lyzard's list: Reading many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore in 2021 - Part 1

I will be changing things up a bit in my thread-headers this year, though the topic will still be the natural world. This time I have decided to focus upon some of the world's lesser-known wild cats.

One of the few positives of 2020 was the way that many animal populations were able to thrive in the temporary absence of that particularly verminous species, Homo sapiens.

Among the year's real triumphs was the recovery and reintroduction of the Iberian lynx. This cat first became of concern to conservationists in the 1980s, when unrestricted hunting brought its numbers below 10,000; by 2002 the lynx was on the very brink of extinction, with only 94 left in the wild.

At that time a major EU-sponsored project was undertaken that involved, at first, captive breeding, and later reintroduction of the species in designated areas of Spain and later Portugal. Ongoing monitoring was undertaken both directly and via collar-tagging and remote camera set-ups.

Late in 2020, it was estimated that there are now some 855 wild lynxes.


  

Last year's thread title was taken from a relatively obscure poem by Edgar Allan Poe. It was some time later before it occurred to me that - duh - I had overlooked a perfectly apt line from Poe's most famous poem:

Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,
Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore—
    While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,
As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.
“’Tis some visitor,” I muttered, “tapping at my chamber door—
        Only this and nothing more...”

Probably no-one needs this but just in case, the full text of The Raven may be found here.

Welcome!

Please join me as I bask in that sense of unfounded optimism that always comes with the dawning of the 1st January. :D

I don't think we need to talk too much more about 2020 and its various horrors---among which, with my usual sense of proportion, I rank high being cut off from my libraries and so being unable to fall into any rhythm with my reading. Though it was a satisfactory reading year numerically, there was never a time when my OCD wasn't poking me with a pointy lack-of-planning stick.

But at the same time, there was always the sense of community and support that is the very essence of LibraryThing and of this group in particular.

Thank you to those who took the time to visit and comment---and all the more so because I was dilatory in that regard myself. I'm going to make a proper effort to do more thread visiting this year...and if I don't have anything cogent to add, at least to say 'Hi!' more often.

So please come on in and let's get things rolling! :)

******************************

Currently reading:



Lost Boy Lost Girl by Peter Straub (2003)

2021 reading:

January:

1. The Pelham Murder Case by Monte Barrett (1930)
2. Mystery At Lynden Sands by J. J. Conningtion (1928)
3. Dead Man Twice by Christopher Bush (1930)
4. Eight To Nine by R. A. J. Walling (1934)
5. The Secret Of The Old Clock by Carolyn Keene (1930)
6. The Van Diemen's Land Warriors, or The Heroes Of Cornwall by "Pindar Juvenal" (1827)
7. The Reviv'd Fugitive: A Gallant Historical Novel by Peter Belon (1690)
8. The Land Of Laughs by Jonathan Carroll (1980)
9. Patty Blossom by Carolyn Wells (1917)
10. Miracle Creek by Angie Kim (2019)
11. Fools' Gold by Dolores Hitchens (1958)
12. Beast In View by Margaret Millar (1955)
13. The Blunderer by Patricia Highsmith (1956)
14. Cause Of Death by Cyril H. Wecht with Mark Curridan and Benjamin Wecht (1993)
15. The Secret Of Terror Castle by Robert Arthur Jr (1964)

February:

16. Orley Farm by Anthony Trollope (1862)
17. The Benevent Treasure by Patricia Wentworth (1953)
18. Patty--Bride by Carolyn Wells (1918)

Books in transit:

Upcoming requests:

On interlibrary loan / branch transfer / storage / Rare Book request:
The Source by James A. Michener {ILL}
Simon The Coldheart by Georgette Heyer {Blacktown Library}
Mr Jelly's Business by Arthur Upfield {SMSA}
Blanche On The Lam by Barbara Neely {SMSA}

On loan:
Call For The Dead by John le Carré (13/02/2021)
*Miracle Creek by Angie Kim (01/03/2021)
*The Benevent Treasure by Patricia Wentworth (04/03/2021)
Lost Boy Lost Girl by Peter Straub (04/03/2021)

Potential requests:

The Picaroon Does Justice by Herman Landon {CARM}

The Wraith by Philip MacDonald {JFR}
McLean Of Scotland Yard by George Goodchild {JFR}
The Sea Mystery by Freeman Wills Crofts {JFR}

The Marquise Of O., And Other Stories by Heinrich von Kleist {Fisher storage}
Our Mr Wrenn by Sinclair Lewis {Fisher storage}
From Man To Man by Olive Schreiner {Fisher Storage - 2 volumes}

Purchased and shipped:

Ongoing reading projects:

Blog reads:
Chronobibliography: The Fugitive Reviv'd by Peter Belon
Authors In Depth:
- Forest Of Montalbano by Catherine Cuthbertson
- Shannondale (aka "The Three Beauties; or, Shannondale: A Novel") by E.D.E.N. Southworth
- Lady Audley's Secret / The White Phantom by Mary Elizabeth Braddon
- Ellesmere by Mrs Meeke
- The Cottage by Margaret Minifie
- The Old Engagement by Julia Day
- The Abbess by Frances Trollope
Reading Roulette: Pique by Frances Notley / Our Mr Wrenn by Sinclair Lewis
Australian fiction: Louisa Egerton by Mary Leman Grimstone / Alfred Dudley; or, The Australian Settlers by Sarah Porter
Gothic novel timeline: Anecdotes Of A Convent by Anonymous
Early crime fiction: The Mysteries Of London by G. W. M. Reynolds
Silver-fork novels: Sayings And Doings; or, Sketches From Life (First Series) by Theodore Hook
Related reading: Gains And Losses by Robert Lee Wollf / The Man Of Feeling by Henry Mackenzie / Le Loup Blanc by Paul Féval / Theresa Marchmont; or, The Maid Of Honour by Catherine Gore

Group / tutored reads:

NOW: Orley Farm by Anthony Trollope (thread here)

Upcoming: The 'Carlingford' series by Margaret Oliphant

General reading challenges:

America's best-selling novels (1895 - ????):
Next up: The Source by James A. Michener

Georgette Heyer: straight historical fiction:
Next up: Simon The Coldheart

Patricia Wentworth's Miss Silver series:
Next up: Poison In The Pen

Virago chronological reading project:
Next up: The Rector by Margaret Oliphant

The C.K. Shorter List of Best 100 Novels:
Next up: The Life Of Mansie Wauch by David Moir

Mystery League publications:
Next up: The Gutenberg Murders by Gwen Bristow and Bruce Manning

Banned In Boston!: (here)
Next up: From Man To Man by Olive Schreiner

The evolution of detective fiction:
Next up: The Mysteries Of London (Volume III) by G. W. M. Reynolds

Random reading 1940 - 1969:
Next up: Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh / The Foundling by Francis Spellman

Potential decommission / re-shelving:
Next up: Mind Hunter by John Douglas

Completed challenges:
- Georgette Heyer historical romances in chronological order
- Agatha Christie mysteries in chronological order
- Agatha Christie uncollected short stories

Possible future reading projects:
- Nobel Prize winners who won for fiction
- Daily Telegraph's 100 Best Novels, 1899
- James Tait Black Memorial Prize
- Berkeley "Books Of The Century"
- Collins White Circle Crime Club / Green Penguins
- Dell paperbacks
- "El Mundo" 100 best novels of the twentieth century
- 100 Best Books by American Women During the Past 100 Years, 1833-1933
- 50 Classics of Crime Fiction 1900–1950 (Jacques Barzun and Wendell Hertig Taylor)
- The Guardian's 100 Best Novels
- Life Magazine "The 100 Outstanding Books of 1924 - 1944" (Henry Seidel Canby)
- "40 Trashy Novels You Must Read Before You Die" (Flavorwire)
- best-novel lists in Wikipedia article on The Grapes Of Wrath
- Pandora 'Mothers Of The Novel'
- Newark Library list (here)
- "The Story Of Classic Crime In 100 Books" (here)
- Dean's Classics series
- "Fifty Best Australian Novels" (here)

TBR notes:

Currently 'missing' series works:

Dead Men At The Folly by John Rhode (Dr Priestley #13) {Rare Books}
The Robthorne Mystery by John Rhode (Dr Priestley #17) {Rare Books / State Library NSW, held / Internet Archive / Kindle}
Poison For One by John Rhode (Dr Priestley #18) {Rare Books / State Library NSW, held}
Shot At Dawn by John Rhode (Dr Priestley #19) {Rare Books}
The Corpse In The Car by John Rhode (Dr Priestley #20) {CARM}
Hendon's First Case by John Rhode (Dr Priestley #21) {Rare Books}
Mystery At Olympia (aka "Murder At The Motor Show") (Dr Priestley #22) {Kindle / State Library NSW, held / Internet Archive}
In Face Of The Verdict by John Rhode (Dr Priestley #24) {Rare Books / State Library NSW, held / Internet Archive}

Six Minutes Past Twelve by Gavin Holt (Luther Bastion #1) {State Library NSW, held}
The White-Faced Man by Gavin Holt (Luther Bastion #2) {State Library NSW, held}

Secret Judges by Francis D. Grierson (Sims and Wells #2) {Rare Books}

The Platinum Cat by Miles Burton (Desmond Merrion #17 / Inspector Arnold #18) {Rare Books}

The Double-Thirteen Mystery by Anthony Wynne (Dr Eustace Hailey #2) {Rare Books}

The Black Death by Moray Dalton {CARM}

1931:

The Wraith by Philip MacDonald {State Library NSW, JFR}
McLean Of Scotland Yard by George Goodchild {State Library NSW, JFR}

The Rum Row Murders by Charles Reed Jones {Rare Books}
The Murder Rehearsal by B. G. Quin {Rare Books}
Unsolved by Bruce Graeme {Rare Books}

The Picaroon Does Justice by Herman Landon {CARM}
The Crooked Lip by Herbert Adams {Rare Books / CARM}

The Matilda Hunter Murder by Harry Stephen Keeler {Kindle}

Death By Appointment by "Francis Bonnamy" (Audrey Walz) (Peter Utley Shane #1) {Rare Books}
The Click Of The Gate by Alice Campbell (Tommy Rostetter #1) {CARM}
The Bell Street Murders by Sydney Fowler (S. Fowler Wright) (Inspector Cambridge and Mr Jellipot #1) {Rare Books}
The Murderer Returns by Edwin Dial Torgerson (Pierre Montigny #1) {Rare Books}

Storm by Charles Rodda {National Library, ILL?}

NB: Rest of 1931 listed on the Wiki

Series back-reading:

The Red-Haired Girl by Carolyn Wells {Rare Books}
Invisible Death by Brian Flynn {Kindle}
Murder At Fenwold (aka "The Death Of Cosmo Revere") by Christopher Bush {Kindle}
The Clifford Affair by A. Fielding {Kindle / Roy Glashan's Library}
Burglars In Bucks by George and Margaret Cole {Fisher Library}
The Case With Nine Solutions by J. J. Connington {HathiTrust / Kindle}
Poison by Lee Thayer {AbeBooks / Amazon}

Completist reading:

Sing Sing Nights by Harry Stephen Keeler (#4) {CARM / Kindle}
XYZ by Anna Katharine Green (#5) {Project Gutenberg}
The Window At The White Cat by Mary Roberts Rinehart (#4) {Project Gutenberg}
The White Cockatoo by Mignon Eberhart {Rare Books}

Unavailable / expensive:

The Amber Junk (aka The Riddle Of The Amber Ship) by Hazel Phillips Hanshew (Cleek #9)
The Hawkmoor Mystery by W. H. Lane Crauford
The Double Thumb by Francis Grierson (Sims and Wells #3)
The Shadow Of Evil by Charles J. Dutton (Harley Manners #2)
The Seventh Passenger by Alice MacGowan and Perry Newberry (Jerry Boyne #4)
The Hanging Woman by John Rhode (Dr Priestley #11)

A Century (And A Bit) Of Reading:

A book a year from 1800 - 1900!

1800: Juliania; or, The Affectionate Sisters by Elizabeth Sandham
1801: Belinda by Maria Edgeworth
1802: The Infidel Father by Jane West
1803: Thaddeus Of Warsaw by Jane Porter
1804: The Lake Of Killarney by Anna Maria Porter
1805: The Impenetrable Secret, Find It Out! by Francis Lathom
1806: The Wild Irish Girl by Sydney Owenson
1807: Corinne; ou, l'Italie by Madame de Staël
1809: The Scottish Chiefs by Jane Porter
1812: The Absentee by Maria Edgeworth
1814: The Wanderer; or, Female Difficulties by Frances Burney
1815: Headlong Hall by Thomas Love Peacock
1820: The Sketch Book Of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent. by Washington Irving
1821: The Ayrshire Legatees; or, The Pringle Family by John Galt / Valerius: A Roman Story by J. G. Lockhart / Kenilworth by Walter Scott
1822: Bracebridge Hall; or, The Humorists by Washington Irving
1823: The Two Broken Hearts by Catherine Gore
1824: The Adventures Of Hajji Baba Of Ispahan by James Justinian Morier
1826: Lichtenstein by Wilhelm Hauff / The Last Of The Mohicans by James Fenimore Cooper
1827: The Epicurean by Thomas Moore / The Betrothed by Alessandro Manzoni
1829: Wilhelm Meister's Travels by Johann Goethe / The Collegians by Gerald Griffin / Louisa Egerton; or, Castle Herbert by Mary Leman Grimstone
1830: Alfred Dudley; or, The Australian Settlers by Sarah Porter
1832: The Refugee In America by Frances Trollope
1836: The Tree And Its Fruits; or, Narratives From Real Life by Phoebe Hinsdale Brown
1845: Zoe: The History Of Two Lives by Geraldine Jewsbury / The Mysteries Of London (Volume I) by G. W. M. Reynolds
1846: The Mysteries Of London (Volume II) by G. W. M. Reynolds
1847: Agnes Grey by Anne Brontë / The Macdermots Of Ballycloran by Anthony Trollope / The Mysteries Of London: Volume III by G. W. M. Reynolds
1848: The Kellys And The O'Kellys by Anthony Trollope
1850: Pique by Sarah Stickney Ellis
1851: The Mother-In-Law; or, The Isle Of Rays by E.D.E.N. Southworth
1857: The Three Clerks by Anthony Trollope
1859: The Semi-Detached House by Emily Eden / The Bertrams by Anthony Trollope
1860: The Semi-Attached Couple by Emily Eden / Castle Richmond by Anthony Trollope
1862: Orley Farm by Anthony Trollope
1863: Marian Grey; or, The Heiress Of Redstone Hall by Mary Jane Holmes
1869: He Knew He Was Right by Anthony Trollope
1873: Had You Been In His Place by Lizzie Bates
1874: Chaste As Ice, Pure As Snow by Charlotte Despard
1877: Elsie's Children by Martha Finley
1880: The Duke's Children: First Complete Edition by Anthony Trollope / Elsie's Widowhood by Martha Finley
1881: Ghosts by Henrik Ibsen / The Beautiful Wretch by William Black
1882: Grandmother Elsie by Martha Finley
1883: Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson / Elsie's New Relations by Martha Finley
1884: Elsie At Nantucket by Martha Finley
1885: The Two Elsies by Martha Finley / Two Broken Hearts by Robert R. Hoes
1886: Elsie's Kith And Kin by Martha Finley
1887: Elsie's Friends At Woodburn by Martha Finley
1888: Christmas With Grandma Elsie by Martha Finley
1889: Under False Pretences by Adeline Sergeant
1892: The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman
1894: Martin Hewitt, Investigator by Arthur Morrison / The Great God Pan by Arthur Machen
1895: Chronicles Of Martin Hewitt by Arthur Morrison
1896: The Island Of Dr Moreau by H. G. Wells / Adventures Of Martin Hewitt by Arthur Morrison
1897: Penelope's Progress by Kate Douglas Wiggin
1898: A Man From The North by Arnold Bennett / The Lust Of Hate by Guy Newell Boothby
1899: Agatha Webb by Anna Katharine Green / Dr Nikola's Experiment by Guy Newell Boothby
1900: The Circular Study by Anna Katharine Green

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); Tales Of Hoffmann (1982)
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 by Paul Feval (1844)
The Mysteries Of London by George Reynolds (1844 - 1848)
- The Mysteries Of London: Volume I
- The Mysteries Of London: Volume II
- The Mysteries Of London: Volume III
- The Mysteries Of London: Volume IV
The Mysteries Of The Court Of London by 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)
Ruth The Betrayer; or, The Female Spy by Edward Ellis (!862-1863)
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)
When The Sea Gives Up Its Dead by Elizaberth Burgoyne Corbett (Mrs George Corbett)
Dorcas Dene, Detective by George Sims (1897)
- Amelia Butterworth series by Anna Katharine Grant (1897 - 1900)
Hagar Of The Pawn-Shop by Fergus Hume (1898)
The Adventures Of A Lady Pearl-Broker by Beatrice Heron-Maxwell (1899)
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)
Miss Madelyn Mack, Detective by Hugh C. Weir (1914)

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

Series and sequels, 1866 - 1919:

(1866 - 1876) **Emile Gaboriau - Monsieur Lecoq - The Widow Lerouge (1/6) {ManyBooks}
(1878 - 1917) **Anna Katharine Green - Ebenezer Gryce - The Mystery Of The Hasty Arrow (13/13)
(1896 - 1909) **Melville Davisson Post - Randolph Mason - The Corrector Of Destinies (3/3)
(1894 - 1903) **Arthur Morrison - Martin Hewitt - The Red Triangle (4/4)
(1895 - 1901) **Guy Newell Boothby - Dr Nikola - Farewell, Nikola (5/5)
(1897 - 1900) **Anna Katharine Green - Amelia Butterworth - The Circular Study (3/3)
(1899 - 1917) **Anna Katharine Green - Caleb Sweetwater - The Mystery Of The Hasty Arrow (7/7)
(1899 - 1909) **E. W. Hornung - Raffles - Mr Justice Raffles (4/4)
(1900 - 1974) Ernest Bramah - Kai Lung - Kai Lung: Six / Kai Lung Raises His Voice (7/7)

(1903 - 1904) **Louis Tracy - Reginald Brett - The Albert Gate Mystery (2/2)
(1905 - 1925) **Baroness Orczy - The Old Man In The Corner - Unravelled Knots (3/3)}
(1905 - 1928) **Edgar Wallace - The Just Men - Again The Three Just Men (6/6)
(1907 - 1942) R. Austin Freeman - Dr John Thorndyke - The Jacob Street Mystery (26/26)
(1907 - 1941) *Maurice Leblanc - Arsene Lupin - 813 (4/21) {ManyBooks}
(1909 - 1942) *Carolyn Wells - Fleming Stone - The Red-Haired Girl (21/49) {Rare Books}
(1909 - 1929) *J. S. Fletcher - Inspector Skarratt - Marchester Royal (1/3) {Kindle}
(1910 - 1936) *Arthur B. Reeve - Craig Kennedy - The Adventuress (10/24) {Kindle / Internet Archive}
(1910 - 1946) A. E. W. Mason - Inspector Hanaud - The House In Lordship Lane (7/7)
(1910 - 1917) Edgar Wallace - Inspector Smith - Kate Plus Ten (3/3)
(1910 - 1930) **Edgar Wallace - Inspector Elk - The Twister (4/6) {Roy Glashan's Library}
(1910 - 1932) *Thomas, Mary and Hazel Hanshew - Cleek - The Amber Junk (9/12) {AbeBooks}
(1910 - 1918) **John McIntyre - Ashton-Kirk - Ashton-Kirk: Criminologist (4/4)
(1910 - 1928) **Louis Tracy - Winter and Furneaux - The Postmaster's Daughter (5/9) {Project Gutenberg}

(1911 - 1935) G. K. Chesterton - Father Brown - The Scandal Of Father Brown (5/5)
(1911 - 1940) *Bertram Atkey - Smiler Bunn - The Smiler Bunn Brigade (2/10) {rare, expensive}
(1912 - 1919) **Gordon Holmes (Louis Tracy) - Steingall and Clancy - The Bartlett Mystery (3/3)
(1913 - 1973) Sax Rohmer - Fu-Manchu - President Fu Manchu (8/14) {fadedpage.com}
(1913 - 1952) *Jeffery Farnol - Jasper Shrig - The High Adventure (4/9) {State Library NSW, JFR / Rare Books}
(1914 - 1950) Mary Roberts Rinehart - Hilda Adams - Episode Of The Wandering Knife (5/5)
(1914 - 1934) Ernest Bramah - Max Carrados - The Bravo Of London (5/5)
(1915 - 1936) *John Buchan - Richard Hannay - The Thirty-Nine Steps (1/5) {Fisher Library / Project Gutenberg / branch transfer / Kindle}
(1916 - 1917) **Carolyn Wells - Alan Ford - Faulkner's Folly (2/2) {owned}
(1916 - 1927) **Natalie Sumner Lincoln - Inspector Mitchell - The Nameless Man (2/10) {AbeBooks}
(1916 - 1917) **Nevil Monroe Hopkins - Mason Brant - The Strange Cases Of Mason Brant (1/2) {Coachwhip Books}
(1918 - 1923) **Carolyn Wells - Pennington Wise - The Vanishing Of Betty Varian (6/8) {Project Gutenberg}
(1918 - 1939) Valentine Williams - The Okewood Brothers - The Spider's Touch (6/?) {Roy Glashan's Library}
(1918 - 1944) Valentine Williams - Clubfoot - The Spider's Touch (7/8) {Roy Glashan's Library}
(1918 - 1950) *Wyndham Martyn - Anthony Trent - The Mysterious Mr Garland (3/26) {CARM}
(1919 - 1966) *Lee Thayer - Peter Clancy - Poison (7/60) {AbeBooks / Amazon}
(1919 - 1922) **Octavus Roy Cohen - David Carroll - Gray Dusk (3/4) {ManyBooks}

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

Series and sequels, 1920 - 1927:

