lyzard's list: Reading many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore in 2021 - Part 5

Pallas's cat (also known as the manul) is found from Pakistan and northern India into central China, Mongolia, and southern Russia. The species is distinguished by its low-set, rounded ears and its remarkable coat: although just larger than a domestic cat, Pallas's cat appears twice as large because of the length and density of its fur. In spite of this it does not like the snow, and is found instead in arid, rocky environments where it hunts small mammals. It is solitary and quite aggressive, with even its kittens fighting seriously amongst themselves.

Unfortunately, the coat of Pallas's cat also makes it the target of hunters; while it is often trapped by accident, as it shares territory with larger predators like wolves. Its territory is also being increasing invaded and damaged by mining concerns. However, the species breeds well in captivity, and it is the subject of an extensive conservation program.


  

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.

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Currently reading:



Death Must Have Laughed by John Victor Turner (1932)

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)
19. Lost Boy Lost Girl by Peter Straub (2003)
20. Call For The Dead by John le Carré (1961)
21. 813 by Maurice Leblanc (1910)
22. Blanche On The Lam by Barbara Neely (1992)
23. The Autobiography Of Mark Rutherford by William Hale White (1881)
24. The Adventuress by Arthur B. Reeve (1917)
25. The Secret History Of The Four Last Monarchs Of Great Britain by "R. B." (1691)

March:

26. The Source by James A. Michener (1965)
27. The Mystery Of The Stuttering Parrot by Robert Arthur Jr (1964)
28. Gray Dusk by Octavus Roy Cohen (1920)
29. Mr Jelly's Business by Arthur Upfield (1937)
30. Death Comes To Perigord by John Alexander Ferguson (1931)
31. Simon The Coldheart by Georgette Heyer (1925)
32. Patty And Azalea by Carolyn Wells (1919)
33. The Recess: A Tale Of Other Times by Sophia Lee (1785)
34. Anecdotes Of A Convent by Anonymous (1771)

2021 reading:

April:

35. The Observations by Jane Harris (2006)
36. Valley Of The Dolls by Jacqueline Susann (1966)
37. The Executor by Margaret Oliphant (1861)
38. The Rector by Margaret Oliphant (1861)
39. The Panama Plot by Arthur B. Reeve (1918)
40. Elsie And The Raymonds by Martha Finley (1889)
41. The Murder Of Sigurd Sharon by Harriette Ashbrook (1933)
42. The Wraith by Philip MacDonald (1931)
43. Poison In The Pen by Patricia Wentworth (1954)
44. President Fu Manchu by Sax Rohmer (1936)
45. Midnight by Octavus Roy Cohen (1922)
46. Sing Sing Nights by Harry Stephen Keeler (1927)
47. Missing Or Murdered by Robin Forsythe (1929)

May:

48. The Arrangement by Elia Kazan (1967)
49. The Mystery Of The Whispering Mummy by Robert Arthur (1965)
50. The Doctor's Family by Margaret Oliphant (1863)
51. Beauvallet by Georgette Heyer (1929)
52. The Great Impersonation by E. Phillips Oppenheim (1920)
53. The Life Of Mansie Wauch, Tailor In Dalkeith by David Moir (1828)
54. Elsie Yachting With The Raymonds by Martha Finley (1890)
55. The Window At The White Cat by Mary Roberts Rinehart (1910)
56. The Case With Nine Solutions by J. J. Connington (1928)
57. The High Adventure by Jeffery Farnol (1925)
58. Winds Of Evil by Arthur Upfield (1937)
59. Six Minutes Past Twelve by Gavin Holt (1928)

June:

60. Mr Fortune Wonders by H. C. Bailey (1933)
61. X Y Z: A Detective Story by Anna Katharine Green (1883)
62. Murder In A Library by Charles J. Dutton (1931)
63. Airport by Arthur Hailey (1968)
64. The Sea Mystery by Freeman Wills Crofts (1928)
65. The Spider's Touch by Valentine Williams (1936)
66. The Soul Scar by Arthur B. Reeve (1919)
67. Crumpled Lilies by W. Carlton Dawe (1933)
68. The Kennel Murder Case by S. S. Van Dine (!933)
69. The Drums Of Fu Manchu by Sax Rohmer (1939)
70. The Vanishing Of Betty Varian by Carolyn Wells (1922)
71. Where There's A Will by Mary Roberts Rinehart (1912)
72. The Listening Eye by Patricia Wentworth (1955)
73. The Marquise Of O. by Heinrich Von Kleist (1808)
74. The Foundling by Francis Spellman (1951)

2021 reading:

July:

75. The Struggles Of Brown, Jones, And Robinson by Anthony Trollope (1862)
76. Blood Money by John Goodwin (1931)
77. Inspector Frost In The City by Herbert Maynard Smith (1930)
78. The Mill Mystery by Anna Katharine Green (1886)
79. Elsie's Vacation And After Events by Martha Finley (1891)
80. The House Of Peril by Louis Tracy (1922)
81. The Choice by Philip MacDonald (1931)
82. The Swimming Pool by Mary Roberts Rinehart (1952)
83. The Mystery Of The Green Ghost by Robert Arthur (1965)
84. Courier To Marrakesh by Valentine Williams (1944)
85. Mind Hunter: Inside The FBI's Elite Serial Crime Unit by John Douglas and Mark Olshaker (1995)
86. No More Parades by Ford Madox Ford (1925)
87. Perfume: The Story Of A Murderer by Patrick Süskind (1985)
88. Run! by Patricia Wentworth (1938)
89. Murder In Earl's Court by A G. Macdonell (1931)
90. Murder At Fenwold by Christopher Bush (1930)
91. Forest Of Montalbano by Catherine Cuthbertson (1810)

