a sort of “Wrong Way” Corrigan of space — sets off in a rocket ship for Mars but ends up shipwrecked on Venus instead. There he finds adventure and love. The short novel plods at times and ends with a cliffhanger, but it was reasonably enjoyable, and I’l be tackling the rest of the series when I get a chance.

69. The Cut Direct, by Phoebe Atwood Taylor

April TIOLI Challenge #21: Read a book which was written pseudonymously



The Cut Direct was the second of the Leonidas Witherall mysteries written by Phoebe Atwood Taylor. As she was concurrently writing the longer-lasting Asey Mayo series set on Cape Cod, the Witherall books were published as by “Alice Tilton.” In the early chapters of this one, a young couple find Witherall lying under a car, as he had been run down. They retrieve him and take him to a doctor, but he leaves when he discovers the couple gone (apparently with some of the doctor’s goods). He is struck by another car and later comes to in a room with a body — the murdered corpse of (apparently) the man who first ran him down. Assorted hijinks ensue, as Witherall and associates flee the police, deal with treachery, and seek to uncover the murderer, lest Witherall be blamed. Amusing, with some good twists and turns, though the identity of the culprit wasn’t particularly surprising.

This is the last of the 8 Witherall books for me to read, as I've tackled them as I could find them. A likeable series of madcap mysteries. There was also a radio program in the 1940s about the detective, whose distinguishing feature is that he looks like Shakespeare. A few episodes have survived and are available online: http://www.radiolovers.com/pages/adventuresofleonidaswitherall.htm.

Recommended.

70. Sackett’s Land, by Louis L’Amour

April TIOLI Challenge #5: Read a book in which at least one character travels between continents



At some point, Louis L’Amour conceived the idea of using stories about members of a few families to illustrate the development of the American frontier, from the earliest colonial days through the period associated with the western in the popular imagination. The most important of these families, in terms of its place in his writing, was that of the Sacketts, and in the mid-1970s L’Amour undertook to recount the beginnings of the family on North American soil. Sackett’s Land is the first of the family’s chronicles chronologically, set in the late 16th century. In it, Barnabas Sackett, an ambitious product of the English fenlands, ends up shanghaied and thus voyages to the New World. Adventures ensue, and romance finds a place as well. I thought the novel (much like Pirates of Venus, which I read at about the same time) had a rather inconclusive ending — wrapping things up, sure, but with a clear eye toward a sequel.

Recommended.

71. The Moving Target, by Ross Macdonald

April TIOLI Challenge #15: Read a Book that a parent gave you/read to you/recommended to you/bequeathed to you/wrote



When I was a youth books were always around the house, and I amassed quite a pile of my own, but I also branched out into those my parents were getting and reading as well. Among those my mom had were a couple omnibus editions of some of Ross Macdonald’s Lew Archer novels (Archer in Hollywood comes to mind as one of the collections). I recall quite liking Macdonald’s writing, and the character of detective Lew Archer, a weary, decent man in the Philip Marlowe vein.

I recently reread the first of the Archer novels, The Moving Target, and was pleased to find it very good. Archer is hired by Elaine Sampson to find her missing, though not particularly well-liked, husband, Ralph. He got the job through a former colleague, Albert Graves, former district attorney, lawyer for the missing man, and prospective spouse of Ralph Sampson’s daughter, Miranda, who in turn is enamored of Sampson’s pilot, Allan Taggert. The trail leads to Los Angeles and some sordid surroundings, and also to a religious cult figure (who was given his mountain-top home by Sampson), and it begins to appear that Sampson may have been involved in some unsavory dealings. An intriguing mystery, with at least one notable surprise. I’ll be seeking out the others.

The Moving Target was filmed in 1966 as Harper, with Paul Newman in the title role as the detective. He reprised the role in 1975's The Drowning Pool, based on a later Archer novel of the same name.

Recommended.

72. Three Alliterative Saints’ Hymns: Late Middle English Stanzaic Poems



Whew! This book was a bit of a slog, even if the three poems weren’t all that long. The first, on Katherine of Alexandria, was replete with obscure words, possibly chosen, at least in part, in the interests of alliteration — a far cry from the relatively straightforward language of the collection of stories in Middle English in An Alphabet of Tales, which I’m slowly reading through. The hymns on Saint John the Evangelist and John the Baptist weren’t quite so tricky, perhaps because I’d already worked my way through the Katherine poem, though they still took some real attention. I doubt I’ll revisit these unless the need arises.

73. Rose o’ the River; The Old Peabody Pew; Susannah and Sue, by Kate Douglas Wiggin

April TIOLI Challenge #4: Read a book with a flower in the title or author's name (for Rose o’ the River



This is a collected edition of three works by Kate Douglas Wiggin: Rose o’ the River, The Old Peabody Pew, and Susannah and Sue.

The first was Wiggin’s follow-up hit after Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm. Rose o’ the River managed to reach the #10 spot among U.S. best sellers in 1905. It’s an old-fashioned romance set along the Saco River in Maine, with two young lovers separated by frivolous, unthinking behavior and consequent misunderstanding. A humorous touch is added by Rose’s grandfather, called by some wags “Old Kennebec,” who is of telling (probably tall) tales of his youthful life on that river, and unfavorably comparing how things are done along the Saco with how they used to be done along the Kennebec.