(1920 - 1948) *H. C. Bailey - Reggie Fortune - Mr Fortune Wonders (8/23) {Internet Archive / State Library NSW, JFR}
(1920 - 1975) Agatha Christie - Hercule Poirot - Curtain (38/38)
(1920 - 1921) **Natalie Sumner Lincoln - Ferguson - The Unseen Ear (2/2)
(1920 - 1937) *"Sapper" (H. C. McNeile) - Bulldog Drummond - The Third Round (3/10 - series continued) {Roy Glashan's Library}

(1921 - 1929) **Charles J. Dutton - John Bartley - Streaked With Crimson (9/9)
(1921 - 1925) **Herman Landon - The Gray Phantom - Gray Magic (5/5)

(1922 - 1973) Agatha Christie - Tommy and Tuppence - Postern Of Fate (5/5)
(1922 - 1927) *Alice MacGowan and Perry Newberry - Jerry Boyne - The Seventh Passenger (4/5) {Amazon}
(1922 - 1931) Valentine Williams - Inspector Manderton - Death Answers The Bell (4/4)

(1923 - 1937) Dorothy L. Sayers - Lord Peter Wimsey - In The Teeth Of The Evidence (14/14)
(1923 - 1924) **Carolyn Wells - Lorimer Lane - The Fourteenth Key (2/2)
(1923 - 1927) Annie Haynes - Inspector Furnival - The Crow's Inn Tragedy (3/3)

(1924 - 1959) Philip MacDonald - Colonel Anthony Gethryn - The Wraith (6/24) {ILL / JFR}
(1924 - 1957) *Freeman Wills Crofts - Inspector French - The Sea Mystery (4/30) {Rare Books / State Library NSW, JFR / ILL / Kindle}
(1924 - 1935) * / ***Francis D. Grierson - Inspector Sims and Professor Wells - The Smiling Death (6/13) {AbeBooks, expensive}
(1924 - 1940) *Lynn Brock - Colonel Gore - The Dagwort Coombe Murder (5/12) {Kindle}
(1924 - 1933) *Herbert Adams - Jimmie Haswell - The Crooked Lip (2/9) {Rare Books}
(1924 - 1944) *A. Fielding - Inspector Pointer - The Clifford Affair (4/23) {Roy Glashan's Library}
(1924 - 1936) *Hulbert Footner - Madame Storey - The Casual Murderer (8/14) {Roy Glashan's Library}

(1925 - 1961) ***John Rhode - Dr Priestley - Dead Men At The Folly (13/72) {Rare Books}
(1925 - 1953) *G. D. H. Cole / M. Cole - Superintendent Wilson - Burglars In Bucks (aka "The Berkshire Mystery") (7/?) {Fisher Library}
(1925 - 1932) Earl Derr Biggers - Charlie Chan - Keeper Of The Keys (6/6)
(1925 - 1944) Agatha Christie - Superintendent Battle - Towards Zero (5/5)
(1925 - 1934) *Anthony Berkeley - Roger Sheringham - The Second Shot (6/10) {academic loan / Rare Books}
(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 / Amazon}
(1925 - 1929) **Will Scott - Will Disher - Disher--Detective (aka "The Black Stamp") (1/3) {AbeBooks, expensive}
(1925 - 1927) **Francis Beeding - Professor Kreutzemark - The Hidden Kingdom (2/2)

(1926 - 1968) *Christopher Bush - Ludovic Travers - Murder At Fenwold (aka "The Death Of Cosmo Revere") (4/63) {Kindle / Rare Books}
(1926 - 1939) S. S. Van Dine - Philo Vance - The Kennel Murder Case (6/12) {fadedpage.com}
(1926 - 1952) J. Jefferson Farjeon - Ben the Tramp - Ben Sees It Through (4/8) {interlibrary loan / Kindle}
(1926 - ????) *G. D. H. Cole / M. Cole - Everard Blatchington - Burglars In Bucks (aka "The Berkshire Mystery") (2/6) {Fisher Library}
(1926 - ????) *Arthur Gask - Gilbert Larose - The Dark Highway (2/27) {University of Adelaide / Project Gutenberg Australia / mobilereads}
(1926 - 1931) *Aidan de Brune - Dr Night - Dr Night (1/3) {Roy Glashan's Library}
(1926 - 1931) * / ***R. Francis Foster - Anthony Ravenhill - Anthony Ravenhill, Crime Merchant (1/?) {expensive}

(1927 - 1933) *Herman Landon - The Picaroon - The Picaroon Does Justice (2/7) {Book Searchers / CARM}
(1927 - 1932) *Anthony Armstrong - Jimmie Rezaire - The Trail Of The Lotto (3/5) {CARM / AbeBooks}
(1927 - 1937) *Ronald Knox - Miles Bredon - The Body In The Silo (3/5) {Kindle / Rare Books}
(1927 - 1958) *Brian Flynn - Anthony Bathurst - Invisible Death (6/54) {Kindle}
(1927 - 1947) *J. J. Connington - Sir Clinton Driffield - The Case With Nine Solutions (4/17) {Rare Books / Kindle / mobilereads}
(1927 - 1935) *Anthony Gilbert (Lucy Malleson) - Scott Egerton - Mystery Of The Open Window (4/10) {Rare Books}
(1927 - 1932) *William Morton (aka William Blair Morton Ferguson) - Kirker Cameron and Daniel "Biff" Corrigan - Masquerade (1/4) {expensive}
(1927 - 1929) **George Dilnot - Inspector Strickland - The Crooks' Game (1/2) {AbeBooks / Amazon}
(1927 - 1949) **Dornford Yates - Richard Chandos - Blood Royal (3/8) {State Library, JFR / Kindle*}

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

Series and sequels, 1928 - 1930:

(1928 - 1961) Patricia Wentworth - Miss Silver - Poison In The Pen (27/33) {SMSA / fadedpage.com}
(1928 - 1936) *Gavin Holt - Luther Bastion - The Garden Of Silent Beasts (5/17) {academic loan / State Library NSW, held}
(1928 - 1936) Kay Cleaver Strahan - Lynn MacDonald - The Meriwether Mystery (5/7) {Kindle}
(1928 - 1937) John Alexander Ferguson - Francis McNab - The Grouse Moor Murder (3/5) {HathiTrust}
(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 - The Black Joss (2/53) {State Library NSW, held}
(1928 - 1935) *Roland Daniel - Wu Fang / Inspector Saville - Wu Fang (2/6) {expensive}
(1928 - 1946) *Francis Beeding - Alistair Granby - Pretty Sinister (2/18) {academic loan}
(1928 - 1930) **Annie Haynes - Inspector Stoddart - The Crystal Beads Murder (4/4)
(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 - The Case Of The Late Pig (8/35) {interlibrary loan / Kindle / fadedpage.com}
(1929 - 1984) Gladys Mitchell - Mrs Bradley - The Devil At Saxon Wall (6/67) {interlibrary loan / Kindle}
(1929 - 1937) Patricia Wentworth - Benbow Smith - Down Under (4/4)
(1929 - ????) Mignon Eberhart - Nurse Sarah Keate - Dead Yesterday And Other Stories (6/8) (NB: multiple Eberhart characters) {expensive / limited edition} / Wolf In Man's Clothing (7/8) {Rare Books / Kindle}
(1929 - ????) Moray Dalton - Inspector Collier - The Belgrave Manor Crime (5/14) {Kindle}
(1929 - ????) * / ***Charles Reed Jones - Leighton Swift - The King Murder (1/?) {AbeBooks}
(1929 - 1931) Carolyn Wells - Kenneth Carlisle - The Skeleton At The Feast (3/3) {Kindle}
(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 / re-check Kindle}
(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 - Mr Jelly's Business (4/29) {Fisher Library / SMSA / Blacktown Library}
(1929 - 1937) *Anthony Berkeley - Ambrose Chitterwick - The Piccadilly Murder (2/3) {interlibrary loan}
(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) {Rare Books}
(1929 - 1943) *Gret Lane - Kate Clare Marsh and Inspector Barrin - The Cancelled Score Mystery (1/9) {Kindle}
(1929 - 1961) Henry Holt - Inspector Silver - The Necklace Of Death (3/16) {Rare Books}
(1929 - 1930) **J. J. Connington - Superintendent Ross - The Two Tickets Puzzle (2/2)
(1929 - 1941) *H. Maynard Smith - Inspector Frost - Inspector Frost In The City (2/7) {Kindle}
(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)
(1929 - 1940) *Rufus King - Lieutenant Valcour - Murder By The Clock (1/11) {AbeBooks, omnibus / Kindle}
(1929 - 1933) *Will Levinrew (Will Levine) - Professor Brierly - For Sale - Murder (4/5) {AbeBooks}
(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 - The Shadow Of Evil (2/6) {expensive}
(1929 - 1932) Thomas Cobb - Inspector Bedison - Who Closed The Casement? (4/4)
(1929 - ????) * J. C. Lenehan - Inspector Kilby - The Tunnel Mystery (1/?) {Kindle}
(1929 - 1936) *Robin Forsythe - Anthony Algernon Vereker - Missing Or Murdered (1/5) {Kindle}
(1929 - 1931) */***David Frome (Zenith Jones Brown) - Major Gregory Lewis - The Murder Of An Old Man (1/3) {rare, expensive}

(1930 - ????) Moray Dalton - Hermann Glide - The Strange Case Of Harriet Hall (4/?) {Kindle}
(1930 - 1960) ***Miles Burton - Desmond Merrion - The Platinum Cat (17/57) {Rare Books}
(1930 - 1960) ***Miles Burton - Inspector Henry Arnold - The Platinum Cat (18/57) {Rare Books}
(1930 - 1933) Roger Scarlett - Inspector Kane - Murder Among The Angells (4/5) {expensive}
(1930 - 1941) *Harriette Ashbrook - Philip "Spike" Tracy - The Murder Of Sigurd Sharon (3/7) {Kindle / Rare Books}
(1930 - 1943) Anthony Abbot - Thatcher Colt - About The Murder Of The Night Club Lady (3/8) {AbeBooks / serialised}
(1930 - ????) ***David Sharp - Professor Fielding - I, The Criminal (4/?) {unavailable?}
(1930 - 1950) *H. C. Bailey - Josiah Clunk - Garstons (aka The Garston Murder Case) (1/11) {HathiTrust}
(1930 - 1968) *Francis Van Wyck Mason - Hugh North - The Vesper Service Murders (2/41) {Kindle}
(1930 - 1976) Agatha Christie - Miss Jane Marple - Miss Marple's Final Cases (14/14)
(1930 - 1939) Anne Austin - James "Bonnie" Dundee - Murdered But Not Dead (5/5)
(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) {Amazon / Abebooks}
(1930 - 1962) *Helen Reilly - Inspector Christopher McKee - The Diamond Feather (1/31) {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 Nation's Missing Guest (3/10) {CARM}
(1930 - 1933) *Monte Barrett - Peter Cardigan - Murder Off Stage (2/4) {Amazon}
(1930 - 1931) Vernon Loder - Inspector Brews - Death Of An Editor (2/2)
(1930 - 1931) *Roland Daniel - John Hopkins - The Rosario Murder Case (1/2) {unavailable?}
(1930 - 1961) *Mark Cross ("Valentine", aka Archibald Thomas Pechey) - Daphne Wrayne and her Four Adjusters - The Adjusters (1/53) {rare, expensive}
(1930 - ????) *Elaine Hamilton - Inspector Reynolds - Some Unknown Hand (aka "The Westminster Mystery") (1/?) {Kindle}
(1930 - 1932) *J. S. Fletcher - Sergeant Charlesworth - The Borgia Cabinet (1/2) {fadedpage.com / Kindle}
(1930 - ????) *Carolyn Keene - Nancy Drew - The Hidden Staircase (2/?) {fadedpage.com}

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

Series and sequels, 1931 - 1955:

(1931 - 1940) Bruce Graeme - Superintendent Stevens and Pierre Allain - Satan's Mistress (4/8) {expensive / National Library of Australia, missing??}
(1931 - 1951) Phoebe Atwood Taylor - Asey Mayo - The Tinkling Symbol (6/24) {Rare Books / academic loan}
(1931 - 1955) Stuart Palmer - Hildegarde Withers - Murder On The Blackboard (3/18) {Kindle / Internet Archive, borrow}
(1931 - 1933) Sydney Fowler - Inspector Cleveland - Arresting Delia (4/4)
(1931 - 1934) J. H. Wallis - Inspector Wilton Jacks - The Capital City Mystery (2/6) {Rare Books}
(1931 - ????) Paul McGuire - Inspector Cummings - Daylight Murder (aka "Murder At High Noon") (3/5) {academic loan / State Library NSW, held}
(1931 - ????) Carlton Dawe - Leathermouth - Crumpled Lilies (3/??) {Trove}
(1931 - 1947) R. L. Goldman - Asaph Clume and Rufus Reed - Murder Without Motive (2/6) {Wildside Press}
(1931 - 1959) ***E. C. R. Lorac (Edith Caroline Rivett) - Inspector Robert Macdonald - The Murder On The Burrows (1/46) {rare, expensive}
(1931 - 1935) Clifton Robbins - Clay Harrison - Methylated Murder (5/5)
(1931 - 1972) Georges Simenon - Inspector Maigret - Chez les Flamands (14/75) {ILL}
(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 The Squire's Pew (3/11) {Kindle / State Library NSW, held}
(1931 - 1933) Edwin Dial Torgerson - Sergeant Pierre Montigny - The Murderer Returns (1/2) {Rare Books)
(1931 - 1933) Molly Thynne - Dr Constantine and Inspector Arkwright - Death In The Dentist's Chair (2/3) {Kindle}
(1931 - 1935) Valentine Williams - Sergeant Trevor Dene - The Clue Of The Rising Moon (4/4)
(1931 - 1942) Patricia Wentworth - Frank Garrett - Pursuit Of A Parcel (5/5)
(1931 - 1931) Frances Shelley Wees - Michael Forrester and Tuck Torrie - The Mystery Of The Creeping Man (2/2)

(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 - The Five Suspects (5/22) {Kindle / Rare Books}
(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) {Kindle / Rare Books}
(1932 - 1944) Nicholas Brady (John Victor Turner) - Ebenezer Buckle - The House Of Strange Guests (1/4) {Kindle}
(1932 - 1933) Barnaby Ross (aka Ellery Queen) - Drury Lane - Drury Lane's Last Case (4/4) {AbeBooks}
(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}
(1932 - 1934) Paul McGuire - Inspector Fillinger - The Tower Mystery (aka Death Tolls The Bell) (1/5) {Rare Books / State Library, held}
(1932 - 1946) Roland Daniel - Inspector Pearson - The Crackswoman (1/6) {unavailable?}
(1932 - 1951) Sydney Horler - Tiger Standish - Tiger Standish (1/11) {Rare Books}

(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 - 1934) Jackson Gregory - Paul Savoy - A Case For Mr Paul Savoy (1/3) {AbeBooks / Rare Books}
(1933 - 1957) John Creasey - Department Z - The Death Miser (1/28) {State Library NSW, held}
(1933 - 1940) Bruce Graeme - Superintendent Stevens - Body Unknown (2/2) {expensive}
(1933 - 1952) Wyndham Martyn - Christopher Bond - Christopher Bond, Adventurer (1/8) {rare}
(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 - 1953) Leslie Ford (Zenith Jones Brown) - Colonel Primrose - The Strangled Witness (1/17) {Rare Books}
(1934 - 1975) Rex Stout - Nero Wolfe - Fer-de-Lance (1/?) {Rare Books / State Library NSW, JFR / Kindle}
(1934 - 1935) Vernon Loder - Inspector Chace - Murder From Three Angles (1/2) {Kindle / ????}
(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 - 1940) George Bell Dyer - The Catalyst Club - The Catalyst Club (1/3) {AbeBooks}
(1936 - 1956) Theodora Du Bois - Anne and Jeffrey McNeil - Armed With A New Terror (1/19) {unavailable?}
(1936 - 1945) Charles Kingston - Chief Inspector Wake - Murder In Piccadilly (1/7) {Kindle}
(1937 - 1953) Leslie Ford (Zenith Jones Brown) - Grace Latham - Ill Met By Moonlight (1/16) {Kindle}
(1938 - 1944) Zelda Popkin - Mary Carner - Death Wears A White Gardenia (1/6) {Kindle}
(1938 - 1939) D. B. Olsen (Dolores Hitchens) - Lt. Stephen Mayhew - The Clue In The Clay (1/2) {expensive}
(1939 - 1942) Patricia Wentworth - Inspector Lamb - The Ivory Dagger (11/?) {fadedpage.com}
(1939 - 1940) Clifton Robbins - George Staveley - Six Sign-Post Murder (1/2) {Biblio / rare}
(1939 - 1956) D. B. Olsen (Dolores Hitchens) - Rachel Murdock - The Cat Saw Murder (1/12) {expensive}
(1940 - 1943) Bruce Graeme - Pierre Allain - The Corporal Died In Bed (1/3) {unavailable?}
(1941 - 1951) Bruce Graeme - Theodore I. Terhune - Seven Clues In Search Of A Crime (1/7) {unavailable?}
(1945 - 1952) D. B. Olsen (Dolores Hitchens) - Professor Pennyfeather - Bring The Bride A Shroud (aka "A Shroud For The Bride") (1/6) {National Library}
(1947 - 1953) Michael Gilbert - Inspector Hazelrigg - They Never Looked Inside (2/6) {State Library NSW, JFR}
(1955 - 1991) Patricia Highsmith - Tom Ripley - Ripley Under Ground (2/5) {interlibrary loan / Kindle}
(1957 - 1993) Chester B. Himes - The Harlem Cycle - For Love Of Imabelle (aka "A Rage In Harlem") (1/9) {interlibrary loan / Kindle}
(1961 - 2017) - John le Carré - George Smiley - Call For The Dead (1/9) {Fisher Library / Blacktown Library}
(1964 - 1987) Robert Arthur Jr (and others) - The Three Investigators - The Mystery Of The Stuttering Parrot (2/43) {freebooklover}

*** Incompletely available series

Non-crime series and sequels:

(1867 - 1905) **Martha Finley - Elsie Dinsmore - Elsie And The Raymonds (15/28) {Internet Archive}
(1867 - 1872) **George MacDonald - The Seaboard Parish - Annals Of A Quiet Neighbourhood (1/3) {ManyBooks}
(1893 - 1915) **Kate Douglas Wiggins - Penelope - Penelope's Postscripts (4/4)
(1894 - 1898) **Anthony Hope - Ruritania - Rupert Of Hentzau (3/3)
(1898 - 1918) **Arnold Bennett - Five Towns - Tales Of The Five Towns (3/11) {Fisher storage / Project Gutenberg / Internet Archive}

(1901 - 1919) **Carolyn Wells - Patty Fairfield - Patty And Azalea (17/17) {Project Gutenberg}
(1901 - 1927) **George Barr McCutcheon - Graustark - Beverly Of Graustark (2/6) {Project Gutenberg}
(1906 - 1930) **John Galsworthy - The Forsyte Saga - The Silver Spoon (8/12) {Sutherland stack / fadedpage.com}
(1907 - 1912) **Carolyn Wells - Marjorie - Marjorie's Vacation (1/6) {ManyBooks}
(1908 - 1924) **Margaret Penrose - Dorothy Dale - Dorothy Dale: A Girl Of Today (1/13) {ManyBooks}
(1909 - 1912) **Emerson Hough - Western Trilogy - 54-40 Or Fight (1/3) {Project Gutenberg}
(1910 - 1931) Grace S. Richmond - Red Pepper Burns - Red Pepper Returns (6/6)
(1910 - 1933) Jeffery Farnol - The Vibarts - The Way Beyond (3/3) {Fisher Library storage / fadedpage.com}

(1911 - 1937) Mary Roberts Rinehart - Letitia Carberry - Tish Marches On (5/5)
(1911 - 1919) **Alfred Bishop Mason - Tom Strong - Tom Strong, Lincoln's Scout (5/5)
(1913 - 1934) *Alice B. Emerson - Ruth Fielding - Ruth Fielding In The Far North (20/30) {expensive}
(1916 - 1941) John Buchan - Edward Leithen - Sick Heart River (5/5)
(1915 - 1923) **Booth Tarkington - Growth - The Magnificent Ambersons (2/3) {Project Gutenberg / Fisher Library / Kindle}
(1917 - 1929) **Henry Handel Richardson - Dr Richard Mahony - Australia Felix (1/3) {Fisher Library / Kindle}

(1920 - 1939) E. F. Benson - Mapp And Lucia - Trouble For Lucia (6/6)
(1920 - 1952) William McFee - Spenlove - The Adopted - (7/7)
(1920 - 1932) *Alice B. Emerson - Betty Gordon - Betty Gordon At Bramble Farm (1/15) {ManyBooks}
(1923 - 1931) *Agnes Miller - The Linger-Nots - The Linger-Nots And The Secret Maze (5/5) {unavailable}
(1924 - 1928) **Ford Madox Ford - Parade's End - No More Parades (2/4) {ebook}
(1926 - 1936) *Margery Lawrence - The Round Table - Nights Of The Round Table (1/2) {Kindle}
(1927 - 1960) **Mazo de la Roche - Jalna - Jalna (1/16) {State Library NSW, JFR / fadedpage.com}

(1928 - ????) Trygve Lund - Weston of the Royal North-West Mounted Police - The Vanished Prospector (6/9) {AbeBooks}
(1929 - 1931) *Ernest Raymond - Once In England - A Family That Was (1/3) {State Library NSW, interlibrary loan}

(1930 - 1932) Hugh Walpole - The Herries Chronicles - Vanessa (4/4)
(1930 - 1932) Faith Baldwin - The Girls Of Divine Corners - Myra: A Story Of Divine Corners (4/4)
(1930 - 1940) E. M. Delafield - The Provincial Lady - The Provincial Lady In Wartime (4/4)

(1931 - 1951) Olive Higgins Prouty - The Vale Novels - Fabia (5/5)
(1931 - 1934) T. S. Stribling - The Vaiden Trilogy - The Store (2/3) {Internet Archive / academic loan / State Library, held}
(1931 - 1935) Pearl S. Buck - The House Of Earth - A House Divided (3/3)
(1932 - 1932) Lizette M. Edholm - The Merriweather Girls - The Merriweather Girls At Good Old Rockhill (4/4) {HathiTrust}
(1932 - 1952) D. E. Stevenson - Mrs Tim - Mrs Tim Flies Home (5/5) {interlibrary loan}

(1933 - 1970) Dennis Wheatley - Duke de Richlieu - The Forbidden Territory (1/11) {Fisher Library}
(1934 - 1936) Storm Jameson - The Mirror In Darkness - Company Parade (1/3) {Fisher Library}
(1934 - 1968) Dennis Wheatley - Gregory Sallust - Black August (1/11) {interlibrary loan / omnibus}
(1936 - 1952) Helen Dore Boylston - Sue Barton - Sue Barton, Student Nurse (1/7) {interlibrary loan}

(1947 - 1974) Dennis Wheatley - Roger Brook - The Launching Of Roger Brook (1/12) {Fisher Library storage}
(1948 - 1971) E. V. Timms - The Gubbys - Forever To Remain (1/12) {Fisher Library / interlibrary loan}
(1953 - 1960) Dennis Wheatley - Molly Fountain and Colonel Verney - To The Devil A Daughter (1/2) {Fisher Library storage}
(1955 - 1956) D. E. Stevenson - The Ayrton Family - Summerhills (2/2) {interlibrary loan}

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

Unavailable series works:

John Rhode - Dr Priestley
The Hanging Woman (#11)

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

Louis Tracy - Winter and Furneaux
The Park Lane Mystery (#6)

Moray Dalton - Inspector Collier
The Harvest Of Tares (#4)

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

Francis D. Grierson - Inspector Sims and Professor Wells
The Double Thumb (#3)

Roger Scarlett - Inspector Kane {NB: Now available in paperback, but expensive}
Murder Among The Angells (#4)
In The First Degree (#5)

Charles J. Dutton - Harley Manners
The Shadow Of Evil (#2)

Alfred Bishop Mason - Tom Strong
Tom Strong, Boy-Captain (#2)
Tom Strong, Junior (#3)
Tom Strong, Third (#4)

Roland Daniel - Wu Fang
The Society Of The Spiders (#1)

Agnes Miller - The Linger-Nots
The Linger-Nots And The Secret Maze (#5)

Books currently on loan:

  

Reading projects:

Blog:

        

        

Other projects:

        

        

Group read news:

Like so much else, our group projects fell apart towards the back end of 2020, but hopefully we can get them moving again in this new year.