August:

92. The Crystal Stopper by Maurice Leblanc (1913)
93. The Silver Spoon by John Galsworthy (1926)
94. The Sealed Envelope by Ben Bolt (1931)
95. Murder Without Motive by R. L. Goldman (1938 / 1945)
96. Shadow On The Wall by H. C. Bailey (1934)
97. It Walks By Night by John Dickson Carr (1930)
98. Elsie At Viamede by Martha Finley (1892)
99. Zastrozzi, A Romance by Percy Bysshe Shelley (1810)
100. St. Irvyne; or, The Rosicrucian by Percy Bysshe Shelley (1810)
101. The Second Baronet by Louis Tracy (1923)
102. The Clifford Affair by A. Fielding (1927)
103. The Gazebo by Patricia Wentworth (1955)
104. Some Unknown Hand by Elaine Hamilton (1930)
105. Death In The Dentist's Chair by Molly Thynne (1932)
106. Crime In The Arcade by Walter Proudfoot (1931)
107. Chez les Flamands by Georges Simenon (1932)

September:

108. Salem Chapel by Margaret Oliphant (1863)
109. Scarlet Feather by Maeve Binchy (2000)
110. A Woman In Exile by Horace Annesley Vachell (1926)
111. The House Of Murder by H. L. Gates (1931)
112. The Five Suspects by R. A. J. Walling (1934)
113. Murder On The Blackboard by Stuart Palmer (1932)
114. The Mystery Of The Vanishing Treasure by Robert Arthur (1966)
115. Invisible Death by Brian Flynn (1929)
116. The Dark Highway by Arthur Gask (1928)
117. The Grouse Moor Mystery by John Alexander Ferguson (1934)
118. McLean Of Scotland Yard by George Goodchild (1929)

October:

119. Ellesmere by Mary Meeke (1799)
120. The Conqueror by Georgette Heyer (1931)
121. The Mysteries Of London: Volume III by George W. M. Reynolds (1847)
122. The Mysteries Of London: Volume IV by George W. M. Reynolds (1848)
123. Portnoy's Complaint by Philip Roth (1969)
124. The Fingerprint by Patricia Wentworth (1956)
125. The Hidden Staircase by Carolyn Keene (1930)

Books in transit:

On interlibrary loan / branch transfer / storage / Rare Book request:
Richelieu: A Tale Of France by G. P. R. James {JFR}

On loan:
*Portnoy's Complaint by Philip Roth (10/11/21)
The Secret Of The Old Clock by Carolyn Keene (10/11/21)
The Hidden Staircase by Carolyn Keene (10/11/21)
*McLean Of Scotland Yard by George Goodchild (12/11/2021)
*The Conqueror by Georgette Heyer (24/11/2021)
**Poison In The Pen by Patricia Wentworth
**Winds Of Evil by Arthur Upfield

Purchased and shipped:

Ongoing reading projects:

Blog reads:
Chronobibliography: Incognita; or, Love And Duty Reconciled by William Congreve
Authors In Depth:
- Adelaide; or, The Countercharm 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:

COMPLETED: Orley Farm by Anthony Trollope (thread here)
COMPLETED: The Executor / The Rector by Margaret Oliphant (thread here)
COMPLETED: The Doctor's Family by Margaret Oliphant (thread here)
COMPLETED: The Struggles Of Brown, Jones And Robinson by Anthony Trollope (thread here)
COMPLETED: Salem Chapel by Margaret Oliphant (thread here)

Next up: Rachel Ray by Anthony Trollope

General reading challenges:

America's best-selling novels (1895 - ????):
Next up: Love Story by Erich Segal

Georgette Heyer: straight historical fiction:
Next up: Royal Escape

Patricia Wentworth's Miss Silver series (shared reads):
Next up: The Allington Inheritance

"The Three Investigators" (shared reads):
Next up: The Secret Of Skeleton Island

Virago chronological reading project:
Next up: Aurora Floyd by Mary Elizabeth Braddon / Salem Chapel by Margaret Oliphant

The C.K. Shorter List of Best 100 Novels:
Next up: Richelieu: A Tale Of France by G. P. R. James

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: To The Islands by Randolph Stow

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)
- "The Top 100 Crime Novels Of All Time" (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}

The White-Faced Man (aka "The Praying Monkey") 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 / 1932 available reading:

Dancing Death by Christopher Bush {Kindle}
Dead Man's Music by Christopher Bush {Kindle / Fisher Library}
The Crime Conductor by Philip MacDonald {JFR}
The Grey Rat (aka "The Shuyler Mystery") by Ottwell Binns {mobilereads}
Snowbird by Ottwell Binns {serialised}
Gay Go Up by Anne Hepple {online; possible abridged? / Mitchell Library}
The Mystery Mission And Other Stories by Sydney Horler {Internet Archive}
Pitiful Dust by Vernon Knowles {Mitchell Library}
The Brink (aka "The Swaying Rock") by Arthur J. Rees {Mitchell Library}
The Solange Stories by F. Tennyson Jesse {JFR / Rare Books}
The Whisperer by J. M. Walsh {online; possibly abridged? / Mitchell Lbrary}
Captain Nemesis by F. Van Wyck Mason {JFR}
The Vesper Service Murders by F. Van Wyck Mason {Kindle}
The Vagrant Heart by Deirdre O'Brien {JFR}
The Black Joss by John Gordon Brandon {Mitchell Library}
Jinks by Oliver Sandys {JFR}
About The Murder Of A Night Club Lady by Anthony Abbot {serialised}
This Way To Happiness (aka "Janice") by Maysie Greig {Mitchell Library}
Storms And Tea-Cups by Cecily Wilhelmine Sidgwick (Mrs Alfred Sidgwick) {JFR}
Pawns & Kings (aka "Pawns And Kings") by Seamark (Austin J. Small) {JFR}
The Agent Outside by Patrick Wynnton {JFR}
Castle Skull by John Dickson Carr {owned}
The Top Step by Nelle Scanlan {Mitchell Library}
Murder In Wax by Leonard Clyde {HathiTrust}
The Dressing Room Murder by J. S. Fletcher {Kindle / Rare Books}
Poison Case No. 10 by Louis Cornell {HathiTrust}
The Man Who Was Dead by W. Stanley Sykes {HathiTrust}
The Jackanapes Jacket (aka "Murder At Hampton Court") by Edith Murray Keate {Kindle}
****
The Meriwether Mystery by Kay Cleaver Strahan {Kindle / HathiTrust}
(441)

The Matilda Hunter Murder by Harry Stephen Keeler {Kindle}

Storm by Charles Rodda {National Library, ILL?}
The Hangman's Guests by Stuart Martin {NLA / CARM}
The Lap Of Luxury by Berta Ruck {NLA}

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} / The Creeping Jenny Mystery by Brian Flynn {Kindle}
The Clifford Affair / The Net Around Joan Ingilby by A. Fielding {Rare Books}
Burglars In Bucks by George and Margaret Cole {Fisher Library}
Nemesis At Raynham Parva by J. J. Connington {mobilereads}
Poison by Lee Thayer {AbeBooks / Amazon}
A Family That Was by Ernest Raymond {State Library NSW, JFR}
The Cancelled Score Mystery by Gret Lane {Kindle}
Inspector Frost And Lady Brassingham by H. Maynard Smith {Kindle}
A Man Could Stand Up by Ford Madox Ford {fadedpage.com}
Jalna by Mazo de la Roche {State Library NSW, JFR / ILL}
The Tunnel Mystery by J. C. Lenehan {Kindle}

Completist reading:

Thieves' Nights by Harry Stephen Keeler (#5) {Rare Books}
The Forsaken Inn by Anna Katharine Green (#8) {Project Gutenberg}
The Case Of Jennie Brice by Mary Roberts Rinehart (#7) {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)
The Park Lane Mystery by Louis Tracy (Winter and Furneaux # 6)

A Century (And A Bit) Of Reading:

At least one 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
1808: The Marquise Of O. by Heinrich Von Kleist
1809: The Scottish Chiefs by Jane Porter
1810: Forest Of Montalbano by Catherine Cuthbertson / Zastrozzi by Percy Bysshe Shelley / St. Irvyne; or, The Rosicrucian by Percy Bysshe Shelley
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
1828: The Life Of Mansie Wauch, Tailor In Dalkeith by David Moir
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 / The Mysteries Of London: Volume IV by G. W. M. Reynolds
1850: Pique by Frances Notley
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
1861: The Executor by Margaret Oliphant / The Rector by Margaret Oliphant
1862: Orley Farm by Anthony Trollope / The Struggles Of Brown, Jones, And Robinson by Anthony Trollope
1863: The Doctor's Family by Margaret Oliphant / Marian Grey; or, The Heiress Of Redstone Hall by Mary Jane Holmes / Salem Chapel by Margaret Oliphant
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 / The Autobiography Of Mark Rutherford by William Hale White
1882: Grandmother Elsie by Martha Finley
1883: Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson / Elsie's New Relations by Martha Finley / X Y Z: A Detective Story by Anna Katharine Green
1884: Elsie At Nantucket by Martha Finley
1885: The Two Elsies by Martha Finley / Two Broken Hearts by Robert R. Hoes
1886: The Mill Mystery by Anna Katharine Green / 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 / Elsie And The Raymonds by Martha Finley
1890: Elsie Yachting With The Raymonds by Martha Finley
1891: Elsie's Vacation And After Events by Martha Finley
1892: The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman / Elsie At Viamede by Martha Finley
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:

An examination of the roots of modern crime and mystery 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 (1862-1863)
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 - The Confessions Of Arsene Lupin (6/25) {Project Gutenberg}
(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 Film Mystery (14/24) {Project Gutenberg}
(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 Black Cat (8/9) {Rare Books}

(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 - The Island Of Fu Manchu (10/14) {ILL / JFR}
(1913 - 1952) *Jeffery Farnol - Jasper Shrig - The Crooked Furrow (5/9) {Fisher Library}
(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 Affair At Flower Acres (7/8) {mobilereads}
(1918 - 1939) Valentine Williams - The Okewood Brothers - The Fox Prowls (5/5)
(1918 - 1944) Valentine Williams - Clubfoot - Courier To Marrakesh (7/7)
(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 - Midnight (4/4)