The Old Peabody Pew is a Christmastime romance. It takes place in the setting of a real church in Maine, the Tory Hill Meetinghouse, which is being decorated by the ladies of the Dorcas Society (which Wiggin was instrumental in founding); a play of the story is performed each year at the church.

Susannah and Sue opens with the arrival of the title characters (mother and daughter) at a Shaker community, to which Susannah has fled from her wayward husband and her son. Wiggin explores the ways in which Susannah and Sue come to fit in, and fail to fit in, among the Shakers, and the effect the separation has upon Susannah’s husband, as well. The author turns a respectful and congenial eye on the ascetic Shakers, acknowledging both their virtues and their limitations, and capturing the atmosphere of a movement that was on the wane.

Recommended.

>30 harrygbutler: I love Rose O' the River. The river itself is a full character.

>30 harrygbutler: I think I may still have a copy of Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm boxed up somewhere. Mine had one of those "painted" covers. I may have to check out some of the others by Wiggins.

ETA: Just downloaded free Kindle editions of The Old Peabody Pew and Rose O' the River

>27 harrygbutler: I love the Sackett series, almost all of them I would rate as very good reads.

It was one of the last written, Jubal Sackett, that got me reading Louis L'Amour books.

L'Amour wrote series about the Chantry and Talon families, too, but those don't have as many books as the Sackett series. I'm sorry that the author never quite finished his project, as a few stories alluded to never came to fruition. Bummer.

Argh! Bookbullet! I just added The Moving Target to my TBR list.

Thanks. I think. ;)

>26 harrygbutler: Worst cover of the month anyone?

As usual there is a lot of interesting reading here Harry. Enjoyed your review of The Moving Target - the Lew Archer books are great value aren't they?

Have a great weekend.

>32 thornton37814: I hope you enjoy them, Lori!

>33 fuzzi: I agree about the Sackett series, fuzzi. Because it came so late, I think I've only read Jubal Sackett once or twice. I like the Chantry and Talon family series, too, but I also like many of the stand-alone novels, and the three in the Kilkenny series.

>34 fuzzi: You're welcome! I hope you enjoy it.

>35 PaulCranswick: I agree about that cover, Paul! And it isn't even all that accurate, as the victim, though stabbed, was not as old as the man on the cover.

I haven't read all 18 of the Lew Archer books, but I expect to rectify that. Before I get to the next one, though, I'll probably try Rose's Last Summer, by Ross Macdonald's wife, Margaret Millar, as I don't recall ever reading one of hers.

Enjoy your week!

74. Ruggles of Red Gap, by Harry Leon Wilson

April TIOLI Challenge #11: Read a book that has the word "coffee" in the second chapter



This was a lot of fun. Ruggles of Red Gap is the story of a valet whose services are lost by his master in a poker game and travels from Europe to the American West (specifically Washington state) with the wealthy Americans who won him, and the new life that he makes for himself there. Ruggles is in some ways an unreliable narrator; the author uses him to gently satirize social-climbing and snobbish Americans and champion a rough egalitarianism.

This was made into a movie in 1935, with Charles Laughton starring as Ruggles. It was reportedly his favorite role, and he is said to have relished reciting the Gettysburg Address (as he did in the movie) on other occasions.

Recommended.

>37 harrygbutler: That inspires me to add a new TBSL category - books that feature servants.

>38 2wonderY: There certainly were plenty. Do you plan to distinguish those in which servants stay servants and those where there is a change of position?

75. The Man in the Brown Suit, by Agatha Christie



Agatha Christie has a go at an Edgar Wallace-style thriller, with mixed success. The heroine was engaging overall, but the romance was so contrived as to seem a parody. The red herring characters weren’t all that successful in covering up the identity of the master criminal, but a trick of the writing did serve that purpose very well, so I was content to remain uncertain until the villain was revealed. OK, but I doubt I’ll revisit it in the future.

A laptop bag makes a good spot for a nap for Otto, as he very frequently is a "laptop cat."

>36 harrygbutler: oh, I also enjoy the Kilkenny books.

My favorite of all the Louis L'Amour books is Conagher. There was a movie made based upon the book, and it was pretty good, faithful. Of course, having Sam Elliot plat the lead didn't hurt. ;)

>42 fuzzi: Conagher, both as book and as movie, was good. I like Sam Elliott.

I'm not sure what my favorite L'Amour book might be. Perhaps Fallon, because I like the setting of the abandoned town, or maybe The Man Called Noon, because of the mystery elements. I guess it's time to reread some more. :-)

76. The Temptress, by Carter Brown



Australian author Alan G. Yates achieved both domestic and international success with his quick-paced, semi-hard-boiled mysteries (as by “Carter Brown”) set in the U.S. The short novels have plenty of sex and violence, in varying degrees of explicitness depending on when each was published, but generally humor has its place as well. There were several different series detectives, including Al Wheeler, a police lieutenant on assignment with a county sheriff’s office; private eye Danny Boyd, who thinks very highly of his own profile; Rick Holman, a private eye who concentrates on Hollywood; Mavis Seidlitz; Larry Baker; and others. Overall the Al Wheeler books are probably the best, though even they are inconsistent in quality. They’re all pretty dated as well.

The Temptress is an early Al Wheeler novel. It opens with the finding of a murdered private detective, whom we learn had been hired to track down an underage heiress who had run away with an ex-convict nightclub singer. Wheeler’s investigation uncovers sordid secrets in the family and an illegal “key club” as well. There’s another murder as the investigation continues, before a violet resolution and the uncovering of the culprit.