I would like to make a start with Anthony Trollope's Orley Farm. From my own point of view I would be happy to schedule this for February, but if you would like to participate but this isn't convenient, please let me know.

Our second project is the Virago reads, which should mean the 'Carlingford' books of Margaret Oliphant. As these vary in nature, and there is some debate about 'order', I thought it would be better to push them back a little. If Orley Farm goes well I would like to make a start with these in April, but again I'm open to persuasion.

Otherwise, if anyone has a particular book that they would like to undertake as a group read, please feel free to make the suggestion.

...and though the touchstones fought me every inch of the way, I think that's finally it.

Welcome, everyone!

Howdy! You gave me a bit of a start when I saw you listed The Benevent Treasure as your next Miss Silver, but then I remembered The Silent Pool was the November/December read for last year. Ooops! Need to get on that ...

Welcome back, Liz.

Beautiful, beautiful cat in >2 lyzard:.

A happy new year to you, Liz, and much good luck finding and reading your books!

Welcome back! I’ll add the Trollopes to the group wiki as you make threads. I’m glad it’s still going!

Happy New Year Liz!

Happy reading in 2021, Liz!

>1 lyzard: Lynxes are beautiful.

. . . and here I am in 2021. Looking forward to the cats!

Hi, Julia, Paul, Gail, Jim, Rhian, Anita and Ninie---thank you all so much for visiting and for your kind wishes! :)

>21 rosalita:

We're good now, right?? :D

>24 drneutron:

Thanks, Jim - fingers crossed for a successful project!

>23 Matke:, >25 SandDune:, >26 FAMeulstee:

Yes, they're gorgeous, aren't they? - and how nice to have some good news!

All good!

Liz, I am in for the Bony read! Are you reading one a month?

Happy New Year, Liz!!

And keep up with my friends here, Liz. Have a great 2021.

Hello Liz and the Lynx. Let's hope that 2021 results in libraries being open and obscure books being readily available, after being requested, of course.

I bet the books on the dusty stacks at the back of the library have missed you too.

>29 rosalita:

Phew!

>30 NinieB:

I'm not reading them to a schedule, Ninie: as with most of my series reads, I move on to the next one when it fits TIOLI, and when I can access the book. It turns out that the new library I discovered holds a lot of this series, negating the need for my still-closed academic library; however, that does require a trip into town to pick the books up.

If you wanted to do this on a regular basis, I guess we could. I'm now up to the fourth one, Mr Jelly's Business, and would be fine with waiting until you caught me up.

>31 ronincats:

Thanks, Roni, you too!

>32 PaulCranswick:

Less insanity?? :D

Thanks, Paul!

>33 Helenliz:

Fingers crossed, Helen!

>34 lyzard: No, I'm not very good with schedules, so I'd rather that we each just proceed at our own pace. My brain may be somewhere else completely in a few months :/ And I may or may not read Mr Jelly's Business, as I read it two three years ago. I'll see how I feel after Wings above the Diamantina.

>36 NinieB:

Okay, no worries. I look forward to your reactions, whenever they happen. :)

Finished The Pelham Murder Case...which at the moment doesn't really fit TIOLI---gasp! I can make it fit the New Year's challenge, but I'm thinking it may also fit Morphy's Mystery Challenge, which deals with 'firsts'.

Now reading Mystery At Lynden Sands by J. J. Connington.

...and we'll see how long this lasts...

Publication date: 1930
Genre: Mystery / thriller
Series: Peter Cardigan #1
Read for: Series reading

The Pelham Murder Case - During a house party at his country estate, John Pelham is shot dead in his library. The other guests are on the scene within moments; one of them, Dr Fiske, is found outside the locked library door, and swears he saw no-one come out. Inside, Pelham is found sprawled at his desk, a revolver by his side... Mystery novelist Peter Cardigan summons Lt. Murphy of the Long Island police, who he knows from his days as a crime reporter. The locked room suggests suicide, but during his first examination of the scene, Peter finds enough anomalies to suggest to him that this is murder disguised... The first in the series by Monte Barrett featuring amateur detective, Peter Cardigan, The Pelham Murder Case is a dreary compendium of the issues which plagued second-tier American mysteries of this time. The reader is given no reason to take an interest in any of the characters - the victim is dead before we meet him - and even the lead detective is basically without personality. Meanwhile, the police officer in charge of the case does nothing to solve it beyond threatening to arrest this person or that, but is happy to abrogate responsibility to a nosy amateur---whose own investigation leaves a great deal to be desired. The plot, such as it is, consists chiefly of the same points being hashed over again and again. People are allowed to wander through the crime scene and tamper with evidence, and somehow suicide stays on the table for about half the book, despite a right-handed man being shot in the left temple. The only really interesting thing here is the early presentation of Cardigan's manifesto as a mystery writer, in which we learn that he favours straightforward murder followed by clever misdirection---but unfortunately all this passage does is point the reader in the direction of the guilty party. On its first release, The Pelham Murder Case was subtitled, "A crime that baffled police and criminologists alike", but the only reason they were baffled is because no-one bothered to examine the body properly or thoroughly search the crime scene...or the whole thing might have been wrapped up in about thirty minutes, and saved a second life, to boot.

    "You will remember, Renny, that on Saturday night, when we heard the shot fired, you and I were sitting in my room, discussing the construction of murder mysteries.
    "This," said Peter, "has been just the sort of mystery I described to you then. Two murders were committed. One person was killed with a revolver, the second with a club, the 'blunt instrument' of which I spoke."
    At mention of the club all leaned forward. This was a new and unexpected angle to them all.
    "The method by which the crimes were committed was not in itself clever," continued Peter. "It was the diabolical ingenuity with which the slayer's identity was masked. But in each case, the slayer left clews.
    "In the case of John Pelham, it was a button, torn from a gentleman's dinner jacket, and the fact that there was no key on the inside of the door... In the case of the Countess," Peter went on, "it was this newspaper, left beside the body, quite by accident. There were others, but these form the basis of the solution---the place from which we may start..."

Hi Liz! You are off to a good start with a book already completed!

Count me in for Orley Farm in February.

Hope you have a great year of reading!

Happy New Year, Liz!

Happy New Year, and congratulations on being caught up on reviews for 2021!

>40 lyzard:
That’s a great review of a lousy book, Liz!

And you’re all caught up.

For today.

Happy New Year, Liz!

I'm looking forward to Orley Farm and The Chronicles of Carlingford. Those dates are fine for me but so is any other time - apart from my RL book group I have no organised reading plans!

Happy New Year Liz!

I'm tentatively interested in both Orley Farm and The Chronicles of Carlingford but my reading brain is very unreliable at the moment so I don't really feel able to commit to anything. Which is to say, please go ahead with whatever schedule suits other people if there's interest and I will join in if I can.

Visitors! Lovely, lovely visitors! :)

>41 cbl_tn:

Hi, Carrie - thanks! It will be great to have you join in.

>42 thornton37814:

Thanks very much, Lori, you too!

>43 harrygbutler:

Thanks, Harry!

>44 swynn:

Well, yeah...pity about December! :D

Thanks, Steve!

>45 Matke:

:D

>46 CDVicarage:

Hi, Kerry - that's great, thanks!

>47 souloftherose:

Hi, Heather! Thanks for that. We'd love to have you join in but don't let it bother you if you don't feel up for it. :)

Best wishes for a brighter, better, bookier New Year!!

Dropping a star, Liz. Happy New Year!

Hi Liz!

i don't know if I've been around to your thread before (it's difficult to keep track when there are so many people in the group) but since you described your primary reading as Golden Age mysteries and the 18th and 19 century, I knew I had to stop by, since I find myself in those neighbourhoods most of the time, too.

And I love the lynx photos at the top! I love lynxes (I love all cats, but lynxes are amazing). We have one or two (Eurasian rather than Iberian, though) in the woods next to my neighbourhood, and I was lucky to get to see it really close years ago.

Oh, I’m in for Orley Farm.

>51 PawsforThought:

Hi, Paws! I don't think you have been here before so thanks for stopping by. Hopefully you find something of interest amongst my reading.

I envy you your lynx, that's amazing!

>52 Matke:

Excellent!

Howdy, Liz! I just started reading The Silent Pool last night. What is this wizardry — Miss Silver appearing not just in the first chapter but the first sentence?! And all the backstory exposition right up front made me wonder if this was a series re-set to catch new readers up on the premise. Do you know?

>54 rosalita:

What I know (from researching copyright dates and publication order) is that in America, all of the Miss Silvers around this time were serialised before being published in book form. So yeah, it's likely that Wentworth's publishers were getting her to do that to get new readers up to speed. Maybe this one appeared in a new paper or territory?

Whoops! I'm not used to dealing with so many visitors! (And frankly, the jump-to-the-bottom thing isn't helping!!)

>49 Berly:

Kim! It's great to have you here; thanks for visiting, and apologies for missing you on the first sweep.

>50 Crazymamie:

Likewise Mamie - wow, long time, no chat! Thanks so much for stopping by. :)

Publication date: 1902
Genre: Contemporary drama
Series: The Five Towns #2
Read for: Series reading / TIOLI (description of weather)

Anna Of The Five Towns - In the Staffordshire town of Bursley, Anna Tellwright's life is rigidly controlled by the church and her father, a businessman of great wealth but miserly habits and a domineering nature. Anna's best hope for escape lies in the attentions of Henry Mynors, a rising young manufacturer and one of the district's most eligible bachelors. On her 21st birthday, Anna is stunned when her father uncemoniously presents her with her inheritance from her grandmother's estate. Though she knows herself to be a rich woman in her own right, little changes for Anna, whose father releases none of his grip upon her life. He manoeuvres her into becoming a silent partner in Mynors' growing business, and conversely, and not without malice, forces her into the ugly business of "squeezing" her tenants, Titus Price and his son, Willie, for their unpaid rent. Anna's life takes an abrupt turn when Alderman and Mrs Sutton, the town's most prominent residents, invite her to accompany them and their fashionable daughter, Beartice, to the Isle of Wight; Henry Mynors, a relative, is also of the party. The holiday gives Mynors the opportunity to court Anna, and by the end of it they are engaged; yet Anna's thoughts stay with the unfortunate Willie Price, whose life is so much like her own... Arnold Bennett's "Five Towns" series, set in a fictionalised version of the Potteries in Staffordshire where he himself was born and raised, comprise some of his most celebrated works. Though the series technically begins with A Man From The North, which finds its protagonist leaving Staffordshire for London, it is the second novel, Anna Of The Five Towns, in which Bennett first offered his first full-length portrait of the people and places of his youth. This was still an early work for Bennett, who had not yet learned to leaven his realism with touches of humour: the results, though fine, are also fairly grim. Anna Of The Five Towns is one of those books of which it may be said that "nothing happens"; yet the detail of Bennett's depiction of Bursley and its surrounds, his compassion for Anna as she submits to the demands of her stiflingly narrow life, and the nuance of his writing make this a compelling read. Despite the developing love-triangle plot - and really, these threads are so obliquely presented, so woven into other matters, that it does the novel a disservice to call it that - the most significant emotional connection in the novel is that between Anna and her young half-sister, Agnes: a warm, intelligent child, upon whom the full weight of their father's demands must fall should Anna succeed in making her escape through marriage---prompting Anna to worry that she is buying her freedom at Agnes' expense. Nevertheless, her changing circumstances necessarily alter Anna's way of thinking and behaving, even steeling her to tiny rebellions against her father's authority; though these inevitably bring upon her his wrath and retaliation. The ongoing conflict between Anna's feelings and her strong sense of right and duty comes to a climax when, upon her return from the Isle of Wight, Anna discovers that her actions may have played a part in precipitating a tragedy...

    "You like Henry, don't you, Father?" Anna said. It was a failure in the desired tact, for Ephraim had never been known to admit that he liked anyone or anything. Such natures are capable of nothing more positive than toleration.
    "He's a hardy-headed chap, and he knows the value o' money. Ay! that he does; he knows which side his bread's buttered on." A sinister emphasis marked the last sentence.
    Instead of remaining silent, Anna, in her nervousness, committed another imprudence. "What do you mean, Father?" she asked, pretending that she thought it impossible he could mean what he obviously did mean.
    "Thou knows what I'm at, lass. Dost think he isna' marrying you for thy brass? Dost think as he canna' make a fine guess what thou'rt worth? But that wunna bother thee as long as thou'st hooked a good-looking chap."
    Securely conscious of the perfect purity of Mynors' affection, she was not in the least hurt. She even thought that her father's attitude was not quite sincere, an attitude partially due to mere wilful churlishness. "Henry has never even mentioned money to me," she said mildly.
    "Happen not; he isna' such a fool as that." He paused, and continued: "Thou'rt free to wed, for me. Lasses will do it, I reckon, and thee among th' rest."
    She smiled, and on that smile he suddenly turned out the gas. Anna was glad that the colloquy had ended so well. Congratulations, endearments, loving regard for her welfare: she had not expected these things, and was in no wise grieved by their absence...

>57 lyzard: You've reminded me that I intend to read Arnold Bennett one of these days...

Publication date: 1932
Genre: Mystery / thriller
Series: Dr Priestley #12
Read for: Series reading / TIOLI (250 pages or less)

Mystery At Greycombe Farm (US title: The Fire At Greycombe Farm) - James Midford, the owner of Greycombe Farm, is celebrated for his apple cider, which he produces yearly by painstaking traditional methods and sells widely within his district. One evening in April, Midford enters his cider store for the solemn task of tasting the new batch; but as he taps the barrel there is a sudden flash---and the next moment the cider store is in flames. The fire department is summoned, but they cannot save either the building or the cider; though these points lose their importance when, upon examination of the scene the next day, human remains are discovered in the burnt rubble... The medical examiner confirms that the victim is a man and, from his description of one shortened leg, the police recognise Edward Sibley, who disappeared from the district some months previously under a cloud of debt. Inspector Salter is frankly suspicious of the story told by James Midford, suspecting arson if not murder. Major Betterton, newly appointed Chief Constable, faced with his first important case, hesitates over whether to call in Scotland Yard---and in the end compromises by requesting the assistance of his friend, Dr Priestley... The 12th entry in John Rhode's long-running series featuring scientist and amateur detective, Dr Lancelot Priestley, is a fairly engaging and sometimes amusing examination of how to investigate a murder...and how not to. Though this is not a lengthy book, it takes time to build up a picture of Greycombe Farm, its environs and its practices, all of which have a bearing upon the mystery; while the narrative offers a few unusual touches---in particular, a surprisingly matter-of-fact handling of an illegitimate baby and its mother. Mystery At Greycombe Farm also takes an unusual approach to Dr Priestley's involvement in the case, with the doctor being seen chiefly from the outside and only intermittently, as he feels compelled to intrude his thoughts upon the professional investigators. The focus stays upon Inspector Salter, who is frankly resentful of Dr Priestley's presence, and does not understand what this elderly buttinsky can possibly bring to the table; though he bites his tongue before his Chief Constable. Salter is a hard-working, painstaking detective, but one - we soon learn - with a terrifying capacity for building an entire theory out of piecemeal evidence; and several persons stand in danger of arrest thanks to his tendency to overreach. Meanwhile, Dr Priestly goes quietly about his business---convinced that once he understands how the murder was committed, he will also know who... Several people quickly fall under suspicion in the murder of Edward Sibley, who had a bad reputation in the district both for his financial misdeeds and his way with women - one of them Grace Midford, the farmer's daughter - while conversely, gossip linked Sibley's wife with a local man, Ted Royle. Having disappeared six months before the discovery of his remains, it must be determined where Sibley was in the meantime, why he returned, who might have known he was back---and how he ended up at Greycombe Farm. The evidence is contradictory, and it takes a moment of inspiration from Dr Priestley - and a middle-of-the-night phonecall to the eminent pathologist, Sir Alured Faversham - before the mystery begins to unfold...

    Inspector Salter smiled as the door closed behind the chief constable. Not a bad fellow at all, the chief, he thought. Inexperienced as yet, of course, but he would soon tumble to the regular routine. What could have become of the old chap who trotted round with him? Gone back to London, perhaps. That was just as well: it was a bit irregular for laymen to be admitted to the confidence of the police. And it wasn't likely that he would be much help.
    It suddenly occurred to the inspector that it had been this apparently innocuous old man who had instituted the search among the rubbish in the burnt-out cider store. What had made him think of that, the inspector wondered? It had seemed to him a meticulous proceeding when he had first heard of it. But he had been on the right track, after all. The absence of traces of metal had suggested that the corpse had not been fully clothed. And, sure enough, this deduction had been confirmed by the finding of the brown tweed suit.
    Now, what had been the murderer's idea in removing the clothes? This seemed to the inspector the one puzzling point in a sequence of events that was otherwise as clear as daylight. Had he some idea in his mind that it would render the identification of the remains more difficult? But surely the obvious thing to do with the clothes would have been to put them in the cider store with the body, where the fire would certainly have consumed them. To have pushed them into the drain was the silliest thing the murderer could have done... In any case, the inspector thought, it was an illustration of the old axiom that even the most careful criminal always leaves some clue behind him...

>58 cbl_tn:

Yes, I've seen several movies based on his works but I hadn't gotten around to reading him before I started this series.

>55 lyzard: Ah! I knew you would know. That makes a lot of sense.

Sanity has returned to the world — after Maudie's early appearance she has now disappeared for quite a few chapters. I assume she'll show up again eventually, but will it be before or after the obligatory murder? Must keep reading ...

Both the Bennett and the John Rhode look good. I may have both on the kindle...

>61 rosalita:

Both? :D

>62 Matke:

Hi, Gail. If Mystery At Greycombe Farm is available as an ebook in your territory I will be very envious and cross, I had a long hunt for that one. :)

>63 lyzard: Ha! Having now finished The Silent Pool, your answer made me chuckle. Both, indeed.

>64 rosalita:

I found this one rather odd, as I hope to be saying in a review before very much longer.

I've had a rather disconcerting morning amongst my series, discovering my listed 'next up' to be wrong not once, but twice (one of them quite inexplicably, 1931 vs 1934).

Furthermore, having established to my own satisfaction that Dead Man Twice is #3 in Christopher Bush's Ludovic Travers series and Murder At Fenwold #4 (both of those from 1930), I was just about to buy the former on Kindle when I discovered that (i) I already own it, (ii) I read it in 2016, and (iii) I have no memory of it whatsoever...not a good sign.

I started the Travers series over again anyway, when the long MIA first book, The Plumley Inheritance, was finally made available, so I'm okay with the (obviously necessary) re-read of Dead Man Twice...but finding my copy is another matter...

ETA: SCORE!! - and it was only in the fifth box of books I looked in!

So, yeah---

Finished Mystery At Lynden Sands for TIOLI #1.

Now reading Dead Man Twice by Christopher Bush.

Meanwhile---what the hell, Amazon!?

Search term: dead man twice bush

They're not encouraging me to buy these H&B products, exactly...

<66 I have no memory of it whatsoever.

This is me with almost every book. I have terrible memory when it comes to what I've read (which is why LT is worth its weight in gold). I can honestly finish reading a mystery and a week later I've forgotten who the killer was.

>67 lyzard: Amazon's search function has really gotten bad in the last year or so. I've even had searches for titles, within Books, return no results, even when I could find the book in a list on another page or by searching on, say, the publisher. Quite frequently the book for which I'm searching is not among the first few results even when I use the whole title, and those higher up in the results lack some or all of the title words.

>69 harrygbutler: Same.

>68 PawsforThought:

I don't always remember plot details (which sometimes speaks to the book rather than my memory), but not remembering I've read something at all is very unusual.

I tend to take how much of a book I remember as a measure of its quality, for example, I remembered large chunks of the previous Travers entry, The Perfect Murder Case, after an even longer interval.