*** 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 Objects (10/23) {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 Crime Conductor (8/24) {State Library NSW, JFR}
(1924 - 1957) *Freeman Wills Crofts - Inspector French - The Box Office Murders (5/30) {Rare Books / State Library NSW, JFR / ILL / Kindle / fadedpage.com}
(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 Net Around Joan Ingilby (5/23) {Rare Books}
(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 - Dancing Death (5/63) {Kindle}
(1926 - 1939) S. S. Van Dine - Philo Vance - The Dragon Murder Case (7/12) {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 Lonely House (3/27) {Roy Glashan's Library}
(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 - The Creeping Jenny Mystery (7/54) {Kindle}
(1927 - 1947) *J. J. Connington - Sir Clinton Driffield - Nemesis At Raynham Parva (aka "Grim Vengeance") (5/17) {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 - The Allington Inheritance (31/33) {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 Mystery (4/5) {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 / JFR}
(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}
(1928 - 1931) **John Stephen Strange (Dorothy Stockbridge Tillet) - Van Dusen Ormsberry - The Man Who Killed Fortescue (1/3) {Amazon}

(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 Investigates (2/65) {State Library NSW, JFR}
(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 / Internet Archive}
(1929 - 1966) *Arthur Upfield - Bony - The Bone Is Pointed (6/29) {SMSA}
(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 And Lady Brassingham (5/7) {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 Circle Of Death (4/6) {newspapers.com}
(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 - The Polo Ground Mystery (2/5) {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 - A Most Immoral Murder (4/7) {Kindle}
(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) {fadedpage.com}
(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 - Murder In The Fog (2/8) {unavailable}
(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}
(1930 - 1937) *John Dickson Carr - Henri Bencolin - Castle Skull (2/5) {owned}

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

Series and sequels, 1931 - 1932:

(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 - The Puzzle Of The Pepper Tree (4/18) {Kindle / ILL}
(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 - Leathermouth's Luck (4/??) {Trove}
(1931 - 1947) R. L. Goldman - Asaph Clume and Rufus Reed - Death Plays Solitaire (3/6) {Kindle}
(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 - Le Port des Brumes (15/75) {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 - He Dies And Makes No Sign (3/3) {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 Cat And The Corpse (aka "The Corpse In The Green Pajamas") (6/22) {Kindle / Internet Archive}
(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}

*** Incompletely available series

Series and sequels, 1933 onwards:

(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 - A Murder Of Quality (2/9) {Fisher Library / Blacktown Library}
(1964 - 1987) Robert Arthur Jr (and others) - The Three Investigators - The Secret Of Skeleton Island (6/43) {freebooklover}
(1992 - 2000) Barbara Neely - Blanche White - Blanche Among The Talented Tenth (2/4) {Fisher Library / Kindle}

*** Incompletely available series

Non-crime series and sequels:

(1861 - 1876) **Margaret Oliphant - Carlingford - Salem Chapel (4/7) {Project Gutenberg}
(1867 - 1905) **Martha Finley - Elsie Dinsmore - Elsie At Ion (19/28) {Project Gutenberg}
(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)
(1901 - 1927) **George Barr McCutcheon - Graustark - Beverly Of Graustark (2/6) {Project Gutenberg}
(1906 - 1930) **John Galsworthy - The Forsyte Saga - Swan Song (9/12) {Sutherland Library / 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 - A Man Could Stand Up (3/4) {fadedpage.com}
(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, JFR}

(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:

At the moment, we are just wrapping up the group read of Anthony Trollope's The Struggles Of Brown, Jones, And Robinson (thread here).

Next, we have pencilled in a September read of Margaret Oliphant's Salem Chapel, the first novel in her 'Chronicles of Carlingford' series.

If you are interested in joining in and September does / does not suit you, please let me know.

Enough!

Please come on in...

>1 lyzard: That cat's got a coat on her! Pretty kitty.

Happy new thread, Liz.

I started reading Camilla today, so I'm using your 2018 group read thread as an accompaniment. Thanks for leading these group reads!

Happy new one, Liz.

Man of Feeling by MacKenzie appeals to me, Liz. I will go and see if I can find a copy.

Happy new one!

Happy New thread Liz!

Happy new thread, Liz.
That looks like a portly puss at the top, but if you tell me it's all just fur, I will believe you...

Hi, Julia, Ninie, Paul, Jim, Steve and Helen---thank you!

>22 rosalita:

You could lose a hand in there. :)

>23 NinieB:

I'm so glad the old threads are still useful; I hope you enjoy it!

>24 PaulCranswick:

I'll be very interested to hear how it strikes you, Paul, because there's been a revisionist take on it recently (I won't say more). I've been meaning to re-read it to see what I think but it hasn't yet made it onto the TBR.

>27 Helenliz:

Now, now... :D

Aaaaaannnnnd apparently we'll be staying in lockdown for up to another month.

So in all probability no library books in August, either.

Sigh.

Helen, please go ahead with The Conqueror if you want, there doesn't seem to be much point in your waiting. :(

>29 lyzard: It's one I've already read, I'm just coming back to it to read it with you. I'm at The Grand Sophy in my read in order.

Happy new thread, Liz!

And this time a beautiful cat at the top I knew it existed, so no endless search on the internet this time ;-)

>29 lyzard: Sorry the lockdown is extended again.

Congratulations on a new thread!

>1 lyzard: Oh my. Gorgeous kitty. Looking crabby though.

>29 lyzard: I’m sorry about lockdown. Things are pretty well going down the garbage chute here in Florida, partially thanks to Governor “Death” DeSantis. Our whole family is fully vaxxed except for the two teenaged boys. Must get on to their father about that…

>30 Helenliz:

Okay, thanks. And sorry! :)

>31 FAMeulstee:

Not quite as obscure this time but I love these guys, they look like hairy balloons. :D

It's draining, but if being cut off from my library is my main cause of complaint I should probably quit my bitching.