77. Fashioned for Murder, by George Harmon Coxe



In Fashioned for Murder, a model poses with three pieces of jewelry that she inherited from her mother, and the ad that features the photo sets off a chain of robbery and murder that begins with the theft of the pieces in Boston, includes their temporary recovery in New York, leads to the discovery of the chief villain at a country house upstate, and then results in a last-minute rescue. Along the way the model and a photographer find romance.

George Harmon Coxe provides an OK mystery, although the identity of the chief criminal is obvious from the character’s first mention, and some of the developments are a bit unlikely. Not exactly recommended, but there’s no need to avoid it.

>43 harrygbutler: The Man Called Noon is also one of my most favorite L'Amour's. I think I reread it last year.

78. Death in the Box, by Marcus Magill



Marcus Magill spends fully half of Death in the Box setting up the murder; the body isn’t discovered until page 146 out of 292, in a scene somewhat reminiscent of the finding of the body in The Wedding-Chest Mystery, which I read earlier this year. Though parts of the first half are diverting (including the sending of an emu as a joke gift and the chaos that ensues), I think the book would have benefited from some tightening up in that half. Still, there were some payoffs in the latter half, as some side mysteries were unraveled along with the central question of the identity of the murderer, and some subplots were resolved as well. The amateur investigation was fine, and I did appreciate the role of a fairly small early clue in indicating the culprit.

A reviewer in 1930 called this “cool and charming.” I’ll grant the “cool,” but unfortunately I didn’t find it — or most, if not all, of the characters — charming.

Not particularly recommended, unless you like mysteries that, at least for a time, include large, flightless birds.

79. The Life of Saint Columba, by Adomnan of Iona

May TIOLI Challenge #10: Read a book featuring a religious ascetic, such as a monk or a nun



Saint Columba was the sixth-century Irish founder of the monastery of Iona off the western coast of Scotland. This “life,” by Adomnan, a seventh-century abbot of Iona, isn’t really a biography, but rather a collection of anecdotes describing miracles that Columba performed.

The work is divided into three books. The first concerns instances of prophecy, ranging from the royal succession in Dal Riata and the fate of religious leaders to the fact that a visitor was going to spill ink when he arrived. The second book deals with miracles of “power,” such as healing, securing favorable winds, and driving out a devil that was hiding at the bottom of a milk pail. The final book focuses on visions of angels and of heavenly light, seen by Columba or by those watching Columba.

An interesting read.

80. Poirot Investigates, by Agatha Christie

May TIOLI Challenge #4: Read a book where at least two letters in the title or author's name are next to each other in the alphabet as seen in the normal layout



Poirot Investigates is collection of early stories featuring Hercule Poirot and narrated by Captain Hastings. I think they were somewhat weaker than the novels starring the detective that I’ve read so far, though some of them made for quite good episodes of the series starring David Suchet — in particular I thought “The Adventure of the Egyptian Tomb” more memorable on film.

Recommended.

81. Heroes of the French Epic: A Selection of Chansons de Geste



Whew! I’m glad to finally be through with this one. It features tens of thousands of lines of translations of French chansons de geste: Gormont and Isembart, The Song of William, Charlemagne’s Pilgrimage, Raoul of Cambrai, Girart of Vienne, and The Knights of Narbonne. Though there is some variety in situation and tone, I can’t say I found most of them appealing; the knightly “heroes” generally aren’t particularly admirable. The earlier chansons were better, but I doubt this is a collection I’ll be rereading in its entirety.

82. Silver Chief, Dog of the North, by Jack O’Brien

May TIOLI Challenge #1: Read a book about an animal with its proper name in the title



I received my copy of Silver Chief, Dog of the North from my parents for my seventh birthday — a fitting gift, as we were living up north at Fort Wainwright, Alaska, just outside Fairbanks. I really liked it and the one sequel that I owned as a lad, Silver Chief to the Rescue, but I hadn’t read them in ages. I’m glad to say that I still enjoyed it upon reading it once again.

This first book is the story of the early life of the half-wolf Silver Chief, who is captured and tamed by Mountie Jim Thorne, and of the trials the two face in bringing to justice a wanted killer, Laval, who injures Jim while trying to kill him from ambush. The author doesn’t shrink from the hard, sometimes brutal, facts of life under the harsh conditions of the North, but acknowledges the toll taken on both people and animals.

Recommended.

83. Mariken van Nieumeghen (anonymous)

May TIOLI Challenge #5: Read a book with a title where one of the letters is worth at least 4 points and the total number of points for all letters is at least 15 as designated in the game of Scrabble



A comment by Anita (FAMeulstee) on my first thread reminded me that I owned a dual-language edition of Mariken van Nieumeghen.

This early-sixteenth-century Dutch play tells the story of a young woman who takes up with a devil and keeps him company for seven years but then repents. Mariken is seduced by the devil (named Moenen) after she is insulted and sent away by her aunt when she tries to stay with her overnight while visiting Nijmegen on a shopping trip. Her repentance comes when she sees a play within the play, Maskeroon, featuring the Virgin Mary (to whom Mariken was once devoted) and stressing the availability of mercy. I didn’t really care for it, but I’d be somewhat interested in seeing it staged sometime.

>51 harrygbutler: be sure to find and read The Return of Silver Chief, book #3.

>53 fuzzi: Thanks for the recommendation! I found a copy of The Return of Silver Chief not too long ago, but I've yet to read it. I'll wait until after I reread Silver Chief to the Rescue, I think.