>69 harrygbutler:, >70 Crazymamie:

I've complained before about the fact that my local Amazon does things like bringing up a book if you search title author but not if you search author title. I spend a lot of time either trying to work out the magic phrase, or sorting through pages of stuff because I've used a really broad term in trying not to miss anything.

It also tends to bring up only the most expensive option of several, but I assume that's intentional. :)

Good question!---

>67 lyzard: LOL! Hang in there.

Stopping by to say hi and wish you a happy new year! Your long list of books to read makes me laugh because the pandemic had me reading 0-2 books a month! Not a great reading rate. Maybe that will pick up in 2021.

>2 lyzard: That lynx has a great beard!

>3 lyzard: I love reading “The Raven” aloud, but even more I love reading “Annabelle Lee” also by Poe aloud. Something about that latter poem is almost like music. I’m from Baltimore, Maryland, as was Poe, so his works are pretty popular around here.

I think my record is about 60 pages in before thinking "this is familiar" and discovering I had in fact, read it before....

Nice score on already owning the next book.

>73 Berly:

That was one more confusion I did not need! :D

>74 SqueakyChu:

Hi, Madeline, thanks for visiting!

Ehh, my lists just mean that my reading stomach is bigger than my eyes! Best of luck to you for the new reading year. :)

Yes, they're gorgeous, aren't they?

I think they're both like music, the rhythm of The Raven is amazing. (Thanks to The Simpsons, I always hear it in my head read by James Earl Jones!)

>75 Helenliz:

I'm only surprised I didn't buy it and then the rest...! :D

Having had a few hours to think about I'm now remembering scraps; I'm pretty sure I was disappointed in it compared with its predecessor but I'm not sure why (yet).

Publication date: 1928
Genre: Mystery / thriller
Series: Sir Clinton Driffield #3
Read for: Series reading / TIOLI (9+ letters in surname)

Mystery At Lynden Sands - Chief Constable Sir Clinton Driffield is enjoying a brief golfing holiday in the coastal resort area of Lynden Sands when he is consulted by Inspector Armadale about a suspicious death at a nearby property, Foxhills. Elderly caretaker Peter Hay has been found dead outside his cottage, apparently of a stroke; but the doctor refuses to issue a death certificate after finding unexplained marks on his wrists and ankles. Driffield and Armadale contact Paul Fordingbridge, who has power of attorney over the Foxhills estate: they learn that it belongs - or belonged - to a nephew, Derek, who was believed to have died in the war; however, a claimant, so disfigured his identity is impossible to ascertain, has come forward. The investigation of Peter Hay's death has barely begun when a murder is committed on the beach at Lynden Sands. The victim is identified as Nicholas Stavely, who was also believed to have died in the war. Stavely was at that time unhappily married to Paul Fordingbridge's niece, Cressida---currently staying at the Lynden Sands hotel with her second husband... This third entry in the series by "J. J. Connington" (Alfred Walter Stewart) sets up a complicated mystery, but includes a few turns along the way that may not appeal to all readers. In addition, Sir Clinton himself can be quite abrasive; and he is teamed here not only with the hard-working but pugnaciously overconfident Armadale (who doesn't seem to have learned anything from his association with Driffield in Tragedy At Ravensthorpe), but also with his friend Wendover (returning from Murder In The Maze), who starts out delighted at being allowed to tag along, but ends up revolted by the callous zeal with which Armadale pursues his prime suspect, Cressida Fleetwood: their interaction becomes marked by sniping and one-upmanship. The early stages of Mystery At Lynden Sands involve a lot of detailed police-work, including the breakdown of who was on the beach on the night of the murder via footprint analysis. (As usual, a number of people managed to be at the scene at about the right time, although here there is good reason for this "crowding".) However, what starts out as a fairly typical British mystery takes a turn about two-thirds through, morphing into a thriller marked by an unusual amount of gunplay for a book of this type, plus some other really nasty touches---including a display of retaliatory brutality from the forces of law and order (something we've seen before in this series). Though several different crimes have managed to cross paths at Lynden Sands, at length Driffield and Armadale end up in pursuit of a ruthless criminal gang determined to get their hands on the valuable Foxhills estate...

    "I'll give you one hint---and I mean it, inspector. Don't be too sure about that case of yours. And don't let your zeal run away with you when you come to question the Fleetwoods. You're on very slippery ice; and, if you get their backs up too much, we may fail to get a piece of evidence out of them which is essential."
    The inspector considered this in silence for some moments. Quite obviously he did not like being handled in this fashion. "Well, sir," he conceded at last, "if you think I'm likely to bungle something because I don't know what it is, why not give me a hint?"
    "Mr Wendover could do that, I think, if you cared to ask him, inspector."
    Armadale turned round to Wendover with ill-concealed sulkiness. "Have you something up your sleeve, sir?"
    Wendover took no notice of the ungracious tone. He saw his way to achieve his end without the difficulties he had feared. "You've got no case at all, inspector," he said roundly. "Sir Clinton told you long ago that there was a flaw in it. The whole thing's a wash-out. Now I don't want to have you walking straight into a mess, you understand; and you'll do that if you aren't careful. Suppose we let Sir Clinton do the talking at this interview? He'll get what he wants. You and I can ask any questions we choose after he's done. And after it's all over I'll show you the flaw in your case. Agree to that?"
    "I really think Mr Wendover's suggestion is sound, inspector," Sir Clinton interposed, as Armadale hesitated over accepting the situation. "It's a fact that you can't prove your case on the evidence available."
    "Oh, very well, then," Armadale agreed, rather resentfully. "If you want it handled so, sir, I've no objection. But it seems to me that case will take a lot of breaking."
    "It's quite on the cards that this interview will stiffen you in your opinions, inspector; but you're wrong for all that," Sir Clinton pronounced.

Happy New Year, Liz. Great to see reviews already!

I love the photos of the Iberian lynxes up top (the one with the kids in the tree, wow), and like everyone, I hope that 855 number keeps growing.

>78 jnwelch:

Hi, Joe - thank you! :)

So glad my lynxes have been a hit around here. And yes, fingers, toes and everything else crossed for the future.

Okay...I'm having that problem with the ticker, that is, when I try to update it toggles incessantly between the 'edit data' page and the 'create a new ticker' page. It's happening with different browsers, so it's not that. Previously it's settled down on its own but this time it's been going for hours.

Anyone else?

Anyhoo---

Finished Dead Man Twice for TIOLI #4.

Now reading Eight To Nine by R. A. J. Walling.

>80 lyzard: I haven't tried to update a ticker for a couple of days but I just had the same issue when I tested it. How frustrating!

Publication date: 1930
Genre: Mystery / thriller
Series: Ludovic Travers #3
Read for: Series reading / TIOLI (50th birthday / set in UK)

Dead Man Twice - Private investigator John Franklin receives a letter from gentleman-boxer and general celebrity, Michael France, requesting his services. Enclosed are three crude, threatening notes, apparently from a jilted lover, plus three samples of handwriting for analysis. Franklin calls at France's house the following Sunday afternoon as requested with the results, but gets no answer to his knock at the door. He waits, despite the chilling fog that has descended upon London, and is finally admitted by Usher, France's valet, upon his return to the house. As they step inside, the two men hear what sounds like hurried footsteps, but find no-one---no-one alive: in the lounge they discover the body of Somers, France's butler, an apparent poison-suicide. Franklin calls the police, and as he and inspector Cotter are examining the scene, there is a cry from Usher, who has discovered Michael France dead upstairs, shot through the head. In a final bizarre touch, a suicide note is found---in France's handwriting but under Somers' body... Though (we gather) he eventually emerges as the dominant character, at this point in Christopher Bush's Ludovic Travers series the economist-turned-amateur-detective continues to play only a supporting role. Indeed, in Dead Man Twice he is relegated to a very minor part, albeit a critical one, with the narrative dominated by the investigations of John Franklin and Superintendent Wharton of the CID (aka "the General"), and Travers occasionally offering a deduction or a suggestion. Though it reunites the detective triumvirate of The Perfect Murder Case, Dead Man Twice is a less successful and ultimately frustrating mystery. The plot is clever, but the book is written in such a way that it is almost impossible to get at it. People's movements - what they intended to do, what they said they did, and what they did do, over a fog-swathed weekend - form the crux of the matter, and too often a detail is mentioned once in passing and we're supposed to remember it hundreds of pages later. Furthermore, the narrative almost drowns in place-names - villages, properties, train stations, even horse- and motor-racing tracks - which are likewise given with too little context and/or too much assumed knowledge. All this leaves the reader hard-pressed to follow the plot, let alone solve the mystery. The latter revolves around the relationships between popular public figure, Michael France; racing-driver Peter Claire, his friend and financial backer; Claire's vivacious young wife, Dorothy; and writer Kenneth Hayles, who also acts as general factotum to the other three. The fly in the ointment is Usher, who turns out to work for a firm of private investigators, and was planted in France's household because of Peter Claire's suspicions of his wife and France. With the self-important Claire, jealousy might indeed turn deadly; but he has a cast-iron alibi for the day of the two deaths. Furthermore, the police doctor dismisses at a glance the idea that France committed suicide---so why is there a suicide note in his handwriting? And why would anyone poison a butler...?

    Franklin, pausing in the middle of his ordinary work for a pipe and a pull up at the fire, soon found himself in difficulties. Upon whatever mental path he felt his feet going, there was soon a snag in the way to hit his feet against, and the logic began to halt. The fact that France had been shot with his own pistol and that Hayles and Claire knew where it was kept and had easy access to that place, seemed certain proof that one or the other had shot him. And yet neither had! Then had either of them given the pistol to the murderer? Surely not, or they'd have given him a key at the same time and made that forcible entry unnecessary. Or had that entry been merely a blind in order to suggest a murder? If so, why go to the trouble of staging a suicide?
    Franklin wriggled in his chair. France had been shot, and only Mrs Claire knew he'd been shot. Then why pretend it was suicide? Mrs Claire had only to open her mouth and everybody'd know it was murder. Then the murderer must have known she daren't open her mouth, and therefore the murderer must have been one who had that information---in short, either Usher or Claire or Hayles. And neither of the latter could have shot him because they were scores of miles away!
    Franklin wriggled again, relighted his pipe and set off once more. That confession, found under Somers' body; why hadn't the General questioned Hayles about it? Surely one of the most vital pieces of information and one that shrieked aloud for exhaustion. And then that business of Travers and the man at Dijon...

>82 rosalita:

Oh well, as long as it's not me or my browser. It's been happening since they redesigned the site. It usually resets itself but now it's been doing it since last night.

ETA: And it just let me update. Its ears must have been burning. :D

Okay this is a weird one: I can find listing for the Hodder & Stoughton 1934 first edition of R. A. J. Walling's novel both as VIII To IX and as Eight To Nine.

Surely they wouldn't have released it under variant titles (or anyway, variant presentations)?

Though now that I come to think of it, there was an issue with Walling's first novel in the Tolefree series too, with H&S referring to it as both The Fatal 5 Minutes and The Fatal Five Minutes on the same dust-jacket.

Anyway, the only first edition image I can find uses "Eight To Nine" so I'll go with that.

(There may have been a good excuse for once for the change of title in America, where it was released as "The Bachelor Flat Mystery".)

>84 lyzard: Definitely not just you — it hadn't happened to me before but numerous people in the ROOTs Challenge group have been having problems since the site redesign.

>85 lyzard: There's only one cover here on LT that shows the title, and it shows both the Roman numerals and the words:

>86 rosalita:

Ah, right, thanks.

Yes, that's the one I found and uploaded last night (after a ridiculous amount of searching under both titles, of course!).

Oh dear.

So after having a pile of books (and a DVD) out on loan from my academic library from pushing one year, over Christmas / New Year I got an automatic email telling me that just one of those books was due for return on 7th January, no renewals, etc.

I was really hoping it was a system glitch, but because the library was in shutdown (as opposed to lockdown) there was no-one I could ask until the morning of the 7th when they reopened. Then I learned that the email was a recall notice and yes, I had to return it---in my case via an external chute, something I had avoided doing previously with these items because of the DVD.

So already groaning at the prospect of a trip into the city and back just to return books (all of them, of course, while I was at it), I took the opportunity to ask about the library's potential reopening to the general public---and learned that not only is there no such thought at the moment - we had another outbreak and are back under some restrictions - but there seems to have been no discussion of any such thing, still less the development of a 'go' plan, if and when.

So at the moment I'm facing further months, at least, cut off from my main supply of older and obscurer books.

I really hoped that this year, I would be able to settle down into a rhythm again with my reading but it's obviously not to be.

So what does this mean in practical terms?

I guess, that both my 'Mystery League' and 'Banned In Boston' challenges stay suspended, since I have no other access to the books required (except buying them, which ain't gunna happen).

I can progress on the 'C. K. Shorter' challenge, but I need to bite the bullet and just go on with ebooks. I hesitated here, for instance, partly because the academic library has a 19th century copy of The Life Of Mansie Wauch that it was willing to lend, but also because it's over 400 pages long and I really dislike long novels as ebooks. However...

So yeah, it's looking like another year of staring at my little screen instead of turning pages. I know I should be grateful that I have such an alternative but book deprivation is starting to make me rather panicky.

Though I was due to go in to my academic library on the 7th (and may or may not have earned a small fine by delaying; though since they've cut off my account, I'm not sure how that would work), I ended up going in yesterday instead, having spent the 7th distracted by CNN.

Mindboggling stuff. :(

>89 lyzard: Mindboggling is putting it mildly!

What rotten news about your library not even thinking about reopening any time soon. I actually prefer ebooks for long books but I can well imagine that if you don't, it's going to be very annoying for you and I sympathize.

And I'm glad you haven't let list mania drive you to the point of actually buying any of the (mostly) dreadful books you are reading for those challenges!

>91 rosalita:

We had a previous government that managed by similar tactics to provoke a race riot. Everything on a much smaller and less deadly scale, but we're not exactly in a position to point fingers or make judgements.

I have to keep reminding myself that this is a university library run for the benefit of the students and that I'm only allowed to use it as a courtesy anyway.

No, despite all last year's* monstrous chunksters I find books more mentally (if not physically) manageable on paper.

I'm trying to keep my book-buying to inexpensive Kindle mysteries but we'll see. :)

(*This year's first monstrous chunkster hasn't arrived yet: it threatens to be the most monstrous since Anthony Adverse!)

Sorry you are cut off from the print books, Liz. I am considering whether to re-read Orley Farm with you in February. As you know it's lengthy, I read it a few years ago, have other stuff I want to read . . . on the other hand it was a good story, and Trollope channels Dickens/Collins. I've about reached the conclusion if I join you it will be because I find a nice print version to read!

>93 NinieB:

Obviously we would love to have you, Ninie. :)

I just thought to wonder if I have a hard copy to hand (I tend to just assume I do, not always correctly!), if not I'll need to get my ILL butt in gear because I don't want to work from an ebook.

Finished Eight To Nine for TIOLI #11.

Now reading The Secret Of The Old Clock by Carolyn Keene.

So I have a new project. Because, you know, hole in the head, etc.

The Nancy Drew books have long been of interest to me, but they never came my way when they were age-appropriate, and later - much later - I became aware that at some point, they began revising the original texts to make them more "acceptable".

According to the Wikipedia entry on the subject, from 1959 the reissued books raised Nancy's age from 16 to 18. The later Nancy is also "more conservative", more "submissive to authority", and a lot less given to sass-mouth. Romantic subplots also began to intrude.

Another change, one perhaps more understandable, is the removal of some racially derogative terms and accompanying attitudes. However, it also appears that the publisher's dealt with this troubling area by removing people of colour in their entirety from the texts.

This being the case, I have never previously pursued these books since, until very recently, the original texts were almost impossible to get hold of. This has now changed: I have a source on the original texts, and Nancy has made her way onto my Infinite Readlist.

What I might do when I hit 1959 remains to be seen but, all things considered, I don't think I'll start worrying about that just yet...

Publication date: 1928
Genre: Mystery / thriller
Series: Richard Chandos #2
Read for: Series reading / TIOLI ('Christmas with...')

Perishable Goods - This second entry in Dornford Yates' series featuring Richard Chandos and his friends, Jonathan Mansel and George Hanbury, acts as a direct sequel to Blind Corner, in which the triumvirate took on a dangerous criminal known as "Rose" Noble in a battle to possess a long-hidden cache of Austrian treasure---to which neither of them had any legal right, but that is apparently beside the point. Having inevitably triumphed, our young Englishmen are enjoying the fruits of their ill-gotten gains when they are made aware that the battle is not over: Mansel's rooms are burgled and some private papers taken. Soon afterwards, word from Carinthia in Austria that Adele, the lovely young American wife of Mansel's cousin, "Boy" Pleydell, has been abducted. Incapacitated with a broken leg, Boy wires frantically to Mansel---who has already received a cryptic letter demanding five hundred thousand pounds and warning that "the goods are perishable"... Though they function well as two-fisted thrillers, the Chandos novels (like the Bulldog Drummond series, which which they are often linked) require from the reader a high tolerance for the arrogant entitlement that marks their protagonists, which expresses itself in an a blithe conviction of being simply better than anyone else and therefore (among other things) above the law. (I'm not kidding about the latter: here our heroes flat out murder someone, though they prefer to think of it as "an execution".) Though the series is generally named for Richard Chandos, he is actually the narrator / adoring sidekick of Jonathan Mansel, who is presented seriously as some sort of higher being that lesser mortals must either worship or wish to destroy. The latter is the case with "Rose" Noble...which raises one of this book's relatively minor yet most infuriating touches: its villain is never mentioned except by his entire moniker - "Rose" Noble, just like that, inverted commas and all - every single time. (It also uses an outrageous amount of italics, but I guess I'm on shaky ground criticising that.) Be all that as it may, Perishable Goods offers a narrative full of improbable adventures, hair's-breadth escapes, escalating dangers and stiff-upper-lip derring-do. It is here revealed that Mansel is in love with his cousin's wife, and that the papers stolen from him were letters from Adele which - though of course neither of these superior beings ever had a wicked thought - show clearly enough the strong connection between them. Mansel, Chandos and Hanbury, with the help of their loyal manservants and a large serving of luck, discover that Noble has hidden Adele in an ancient stronghold in the Austrian mountains, which was once a refuge for the Emperor Maximilian. The three know that, though Noble would far rather use Adele as a weapon to strike at Mansel, he will not hesitate to kill her should his enemies do anything so crude as calling in the authorities. Consequently, they must find a way into the stone fortress, which sits upon the edge of a steep incline and offers views of the surrounding valley and woods---and having penetrated it, they must also find a way out again...

    "I advise you to watch your step. 'Perishable goods' have a market; but 'damaged goods' make a very different price."
    "They're not damaged---yet," said "Rose" Noble. "And I'm still waiting for a bid."
    Mansel raised his eyebrows. "A few months ago," he said quietly, "you stole some papers of mine. Give me them back, abd I'll pay you a hundred pounds and hold my tongue."
    I was aghast at his boldness and fully expected a truly dreadful outburst by way of reply. But none came; and after a little silence I breathed again.
    "Rose" Noble lifted his lids and looked at Adele.
    I cannot describe the awfulness of his gaze. Hatred, malice and al uncharitableness burned in those terrible orbs. Themselves monstrous, their message was like unto them, and before its beastly menace my blood ran cold.
    "You hear?" he said grimly. "You're pretty enough to fool round, but, when it's a question of paying, your gentleman-friend gets off."
    Adele flushed under his tongue. "It's never been a question of paying," she said.
    "Big words," said "Rose" Noble. "But they won't pull you out of this mess. Your health and your name's on the counter; and if you fancy either, you'd better trouble your friend to open his purse."
    "My name?" said Adele, frowning.
    "Your name," said "Rose" Noble softly. "You see, I'm not selling to your husband. I'm selling to the man next door..."

Publication date: 1926
Genre: Mystery / thriller
Series: Inspector Pointer #3
Read for: Series reading / TIOLI (5-word sentence)

The Footsteps That Stopped - When Mrs Tangye is found shot dead in the parlour of her house near Twickenham, the verdict of the jury is 'death by misadventure'. However, Superintendent Haviland of the local police confides to Chief Inspector Pointer of the CID that he has no doubt it was really suicide. Pointer has a different opinion, too: he thinks it may have been murder... The astounded Haviland points out that the weapon involved was Mrs Tangye's own; that she was a good shot following her war service; that the room and the dead woman's clothing were completely undisturbed; and that, indeed, Mrs Tangye seems to have been sitting at ease when the shot was fired. Furthermore, she gave away a lot of her clothing and burned her papers just before her death. Pointer in turn highlights the pieces of evidence that caught his eye: that Mrs Tangye's companion, Miss Saunders, apparently knew her employer was dead before she could have known anything of the kind; and that Mrs Tangye was expecting a caller for tea at the time her body was found---a caller who, in the subsequent confusion, simply vanished... This third entry in the series by "A. Fielding" (possibly Dorothy Feilding, though the point is still in dispute) highlights both the strengths and weaknesses of the Inspector Pointer books. In particular, Fielding has a weakness for surprise endings, which have a tendency to feel as though they were pulled out of a hat (to put it no more rudely). In addition, this particular mystery relies upon a rather outré murder method, which is treated far too matter-of-factly. On the other hand, though it is not as pure in this respect as the novels of Freeman Wills Crofts, The Footsteps That Stopped tends very much to the police-procedural end of the mystery scale, and this work gives full weight to the amount of tedious leg-work that can go into solving a murder. (That said, Pointer delegates to his underlings more than Crofts' Inspector French.) Best of all, however, is this novel's almost radical take on the servants-as-witnesses situation: far from refusing to "get mixed up with the police" or quaking in terror at Pointer's approach, the Tangyes' two young maids give their evidence in a forthright and intelligent manner; while Pointer, in turn, treats them with all the respect and consideration they deserve. And indeed, the sensitive, rather highly-strung Olive later plays a critical role in the denouement of the case, which turns on her insistence that, prior to Mrs Tangye's death, she heard someone walking around the outside of the house: odd, dragging footsteps that suddenly stopped... Working in conjunction with newspaper criminologist, Wilmot, who has been hired by the Tangyes' insurers to prove suicide, Pointer begins unravelling the web of secrets and lies that surrounds Mrs Tangye's death: poking holes in Mr Tangye's seemingly cast-iron alibi; getting to the bottom of the gossip surrounding the widower and Miss Saunders; and identifying the mysterious disappearing visitor. Other factors and suspects emerge: a young man whose expected fortune was left to Mrs Tangye instead; her disreputable, long-estranged cousin; and a tragic secret from her past...