>32 Matke:

Hi, Gail!

Yes, they can be a bit that way, though I avoided the photos of them really pulling faces. :D

One group of stupid people and one piece of government mismanagement and here we are. The numbers aren't high relative to some places but we all thought we'd got past this so it's hurting.

>33 lyzard: Yes, I can imagine you're experiencing a bit of Godfather Part III syndrome: "Every time I think I'm out, they pull me back in!" Here's hoping we all get out sooner rather than later.

Also, definitely need to seem some of the shots of the hairy balloons pulling faces. :-)

>34 rosalita:

That's exactly it. But I'll try not to respond in a Godfather-ish way. :)

Well...okay, you asked for it!---





Mind you---it seems to me I should be able to find a use for this one: maybe I'll keep it for my "WE'RE OUT OF LOCKDOWN!?" post:

>35 lyzard: HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!

I would have responded sooner but I couldn't stop laughing at that top picture long enough to type coherently. I believe that's the exact same face I make in our staff meetings whenever one of my colleagues seems completely unaware of something I've sent a dozen increasingly hysterical emails about.

And that second picture is just begging to be used for something! Maybe as a reaction shot when you get your first look at the next book on the bestsellers challenge list?

>36 rosalita:

:D

If I wait for that I might never use it...

>35 lyzard: hahahahaha! love them!

I have to admit to looking at your case numbers with something approaching envy. We're at ~ 1% of the population infected and rising. And we're out of lockdown and relying on personal responsibility. Which is basically saying if you get it, it's your own fault. How on earth did we elect this bunch of muppets? We'll be back in lockdown before long, it's a question of when not if.

>38 Helenliz:

I was wondering whether it was a matter of you just not doing that any more or whether there was a point at which lockdown would occur again.

We also have those who think we should just "get on with it" and it's easy enough to find reasons, but OTOH it's relying on personal responsibility that got us here in the first place... :(

Finished Perfume for TIOLI #5.

And now I have a problem.

I was going to read Randolph Stow's To The Islands; I was particularly excited to discover that my local library, rarely immediately helpful in my reading, has an ebook version for borrowing.

However, as it turns out, I didn't know as much about this important Australian novel as I should have---including the fact that, while it was first published (and won awards) in 1958, in 1981 Randolph Stow revised it---and that is the edition most readily available now.

Those of you with long memories might recall that I baulked at reading Brideshead Revisted for the same reason. And yes, you can argue that the revision better represents "the author's intentions"; but on the other hand, I'm always interested in what was written before there was time for second thoughts. In Waugh's case, he definitely responded to negative criticism in making his changes. Stow seems to have done this just for his own purposes; but some of the changes made - the book deals with missionaries working amongst the indigenous population - may be significant given the twenty-five year gap.

The other issue is that, unlike Brideshead Revisited, whose original text is hard to get hold of, the first edition of To The Islands is available---but only if I wait until I can borrow it.

This last just about decided the matter for me: I will be placing To The Islands on my depressing long "books to get to if we're ever out of this mess" list.

Meanwhile--- This was going to be my book for TIOLI #10; and in searching for a replacement, I had an old friend come to the rescue:

Now reading Run! by Patricia Wentworth.

Finally managing to stop by your thread to say hello, Liz!

And ack re library access and revision woes :-(

>41 souloftherose:

Hi, sweetie, how nice to see you here!

Yes, unfortunately we're in a down-swing here, between mismanagement of the vaccination rollout and some stupid behaviour. Still, my woes are comparatively minor and I guess I shouldn't bitch...but it's hard not to vent sometimes!

I hope things are going better for you. I've been following Tink's progress with great interest. My current boys are rescues too so I know all about the issues, but taking on a senior pet is something extra---though also something special. :)

Finished Run! for TIOLI #10.

Now reading Murder In Earl's Court by A. G. Macdonell.

Finished Murder In Earl's Court for TIOLI #2.

Now reading Murder At Fenwold by Christopher Bush.

Finished Murder At Fenwold for TIOLI #6.

Now reading Forest Of Montalbano by Catherine Cuthbertson.

Finished Forest Of Montalbano for TIOLI #15...

...and finished A SWEEP---whoo!!

This despite the wasted time when I first thought the library closure had made it impossible, and two stuff ups entirely of my own devising: first, this month being what it's been, I forgot I'd already read a book for #6 and squeezed in an unnecessary second one; and in doing so, I very stupidly left a 1600-page 19th century novel until last. :D

I must still admit to a tiny feeling of disappointment: when I first saw that a sweep was possible, I had a way of achieving it while at the same time reading outside my mystery / series box, which would have been doubly satisfying.

However, this is a rare enough achievement that I'm not going to repine too much---

#1: No More Parades by Ford Madox Ford
#2: Murder In Earl's Court by A. G. Macdonell
#3: The Struggles Of Brown, Jones, And Robinson by Anthony Trollope
#4: Elsie's Vacation And After Events by Martha Finley
#5: Perfume by Patrick Süskind
#6: Blood Money by John Goodwin / Murder At Fenwold by Christopher Bush
#7: Mind Hunter by John Douglas and Mark Olshaker
#8: The Swimming Pool by Mary Roberts Rinehart
#9: The Choice by Philip MacDonald
#10: Run! by Patricia Wentworth
#11: The Mystery Of The Green Ghost by Robert Arthur
#12: The House Of Peril by Louis Tracy
#13: The Mill Mystery by Anna Katharine Green
#14: Inspector Frost In The City by Herbert Maynard Smith
#15: Forest Of Montalbano by Catherine Cuthbertson
#16: Courier To Marrakesh by Valentine Williams

...and after our recent conversations on the subject---

This rare and unusual accomplishment gifts me an opportunity to mark the occasion with something equally rare and unusual---

>47 lyzard: "Is that a platypus that I see, its duck bill toward my hand?"