Our little fringetree is now in bloom.



Just barely visible at the base of the tree is a very small garden gnome.

>54 harrygbutler: in order is best, although our library did not have Silver Chief to the Rescue, and I finally read it years later.

Just dropping by to wish you (and the miniature garden gnome) a great weekend, Harry.

>57 PaulCranswick: Thanks, Paul! It has been a busy week, and I haven't had much time to post. I'll be putting up more reviews as I get a chance.

84. Arsenic for the Teacher, by "Oliver Keystone" (James H. Mantinband)

May TIOLI Challenge #12: Read a book containing Murder & Mayhem starting with the first letters of Murders and Mayhem (rolling challenge)



Blackmailing poison-pen letters are received by many members of the faculty and staff of the Rousseau School, but speculations about the identity of the culprit soon take a back seat to murder, as the school secretary is poisoned by an apple laced with arsenic. But was she the intended victim? The apple was one that had been given to the science teacher. A second murder follows later. Latin teacher Paul Plush does a bit of sleuthing, in cooperation with the police. I found the identity of the culprit a surprise, though there were some indications earlier. OK but undistinguished.

Arsenic for the Teacher is one of a few books by “Oliver Keystone” (a pseudonym for James H. Mantinband) brought out by Phoenix Press, a bottom-of-the-barrel publisher for the commercial lending libraries in the mid-twentieth century. Based on the books Mantinband published under his own name, he apparently was a classicist, which may explain his choice of a Latin teacher for protagonist.

Not particularly recommended.

85. Lin McLean, by Owen Wister

May TIOLI Challenge #7: Tip of the Hat: Read a book where at least one character on the cover is wearing a head covering



Lin McLean, an earlier western by Owen Wister, author of The Virginian (which I thought excellent), comprises a series of episodes in the life of the eponymous cowboy, including a journey back east, where he finds he doesn’t belong, a rashly entered marriage, fostering a runaway, and eventual happiness. Reasonably engaging, and it was interesting, too, to meet the Virginian here and encounter hints of the Virginian’s story.

Recommended.

86. Rose’s Last Summer, by Margaret Millar

May TIOLI Challenge #3: Mother May I? Read a book whose title and/or author's name includes at least 2 "M"s and an "I"



A faded movie actress gets a job and leaves her room in a boarding house, but she is found dead almost immediately thereafter, on the grounds of a home being rented by a family — husband and wife, and the husband’s invalid mother — that denies any knowledge of the actress. The coroner places the time of death at noon. Then why did Frank, the social worker with whom Rose was friendly, receive a call from her at 3 p.m., and a postcard apparently mailed even later? Though the inquest opts for death from natural causes, Frank is suspicious of foul play, as is the police officer who handled the initial investigation. When and how did Rose die?

Though the back cover of the paperback I read touted this as a “surprisingly funny novel,” I didn’t find it particularly amusing. I enjoyed it well enough that I will likely pick up other mysteries by Millar (wife of Kenneth Millar, better known under his pen name Ross Macdonald, whose The Moving Target I read just last month). The ending was a bit unsatisfying, but I think that was the point.

Recommended.

87. The Vizier of the Two-Horned Alexander, by Frank R. Stockton

May TIOLI Challenge #13: Read a book whose title completes the sentence "May is my favorite month to be ...."



This drily amusing book features a series of anecdotes told by a man (the vizier of the title, now called Crowder) who, in the times of the patriarch Abraham, drank up the waters of immortality and thus had remained at his age of 53 for all the ensuing centuries. Although historical personages make appearances, but his romances form the burden of many of Crowder’s tales, which he relates to his wife and to a young man whom he has befriended. The book ends with no particular conclusion; it makes me wonder whether one of Stockton’s other books is a sequel.

It was OK while it lasted, but I don’t really recommend it. I thought The Casting Away of Mrs. Lecks and Mrs. Aleshine a much more entertaining book, but readers new to Stockton might want to sample his work with The Lady or the Tiger and Other Short Stories, which contains his most famous story, the unresolved “The Lady or the Tiger,” as well as its sequel, which resolves the dilemma in the first story only to present the reader with another, similar open question.

88. Hot Water, by P. G. Wodehouse

May TIOLI Challenge #14: A Wet Challenge: Read a book whose title contains the word "water" or any form of water



Now this was funny! Mrs. J. Wellington Gedge plots to have her husband made American ambassador to France (though he is unwilling and wishes merely to return from Europe to California). To advance her plan, she plans a small house party at the chateau they are renting that will include the scion of the house and a U.S. senator and his daughter. She possesses an incriminating letter from the senator that seems likely to ensure his reluctant cooperation with her plans, unless fate intervenes and the letter is recovered. Meanwhile, some American crooks who are in the area are plotting to steal Mrs. Gedge’s jewels. Characters in disguise, cross plotting, unforeseen revelations, and more make the story a delight.

Highly recommended.

89. The Black Piano, by Constance Little and Gwenyth Little

May TIOLI Challenge #9: Read a book published or set during the decade of your mother's birth



Who pushed wealthy Gloria Rouston off a bridge near their vacation spot in the mountains? Was it her husband Dick, her sister-in-law, or one of the other grasping members of her household, none of whom liked her very much? After barely escaping death, she has plastic surgery done, assumes a new name, and marries the nephew of the woman who took her in after her fall, and then returns to her hometown to try to figure out the culprit. But is she really fooling anyone? And why is her old piano playing on its own in the night?