    Wilmot did not reply for a second. Had they found anything which suggested foul play? Honestly, as far as he could see, they had not. But what about Pointer? His were the eyes that counted in this search.
    "What does the Counsel for the Prosecution say?" Wilmot asked instead of replying.
    "That when you talk of suicide---"
    "Or accident. I'm afraid I think that's only too possible," Wilmot said pensively.
    "Or accident. You forget the butter under Mrs Tangye's wedding rings," Pointer spoke very seriously.
    "You overwhelm me with confusion, so I had!" Wilmot spoke in mock consternation. "Is this the sort of rock on which a police inquiry is built? I've no idea how that mysterious process begins. Do you inventory the butter on her finger solemnly under the heading of 'Clues of which the Police are in Possession'?"
    "No, no!" Haviland laughed in his turn. "The fact is, we haven't found even the ghost of such a thing as a clue which points to a crime, have we, sir?"
    "And where there's no clue there's no crime?" Wilmot queried.
    "Whose steps stopped in the garden?" Pointer asked. "Tangye would have come on in, if they had been his. At least, so it seems to me. Why was her left hand so buttery that it left such clear prints on her revolver and yet none on her fork?"
    Haviland turned to him quickly. "You spoke before of her prints on the Webley as being odd, sir? In what way, in fact?"
    "I can tell better when I have studied the enlargements," was the evasive reply.
    There was a short silence. This was different from theorising beforehand. The Chief Inspector was looking over the fields. Was the Hark, Hallo! coming? It all lay with the young man leaning with folded arms on the low parapet of the bridge and staring straight before him with level, quiet eyes...

I ran into the city to my newly discovered library yesterday to return some books (and of course pick up a couple more). They are still encouraging use of a return box and a click-and-collect loan system, but will allow limited access inside. Since there was no-one else around - and since I felt silly being a member of a library I'd never set foot in - I had a quick browse.

You may imagine my giddy delight at realising that about half of the entire collection was given over to mystery and crime fiction. Some of the books even have their own room!---


  


---wherein I found a couple of familiar names---


  


---though I did finally tear myself away for a quick wander around the rest:





(Noting though that they don't hold a copy of Simon The Coldheart: I 'll have to hassle my brother about that one, since his local library does.)

Ooh, library pictures! It looks very bright and welcoming!

Anyhoo---

Finished The Secret Of The Old Clock for TIOLI #15.

Now reading The Van Diemen's Land Warriors, or The Heroes Of Cornwall by "Pindar Juvenal".

>100 NinieB:

Hi, Ninie!

Yes, it's not a big place but they make the most of what they have, at least from my point of view. :D

>99 lyzard: Dame Wentworth! And Andrew Vachss on the shelf below! Guessing the latter is not what you were meaning to spotlight, though. :-)

And the Lady Heyer as well. I want to go to there. You mention being a member — I take it this is not a public library, then?

Oh! A real library, with actual books and shelves and stuff! Oh, be still my beating heart.

I don't recognise the book Snowdrift as a Heyer title I own... oh noes! a GAP!!

>103 rosalita:

No, this is the Sydney Mechanics' School of Arts Library: part library, part historical society. There's a moderate yearly fee for membership

These are examples of the reaching up / squatting down school of photography. :D

>104 Helenliz:

I know! I've barely been inside one for the last year, I almost felt like I was trespassing!

Caveat emptor, it's just a reworking of some of her short stories, like they've been doing with Agatha.

Publication date: 1934
Genre: Mystery / thriller
Series: Philip Tolefree #4
Read for: Series reading / TIOLI (a passage)

Eight To Nine (aka VIII To IX; US title: The Bachelor Flat Mystery) - Insurance investigator and amateur detective Philip Tolefree is consulted by Lord Greenwood, who wants a discrete examination into the past of actress Millicent Vane, who is involved with Greenwood's nephew, Bill Chance. Tolefree is reluctant to undertake this sort of investigation, but is finally won over by Greenwood's personality. At the Doncaster Hotel, Tolefree sees the pair in question; he also catches a glimpse of an oddly strained encounter between Chance's sister, Alicia, and Howard Effingham Killick. The latter is something of a cause célèbre, a poor clerk who inherited a fortune from an uncle in Australia and has worked diligently to make himself over into a gentleman. A vague allusion from Lord Greenwood has made Tolefree think he suspects a connection between Killock and Millicent Vane: he decides to presume on a slight acquaintance with the former to call at his rooms. "Elford Mansions" consist of two old houses in a mews thrown together into bachelor flats: Bill Chance also lives there, as does Arthur North, a close friend of Chance's until they fell out over Miss Vane. Tolefree and his friend Farrar arrive expecting to find a small party: instead they discover a caretaker in a deep faint and a dead body... This fourth entry in the series by R. A. J. Walling is a pleasingly complicated mystery, though one which strains credibility somewhat by its dependence upon the peculiar geography of Elford Mansions, which boasts two parallel internal staircases separated by a wall (legacy of its days as two semi-detached properties), but which lead down to the same lobby---allowing people to go in and out without necessarily being seen. The other key to this mystery is the routine of the unfortunate Mrs Pilling, who at the end of a sixteen-hour working day is given an hour "off"---so that she can go home, cook supper for her alcoholic husband---and must then return to work. On the Thursday night in question, having left at eight o'clock as usual, Mrs Pilling returns at nine to discover that someone has been shot dead in the rooms of Arthur North. Tolefree calls the police, bringing his friend Inspector Pierce to the scene; but prior to Pierce's arrival, Tolefree investigates the crime scene, finding the room crudely ransacked, footprints - including a woman's - on the carpet, all efforts made to remove identification from the body, and the gun missing. It is presumed at the outset that the victim is Arthur North---until North turns up later in the evening. It is then discovered that no-one at Elford Mansions knows who the dead man is...or at least, they say they don't... Eight To Nine is ultimately a bifurcated mystery, with much of it taken up with tracking the movements of the residents of Elford Mansions - who include Mason, an eccentric artist, and Wilson a businessman, who live on the upper floors - but with the plot also turning on Tolefree's juggling of his commitment to Lord Greenwood and his responsibility to the police. When Pierce learns that North has been the target of threats over his pursuit of Millicent Vane, he becomes Pierce's prime suspect. Following his own lines, Tolefree discovers that the dead man was Robert Pendleton, Millicent Vane's estranged husband, who had tracked her vengefully from Australia, determined to punish the man with whom she ran away---which places not only North but Bill Chance and a friend of theirs, Ted Fielding, into the firing-line. But while Pierce accepts the general view that Howard Killock has not yet returned from Paris, Tolefree knows better; and he also discovers that Killock was in his rooms between eight and nine---and that he was not alone...

    "It strikes me as a clumsy crime," said Lord Greenwood, frowning down on him.
    "So it struck me at first," Tolefree admitted. "But I may be mistaken. If the police theory is accurate, it was the most ingenious murder ever heard of, planned in a lightning flash, and carried out with the coolest determination. All that clumsiness according to them conceals the almost invisible trail of an artist. The speed of it. An hour at the most. Probably less than half an hour. And every chance of discovery wiped out, with one possible exception. Whether they're right or wrong, it's going to be hard to bring this crime home---very hard indeed. I don't envy Scotland Yard its job. It will be dead-ended everywhere."
    "Tolefree!---you know who killed him," Lord Greenwood insisted.
    Tolefree signalled emphatic dissent. "And moreover---it's no business of mine," he declared."
    "But I want you to make it your business! Do you understand? It's the most important job---you can't possibly have a more important one. Make it your business---on my behalf."
    "On your behalf? What---?" Tolefree pulled up short.
    "What's my interest, you mean...? There's Bill, and there's Howard Killock, too. I have an interest in both. They're mixed up in that filthy house. God knows what the police may be up to, fishing around, suspecting everybody. While you---you could hunt this thing down and scotch it right away."
    He spoke with uncommon excitement. Tolefree watched him curiously. "You overestimate me, Lord Greenwood," he said. "And anyway, I couldn't possibly act independently of the police."
    "But you could, as I see it---somewhat as a lawyer getting up a defence, or safeguarding a client. Why not?"

>98 lyzard: I'm amazed at how many "old gems" you uncover.

>107 thornton37814:

Hi, Lori! I can't take the credit, so many of these old mysteries that had slipped through the cracks are now being reissued---it's a new Golden Age! :)

>108 lyzard: It really is a new Golden Age, having all these old mysteries available to buy.

>106 lyzard: Ack, I could swear I replies to this last night but I don't see my post. Let's see if I can remember what I meant to say ...

Oh, yes! I was flabbergasted that this book, with its weird number title, felt compelled to change the U.S. title to "Bachelor Flat Mystery" even though flats are much more commonly called apartments here. What are publishers thinking with these changes?!

>108 lyzard: I've purchased several of them. Some, of course, I read years ago. However, it is fun to see them all come back.

>66 lyzard: I identify with your pain. I think the worst experience of this type was when, at about page 278, I recognized a single paragraph, which had stuck in my sieve-like memory. A few things seemed familiar after that, but it was weird.

>96 lyzard: and >101 lyzard: Wow, did that title Secret of the Old Clock take me back! I devoured Nancy Drew as a child. The great thing was that it stretched out for quite a while—we had little money, books were for birthdays and Christmas and the odd red-letter day which had no discernible cause. No self-respecting library would have had these at that time.
I always consider myself fortunate to have stopped reading these in 1960; at age 11 I was ready for Agatha Christie and Leslie Charteris. The great thing about the Drew books was the ambiance: roadsters, rumble seats; Ned even had a raccoon coat! That led to interesting conversations with my mother, who explained all these oddities. A tremendous amount of the charm went out of the books when they were “updated.”

Now that I’ve revealed myself as the Ancient Woman here, I’ll go back to my books...

Just adding that Mystery at Greycombe Farm isn’t on kindle and paper copies are prohibitively expense here in the states...

>109 NinieB:

And even for free! - an important point for some of us at the moment. :)

>110 rosalita:

I guess Eight To Nine doesn't indicate what kind of book it is, and American publishers always liked to be explicit on that point, hence so often changing 'The So-and-So Mystery' to 'The So-and-So Murder'. :)

On the other hand they generally liked to avoid British-isms, but perhaps 'bachelor flat' was used in the US for a specific arrangement despite 'apartment' being the more general term for that sort of living?

>111 thornton37814:

Most of these are new to be from having been previously totally unavailable, so it's very exciting!

>112 Matke:

It came back while I was reading it but at that moment the title conveyed nothing, which was very disconcerting.

We never had those books here, since we were (and to an extent still are) always more likely to get British works here. I somehow acquired one random Trixie Belden in childhood but never had any exposure to the Nancy Drews.

Yes, even at this early point I can imagine how these books were made over for "appropriateness". (I'm wondering already whether Mr Drew's rather laissez-faire parenting was one of the victims??)

Anyway---these books are out there now so if you care to read along...? :)

>113 Matke:

Yes, unfortunately that sounds much more likely. :(

At the height of the tug-of-war over rights, Mystery At Greycombe Farm was inexplicably reissued under the Black Dagger crime label in the early 70s. My new library holds a copy of that edition for some reason - it's the only Rhode they have - which is truthfully why I signed up with them initially.

There is also a first edition in the Rare Books section of my academic library that I didn't manage to get to prior to shutdown, but that is it as far as "accessibility" goes.

However, another marker of our new Golden Age is that quite a number of the Dr Priestley books have become available on Kindle so perhaps this one will show up too in time.

>114 lyzard: That's certainly possible. Despite rumors to the contrary, I was not alive back then so I wouldn't know myself. :-D

Ah, Trixie Belden! She was my favorite even above old Nancy. Loved those books. And as for Nancy, I suspect that I read the "updated" versions that came out in the 1950s, since I was reading them in the 1970s (see earlier comment about not being as old as I seem).

>114 lyzard: I LOVE free books. With the public domain line moving once again in the US, it's very exciting to see books becoming available on sites like HathiTrust and Archive.org. Otherwise I get most of my books used at the library book sale, so my shopping benefits a wonderful public institution.

>115 rosalita:

Nah, you're just like me: second childhood. :D

I think that's very likely, they seem to have completely buried the originals until very recently---the latter probably because of the public domain situation, as Ninie says.

>116 NinieB:

Oh, me too, except I'm now getting to the point of being frustrated and indignant if something is not available free!

Unfortunately though we just don't have the secondhand book market here that you guys do, which I suppose is a population thing. Even when we were having sales, we which haven't had locally for some time, the items weren't cheap and older stuff was think on the ground (I could bolster my classics that way but not my mysteries). And our library sales are more abut pruning extra copies of modern popular books.

Finished The Van Diemen's Land Warriors, or The Heroes Of Cornwall for TIOLI #5.

I'm almost embarrassed to mention it at this point, but this should be for my blog. Well...it's a short and inconsequent work, so hopefully I'll be able to find the time for a short and inconsequent blog-post. :)

And in the same spirit---

Now reading The Reviv'd Fugitive: A Gallant Historical Novel by Peter Belon.

Publication date: 1932
Genre: Mystery / thriller
Series: Reggie Fortune #6
Read for: Series reading / TIOLI (starts with character's name)

Case For Mr Fortune - This seventh entry in the series by H. C. Bailey collects eight short(-ish) stories featuring surgeon, medical detective, police collaborator and walking bundle of affectation, Reginald Fortune. As always with these series, the stories are best spaced out: the mysteries themselves are worthwhile, and more substantial and complex than is often the case in collections of this sort, running to an average of forty pages, and frequently dealing with the difference between "law" and "justice". However, Reggie's constant moaning, sighing, exclamations and expressions (either 'pained' or 'wistful' as circumstances dictate) wear very thin; though that said, his determined championing of the underdog offsets at least some of the irritation, as does his unabashed adoration of his wife (and his cat). In The Greek Play, a reluctant Reggie is carried to his goddaughter's school at her invitation, supposedly to watch the staging of a Greek tragedy. He is on the spot to avert a very different tragedy when it seems that a bullied and isolated student has attempted suicide---but was it suicide? In The Mountain Meadow, Reggie's stay at a small hotel in the Alps puts him on the spot to witness the unpleasant behaviour of a certain Lord Oakhurst. When the gentleman subsequently disappears, it turns out that a surprising number of people may have had motive to kill him, even in that isolated corner... In The Pair Of Spectacles, Reggie is called in by Scotland Yard to give his opinion in the death of John Lansdell, and plays his part in the arrest and conviction of the victim's son, Charles---only to realise during the trial that he may have been responsible for an appalling miscarriage of justice... In The Bunch Of Grapes, Reggie is consulted by his brother-in-law, the bishop, about a troubling anonymous letter suggesting at best an affair between two parishioners; at worst, murder... In The Sported Oak, a university Vice Chancellor's tea-party ends in disaster thanks to a box of chocolates doctored with, not arsenic as is first suspected, but an emetic. Reggie's investigation plunges him into the world of the collegiate---male and female... In The Oak Gall, Reggie is called in for a second opinion in an unpleasant case of potential abuse of a man already dying of pneumonia, which in turn leads to two murders, a disappearance and a missing will. The key is an oak gall sent to the dying man with the cryptic message, You got some... In The Little Dog, Reggie is asked for a second opinion in the strange death of a county magnate. While it is obvious that those involved hope a suicide can be ruled death by misadventure, Reggie sees a third option---his key witness being a brave, badly treated little dog... In The Walrus Ivory, the case of a servant arrested for stealing from her employer opens up into a far more complex matter of the violent battle to possess some priceless religious artefacts...

    It has been said by Mr Fortune that the case of the pair of spectacles ought to be printed as a tract. He desires to have it distributed to all detectives, expert witnesses, and public prosecutors as an example of how not to do things. The whole blame he takes to himself, declaring the case the most ghastly blunder of his career. He is without excuses. He will tell you that his one qualification for scientific work, his careful caution, forsook him completely. And so he stumbled into a position loading him with a gruesome burden of moral responsibility which ought to be a warning to all concerned with criminal prosecutions.
    The Chief of the Criminal Investigation Department when this was first explained to him, agreed, after a moment of stupefaction, that it ought. But they did not mean the same thing; and in this matter they never will...

Publication date: 1931
Genre: Mystery / thriller
Series: Ben the tramp #3
Read for: Series reading / TIOLI (author born in Europe)

Murderer's Trail - After a series of terrifying events, including tripping over a dead body and almost falling foul of a murderer, Ben the tramp takes refuge in the hold of ship being loaded. He is negotiating the dark interior when a moment's fright sends him plunging into the ship's bowels... When he wakes, Ben feels that he is in the coal-hole, and that the ship is moving. He also discovers that he is not alone... While hiding in the coal, Ben and his unknown female companion learn that the murderer is onboard, having taken the place of the dead stoker, and in collusion with the third officer, Greene, and another man called Sims. The girl confesses to Ben that she was working as a thief in partnership with the killer, Faggis, and is now running for her life. The position of the two becomes still more dangerous when they overhear plans for the kidnap and ransoming of a wealthy young woman, who is to be taken off the ship. They get no chance to do anything with their information, however; on the contrary: through a series of misadventures they find themselves in the kidnappers' hands, on their way to Spain in a small boat, and helping with the plot under threat of death... This third entry in the series by J. Jefferson Farjeon is a longer and more complex work than its predecessors, carrying Ben from the London docks to the Spanish countryside, and detailing his struggle to thwart the dangerous band of kidnappers---and stay alive while doing it. Murderer's Trail is an entertaining thriller, though it requires the reader to go along with a myriad of improbabilities: something facilitated by its slightly tongue-in-cheek tone and the character of Ben himself, surely the most unlikely hero to grace - or "grace" - the pages of a British novel of this era. The narrative here effectively acts as an expansion of the old saw about God looking after drunks and small children to include disreputable but well-meaning tramps, being punctuated by Ben's hair's-breadth escapes from death---partly courtesy of his hard head, partly through his ability to talk himself out of a corner, and partly thanks to pure dumb luck. It also illustrates both Ben's peculiarly honest personal code and his genuine streak of chivalry---though this is less directed towards the kidnapping victim, the daughter of an American millionaire, than the self-confessed thief who calls herself Molly Smith. Thrown together, Ben and Molly form a tight defensive alliance, looking out for each other, but also for a chance to rescue Miss Holbrooke out of the hands of her kidnappers as they transport her through the mountains of Spain. Though the danger increases almost with every passing moment, so too does the dissension between Sims, Greene and Faggis, creating opportunities for anyone clever enough to exploit them...or at least, lucky enough...

    "Wot are you doin' 'ere?" Ben demanded.
    "Looking for you!"
    "Lookin' fer---me?" She nodded. "Wot for?"
    "Aren't you worth looking for?" she asked.
    It was the first he'd heard of it. The novelty of the theory confused him. He decided to try and work it out later, and meanwhile, after a solemn second or two, he inquired: "Yus; but wot abart Miss 'Olbrooke, miss?"
    "She's at Villabanzos," answered Molly, "and that's where you and I have got to get to, just as quick as we can!... Got to!"
    "That's right." Ben's voice was depressed.
    "Well, haven't we?" she challenged the depression.
    "Corse! Plices like that is made fer us! That Don Magnesia---is 'e in charge, like?"
    "Don Manuel?"
    "That's the bloke."
    "Yes, he's in charge. He's an innkeeper, but I'll bet he doesn't make his money selling lemonade! They've got Miss Holbrooke locked in a cellar---"
    "That's nice fer us!"
    "...and how we're going to get her out, God knows. But we're going to get her out, and, what's more, we can't waste any time about it! How are you feeling?"
    "'Orrible."
    A little frown crept into her face. "Want to back out?" she asked.
    "No," he answered. "That's why I feels 'orrible..."

Finished The Reviv'd Fugitive for TIOLI #7.

Now reading The Land Of Laughs by Jonathan Carroll.

Well! - I actually managed to get a blog-post written!

It's too long, of course, like everything I write; but hopefully the background provided is of interest:

The Warriors Of Van Diemen's Land, or The Heroes Of Cornwall

I think the correct response here is to be surprised and pleased:

So nice to see the little lemurs join us for another year! I eagerly await our first Sloth of 2021. :-)

...which will of course be the last sloth of 2020... :D

ETA: Mind you, that may be over-ambitious: I still have seven reviews (and technically a blog-post) before I wrap up December!

>19 lyzard: I meant to pop into your thread sooner, but I've somehow been very distracted lately without anything much happening either. Anyway, I really enjoyed your group reads last year, and I'm looking forward to your Carlingford read when it happens.

>112 Matke: Interesting and lovely post, Gail.

My early reading was The Famous Five, Robert Louis Stevenson and Ian Serraillier moving on to people like Ambler, Hammond Innes, Buchan, Conan-Doyle and Alistair MacLean and then quickly to Tolkien.

My reading was almost exclusively British throughout my schooldays.

>126 Majel-Susan:

Lovely to see you here!

Oh, yes, I'm very familiar with the nothing happens though nothing's happening feeling...

It will be great to have you join in for our Oliphant reads. :)

>127 PaulCranswick:

Mine too, including starting to read classics at an absurdly early age; I won't say how much of them I understood. :D

Finished The Land Of Laughs for TIOLI #3.

And now I have a problem:

It's the 18th January and my ILL of James Michener's The Source - all 1000+ pages of it - hasn't arrived yet.

I'm giving it until tomorrow as an absolute cut-off: I have to go to the library then anyway, to return some books; if it turns up in time I guess I'll be devoting the rest of this month to it, or close enough.

If it doesn't it will be shifting to my February reading, which in addition to being a shorter month - why does it feel so much shorter?? - is going to clash with the group read of Orley Farm.

I don't know which of those prospects is worse.

Anyway--- Right now I guess I want something short to carry me to the absolute cut-off of tomorrow.