You are the Queen of TIOLI, Liz. And a 1,600 page novel from anytime but especially the 1800s? Yikes!

>46 lyzard: >47 lyzard: Well, that is certainly a platypus-worthy accomplishment. Congratulations!

>48 rosalita:

:D

Thank you, my dear! Cuthbertson is one of my favourite forgotten 19th century writers---and for all her 1600 pages, she goes down a lot easier than most of the modern best-sellers I've been inflicted with lately!

>49 NinieB:

Thanks, Ninie!

>47 lyzard: A Platypus by any other name would looks a cute.
Nice going Liz.

Thanks, Helen!

>48 rosalita:, >51 Helenliz:

Funny you both went Shakespeare, in Forest Of Montalbano Cuthbertson was playing games with Hamlet. :)

So...

...all that done...

...all I have to do now is get it all WRITTEN UP. :D

Speaking of which--- Whether it will amount to anything I don't know, but after dropping everything to get that sweep done, I feel like i need to put my August reading on the back-burner and get some other things done---particularly some writing.

I'm still cut off from my library books with no end currently in sight; consequently the only book I'm committed for next month (yo, Julia!) is Patricia Wentworth's The Gazebo; though I would like to plow through the next Elsie book, purely in the spirit of keeping it ticking at one a month.

The only other immediate possibility is an 1811 work for my Century Of Reading, which I can at least keep going with while my other challenges are stalled. Self-evidently the most important work of 1811 is Sense And Sensibility, but that would be a re-re-re-re-re-re-re-re-re-read...I think. Perhaps, having skipped him in 1810, I might go with Percy Shelley's St. Irvyne; or, The Rosicrucian.

Beyond this I have no plans whatsoever. I don't even have a bedtime read for tonight! Hmm...

>53 lyzard: Yo, Liz!

You've reminded me I need to get on to The Listening Eye tout suite, as you could be posting your review at any moment.

I hope you found a good book to ease you into slumber ...

>54 rosalita:

you could be posting your review at any moment

Oh, yeah, that's absolutely going to happen! :D

If you'd prefer to delay The Gazebo, that's fine: I'm so unorganised right now it won't make any difference.

Actually I had one of my insomniac nights but I don't know it's fair to blame the book...

Yes, well---

Now reading The Crystal Stopper by Maurice Leblanc.

>55 lyzard: No need to delay The Gazebo. Besides, it might fit a crucial TIOLI category!

>57 rosalita:

No worry about that this time, it fits all over the place. :)

Okay, if you're sure.

Finished The Crystal Stopper for TIOLI #9.

Now reading The Silver Spoon by John Galsworthy.

>58 lyzard: I should say that if it turns out that postponing the next Miss Silver works for you, that is also totally fine with me.

I am enjoying The Listening Eye but I'm wondering at what point people are going to notice that the mild-mannered woman supposedly hired to be Bellingdon's social secretary is spending all her time knitting and gossiping with the help?

>60 rosalita:

:D

Well, 'social secretary' wasn't really a 24/7 occupation, more like being on call.

I have an ebook so I'm okay either way: if you decide you want a break after The Listening Eye, that's fine; if not, we'll go ahead.

Finished The Silver Spoon for TIOLI #10.

Now reading The Sealed Envelope by Ben Bolt. However, I have to read this one online, so I'll need to pick a portable read too...

ETA: In fact, things being what they are, I might devote this month primarily to works that have to be read online; I seem to have accumulated an unusual number of such items on the TBR.

I'll still need a portable book or two (mostly for bath reading; the weather still isn't warming up, brr!), but this seems a reasonable way of pruning down choices for a more generic than usual TIOLI month.

Do I get angry or just cry?

I was very pleased a while back to pick up an inexpensive copy of R. L. Goldman's Murder Without Motive, a rare title that is second in the series featuring Asaph Clume and Rufus Reed. Of course, I didn't do anything so ridiculous as reading the book once I had obtained it; instead it got shelved with the other one-day-s.

Well, that day was going to be today: I opened it to check its publication details, and found the following:

It is the aim of the Publishers to bring to the public from time to time, inexpensive editions of better detective mystery novels to be known as PRIZE MYSTERY NOVELS. They are slightly condensed, but only matter not pertinent to the plot has been eliminated.

My first explosion - something along the lines of, "Who the hell are you to decide what is pertinent to me?", plus several other expletives - was directed at the Wildside Press, who I initially assumed were responsible for this.

However, a cooler examination reveals that what Wildside have actually done is reproduce the abridged 1945 edition of this 1938 novel, which is now the only realistic way of reading it at all: the first edition is all but unobtainable.

So now what do I do?

Mind you...though it isn't their own doing, Wildside haven't exactly drawn attention to the fact that their edition of this novel is abridged. I'm not primarily angry at them any more, if I can put it like that, but I'm still pretty steamed...