The Black Piano was another fairly amusing mystery from the Little sisters, though I don’t think it measures up to their best — perhaps because the protagonist is a bit less sympathetic. Still, not bad. Recommended.

90. The Light Princess and Other Fairy Tales, by George MacDonald

May TIOLI Challenge #8: Read a book with "Dark" or "Light" in the title



This is a fine collection of literary fairy tales by 19th-century Scottish writer George MacDonald, a notable influence on C.S. Lewis. The lead tale concerns a princess who is cursed with a lack of gravity, both literal and metaphorical, and how she is saved by sacrifice. “The Giant’s Heart” is a fun little story of how two children escape from an evil giant. “The Shadows” is an odd story of a man who is made King of Fairyland, and what he learns of their interactions with mortals. “Cross Purposes” and “The Golden Key” see children on long journeys, and in “The Carasoyn” a boy has dealings with fairies but with help gets the better of them. The final story, “Little Daylight,” features another princess — this one cursed to never see the daylight, and to have her life tied to the waxing and waning of the moon.

Recommended.

91. Belief and Faith, by Josef Pieper

May TIOLI Challenge #11: Read a book that is at least the 5th book its author had published



Pieper’s monograph is an attempt to approach the notion of belief philosophically, rather than theologically. Fundamental to the discussion is the fact that belief involves trusting the testimony of someone, rather than merely knowing something. As with all of Pieper’s works that I’ve read, there’s much here to ponder within a rather small scope.

Recommended.

92. Spring Harrowing, by Phoebe Atwood Taylor

May TIOLI Challenge #6: Read a book that has something to do with spring cleaning



Unrestrained and haphazard collector Bart Paget (he owns stacks and stacks of the same local history book, for example, and an early automobile) – clawed to death, but not by an animal, even though the neighbor’s wildcats had been set free at the time. Evidence indicates that Paget had been curtailing his expenses as he sought to save up enough for an expensive suit of armor that he wanted to have. Who killed the collector? A decent entry in the Asey Mayo series.

Recommended.

93. World Trigger 1, by Daisuke Ashihara

May TIOLI Challenge #15: Read a manga where there is a picture of someone eating with chopsticks



High school student Osamu Mikumo is secretly a trainee with Border, a mysterious group that showed up to fight against alien creatures (known as “Neighbors”) after gates to another world began opening around Mikado City. His life changes when a new transfer student, Yuma Kuga, comes to the school. Yuma seems to have little understanding of Japanese ways, and he is quite ready to meet threats of violence with violence in return. Before the book is out, Yuma and Osamu will have fought creatures coming through the gates, saving lives before trained Border agents can arrive.

I read this book for a TIOLI challenge, and I doubt I’ll be continuing with the series. I found it reasonably enjoyable once I got used to reading right to left, back to front, but I don’t actually care for the style of illustration very much.

94. Romeo and Juliet, by William Shakespeare

May TIOLI Challenge #2: Read a book that has been read in the past 2 years by a student you know



It has been many years since I have read Romeo and Juliet or have seen it performed. Some of the intricacies of the plot had slipped from my memory, so it was good to renew my acquaintance with the play. I certainly enjoyed it again.

Recommended.

95. With Taro and Hana in Japan, by Etsu Inagaki Sugimoto and Nancy Virginia Austen (no touchstone)

May TIOLI Challenge #17: Read a book whose first chapter contains a reference to a grandmother, grandma, gram, or any form of that relation



Taro and Hana are young Japanese-American children who travel from the United States with their mother to visit her mother and other relatives in Japan. While visiting, they learn firsthand about Japanese customs and events such as the Doll Festival, Buddha’s birthday, and the Boys’ Festival. They hear legends and folk tales, too. The children and their escapades hold one’s attention, providing a pleasant introduction to aspects of Japanese culture of the time (this was written in the 1920s) with a light hand.

Recommended.

96. Murder on "B" Deck, by Vincent Starrett

May TIOLI Challenge #16: Read a book which has a word in the title indicating a place where a large amount of people meet



Argh. Walter Ghost serves as the “detective,” despite protests that he isn’t really that. He is to some extent assisted, and in part hindered, by novelist Dunstan Mollock (whose novel is a Jimmie Valentine story; in real life the Jimmie Valentine mysteries were written by Starrett). Mollock has ended up stuck about the ocean liner Latakia on its way to Europe, after coming aboard to wish his sister and her new husband bon voyage, leaving, and going back aboard. A countess is strangled on the first night out, and clues to the mystery include two dolls made during WWI for troops (Rin-tin-tin and Ninette) and a homemade movie.

A disappointing resolution makes this one that I don’t particularly recommend.

And Murder on "B" Deck completes a sweep of the TIOLI challenges for May!

Hi, Harry - I've just been catching up on your threads, where I knew there would be lots of interesting stuff---though I have had to skip a number of your reviews, for obvious reasons. :)

Loving your flower photos! (And the cats, of course.)

Congratulations on your sweep! Have you announced that on the TIOLI thread? If not, you must!

>73 lyzard: Thanks for stopping by, Liz! I'm glad you found lots of interest. I try to avoid giving away too many details in my reviews that aren't to be found on the dust jacket or back of the paperback, but better safe than sorry. Did you notice that Murder on "B" Deck is the first of a (short) series?