Hummm...

Now reading Patty Blossom by Carolyn Wells.

Best-selling Books in the United States for 1964:

1. The Spy Who Came in from the Cold by John le Carré
2. Candy by Terry Southern and Mason Hoffenberg
3. Herzog by Saul Bellow
4. Armageddon by Leon Uris
5. The Man by Irving Wallace
6. The Rector of Justin by Louis Auchincloss
7. The Martyred by Richard E. Kim
8. You Only Live Twice by Ian Fleming
9. This Rough Magic by Mary Stewart
10. Convention by Fletcher Knebel and Charles W. Bailey II

American reading in 1964 was on the whole serious, not to say grim: possibly reflecting the world situation.

The exceptions here are Candy by Terry Southern and Mason Hoffenberg, a sex farce about a naive young woman who is pursued and manipulated by every man who crosses her path; and (at the opposite end of the emotional spectrum) Mary Stewart's This Rough Magic, a romantic thriller about smuggling set on Corfu and shot through with (possibly overreaching) allusions to The Tempest.

Louis Auchincloss' The Rector Of Justin is about a shy teacher, rejected for war service in 1939, who becomes dangerously enthralled by the headmaster of the school at which he teaches.

Saul Bellow's Herzog, about a Jewish man having a midlife crisis, may be the original "middle-aged white man stares at navel for 400 pages, author wins awards" novel.

The Martyred, by Korean-American author and professor of literature, Richard Eun Kook Kim, is about the execution of a group of Christian ministers in the dying days of the Korean War.

Convention, by Washington journalists Fletcher Knebel and Charles W. Bailey II, is a behind-the-scenes examination of the pressures and compromises that go along with the struggle for political nomination. In its day the novel's selling point was an extremely early depiction of the power of computers and data-mining; now, however, we can only sigh (as we did over Allen Drury's Advise And Consent) over its conviction that ultimately people will come together and choose right over expediency.

Irving Shaw's The Man, meanwhile, imagines the unimaginable: that America might one day elect a black president...

The last two books on the list are both Cold War thrillers.

You Only Live Twice, the penultimate James Bond novel by Ian Fleming, finds Bond agreeing to a series of assassinations in exchange for Japanese intel on the Soviets.

America's best-selling book for 1964, however, was a far more serious and frightening examination of Cold War-era espionage and moral compromise: John le Carré's The Spy Who Came in from the Cold.

{I figured it was about time we went colour with this:}




David John Moore Cornwell was born in England in 1931. He had an erratic and often difficult childhood: his mother abandoned the family when he was five; his father was an associate of the notorious Kray brothers and spent time in prison. He struggled with public school discipline and left England for Switzerland when he was seventeen, studying languages at the University of Bern.

In 1950, Cornwall joined the Intelligence Corps of the British Army, working in occupied Austria as a German-language interrogator of people who crossed the Iron Curtain to the West. In 1952 he returned to England, overtly to study at Oxford, from where he later graduated with a first-class degree in modern languages. Covertly, he was also acting as a spy for British security services.

After two years of teaching at Eton, Cornwall joined MI5, the UK's domestic counter-intelligence and security agency. He later transferred to MI6 - the foreign intelligence security branch - working chiefly in Bonn and Hamburg.

In 1964, Cornwall's career in intelligence came to an end when he became one of those betrayed to the KGB by Kim Philby.

While still at MI5, Cornwall began writing his first novel, Call For The Dead, which was published in 1961. Since someone in his position was forbidden to publish under his real name, he adopted the pseudonym "John le Carré" - or "John the Square".

He followed Call For The Dead with the detective story, A Murder Of Quality, in 1962---before writing what is widely considered the definitive depection of Cold War espionage, 1963's The Spy Who Came In From The Cold. The thriller became a best-seller all over the world, including topping the American lists in 1964.

After his forced resignation in 1964, "le Carré" took up writing fulltime, producing seven more novels in his espionage series, in addition to more than a dozen standalone thrillers and two semi-autobiographical novels. His final work, Agent Running In The Field, was published in 2019.

Over the last years of his life, Cornwall did not hesitate to speak out in criticism of national and international politics. In 2017 he publicly attacked Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin for "oligarchy, the dismissal of the truth, the contempt, actually, for the electorate and for the democratic system". He later compared Trump's dismissal of critical media as "fake news" to the Nazi book burnings, warning that the United States was "heading straight down the road to institutional racism and neo-fascism".

David Cornwall / John le Carré died of pneumonia in December 2020---having at least lived long enough to see that year's American election.

Publication date: 1963
Genre: Mystery / thriller
Series: George Smiley #3
Read for: Best-seller challenge / TIOLI (seen film, haven't read)

The Spy Who Came In From The Cold - Alec Leamas, a British intelligence operative, is recalled to London from Berlin after a series of disasters that has destroyed his team of agents---the last being the shooting down of double-agent, Karl Riemeck, as he makes a desperate attempt to cross the Berlin Wall. This purging of British agents is believed to be the work of Hans-Dieter Mundt, who has recently become head of East German Abteilung. Confronting his superior at "the Circus", Leamas asks to be allowed to retire from intelligence work---to "come in from cold"... In the weeks that follow, Leamas' life falls apart. Demoted to the finance department of the Circus, he begins drinking heavily and behaving erratically; he is finally dismissed when he is caught embezzling to supplement his small income. Living alone in a dingy flat, Leamas finally secures a job in a private library, where he meets and begins a relationship with Liz Gold. However, his temporary respite from failure ends in an assault charge and a short prison sentence. After his release, Leamas is contacted by people whose goal is finally revealed as defection. In time he finds himself in East Berlin, being interrogated by Josef Fielder, Mundt's deputy at the Abteiling, whose questions reveal his belief in the presence of a double-agent within the organisation... John le Carré's 1963 espionage thriller is a brutally uncompromising work that captures absolutely the terror and the paranoia of the Cold War era. Set in a twilight world of amorality and violence, and where the only law is expediency, the novel offers a chilling exposé of the gulf between public values and private actions: something that increasingly troubled le Carré during his own intelligence work, the sense that "the West" was as bad as "the Communists", and perhaps worse in its betrayal of its supposed beliefs. This is a novel without a hero, despite the positioning of Alec Leamas, through whose eyes we see the action, and whose subtle manipulation of his captors dominates the action of the narrative. With his aim the destruction of Hans-Dieter Mundt, who has wrought such carnage in the ranks of British intelligence behind the Iron Curtain, Leamas walks a knife-edge in his confrontations with Fiedler, weaving into his statements the tiniest trail of breadcrumbs that, if all goes as planned, will result in the downfall of Mundt at the hands of his own people... Tersely and breathlessly written, yet profound in its dissection of moral compromise during this most troubling of political eras, The Spy Who Came In From The Cold is an almost flawless work. If I have one problem with it, it is the nature of the single error that Leamas commits as he undertakes what he hopes will be his final mission---all the more so, since this is the same error that destroys Karl Riemeck during the novel's opening sequence---though perhaps we are to take this as an ironic instance of "do as I say, not as I do"; or even as a reminder that Cold War spies were human too, despite the evidence to the contrary. But then---I'm wrong to say that this is Leamas' only error; he makes another, still more serious blunder as he strives for his escape from "the cold": he forgets that no-one, absolutely no-one, is to be trusted...

     "I'll put it another way. Suppose Mundt is right. He asked me to confess, you know; I was to confess that I was in league with British spies who were plotting to murder him. You see the argument - that the whole operation was mounted by British Intelligence in order to entice us - me, if you like - into liquidating the best man in the Abteiling. To turn our own weapon against us."
     "He tried that on me," said Leamas indifferently. And he added, "As if I'd cooked up the whole bloody story."
     "But what I mean is this: suppose you had done that, suppose it were true - I am taking and example, you understand, an hypothesis - would you kill a man, an innocent man---"
     "Mundt's a killer himself."
     "Suppose he wasn't. Suppose it were me they wanted to kill: would London do it?"
     "It depends...it depends on the need..."
     "Ah," said Fiedler contentedly, "it depends on the need. Like Stalin, in fact. The traffic accident and the statistics. That is a great relief."
     "Why?"
     "You must get some sleep," said Fiedler. "Order what food you want. They will bring you whatever you want. Tomorrow you can talk." As he reached the door he looked back and said, "We're all the same, you know, that's the joke."
     Soon Leamas was asleep, content in the knowledge that Fiedler was his ally and that they would shortly send Mundt to his death...

>132 lyzard: Nice review, Liz. I've never read le Carré despite having an affinity for espionage novels, but I recently acquired a copy of The Spy Who Came In From the Cold following his death, and I hope to read it soon-ish.

>130 lyzard: Your description of Herzog made me laugh really hard, Liz.

>133 rosalita:

Thank you. I think people need to read this one regardless. I don't know how far I'll go with the le Carrés generally but I am going to read the other Smiley novels; I'm working on a copy of Call For The Dead right now.

>134 MickyFine:

Micky! - hi, thanks for visiting!

:D

I try to be tolerant but if there's one genre that makes me clench my teeth...!

>130 lyzard:
Excellent description of Herzog. Such an irritating sub genre, I think.

>132 lyzard:
That’s a perfect review Le Carre’s book, Liz. I didn’t know how good a spy novel could be until I read that one. Even if unremittingly bleak.

>132 lyzard: Averting my eyes from your comments, but will mention that I read this one in high school and remember little of it except that I liked it much, and read several more le Carre novels, most of which I also liked. Looking forward to this one.

>136 Matke:

Hi, Gail! Look, I'm happy for people to read whatever they want, but the fact that that sort of writing is automatically regarded as Great Literature drives me NUTS!!

Thanks so much! :)

>137 swynn:

You may consider that the carrot dangling beyond far too many sticks. :D

Re: Herzog et al., what really chaps my hide is that if a woman writes that sort of introspective novel, it's automatically classified as "chick lit". A friend of mine takes her revenge by referring to the likes of Herzog (and pretty much Philip Roth's entire oeuvre) as "dick lit" (mild crudity hidden from delicate eyes). :-P

>139 rosalita:
I literally laughed aloud when I first saw that classification! And considering the focus of large parts of so many of those novels, it’s quite apt.

>139 rosalita: Julia: *SNORK!* I love it!!

Hi, Liz! I'm happily following along here, but just haven't thought of anything intelligent to add to the conversation.

>139 rosalita: that's just perfickt!

>139 rosalita:, >140 Matke:, >142 Helenliz:

That, plus the reverse implication that anything written about a man is automatically interesting. That's how you end up with books like Anthony Adverse! :D

I may say that I have been known to make the associated retort when faced with "Bros before hos"...

>141 scaifea:

Just happy to have you here, Amber! :)

Finished Patty Blossom for TIOLI #12.

Now reading Miracle Creek by Angie Kim.

Anyway---

I have officially written off The Source for this month (though having been to the library yesterday, I wouldn't be at all surprised to get a notification today).

That means I need to retool my reading lists for the rest of this month and all of next. For the former, I've had a few more TIOLI slots opened up, and since I have no plan it lets me work on my (mild and not-another-project-honestly) hopes of reading some newer stuff this year, plus more books by women. I still haven't hit 50% for the latter; and while I know this is a natural consequence of my list-reading, I'd like to make a better effort.

So---likely for this month:

Miracle Creek by Angie Kim (current read)
Beast In View by Margaret Millar
Fool's Gold by Dolores Hitchens
Cause Of Death by Cyril Wecht

Likely for next month:

Orley Farm by Anthony Trollope
The Source by James A. Michener
The Benevent Treasure by Patricia Wentworth
Simon The Coldheart by Georgette Heyer
Call For The Dead by John le Carré

>139 rosalita: pretty much how I feel about most of Hemingway and Steinbeck.

>145 lyzard: I'm all in for Orley Farm and Oliphant...ready when you are.

I loved Beast in View. It’s a well-done psychological study. Can’t wait to learn what you think.

>146 kac522:

Hi, Kathy! Lovely to see you here. :)

Steinbeck I have other issues with but Hemingway, oh yeah.

Excellent!

>147 Matke:

Noted, thanks Gail!

So I was trying to add---well, let's just say Dolores Hitchens' 1958 novel---only to discover that her book had been inexplicably entangled with Jon Hollins' The Dragon Lords: Fool's Gold...to the point of her being listed as the author even though the cover with Hollins' name on it is RIGHT THERE.

But it gets better: it turns out that no-one is certain whether Hitchens' novel is called "Fool's Gold", "Fools' Gold" or even just "Fools Gold": I've found listings under all three titles!

I've been clenching my teeth so hard through all of this I've got jaw-ache.

ETA: The consensus appears to be "Fools' Gold", off to tweak the canonical title...

So yeah, anyway; after all that:

Finished Miracle Creek for TIOLI #17.

Now reading Fools' Gold by Dolores Hitchens.

Well! - I've actually managed another blog-post, this one about Peter Belon's The Reviv'd Fugitive, a short work from 1690 dealing with the efforts of its Catholic hero and Protestant heroine to reconcile their love and faith in the wake of the Edict of Fontainebleau.

(Hmm. That description makes it sound a lot better and more coherent than it is.)

The Reviv'd Fugitive: A Gallant Historical Novel

My unwonted efficiency seems to have caught this lemur off-guard:

>152 lyzard: That is a very surprised lemur! Well done on the blog post.

>153 rosalita:

Thank you!

(I thought you'd be busy watching Bruce, or have I got my times wrong?)

>149 lyzard: Sorry to add to the confusion, but the American first edition is generally cataloged as Fool's Gold.

>152 lyzard: How do you *find* these pictures?

>155 NinieB:

The first edition listings on World Cat have it split 50/50. :D

However, its first revival / rerelease in 2015 and the follow-up one last year both have Fools' so I've decided that tips the scale.

Ooh! - also the credits for Jean-Luc Godard's adaptation, Bande à Part!

How do you *find* these pictures?

The short answer would be, by investing an absurd amount of time... :)

Nice startled Lemur and impressive digging on the book title. So we're looking at gold belonging to multiple fools, right?

>157 Helenliz:

Hi, Helen - thanks!

I gather some teenagers get involved in something criminal chasing easy money, so yes.

>154 lyzard: The show started at 7:30 my time, so Bruce had already performed when I posted. I always appreciate when they put him right at the beginning. ;-)

>156 lyzard: The first edition listings on World Cat have it split 50/50.

Oh now you've got my professional curiosity piqued.

Short version: I'd call it "Fool's gold." Pedantry follows.

My interpretation of the 50/50 split is that different editions had the apostrophe placed differently. As of yet, there is no authorized form established in the NACO Authority File, so this is an exercise left to the reader. :)

The NACO Authority File is maintained by the Name Authority Cooperative program of the Program for Cooperative Cataloging. To be authorized to add or edit these records requires specialized training and an institutional commitment. So I need to disclaim that I am not a NACO cataloger, but my understanding of NACO policy is this:

1. Use the most commonly identified title in the original language (but not necessarily the original title)
2. If there is no commonly identified title in the original language, then choose the title of the original edition

Since there is no obvious "most commonly identified title," my guess is that the alternative applies. The problem then is identifying the original edition. The earliest date in WorldCat is 1958, and there are 5 records in WorldCat with this date. Three of them have "Fool's", including a well-used record created by the Library of Congress (whose records are sort of the gold standard -- I feel self-satisfied all day when I find an error in an LOC record). The two exceptions -- records that have a 1958 date and the plural "Fools' gold" -- are both very brief records used by only a single library each, and one of them is cataloged in French. Which is fine, but I know next to nothing about French-language cataloging standards, and so can't infer anything about what the original cataloger may have had in hand.

Again: not a NACO cataloger and even if I were I'd hesitate to make the call without a work in hand, but there's my guess.

>159 rosalita:

Ah! - nice. :)

>160 swynn:

OMG!! :D

I thought the first two WC listings (with Fool's) were duplicates but I will bow to what it seems inadequate to call your superior knowledge!

On the other hand (going with my own strong suit) here is the cover image for the Crime Club first edition from 1958:





Not that covers are by any means infallible: I've pointed out before Hodder & Stoughton's inability to settle on words or figures when a book has a number in its title.

>161 lyzard: Well, isn't that interesting ... that's exactly why I'd hesitate to make a call without an item in hand. The 1958 Crime Club edition is the one described in the Library of Congress's record, so if the title page also has the plural possessive then I change my answer.

I am even less a historian of cataloging than I am a NACO cataloger. But this is the Internet, so why should that stop me? The pedantic stuff:

The rules I'm most familiar with (AACR2 and RDA) strongly prefer titles taken from a title page (when one exists), which is not always the same as the cover title. (Although when there is a difference, both AACR2 and RDA state that it should be noted in the record.) So my next question was, what rules were in force at the time the record was created? The record was added to WorldCat in 1975, and its encoding level indicates that it was digitized from an existing description without consulting the material. Probably that means the catalog description was written around 1958, and typed into the database that would later be WorldCat in . The rules then in force would have been "Rules for Descriptive Cataloging in the Library of Congress." Those rules are freely available online (Thanks, Hathi Trust!), and read:

"The data given in the body of the entry are to be those on the title-page of the work, although certain items may be omitted and others may have to be added." (Rule 3:1)

So even in 1958, the title proper should have been taken from the title page. If the title page has the plural "Fools' Gold", then the catalog record is wrong.

BTW, I have never in my career had occasion to consult the "Rules for Descriptive Cataloging in the Library of Congress." Thank you for giving me an excuse!

>162 swynn:

I'm sure you're very welcome!

Seriously, this isn't my area but I understand very well the 'chase that rabbit down its hole' impulse. :D

If as you say the data is in-putted from the title page it seems strange there should ever be a mistake. Is this a typo, an autocorrect error, or a data-entry person who thought they knew better??

I'm inclined, BTW, to stick with the English-language-usage argument first raised by Helen in >157 Helenliz: : definitely more than one fool, therefore fools'.

Speaking of the rabbit down the hole:

Fools' gold it is.

Data entry error, probably. Whether it is an error in the original cataloger's transcription, or in the "digitization," which probably consisted of a typist transcribing a card-catalog card, it's hard to tell.

>164 swynn:

SCORE!!

Thanks for that, nice to have my OCD twitches relieved. :)

>162 swynn: My academic library claims to have the book on the shelf, so one of these days I can check the title page. Not as soon as normal, though (looking at you, pandemic).

ETA Never mind. One of these days I will click the links before I type.

>166 NinieB:

Aw, you said "academic library". Now I'm sad again... :D

Finished FOOLS' Gold for TIOLI #14.

Now reading Beast In View by Margaret Millar.

Publication date: 1931
Genre: Mystery / thriller
Series: Inspector Silver #2
Read for: 1931 reading / series reading / TIOLI (follow-up book)

The Midnight Mail - Just before the midnight mail train from Scotland pulls into King's Cross Station, the guard discovers that one of the passengers has been attacked: beaten and strangled, but not dead. The external door to her compartment is also open. Inspector Silver of Scotland Yard is still questioning the guard about the train's journey and the passenger's movements and his own when word is received that the body of a man has been found on the tracks some thirty miles back. The two are identified as Silas Ismay and his secretary, Enid Mulholland, both of whom worked for the Anglo-American Theatrical Syndicate. Silver calls at the business to question Ismay's partner, Lawrence Bruce; he is surprised - and pleased - to learn that Lawrence's secretary is Sally Marsh, who he met before while working on a different case. Silver is interested in the immediate assumption by his colleagues that Ismay attacked Enid and then committed suicide; however, he informs them that Ismay had been choked to death before being thrown off the train. Moreover, it is clear that whatever the motive for these crimes, it was not robbery... This summary of Henry Holt's The Midnight Mail serves as an illustration of what's wrong with it. Though it starts out focused upon Silver's investigation of who could and could not have been on the train - an express with few stops - the geography of Enid's compartment, and the movements of the other passengers, about halfway through the narrative changes gears---and what began as a perfectly serviceable train-mystery turns into a thriller about Silver's battle with a criminal gang led by a dangerous individual known as "the Spider", whose identity is unknown. This sort of thing also happened with the first entry in the Silver series, The Mayfair Mystery, and frankly I find it annoying. (One of the main characters from the earlier book, Andy Collinson, returns here as a crime reporter.) Furthermore, woven into The Midnight Mail is a subplot about Silver and Sally Marsh falling for each other, which also gets tiresome; although at least they knew each other prior to these events, so we're not asked to deal with "love at first sight". My overriding complaint, however, is that the ultimate solution of the case involves the "surprise" cracking of what looks like a solid alibi, but which obviously could (and should) have been broken a lot earlier: suddenly springing an "Oh, by the way---" moment on the reader is cheating. But despite its switch in character, The Midnight Mail remains focused upon the Anglo-American Theatrical Syndicate and the people who work there. The two faces of the case fuse when it is discovered that Enid Mulholland was somehow involved with a man known only as "Nobby", who in turn was involved with - or had fallen foul of - the Spider's gang. Meanwhile, Silver's increasing attraction to Sally is offset by his conviction that she knows something she isn't telling; while his very respect for her intelligence - his sense that if there is anything to find out at her place of work, she probably will - heightens his concern for her. Silver's fears turn out to be justified when, having left her place of work on business, Sally simply disappears...

    There could be no question that Ismay was actually murdered in that third-class compartment next to the guard's van. As Enid was evidently alone when she fell asleep, Ismay must have come from his first-class section of the train and crept into Enid's compartment while she slept. And for some reason which had not yet been explained he must have delivered a murderous blow on her forehead while she lau helpless. Then, to make doubly sure of her death, he had begun to fasten that piece of blue silk cord around her neck.
    Yes, Silver assured himself, so far it was possible to reconstruct the events of last Monday night. This, indeed, fitted in with the theory which Andy Collinson, the newspaper man, had advanced, and which had seemed reasonably plausible at the time.
    But then there was a snag, and it was a bad snag.
    Collinson's suggestion was that some stranger, seeing what was happening, entered the compartment with the idea of protecting the girl, strangled Ismay and pitched him out on to the track, afterwards disappearing to save his own neck.
    All of which appeared possible, but unfortunately Collinson's suggestion then crashed. For since Monday the complication of Nobby's death had arisen, and also the disappearance of Sally Marsh. Whatever other conjectures proved fallacious, there could not be the slightest doubt now that a link existed between all those events. And it did not make sense to suggest that anyone who had merely acted on the spur of the moment to save Enid Mulholland would subsequently have strangled Nobby and spirited Sally away. Take the man with the red hair, for instance...