Finished The Sealed Envelope for TIOLI #1.

And, oh well, I guess I'm not going to read it any other way, am I?

Now reading at least some of Murder Without Motive by R. L. Goldman.

...and now having made a start, I'm even more annoyed: this is a pretty good mystery...

Finished Murder Without Motive for TIOLI #6.

Now reading Shadow On The Wall by H. C. Bailey.

Well! - I've actually managed to get some book-blogging done; and for 1600 pages of convoluted plotting and extreme emotion, I don't think a three-parter is excessive:

Forest Of Montalbano (Part 1)
Forest Of Montalbano (Part 2)
Forest Of Montalbano (Part 3)

Nevertheless, I seem to have caught this lemur off-guard...

>63 lyzard: Ugh, what a mess. Do you know why the novel was originally abridged? Is it one of those chunksters that you have an affinity for (not that that's a good reason to chop up a book)? I hate when publishers/authors do that, especially when they aren't up front in the marketing materials about what you're getting. Murder without motive, indeed!

>68 lyzard: That lemur is all of us, hearing about both your abridged woes and also your three-part blog review of Forest of Montalbano!

>69 rosalita:

On cooler reflection, I think it may have been a "cheap wartime edition" thing: I've seen that before in both British and Australian editions...although in the first case with thinner, cheaper paper and smaller font, and in the second by selling advertising space on the dust jacket and covers, not by CUTTING THE DAMN BOOK.

In fact I now wonder if this PRIZE MYSTERY NOVELS thing mightn't have been a whole line of abridged books, which is something to keep in mind in future.

All of which begs the question of whether the Wildside Press didn't realise or just didn't care. (On second thoughts, it is them I'm primarily angry at...)

:D

It was nice to get something done; though now I'm back to trying to remember what points I meant to make about other books I read months ago.

>70 lyzard: There's a reason many paperbacks boasted "Complete and Unabridged" on the front cover. Abridged books seem to have been a thing here in the US. A number of those paperback houses in the 40s that sprang up in the wake of Pocket Books and the like went the abridged route, but they didn't survive. Then there were the Reader's Digest Condensed Books, where several abridged bestsellers were published in one hardcover volume.

I spent way too much time on your blog on Sunday morning, first marveling at the convoluted plot of Forest of Montalbano and then just going down a very enjoyable rabbit hole!

>71 NinieB:

Thanks for the heads-up on that: it's ot something I've encountered before (at least, not knowingly), but I'll keep a better eye out in future.

At least with the Reader's Digest you know where you stand!

Aww, thank you, Ninie! - always very grateful for visits. I'm quite the fan of rabbit holes myself...

You have no idea how much of that novel I didn't even touch on! :D

Finished Shadow On The Wall for TIOLI #2.

Now reading It Walks By Night by John Dickson Carr.

And yes---as per Ninie's heads-up:

And this is among the book's first editions!

Apropos, my American friends may be able to shed some light on something that puzzles me:

For publications pre-1940s, there always seems to have been multiple publishers involved with any given book, so that working out the first American edition of anything is nearly impossible.

Does anyone have any information about this practice? Why would two major publishers handle the same book in the same year? Why would one publisher hold copyright but allow another to issue a book?

>74 lyzard: Ha! Both Spivak and Avon were paperback reprint publishers of the 1940s. They would have included the copyright date of 1930, and possibly no date of reprint, so the cataloger used the copyright date.

>75 lyzard: Do you have an example? Before the rise of paperbacks most books were reprinted in a cheap hardback. The reprint publishers included Grosset & Dunlap, Burt, Collier, Blue Ribbon Books. And frequently they just included a copyright date, not a reprint date, so the copyright date is what was cataloged.

>76 NinieB:

Oh, okay; thanks. :)

Not off the top of my head (I'll look and find a couple of examples), but sometimes there will be two hardback editions of the same book from two different companies in the same year; or something like "published by the A. L. Burt Company with the permission of Harper & Brothers". I see that a lot with American books of that era and I don't understand why.

>77 lyzard: Publishing wasn't vertically integrated. (Although I'll note that publishers like Burt and Grosset & Dunlap also published the first editions of children's series, like the Stratemeyer syndicate books.) The quality is noticeably different. The paper is usually much better in the first editions, and the covers are nicer, usually cloth. The reprints frequently have badly tanned paper, thinner and cheaper cardboard covers, etc. Your rule of thumb should be that the publishers I listed above are reprints and can be ignored when looking for the first edition.

>78 NinieB:

I'm not looking for first editions to own, just curious why there could be two editions of the same book in the same year from two different publishers.

For myself it's about getting my work details correct (and about cover images of course!).

Needed a Bath Book, so now reading (sigh) Elsie At Viamede by Martha Finley; still reading It Walks By Night by John Dickson Carr.

>78 NinieB:, >79 lyzard:, >80 lyzard:

Ah! - and it turns out that Elsie At Viamede is an example (and this series is probably why A. L. Burt came to mind):

The book was first published in 1892 by Dodd, Mead & Company, and while there is an A. L. Burt edition, there's a bookseller listing that calls it "undated". Also, the cover image is not circa 1892. So as you say, the date given is the copyright date, not the edition date.

That's pretty annoying, actually. However, the more you know...

BTW, do take a look at this hilariously inaccurate book description:

This particular seller specialises in horsey books, and has obtained and listed Elsie At Viamede purely on the strength of its cover. Which is all very well, but just a tad misleading.

Not about sidesaddle riding exclusively...