More photos will be showing up from time to time. :-)

I lucked out on the TIOLI sweep, as all of the challenges were pretty open. Thanks. I just went over to the TIOLI thread and mentioned my sweep. I posted the last few little reviews while we were between flights during a layover and finished up just before boarding, so I hadn't had time to visit any other threads.

97. Freckles, by Gene Stratton-Porter



In Freckles, an orphaned young man missing a hand gets a job guarding a tract of lumber in the Limberlost swamp from those who would try to steal the most valuable timber. The good-hearted youth overcomes his fears of the wild creatures in the swamp, falls in love, is befriended by a local naturalist, and protects the trees in accordance with his duty. Some convenient circumstances make for a happy ending for the persevering Freckles after the trials he endures.

The strongest part of this novel was probably the depiction of nature in varying seasons, and of the wildlife of the swamp, including Freckles’ “chickens,” black vultures that nest in the swamp during his time there. Some coincidences and plot developments were a bit weak in their development, but not enough to spoil my enjoyment of the story as it unfolded, and I’ll be looking to get other works by Gene Stratton-Porter, including A Girl of the Limberlost, set in the same locale.

Recommended.

98. The Z Murders, by J. Jefferson Farjeon



Richard Temperley shares a compartment with an unpleasant traveling companion (he snores) on a night train to London, and after arrival both men take shelter in the lounge of a nearby hotel to await the start of the day. In the lounge is an attractive young woman who leaves while Temperley is returning to the room talking to the porter. Soon thereafter, Temperley, back in the room and trying to doze, discovers that his fellow passenger is not snoring and has been murdered. The police are called in, and among their discoveries is a little red enamel “Z.” Temperley discovers the identity of the mystery woman and sets out in pursuit of her. A second murder occurs, and another “Z” is found there, followed by cross-country journeys by the killer and others, before a final confrontation.

A good, if somewhat predictable, little thriller. There are a few twists, and Farjeon keeps the interest up by shifting focus among the characters.

Recommended.

I got a couple book bullets here!

If anyone wants to read books by Gene Stratton-Porter, there are a bunch of them available for free, here:

https://openlibrary.org/authors/OL30895A/Gene_Stratton-Porter

Congratulations on the TIOLI sweep, too.

75. Gene Stratton-Porter has always been my mom's favorite author and she introduced me to The Girl of the Limberlost and S-P's other works when I was a kid. I'm so glad that you are enjoying them, too.

>77 fuzzi: Thanks! I lucked out on the sweep. I had searched the text of plenty of my older books in online versions for one that fit your challenge without success but then happened across With Taro and Hana in Japan in a pile of books, glanced through it, and found a reference to a grandmother in the first chapter. That gave me the incentive to try to find books to slot into the remaining challenges. I don't think it will happen again anytime soon.

>78 scaifea: I constantly run into her books when I'm out shopping, so I finally decided to give her a try. I'm glad I did.

99. Strange Doings on Halfaday Creek, by James B. Hendryx



Another fun collection of stories in the frozen North featuring Black John Smith, Cush, and Corporal Downey of the Mounties, with Black John ensuring that justice is done to malefactors, that the innocent are exonerated, and that his own cache of funds grows.

Recommended.

>80 harrygbutler: argh! Stop it! Stop it!

::adding to TBR mountain::

>81 fuzzi: Altus Press is reprinting all of the Halfaday Creek stories by James B. Hendryx in cooperation with his estate. I've been getting the hardcovers via Lulu, and they are quite well made; there are e-book versions of at least some available as well.

On our current trip to Oregon I've been able to find a few more of his novels, at least one of which appears to be set near Halfaday Creek.

A trip to Oregon's Willamette Valley included some time for book shopping that was reasonably fruitful — enough so that we had to get another suitcase to bring back our spoils. :-)

The finds:

Mysteries
The Black Envelope: Mr. Pinkerton Again!, by David Frome
The Case of the Kippered Corpse, by Margaret Scherf
The Crime Coast, by Elizabeth Gill
Dead Heat, by Richard S. Prather
Death Demands an Audience, by Helen Reilly
The Drowning Pool, by Ross Macdonald
The Exploits of Arsène Lupin, by Maurice Leblanc
The Needle's Kiss, by Austin J. Small
Out of Control, by Baynard Kendrick
The Portrait Invisible, by Joseph Gollomb
The Puzzle of the Red Stallion, by Stuart Palmer
The Red Kite Clue, by Owen Fox Jerome
Sabotage, by Cleve F. Adams
The Six Iron Spiders, by Phoebe Atwood Taylor
The Twister, by Edgar Wallace
The Winning Clue, by James Hay Jr.

Westerns/Northerns
The Coming of Cassidy, by Clarence E. Mulford
Frozen Inlet Post, by James B. Hendryx
Grubstake Gold, by James B. Hendryx

Other
The Air Ship Boys, or The Quest of the Aztec Treasure, by H. L. Sayler
Creative Lettering and Beyond, by Gabri Joy Kirkendall
Greyfriars Bobby, by Eleanor Atkinson
River of Death, by Alistair MacLean
The Song of Hiawatha, by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (illustrated by Frederic Remington

>74 harrygbutler:

Yes, I did notice, actually. {*grits teeth*}

>75 harrygbutler:, >77 fuzzi:, >78 scaifea:

Gene Stratton-Porter had America's #1 best-seller in 1912 with The Harvester, which I will be adding to challenge #3 if any TIOLI-ists care to join me. :)

>83 harrygbutler:

{*envy*}

>83 harrygbutler: another Alistair MacLean? Good for you!