>169 lyzard: Inspector Silver! A long-lost nephew of Maudie's, perhaps?

Thanks for the information regarding the lynxes

Publication date: 1954
Genre: Mystery / thriller
Series: Miss Silver #25
Read for: Shared read / series reading / TIOLI (comfort read)

The Silent Pool - Miss Silver is consulted by an elderly woman called "Mrs Smith" - in fact, retired stage actress, Adriana Ford - who is afraid someone is trying to kill her. Perversely, however, putting her fears into words convinces Adriana that they have no substance: she returns to Ford House with a new lease of life, deciding to open it up and entertain again; though she also keeps her parting promise to Miss Silver, to stay alert. Her change in behaviour impacts those living and staying there: her adopted daughter, Meriel; her cousin, Geoffrey, and his older, querulous wife, Edna; Mabel Preston, an old friend fallen on old times; and Janet Johnstone, who has been roped into caring for six-year-old Stella Somers, while her actress-mother, Star, also a cousin, is in America. Janet's presence brings to the scene Ninian Rutherford, another connection, to whom she was once engaged. Outsider Janet soon realises she is staying in an unhappy household, its discontented occupants depending upon Adriana's charity and resenting it. When Adriana arranges an evening-party, the event ends in tragedy, with Mabel Preston found lying face down in a decorative pool at the end of the garden---and wearing a distinctively patterned coat belonging to Adriana... The Silent Pool is something of a mixed bag. On one hand there are some welcome signs here of Patricia Wentworth experimenting with her formula: this is a rare case (these days) of Maud Silver simply being hired by a client, rather than mixing - or meddling - in police business; and in fact, neither Chief Inspector Lamb nor Frank Abbott puts in an appearance, though the latter is name-checked. (There is an amusing moment when the actual cop on the case, Inspector Martin, reveals that he knows of Maudie from the unpleasant Inspector Crisp, who got his professional butt handed to him in both The Catherine-Wheel and The Brading Collection.) AT the same time, we are not required to sympathise much with Adriana Ford, who brings many of her troubles on herself; there is not the same sense of Miss Silver championing and rescuing an innocent bystander. Another interesting touch is the character of Star Somers, who is allowed to pursue her acting career without any suggestion that she is a bad mother. (That she sticks other people with looking after Stella is another matter.) On the other hand, the romantic subplot in The Silent Pool only serves to remove suspects from a narrative that, frankly, could do with a few more; though granted, it does expand to include both Esmé Trent, a young widow with a roving eye, and Ellie Page, the vicar's sister-in-law. The main issue here, however, is that the narrative is unbalanced, with too much of it devoted to the residents of Ford House and their respective situations: greedy, womanising Geoffrey, jealous Edna, self-dramatising Meriel and even naive, unhappy Ellie dominate at various times, in addition to Adriana. Conversely, we see much less of Maud than usual: after her initial dismissal, she does not reappear until Adriana summons her in the wake of Mabel Preston's murder, which was evidently one of mistaken identity. She is not in time to prevent a second death, however; nor - as she says herself - does she do as much actual investigation as usual; but in the end, it is her compassionate understanding and her ability to persuade reluctant witnesses to talk that puts Martin on the right track...

    Adriana gave a short laugh. “I don’t want Geoffrey to leave her. He would if the money were his, or even half of it. She would crack up if he did, and as long as she holds the purse-strings he won’t. Besides, he’s a fool about women, and I don’t care for the idea of, say, Esmé Trent, spending my money.”
    Miss Silver had put down her knitting-bag. She sat with her hands folded in her lap and looked earnestly at Adriana. “Miss Ford, you are making a mistake.”
    “Am I?” The dark eyes met hers with a touch of scorn.
    “I think so. And as you have engaged my professional services, I feel that I owe you an honest opinion. It is a mistake to employ financial arguments to induce or constrain the actions of others. Deplorable repercussions may be set up. Since I entered this household I have been struck by the absence of any kindly feeling between its members. I exclude Mr Rutherford and Miss Johnstone who do not properly belong to it, and who are very obviously in love with one another.”
    Adriana looked at her with something like anger. She sustained the look, and continued with quiet authority.
    “You yourself were able to believe that someone in the house was attempting your life. It seemed to me that you were not really able to exclude anyone from this suspicion.”
    Adriana said, “Not Star---not Ninian.”
    “I did not think that you were sure even about them. That was the first thing that struck me, that there was no reaction such as would be felt where there was genuine confidence and affection.”
    Adriana’s lips were dry. She moved them to say, “Are there many people of whom you can feel quite sure?”
    Miss Silver was conscious of a humble thankfulness as she said, “Yes.”
    The dry lips spoke again. “You are fortunate...”

>170 rosalita:

The dates work out about right but he's not half the detective she is! :D

>171 Whisper1:

Linda! How lovely to get a visit from you. I am very sorry to hear you are still suffering with pain issues; fingers crossed for a much kinder year.

I'm glad you like my lynxes. :)

Publication date: 1922
Genre: Historical drama
Read for: Georgette Heyer straight historical fiction challenge / TIOLI (book by a woman)

The Great Roxhythe - Christopher Dart, the young scion of a good family fallen on hard times, is astonished when he is offered the position of secretary to the Marquis of Roxhythe. Everyone he speaks to warns Christopher against his new employer, and at first he too is repelled by his arrogance and egotism; yet in the end he is won over by Roxhythe's charm and evident liking for himself; in time becoming his most passionate adherent. And Roxhythe needs friends: favoured by Charles II above all others at his court, and in spite of his pose of staying aloof from politics deep in Charles' confidence in all of his dangerous manoeuvring, the nobleman is a man with many enemies... The second novel and first work of straight historical fiction by Georgette Heyer, written when she was only twenty, The Great Roxhythe is not surprisingly a very uneven work. In fact, in later years Heyer was so dissatisfied with it, she tried to prevent its reissue; but while this is certainly a flawed novel, it is not without its virtues. As we might expect, Heyer's depiction of the court of Charles II and the dangerous politics of the Restoration is accurate and cleverly blended into a narrative that both invents certain episodes - such as Roxhythe's trip to Holland to negotiate with the young Prince of Orange - and uses its fictional anti-hero to explain some of the murkier aspects of Charles' reign - such as the Rye House Plot, when an aborted plot to (supposedly) assassinate Charles and James instead paved the way for the extermination of their enemies. On the other hand, Heyer's writing is rather stilted here, particularly her insistence upon (excuse me if I've got this wrong) using the possessive-linked genitive rather than the s-genitive (that is, "the king his court" rather than "the king's court") at a time when nearly everyone had moved on to the latter. The plot of The Great Roxhythe turns upon two particularly intense male-male friendships...which not infrequently suggest something more, whether or not that was Heyer's intention. The first half of the novel is given over to Christopher's naive adoration of his employer, which persists in the teeth of warnings from almost everyone and even his own doubts. Christopher's own honesty is so well-established that when he speaks for Roxhythe, his word is taken: something that Roxhythe does not hesitate to make use of... However, the dominant emotional connection in The Great Roxhythe is that between its protagonist and King Charles, to whom Roxhythe has been devoted since they fled England together some thirty years before. In the service of his king, Roxhythe has surrendered himself absolutely---doing whatever Charles asks of him and much more, at the cost of all other friendships, even of his honour. It is, however, a dangerous devotion; and when Charles dies suddenly in 1685, Roxhythe is left truly alone...

    Roxhythe stood silent, gazing out of the window. There was a hint of sadness in the cool eyes; even of bitterness.
Charles studied his profile concernedly. "What is it, Davy?" he asked gently.
    Roxhythe smiled. "I was just thinking, Sir. Perhaps we were happier in the old days, across the water."
    "We plotted then and bribed," said Charles quickly.
    "It was rather different. Then we were a few against the world. We had only ourselves to think of. Now we have the whole of Britain depending on us, and we plot and trick..."
    "Davy, I do her no harm! Surely you have seen that? You did not like the Treaty of Dover, but what ill has come of it?"
    Roxhythe shrugged. "None save the lowering of the King his honour."
    Charles bit his thick underlip.
    Roxhythe continued, in that same level, passionless voice: "I believe I have a desire to run straight once more, Sir. Sometimes I think I would give much to be with my regiment again---no intriguer, but just a soldier."
    "David!" The King's eyes were full of pain. "You think that?"
    The smile crossed Roxhythe's lips again. "Until I remember you, Sir."
    The King flung out his hand. "Ah!---and then?"
    "And then I know that had I to choose again I would follow you." He came back to the King's chair and knelt. "Don't let this distress you, Sir. These are but idle regrets, that are not even regrets. I am your man until I die, or until I fall..."

Publication date: 1931
Genre: Short stories
Read for: 1931 reading / TIOLI (peridot cover)

Cameos - This volume collects numerous short-short stories by Octavus Roy Cohen, most of them running between four and eight pages, and ending with a punchline, a twist, or a sting in the tail. I did this collection a disservice by (necessarily) reading it in two in-library sessions: these stories need to be spaced out to have their proper effect; crowding on top of one another lessened their impact, and made it too easy to see each ending coming. However, needs must... Most of Cohen's stories take place in a Damon-Runyon-esque world of guys and dolls (although frequently without the humour), and many deal with fringe-dwellers: petty criminals, struggling actors, second-rate prize-fighters; people looking for their one big break, their one chance to get "on top". Over the first half of the book, too many of these tales depict long-suffering men and greedy, rapacious women; though this fades later into stories of happier, more equal relationships---albeit with a tendency to show women tricking men for their own good. However, the suggestion that the "correct" male response to romantic disappointment is fatal violence never really goes away. Despite these disappointing touches, on the whole this is a clever, witty collection with a great many wry things to say about humour nature.

    "We're going to Hollywood together---as man and wife. Even if we don't land, we'll have a marvellous time, and we can always fall back on vaudeville. But out yonder we'll look for work as individuals. We have enough money to keep us from worrying if we don't land right away, and we won't have to grab the first thing that's offered. But there's one condition?"
    "What's that?"
    "Our resources are to be poled, and we are to share equally---no matter what happens. And that means even if I land a job before you do."
    "Me take half your earnings? No!"
    She caught her breath. "Is that fair, Sam? Is it honest? Aren't we partners? If you turn this down, the whole thing is off."
    "But I can't land---and you can."
    "We don't know that, do we? You've got a better screen chance than I have. There are a million good looking women out there. And if I'm willing to share your salary provided you land first, why won't you agree to do the same with me?"
    "Because it wouldn't seem right: A man living off a woman..."
    "No? You don't even want us to be real partners: is that it? You don't love me enough to treat me as an equal ..."

Publication date: 1888
Genre: Young adult
Series: Elsie Dinsmore #14
Read for: Series reading / TIOLI (Christmas story)

Christmas With Grandma Elsie - Well, we do see a little more of Elsie in this one; but like the several series entries before, the 14th in Martha Finley's didactic series deals chiefly with the Raymond family: that is, second daughter Violet, her husband and three step-children, and the two of their own; although the minimal interest held by this plot-thread has pretty much died since rebellious Lulu found Jesus, reformed, and is now as much of a bore as all the rest. Typically, alas, most of this book consists of the Raymonds either having the same two conversations over and over - how much Raymond and his own three love each other, and/or how shocking disobedience is - or quoting the Bible at one another. Around this, we do indeed spend Christmas with Grandma Elsie, with the usual oblivious dwelling upon luxury and conspicuous consumption cheek-by-jowl with more speeches about this clan as the "stewards" of God's bounty (and very bountiful He was, too). Most of the rest has the families moving from house to house entertaining one another through New Year's; however, something that actually resembles plot finally emerges when Lulu thwarts a burglary, and then must go through the ordeal of giving evidence.

    "Papa, won't you sit down and take me on your knee, and hug me up close, while you tell it?" entreated Grace.
    "I will," he said, doing as she requested. Then catching a longing look in Lulu's eyes, "You may come too, daughter," he said. "Slip on your dressing-gown and stand here by my side. I have an arm for you as well as one for Gracie."
    Lulu promptly and joyfully availed herself of the permission.
    "Lu," said Max, "you're a real heroine! brave as a lion! I'm proud to own you for my sister. I'm afraid I mightn't have been half so brave."
    "Oh yes, Max, I'm sure you would have done just the same," she returned, blushing with pleasure. "And you see I preferred to do it, because I thought they might kill papa, and that would have been oh so much worse than being killed myself!" clinging lovingly to her father, and hiding her face on his shoulder as she spoke.
    "Dear child!" he said in moved tones and clasping her close, "you have a very strong and unselfish love for me."
    "Papa, it would have broken my heart, and Mamma Vi's, and Max's and Gracie's too, if anything dreadful had happened to you."
    "And what about papa's heart if he should lose his dear little daughter Lulu, or anything dreadful should happen to her?"
"I didn't have time to think about that, papa. I know you love me very much, and would be sorry to lose me---naughty as I often am---but you have other children, and I have only one father; so of course it would be a great deal worse for me to lose you, and all the rest to lose you too."

...and you may imagine my horror when I realised that, having disposed of the 14th in the series, I was exactly - and only - halfway through!

I feel like I've been reading it FOREVER.

On the other hand, it's amusing to note that this series (albeit the revised editions) is still being sold as "the adventures of a little girl" when Elsie is a girl for only the first two books, and has been a grandmother since #8!

Publication date: 1916
Genre: Young adult
Series: Patty Fairfield #14
Read for: Series reading / TIOLI (five-word sentence)

Patty's Fortune - Like the Elsie Dinsmore series (above), it feels like Carolyn Wells' young adult series featuring the capricious Patty Fairfield has been marking time forever, with most of its narratives taken up with Patty's social life of parties and visiting and, increasingly, the determined pursuit of her by several young men. In this, however, the 14th in a 17-book series, events finally begin to move towards a conclusion. Patty acquires a new admirer in the form of the rather rackety Chick Channing, and through him makes the acquaintance of a former actress - much to everyone's horror - who puts ideas of appearing on stage in light opera into her head. This plot-thread amounts to nothing, but it serves to narrow the romantic field in Patty's life down to the obvious two. Leading the field, in everyone's mind but Patty's, is the wealthy and aristocratic Philip van Reypen, whose determined and rather overbearing courtship she has been holding off for some time, despite assumptions about the two of them amongst their friends and various pressures brought to bear---particularly from Philip's grandmother, who desires their marriage above all else. However, though she has barely admitted it to herself, Patty's preference is given to the big, bluff westerner, Bill Farnsworth; though his frequent absences on business and their tendency to end up at cross-purposes when together has prevented an understanding. When Mrs van Reypen falls seriously, indeed fatally, ill, she makes one last desperate effort to force from Patty a promise that she will marry Philip: one one hand, she promises to leave her a fortune, secured to herself; on the other, she makes the engagement her dying wish. Terrified and distressed, Patty finally gives way...

    “Do you know what you are, Patty Fairfield? You’re a little flirt, that’s what you are! You ought to be ashamed of yourself! How many other men have you on a string? Several, I dare say.”
    “Lady Van, you have no right to talk to me like this! If you were not ill, I’d be very angry with you. But as you are, I ascribe your harsh speeches to the illness that is racking you. Now, let us drop the subject and talk of something pleasanter.”
    “We’ll do nothing of the sort! I sent for you to get your promise, and I’m going to get it!” Mrs Van Reypen sat upright in her bed, and shook her clenched hand at Patty. “You little fool!” she cried, “any girl in her senses would be only too glad to get such a man as my nephew! You are honoured by his wanting you. I am very fond of you myself,---you are so pretty and sunny-faced. But if you refuse me this wish of my heart, I shall cease to love you. I won’t leave you that money, I---”
    The old lady’s voice rose nearly to a shriek, and she glared at Patty with a fairly malevolent gaze.
    That last speech was too much for Patty. “I don’t want your money,” she said, rising to go. “I cannot stay and listen to such unjust remarks as you have been making. I’m sorry, but I can’t give you the promise you ask, and as I can’t please you I think I’d better go.”
    “Sit down,” begged Mrs Van Reypen, and now her anger was gone, and her tones were wheedlesome. “Forgive me, dear, I have no right to force your will. But please, Patty Girl, think it over, here and now. You can easily learn to love Phil,---you’re not in love with anybody else, are you?”

And with that I have (a handful of blog-posts aside) FINISHED MY 2020 REVIEWING!!!!


  


Final stats to come - including of course an associated sloth; or maybe more than one? - and then my 'best of' posts. :)

December stats:

Works read: 14
TIOLI: 14, in 13 different challenges, with 1 shared read

Mystery / thriller: 8
Young adult: 3
Contemporary drama: 1
Historical drama: 1
Short stories: 1

Series works: 11
Re-reads: 0
Blog reads: 1
1932: 2
1931: 3
Virago / Persephone: 0
Potential decommission: 0

Owned: 0
Library: 7
Ebooks: 7

Male authors : female authors: 8 : 6 (including one of dubious provenance)

Oldest work: Alfred Dudley; or, The Australian Settlers by Sarah Porter (1830)
Newest work: The Spy Who Came In From The Cold by John le Carré (1963)

**********

FINAL 2020 STATISTICS:

Works read: 153
TIOLI: 153, in 127 different challenges, with 15 shared reads and 1 sweep

Mystery / thriller: 85 (55.6%)
Classic: 18 (11.8%)
Contemporary drama: 11 (7.2%)
Young adult: 9 (5.9%)
Short stories: 7 (4.6%)
Historical drama: 6 (3.9%)
Humour: 5 (3.3%)
Non-fiction: 4 (2.6%)
Horror: 3 (2.0%)
Contemporary romance: 2 (1.3%)
Poetry: 2 (1.3%)
Play: 1 (0.7%)

Series works: 78
Re-reads: 21
Blog reads: 6
1932: 7
1931: 18
Virago / Persephone: 2
Potential decommission: 14

Owned: 29
Library: 38
Ebooks: 86

Male authors : female authors: 92 (including 4 men using a single male pseudonym) : 77 (including one of dubious provenance) = 54.4% / 45.6%

Oldest work: Leandro: or, The Lucky Rescue by J. Smythies (1690)
Newest work: Nevertheless, She Persisted by Various (2020)

...and after all that, only a basketful of sloths will do!---

>wow! december done and we're not yet at the end of January! That;s virtually ahead of yourself.
Love the sloths.
Your review of The Great Roxhythe gets to the bottom of why I didn't think it worked for me. Let me know when you intend to read Simon the Coldheart and I'll pull him off the shelves again.

>182 Helenliz:

That's DEFINITELY ahead of myself! :D

Alas, I was still preening when it occurred to me I'm five reviews behind for January! (And as always, we won't talk about my blogging...)

The Great Roxhythe is a difficult book to judge. Because of my Restoration-era reading at my blog I could appreciate how accurate her depiction of Charles' reign was, but it's hard to say what we're supposed to take away from the rest.

I should be reading Simon The Coldheart next month: I have my brother tracking down at copy at his local libraries. (Note to self: nudge.)

>176 lyzard: One of the few Georgette Heyers I have left to read but I am reluctant to spend very much on what I thought would be an inferior (for Georgette Heyer) book. How many years until she is out of copyright?!

>181 lyzard: Oh, my goodness! A wrap-up of your 2020 reviews? Our gorgeous rainbow lizard friend AND a basketful of adorable sloths? And a Miss Silver review?

It's all too much. I may need to sit down and breathe into a paper bag for a moment, but I'll be back to discuss The Silent Pool as soon as I've recovered.

OK, I'm back to breathing normally, though still in awe of your burst of productivity. I reviewed The Silent Pool on my thread but one thing I'll highlight is that I've come to realize that Wentworth has much more fun writing bad people than she does writing her protagonists. Fortunately in this one, she had a lot to work with — what a batch of unpleasant people!

On your other reviews, I am amazed that you are still knee-deep in the Elsie and Patty books, though apparently there's light at the end of the Patty tunnel. Courage, my friend!

>177 lyzard: ...and you may imagine my horror when I realised that, having disposed of the 14th in the series, I was exactly - and only - halfway through!

Good news for us, though ...

Actually, I too am surprised that the series is so long. Because that wouldn't happen unless each new volume was selling. And presumably not solely to readers who viewed the task as an unpleasant duty.

>184 CDVicarage: I wasn't planning on keeping my copy. If I've not already sent it to the charity shop (and I may have done), I can send it to you for your, um, delectation.

ETA - it's not on the shelf, so it may already have gone. I will have a rummage about and see if I do still have it.

>188 Helenliz: Thanks very much, Helen. If you find it, please let me know and I'll tell you my address and send you postage cost.

>184 CDVicarage:, >188 Helenliz:, >189 CDVicarage:

They've been inexpensively reissued here so I'd think they would be in your neck of the woods, too, Kerry; I picked it up on Kindle for only a couple of dollars. So maybe not too much of an investment, if Helen can't help you out?

>187 swynn:

Honestly, I have trouble believing that anyone ever wanted to read these after the first couple. On the other hand I can imagine them being viewed as suitable presents and church prizes, which probably kept the sales ticking over.

That's assuming that children weren't being forced to read them as a form of punishment, of course...

>185 rosalita:

Your thread.

Your THREAD!!??

The thread you didn't tell me you had??

The thread you specifically told me you were NOT going to have!!??

I think I might need a few moments with a paper bag too...

>185 rosalita:, >186 rosalita:

Anyway... :D

I thought there were too many characters in the 'automatically excluded' box in The Silent Pool. But it was very interesting to me that Adriana, even as a potential victim, was so unsympathetic---just a client, not a friend. Not someone whose photograph will end up in Maudie's rooms.

Logically, there should be more of that.

I suppose it's not really fair to Patty to compare her with Elsie, though she definitely has her irritations. The looming success of the less obvious man is compensating for some of that, though.