>84 lyzard: I'll have to see whether I can find a copy of The Harvester — there's a good chance it will be at the local bookstore that is best for old fiction in general.

>85 fuzzi: Yep. I've picked up several now and plan to get the rest as I come across them. I'm pleased to have found another author with plenty of books for me to read.

100. The House of Terror, by Edward Woodward



Village doctor Cuthbery Merrivale meets a stranger, a wandering artist named George Fenchurch, one misty night, and in the course of their conversation the artist reveals his intention to go to the grounds of the local squire, the reclusive and ill-famed Rupert Dykeminster. Later that same night, Dykeminster is murdered, slain by a poisoned dart. Distant relative Alicia Dykeminster is the unexpected heiress of the estate, but even before she travels with her friend Veronica Starling to take up residence in the hall, she is warned of danger if she moves into the “house of terror.” She persists, however, and meets an assortment of characters — including the artist, who has shown no inclination to “wander” any further —, and it becomes clear that there is further villainy at work.

An enjoyable if clichéd thriller, with plots and characters in disguise, hidden chambers and secret passages, abductions and daring rescues. Readable.

...and characters called "Cuthbery Merrivale" and "Alicia Dykeminster". :D

>88 lyzard: It is tempting to collect names from these old mysteries. In the first chapter of The Gyrth Chalice Mystery (my comments coming later today), we meet Percival St John Wykes Gyrth (nicknamed "Val").

It is refreshing to switch to the Cape Cod stories of Joseph C. Lincoln, where one encounters characters named "Lemuel" or "Zebulon" or "Philander."

And Lincoln's characters are such good people. It's a pleasure to spend time in their company. I'm having a similar comfort in Robert Westall's stories.

>90 2wonderY: Absolutely. Though you do encounter charlatans and con men and thieves from time to time, and the protagonist may have to face some narrowness of mind, the principal characters are decent folks aiming to do their best, and even the chiding of faults and foibles is generally gentle. I'm in the midst of reading The Postmaster, whose first-person narrator is a retired sea captain (age about 50) who has gone into the general store business. I'm quite enjoying the incidents and adventures.

Is there a particular one of Westall's stories that you would recommend for someone new to his work?

I've only read two so far, Blitzcat and The Kingdom by the Sea. In both, the main characters are travelling through wartime England and spend periods of time at different households.

Blitzcat is on her way to her human and affects each person she encounters.

Harry is a 12 year old, and his story is more how the people he encounters help or hinder him.

My library has 30 entries for the author, though some are horror/ghost stories, which are probably not to my taste.

Do check out his web home page link on the author page. He is surely someone I would have loved to meet.

>92 2wonderY: Thanks, Ruth! I'll check out the webpage and see about tracking down one of his books to try. Both that you describe sound of interest.

>92 2wonderY: kudos to you for the proper use of "affect"!

Signed, the Grammar Nazi (at times)

101. The Gyrth Chalice Mystery, by Margery Allingham



The third in Margery Allingham’s Albert Campion series, The Gyrth Chalice Mystery is again a thriller rather than a mystery, with Campion undertaking to protect the aforementioned chalice from thieves operating on behalf of a wealthy collector. The gang is spotted early on, and though the leader of the group for this caper isn’t revealed until late in the book, it isn’t much of a puzzle. There is a bit of the mysterious about the chalice and the ceremony that the Gyrth scion undergoes at age 25, with suggestions of horror and the supernatural (not all of which are explained away).

It’s reasonably well-written and entertaining, though the references to Campion’s appearance of “inanity” get a trifle wearying, and the death of the chief villain I thought to convenient. Readable.

Elli chose to spend some time with me today while I was working. She is definitely a fan of the days that are nice enough to have the windows open.

>96 harrygbutler: pretty kitty! I love tuxedo cats, currently have two (ferals) that I feed.

>97 fuzzi: Thanks! They are striking, aren't they? Elli is a former feral herself. All the remaining ferals that have been fed here and next door have essentially been adopted by the neighbors, with two now indoor-outdoor cats; one more is still living outdoors, but the neighbors' daughter has plans to take it with her when she moves. We'll see whether any others show up before that happens.

Well done Harry for zipping past 100 books already.

Happy Father's Day and happy Sunday to you.

>99 PaulCranswick: Thanks, Paul! And to you!

Other activities have slowed me down some this month, so I don't think my total will grow by very much in June.

102. The House Without the Door, by Elizabeth Daly



I have so far found Elizabeth Daly’s Henry Gamadge mysteries quite well written. Daly maintains an emotional distance from her detective and his thoughts and behavior that works well, and has the effect of making the somewhat quirky character more likeable. The mystery in The House Without the Door, the fourth in the series, was a bit disappointing; the plot and the culprit weren’t particularly surprising to me. Still, I enjoyed the book and will be reading more in the series.

Recommended.

A few finds over the weekend, half from a thrift store, half from the Book Garden in Cream Ridge, N.J.:

The Punch Line, ed. by William Cole
The Other Body in Grant's Tomb, by Richard Starnes
The Harvester, by Gene Stratton-Porter
Gideon's Day, by J. J. Marric
Farm Journal's Complete Pie Cookbook, by Nell B. Nichols
Echo of a Bomb, by Van Siller
The Patrol of the Sun Dance Trail, by Ralph Connor
The Coming of the Law, by Charles Alden Seltzer

I've already started Gideon's Day, the first of a 26-book series by J. J. Marric (John Creasey), but unfortunately I've already decided that it really isn't for me: too much of the unpleasantness I associate with the modern police procedural.