I'm going to be adding a few 'best of' posts from my 2020 reading, however the books that make the cut aren't necessarily the best or brilliant in themselves, though some are. Rather, these are the works that I enjoyed most, that surprised me, that (s to speak) performed above expectation.

Best-seller challenge:

This was the only challenge I managed to keep rolling through 2020, with the rest stymied by an inability to access most of the books I needed; so this is the only one to be separately considered.

The date given is the year the book reached #1, not its publication date.

Books read:

Marjorie Morningstar by Herman Wouk (1955)
Don't Go Near The Water by William Brinkley (1956)
By Love Possessed by James Gould Cozzens (1957)
Doctor Zhivago by Boris Pasternak (1958)
Exodus by Leon Uris (1959)
Advise And Consent by Allen Drury (1960)
The Agony And The Ecstasy by Irving Stone (1961)
Ship Of Fools by Katherine Anne Porter (1962)
The Shoes Of The Fisherman by Morris L. West (1963)
The Spy Who Came In From The Cold by John le Carré (1964)

To be honest, most of the books read for this challenge were massively overlong and self-indulgent; and it gives me a great deal of pleasure to award the "best of" title to the shortest of the lot:





My runner-up is so chiefly because it was a re-read; on the other hand, it is a book that real-world events made almost perversely relevant---particularly its climactic scenes of the US Senate cleaning house and punishing a violation of the oath of office. (We can only hope...)

Mysteries / thrillers:

My mystery / thriller reading made up about 56% of the total in 2020; I'm actually surprised it wasn't more.

These are my picks for the year, in order of being read:


            

            

      


Death Walks In Eastrepps by Francis Beeding (re-read)
Death In the Cup by Moray Dalton
Anna, Where Are You? by Patricia Wentworth
The Back-Seat Murder by Herman Landon
No Walls Of Jasper by Joanna Cannan
The Ipcress File by Len Deighton
The Perfect Murder Case by Christopher Bush (re-read)
Curtain: Poirot's Last Case by Agatha Christie (re-read)
Inspector Frost's Jigsaw by H. Maynard Smith
Six Seconds Of Darkness by Octavus Roy Cohen
Midnight Murder by Ralph Rodd
Mischief by Charlotte Armstrong
Poison In The Garden Suburb by G.D.H. and Margaret Cole
Vanishing Point by Patricia Wentworth
Close Quarters by Michael Gilbert
Wings Above The Diamantina by Arthur Upfield
Mystery At Greycombe Farm by John Rhode
Murderer's Trail by J. Jefferson Farjeon

General reading:

...where I lump together everything else. When I look at my figures it was actually more of a mixed reading year than usual, which I think is reflected in the following (again, in order of being read).

Please note that I am not including the best-sellers here, which makes my 'general reading' list look shorter and less mixed (and less modern) than it actually was.


            

            

    


The Bertrams by Anthony Trollope (re-read)
Ralph The Bailiff, And Other Tales by Mary Elizabeth Braddon
Ambrose Holt And Family by Susan Glaspell
A Jury Of Her Peers (short story) by Susan Glaspell
Nevertheless, She Persisted by Various
Lady Audley's Secret by Mary Elizabeth Braddon (re-read)
The Mysteries Of London: Volume III by George W. M. Reynolds
The Refugee In America by Frances Trollope
Castle Richmond by Anthony Trollope
The Secret River by Kate Grenville
The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman
The White Monkey by John Galsworthy
In The Night Room by Peter Straub
Gun In Cheek: A Study Of "Alternative" Crime Fiction by Bill Pronzini (re-read)
The Ends Of Power by H. R. Haldeman and Joseph DiMona (re-read)
Anna Of The Five Towns by Arnold Bennett
Cameos by Octavus Roy Cohen

>191 lyzard: Oh, did I not mention I changed my mind? Oops. I guess I feel uncomfortable blaring about myself and making people feel obligated to stop by. But you're more than welcome!

>192 lyzard: The relationship between Miss Silver and Adriana was interesting for its "all business" aspect, as you say. At one point, I wondered if Wentworth had set it up that way to preserve Adriana as a suspect but I don't remember that she did much with that so I'm probably mistaken. I also enjoyed hearing about the ever-growing brood of nieces and nephews in urgent need of knitted garments. :-)

>197 rosalita:

Hmm. I really need an eyebrow-raised emoji here but I'll settle for, "Uh, no, you did not." :D

That would work as a plot: hiring a private detective under a plea that someone is trying to kill you, to cover the fact that you're planning to kill someone else; though of course you'd have to be careful about which private detective you picked...

Finished Beast In View for TIOLI #2.

Now reading The Blunderer by Patricia Highsmith (which I did not realise until now had been reissued as a Virago, so yay!).

>198 lyzard: You certainly would be ill-advised to pick Maudie!

Publication date: 1930
Genre: Mystery / thriller
Series: Nancy Drew #1
Read for: Series reading / TIOLI (juvenile detective)

The Secret Of The Old Clock - Sixteen-year-old Nancy Drew and her father, attorney Carson Drew, take a close interest in the case of Josiah Crowley's will: though there is indirect evidence that Crowley intended making a new will and dividing his estate amongst several of his relatives, no such document has been found; and at present the Tophams, with whom Crowley was living prior to his death, appear to have inherited everything. Nancy herself knows the Topham girls, Ada and Isabel, are arrogant and snobbish; while Mr Drew is aware of Mr Topham's poor reputation amongst the business community of River Heights. When Mr Drew learns from Mr Rolstead, Crowley's lawyer and a friend of his own, that the old man not only spoke to him about making a new will, but indicated he intended to make it himself, Nancy vows to look into the mystery... In 1930, the Stratemeyer Syndicate introduced one of its most enduringly popular series characters, girl detective Nancy Drew, in books credited to "Carolyn Keene" (house writer Mildred Wirt Benson). In 1959, Harriet Adams, Edward Stratemeyer's daughter, undertook the revision of the original Nancy Drew books to make them more "appropriate" for their target audience; and it is only recently that the original texts have been made available again. It isn't hard to understand what became objectionable about these books for an increasingly conservative customer base: sixteen-year-old Nancy lives a life of happy independence, zipping around unsupervised in her beloved blue roadster, and enjoying a relationship of easy equality with her widower father (of course there's no mother to spoil things); with Carson Drew in turn taking pride in his daughter's intelligence, logical thinking and ability to keep a secret. In this particular book, we must also be struck by Mr Drew's exceedingly laissez-faire parenting - when he hears that Nancy could have been killed during an encounter with a criminal gang, his response is basically, "No harm, no foul" - as well as the narrative's entire lack of charity with regard to the Tophams, who are regarded collectively as nasty bits of work who deserve what's coming to them, to the point of schadenfreude. At the outset of The Secret Of The Old Clock, at least, Nancy's interest in Josiah Crowley's will is as much about aiming a blow at the Tophams as it is about ensuring that his real heirs receive their inheritance; although this changes after she meets Grace and Allie Horner, two young women struggling to survive on their isolated farm. Nancy then gets to work, interviewing all of Josiah Crowley's other relatives and trying to glean any further word of a second will---and where, if it was made, it might have been hidden. The elderly Abigail Rowen offers Nancy scraps of information regarding a notebook in which Crowley recorded important details and an old clock. Putting two and two together, Nancy must find a way of locating the latter without raising the suspicions of the Tophams. She succeeds, but is then faced with gaining access to the Tophams' summer cottage, where the clock is now located---and where she finds herself in conflict with a dangerous gang of thieves...

    “I don’t like the way Nancy Drew has taken up with the Horner girls,” said Ada. “She always did have a way of nosing into things she had no business to find out!”
    “Oh, pooh for her,” Isabel scoffed. “Let her try to discover anything she likes. The money was given to us fairly enough.”
    The conversation ended abruptly as Isabel and Ada arose from the bench and walked on down the street. Nancy waited until they were out of sight and then emerged from the bushes.
    “There may be a chance to find that missing will after all,” she reasoned, as she sank down on the bench vacated by Isabel and Ada.
    Nancy had always been convinced that Josiah Crowley had made a second will. However, since her talk with the Horner girls, she had shared her father’s opinion that the document had fallen into the hands of the Tophams only to be destroyed. This conviction had discouraged her.
    Now the information which she had gleaned from the snatch of overhead conversation, gave her new hope. From what Isabel and Ada had said, she was led to believe that if Josiah Crowley had made a second will, the Tophams were as ignorant as herself concerning its whereabouts.
    “Anyway, it’s encouraging to know the will hasn’t been destroyed,” Nancy told herself. “But there’s one thing certain. If the Tophams ever get their hands on it, they’ll take care it never comes to light. From what Isabel and Ada said I judge they’re beginning to realise their position is anything but secure. If I’m ever to find that will, I must get busy before they beat me to it!”
    Nancy Drew possessed her father’s liking for a mystery, and she delighted in a battle of wits when championing a worthy cause. Carson Drew had often remarked that he enjoyed the detective work of his cases better than the court work, but Nancy knew he was too busy with his own cases to devote much attention to the missing Crowley will. If anything were done to help the Horner girls win their inheritance, she must accomplish it herself...

>201 lyzard: I never got into the Nancy Drew series, but I loved the Hardy Boys.

>202 thornton37814:

Hi, Lori! I never had the chance to read any of these growing up, though I did read the Hunt brothers adventure books.

Finished The Blunderer for TIOLI #9.

Now reading Cause Of Death by Cyril H. Wecht.

Didn't read either Nancy Drew or the Hardy Boys or Biggles. Famous Five were my thing.

I read a lot of the Hardy Boys books as a kid, and then as a father I read Nancy Drew books with our daughter. She loved them as a girl, and still loves books relating to Nancy Drew, like Girl Sleuth.

>205 PaulCranswick:

I read a lot of sporadic Blytons but none of them were available in any sort of regular manner (which bothered me even back then!).

A check would indicate I read more of The Five Find-Outers and Dog than any other series, though I don't recall ever knowing they were collectively called that.

>206 jnwelch:

Nice, Joe, that's lovely to hear! :)

I never came across Nancy Drew, The Hardy Boys, Fanous 5, Seceret Seven or anything like that. I seem to have started on Sherlock Holmes and Brother Cadfael as my introduction to detective fiction.

>208 Helenliz:

I don't think I ever really thought of them that way: they were "adventures". My first deliberate accessing of detective fiction was Agatha when I was twelve, and my high school library had them all. I don't think I read Sherlock until later.

>209 lyzard: I was a pretty unadventurous child, maybe I didn't want to run that risk, even virtually.

>>208 Helenliz: >209 lyzard: Interesting question — mysteries or adventures? I think I would characterize them more as adventure stories, but it's a fine line. Last night as I was trying to explain Trixie Belden to a friend who never read them I realized that series and the Three Investigators were probably the foundation for why even to this day I value mystery series with interesting characters and settings over those with intricate plots.

Or maybe I was just a very lonely child whose only friends lived inside the pages of books! You decide ... ;-)

>210 Helenliz:

Danger held no attraction but the whole "running around unsupervised" aspect was pretty sweet. :D

>211 rosalita:

I always preferred books to people but never thought of it in terms of being lonely; still don't. :)

That's an interesting thought. I'm actually not sure which way I tend. Plot is certainly important to me in a mystery, though it never (or rarely) excuses annoying or obnoxious characters.

Finished Cause Of Death for TIOLI #13.

Now reading The Secret Of Terror Castle by Robert Arthur Jr.

Just posting a reminder that we will be starting the group read of Anthony Trollope's Orley Farm next week.

Hope to see you there! :)

>212 lyzard: Oh yes, to the running around supervised bit! Also, in the case of Trixie Belden, the portrayal of an intact nuclear family where the parents were super chill and always loving and understanding of their children struck a chord somewhere deep in my psyche.

>215 rosalita:

A rare case of parents being present and accounted for, in context.

Finished The Secret Of Terror Castle for TIOLI #15...and that is January done; eep!

And just like that I'm eight reviews behind. How does it happen!?

Anyhoo---

Now reading Orley Farm by Anthony Trollope in preparation for the group read.

>217 lyzard: Well done, Liz! Only eight reviews behind? You'll catch up in no time!

:P

BTW I think I may have read The Secret Of Terror Castle before - bits of it seemed familiar (though as you note re: Maudie, I may just be recalling the reiterated 'series' bits), but I remember the second book, The Mystery Of The Stuttering Parrot, quite clearly and am pretty sure I owned it at one point.

>219 lyzard: Whereas I have absolutely no memory of a stuttering parrot, so I'm really looking forward to that one! I have no idea now how many of the books my elementary school library had, or how many I read. If only I had had LibraryThing in the fifth grade ...

>220 rosalita:

Oh, I know! :D

So given how these have fallen out, are you interested in alternating them with Maudie? - so The Mystery Of The Stuttering Parrot in March?

>221 lyzard: Oh, that sounds like a grand plan! I'm all in!

And just to introduce a sudden conversational lurch of the sort you are surely used to from me ... I remembered a question about The Silent Pool that I forgot to ask you about when you posted your review. Was the pool where the murders took place supposed to be a natural(wish) water feature, or was it a full-on swimming pool? The cover of my edition definitely showed what looked like a constructed swimming pool, but then the text made me think otherwise. What say you?

>222 rosalita:

Excellent!

I was already thinking that, as you pointed out, we're creeping closer to the end of Maudie - *sob* - and wondering whether we can hook up again for a different series. Our shared reads have been a great help in keeping things moving.

Well, to an American "pool" would naturally suggest swimming pool but they certainly weren't common in England in the mid-50s. So a decorative water feature, I should think: probably a natural pond that has been landscaped around.

This from Stella:

"Sometimes there are dragonflies, and nearly always there are frogs..."

Sounds like my kind of place. :D

>223 lyzard: I don't want to think about the end of Maudie! It's been such a fun ride reading them with you. I'm glad we've found another (very different!) series to soften the blow.

Thank you for confirming my suspicions about the pool. A classic example of a cover illustration leading readers astray. It did sound like a lovely spot, if you can look past all the bodies floating the water! :-D

>224 rosalita:

I will confess, I was wondering what else on my lists might appeal to you as a---not replacement; follow-up? - before this happened. :)

I can totally overlook it as long as there are dragonflies and frogs!

Hey, Liz!

I was casting about for possible February reads, and checked the TIOLI.

So, my main read will be Orley Farm. I’m really looking forward to it.

>226 Matke:

Whoo!!

I will be setting up the group read thread tomorrow and will hope to see you there. :)

The thread is now up for the group read of Orley Farm:

Here

Please drop in and note if you will be participating or lurking!

>>228 lyzard: When I first saw mention of this group read I was thinking I'd read Orley Farm fairly recently. But maybe not? Is this related to Barchester Towers?

>229 majkia:

Hi, thanks for stopping by! No, Orley Farm is one of Trollope's standalone novels.

Please join us if you feel inclined. :)

Hope all is well, Liz. I don't recall six days without your company in the group before. Reading up a storm or is the group read taking up all your time?

>231 PaulCranswick:

Orley Farm itself, the group read, and eight unwritten reviews for which I have not been in the mood. :D

Also yesterday was a no-book day, blech!

Thanks for checking in! :)

...nine unwritten reviews...

Finished Orley Farm for TIOLI #6, and now struggling to get organised.

The Source still hasn't shown up, though I spoke with my ILL librarian over a week ago about speeding it up via a secondary request to a much more local library.

Evidently someone borrowed the initially requested copy between when I placed my request and when the library placed their request; the alternative copy, on loan at the time, has since been returned.

I must say I find it very odd that I seem to have so much competition for this. And it's starting to feel like I may be postponing this for another month.

At the same time, the nature of the current TIOLI will require some personal library running around if I'm going to get anything done, and there hasn't been time for that up until now, with the month slipping away.

Why does February always feel so much shorter?

Anyhoo---when in doubt, fall back on the obvious:

Now reading The Benevent Treasure by Patricia Wentworth.

Oh, late to the new year, I fear! Happy New Year already past. I just skimmed your incredibly detailed and informative reviews, and will try to keep up after this.

Many of the books you mention from the 60s are fond memories to me - I was old enough to read them and with enough time to indulge. The older mysteries, on the other hand, are generally unknown to me, but you know - so many books, etc. I may give the Miss Silvers a go - I'm sure I read some of them at some time.

>233 lyzard: Although I've said you shouldn't wait on my account, I'm also perfectly fine with your postponing The Source for another month.

I'm ahead of schedule to finish Ship of Fools in February. To my surprise I'm finding it easier going than Agony and the Ecstasy, which I attribute to the magic of low expectations: I have never heard an enthusiastic review about Ship of Fools, so was expecting something excruciating. Compared to my expectations, it is (so far, anyway) not awful. A plot would have been nice, but I'll settle for "better than it could have been."

>234 ffortsa:

Hi, Judy, thank you so much for visiting! I am still mired amongst the older stuff though some of my projects at least are carrying me into the realm of---well, I won't say "new", but less ancient. Hopefully you'll find something of interest. :)

>235 swynn:

Yes, I'm generically rather than specifically annoyed that The Source hasn't shown up yet; I can't work up any particular enthusiasm, but I'm frustrated because I left February open for it and now I'm just "AAAARRGGHH!!" :D

Ah, the Anthony Adverse Slide-Rule! Good luck with it, I hope it stays manageable for you.

BTW I was watching a documentary on nudity (in film mostly) the other night and they were talking about how quickly mores change and the example they gave was that as soon as Michelangelo died the Pope hired another artist to put pants on everyone in the Sistine Chapel. Poor M.!

Finished The Benevent Treasure for TIOLI #13.

AND yet again had to reorder the Miss Silvers out of alphabetical order into publication order, grr! The order is correctly---

- Poison In The Pen
- The Listening Eye
- The Gazebo (aka "The Summerhouse")

Now reading Patty--Bride by Carolyn Wells.

>237 lyzard: Yikes! Did you change the series order here on LT? If not, I'll get right on that.

Edited to add: It looks like you already have taken care of it. It's so much easier in the new series system, I think.

>238 rosalita:

Yes, I did; it's a lot easier to change, anyway.

Just as well! :D

>236 lyzard: as Michelangelo died the Pope hired another artist to put pants on everyone in the Sistine Chapel.

I'm not surprised. Seems like some clergy were trying to do that while he was still alive.

>239 lyzard: I guess the good news is we are running out of books to keep shuffling around. Unfortunately that's also the bad news. :-(

>240 swynn:

I must confess that I was unable to recall from the endless list of them just *which* Pope that would have been. :D

>241 rosalita:

Ah, like I said, we need to pick you out a new series... :)

Finished Patty--Bride for TIOLI #4.

Now reading Lost Boy Lost Girl by Peter Straub...

...for which, following on from my conniptions over the correct placement of the apostrophe in Dolores Hitchen's Fools' Gold, I now find myself having to fight the good fight over the fact that there is NO COMMA IN THE TITLE. :D

>242 lyzard: We do! But at least we've got the Three Investigators to soften the blow for now.

Liz, I have finally retrieved my bins of old books from the attic, including 5 Elsie Dinsmores, 8 Ruth Fieldings and many more series books and posted photos on my thread. One is here:
https://www.librarything.com/topic/329282#7419128
And the other is the first picture up, about 10 responses, on the same thread.

>245 ronincats:

*breaks sound barrier*

Someone owes me about three hours sleep, which I spent on Grey Mask in the wee hours. I thought, oh, just a few pages before I hit the hay, with a nice old mystery. Hah.

>247 ffortsa: That’s how Liz hoodwinked me, too, Judy. She’s sneaky like that. :-)

>246 lyzard: Could hear that sonic boom all the way over here, Liz!

>247 ffortsa:, >248 rosalita:

Then my work here is done! :D

It's great that you enjoyed it, Judy, though there was some retooling for second book in the series (not surprisingly with about a ten year gap between the two).

>249 ronincats:

I had slipped behind on your threads and was just blown away during my catch-up! :)

So I just got a notification that The Source is finally ready for collection.

Is it wrong that my immediate reaction was groannnn...? :D

Being this late, I was kind of hoping it would be a bit later: this is really going to mess up my reading.

Okay, Liz, I come to the expert. Project Gutenberg has Ruth Fielding in Moving Pictures. I have Ruth Fielding in Talking Pictures. They are different books? I think so because the subtitles here on LT are showing as different.

>252 ronincats:

Yes! - Ruth works in the film industry right through the silent era to the introduction of sound. 'Motion Pictures' is a relatively early one and 'Talking Pictures' is one of the last.

This series is really the only one to have its characters age naturally and grow up into adulthood: after that we got a lot of arrested adolescence, which was supposed to be what younger readers wanted. But it's why I'm frustrated at being stalled!

>253 lyzard: Which Ruth Fielding are you stalled at?

And by the way, in the wee hours last night (grr insomnia), I started reading Adventures of Susan Hopley. Great fun so far!

>254 NinieB:

Ruth Fielding In The Far North; or, The Lost Motion Picture Company. All the previous books are available electronically but that one just isn't (so far) and I haven't found reasonable access to a hard copy either.

ETA: Though Jennifer was just saying over at Roni's thread that it's just about due to become PD so fingers crossed.

Oh, I hope you enjoy Susan Hopley! I think it's quite remarkable, particularly for its (non-didactic) servant-protagonist.

(Sorry about the insomnia, I've been there myself. I find chamomile tea helpful, if you can stand the taste.)

>256 lyzard: I have a few of them but not that one. Ruth seemed like a pretty sensible girl when she was at the War Front.

Actually it went into the public domain in the US last year. But none of the usual suspects have digitized it.

>257 NinieB:, >258 NinieB:

Yes---and in those books she did serious, dangerous war-work. She's also been allowed to resist a relationship while pursuing first her education, and now her career---yet all within the recognisable bounds of the era's young-adult fiction.

So you can understand why I really want to follow through with this series. And at least now I have some hope. :)

>259 lyzard: A couple of later series allowed the heroine to grow up some. Judy Bolton goes from teenager to married with children. Beverly Gray started as a college series, then followed her career as a journalist. Two childhood favorites:)

>260 NinieB:

Ah, nice!

Well! - you know the old saying: "If you can't get your reviews written, start a new thread and at least make it look like you're getting something done."

Hope to see you there!