Coincidentally I'm just about to start on John Creasey---we'll see.

>103 lyzard: I'd be willing to try other series by Creasey, as the writing was OK. I just didn't warm to the book. I tried the Toff books (and maybe the Baron?) many years ago and didn't care for them at the time, but I'm going to have another go at some point.

103. The Postmaster, by Joseph C. Lincoln



Another enjoyable tale by Joseph C. Lincoln set in a fictional Cape Cod. This one is narrated by the protagonist, retired sea captain Zebulon Snow. In the opening, he makes two bet with his friend, the owner of the ship he had commanded. Pike wagers that the 48-year-old Snow will tire of inactivity within a year and find some business to keep himself occupied, and that within five years the lifelong bachelor will have married. Captain Snow soon loses the first bet, as he tires of a life of retirement and becomes a partner in a failing general store—one that is only boosted out of its decline, however, when help is brought on. More activity calls, and Snow eventually becomes postmaster as well (hence the title). But what about the second wager?

Recommended.

104. Dr. Sam: Johnson, Detector, by Lillian de la Torre



I often don’t care for historical mysteries, as the anachronisms get in the way of my enjoying the mystery. I found the stories collected in Lillian de la Torre’s Dr. Sam: Johnson, Detector a pleasing exception, perhaps because the author was sufficiently knowledgeable about, and sympathetic toward, her famous subject. Notes on the stories at the end of the volume indicate that most were based, more or less, on historical incidents, and that she made use of the works of Johnson’s biographer, James Boswell, too. Samuel Johnson was an imposing figure, and that carries through to these tales. I am glad there are more to read.

Recommended.

105. The Chronicle of the Czechs, by Cosmas of Prague



The foundation work of Czech history, The Chronicle of the Czechs by 12th-century deacon Cosmas of Prague provides an account of the founding and early development of Bohemia and Moravia. I hadn’t read much about that period and place (save the mentions in The Deeds of the Princes of the Poles), so it was a treat to learn more. Particularly noteworthy was Bohemia’s place within the (Holy Roman) Empire essentially from the beginning — quite different from the case of the Poles or the Hungarians, for example.

Recommended.

106. Behind the Monocle and Other Stories, by J. S. Fletcher



As someone who knows the author J. S. Fletcher as a mystery writer, I was a bit surprised to find that the stories in Behind the Monocle were largely general fiction of the sort common in weekly magazines in the first half of the twentieth century: little romances, slices of life, etc. Some did touch on crime, but many others did not. The title story, “Behind the Monocle,” was probably the strongest of the lot, but I enjoyed most of them, including the fantasy “The Flat on the Fourth Floor” and the crime story “The High Toby”; a few were a bit too sardonic for my tastes.

My copy of the book was unfortunately lacking the last pages of the last story. Luckily I was able to find its original magazine appearance online, so I wasn’t left in suspense or forced to abandon the book before finishing.

Mildly recommended.

107. The Harvester, by Gene Stratton-Porter



Gene Stratton-Porter’s The Harvester was a huge success: the No. 5 bestselling novel in the United States in 1911, the year it was published, and No. 1 in the country for 1912. The lengthy book tells the story of the romance of “the Harvester,” a young man who lives alone (save for animals) on a wooded tract and who makes a living cultivating and harvesting wild plants for use in preparing medicines, and experimenting with new compounds that may be of medical value. He falls in love with Ruth Jameson, a woman whom he first sees in a vision and whom he later encounters in the flesh. He helps her escape from a terrible situation and then seeks to win her love.

The novel is another set in Indiana near the Limberlost swamp. As with Stratton-Porter’s Freckles, the strongest parts of the work are those devoted to descriptions of nature and individual plants and animals. I don’t know that I exactly recommend the book; I liked it well enough, but I doubt I’d reread it.

>110 PaulCranswick: Thanks, Paul!

108. The Secret of Chimneys, by Agatha Christie



Anthony Cade is entrusted by a friend to carry the manuscript of the political memoirs of a recently deceased Balkan politician to a publishing house in London. He also agrees to take a collection of incriminating letters to the woman who wrote them. It soon becomes clear that others are after the memoirs, which have the potential to damage plans to restore the monarchy in the nation of “Herzoslovakia” (ugh!). At Lord Caterham’s country estate, where negotiations are to take place — and which was somehow connected with the disappearance of a famous diamond some years ago — the prospective monarch is murdered. Cade, who was on the grounds when it occurred, comes in for some suspicion. But is the suspicious young fellow the famed jewel thief said to be back in the vicinity? His past is unknown.

This was a fun romp. The twists weren’t particularly tricky, but the general lightheartedness of the proceedings made it enjoyable nonetheless. Recommended.

This thread has been continued here: http://www.librarything.com/topic/226577

>112 harrygbutler: Sorry to post this so late, but Herzoslovakia qualifies as "Ruritanian."

See the discussion HERE.

I love this sub-genre.

>114 2wonderY: Thanks, Ruth! I find the genre appealing -- I've been a big fan of The Prisoner of Zenda since first seeing Ronald Colman in the movie version many years ago (which prompted me to track down and read the book). I only got partway through Graustark, however, before bogging down; I'll eventually get back to it, I suppose.