>82 lyzard: You know what, though? I bet there is a non-zero number of "horsey" people who would absolutely buy this book purely for the dust jacket. In fact, they would probably frame the dust jacket and toss the book.

>83 rosalita:

And they would be right to do so! :D

Ugh. This is the fourth one in a row that fills its pages by plagiarising historian Benson Lossing.

Innocent question.
Is a bath book one to read in the bath, or inadvertently drop in the bath and allow to turn to Papier-mâché?

>85 Helenliz:

:D

As I am reading nearly everything as an ebook these days, definitely not the latter!

>86 lyzard: And here I was speculating that it was a book set in Bath, to fulfill a TIOLI challenge!

>87 rosalita:

:D

I'm having to read a bunch of stuff online this month, but I have to have a portable book for small-b bath reading because of course I do.

(Maybe if the weather ever warms up...)

(Yes, I know, I'll regret saying that in about another month...)

Finished It Walks By Night for TIOLI #14; also finished Elsie At Viamede for TIOLI #12.

Proof positive that 19th century didactic fiction can be much more brutal than a novel about decapitation murders...

Now reading Zastrozzi by Percy Byshhe Shelley.

Okay: this approach worked reasonably well before; let's see if it will again...

Publication date: 1891
Genre: Young adult
Series: Elsie Dinsmore #17
Read for: Series reading / TIOLI ('vacation' in title)

Elsie's Vacation And After Events - This series entry picks up directly after its predecessor in more ways than one: having dropped Max off at Annapolis, and visited briefly with the new cadet as he adjusts to academy life, the narrative returns to the Raymonds and Travillas as they head home by sea, the journey being "enlivened" by still more regurgitated history (mostly the Declaration of Independence and surrounding events) courtesy of the works of George Bancroft, which takes up about half of this "novel". Once home, Lulu Raymond shows a flash of her old rebellious and sulky nature when she is (she thinks) unwanted during a family activity, and this is of course followed by gruelling chapters of agonised repentance, pleas for punishment, and the increasingly creepy father-daughter love-fest between Lulu and Captain Raymond. The only touch of actual plot here concerns the revelation of Elsie's ill-health: having suffered for some time from internal pain, but foolishly done nothing about it, at length she is driven to consult her relative, Dr Arthur Conley, who tells her that her condition is serious, and that her only hope is an immediate operation. This situation is milked for all it is worth by Martha Finley, but since we've only just passed the halfway mark in this series, I didn't get my hopes fears up. Sure enough, Elsie survives; and to help her recuperation, she is packed off for the winter to her Louisiana plantation, Viamede...

    To them all it seemed a long, sad day. One at a time they were admitted to a short interview with their mother, in which she spoke with each one as though it might be her last opportunity, the burden of her talk being always an earnest exhortation to a life hid with God in Christ; a life of earnest, loving service to him who had died to redeem them from sin and eternal death.
    She was very cheerful and spoke hopefully of the result of the operation, yet added that, as it might prove fatal, and in a way to leave her neither time nor strength for these last words, she must speak them now; but they need not despair of seeing her restored to health and given many more years of sweet companionship with her loved ones.
    Walter, as the youngest, took his turn last.
    For many minutes he could do nothing but sob on his mother's breast. "O mamma, mamma," he cried, "I cannot, cannot do without you!"
    "Mother knows it will be hard for her baby boy at first," she said, low and tenderly, holding him close to her heart; "but some day you will come to mamma in that happy land where there is no parting, no death, and where sorrow and sighing shall flee away; the land where 'the inhabitant shall not say I am sick'; the land where there is no sin, no suffering of any kind, and God shall wipe away all tears from our eyes..."

Publication date: 1892
Genre: Young adult
Series: Elsie Dinsmore #18
Read for: Series reading / TIOLI ('Among Others' booklist)

Elsie At Viamede - Wow. This 18th entry in this series may hold the distinction of having the least plot of any so far---not that each of the last dozen or so hasn't been striving for the title. By now we're up to about 60% of the text consisting of plagiarised history, this time the War of 1812, the Battle of New Orleans, and the taking of New Orleans during the Civil War---and we should note that the historian whose works are being plundered is now Benson John Lossing. The only tiny point of interest and amusement here is that, even as she has worked long and hard to make us forget that the immaculate Elsie Dinsmore was once A SLAVE-OWNER, Finley is here pretending that 95% of her characters aren't Southerners who live in Virginia---with the Confederacy taking England's place as "villain". Meanwhile, Lulu Raymond loses her temper with her toddler brother, and we all suffer for it; and Finley's daddy-issues surface again in literal chapters devoted to worship of Captain Raymond. The only touch of actual plot concerns the wedding of relative Betty Johnson, with the entire clan - Conleys, Keiths, Percivals, etc., as well as Dinsmores, Travillas and Raymonds - being summoned for the occasion---and we are expected to remember who all these people are and their relationships, even though none of them have shown up in the narrative since its earliest days. Here Finley manages to find another level of exasperation, juxtaposing Captain Raymond's solemn lectures to Lulu about the unimportance of "external adornment" with lengthy passages given over to wedding presents (nothing less than silver or jewels from anyone) and the bride's, bridesmaids' and the guests' new "finery". And indeed, so annoying is this that we are almost distracted from the fact that while indulging in all this hypocritical conspicuous consumption, Finley never bothers to tell us the name of the groom...

    Rosie pretended to pout. "You keep all your compliments for Vi," she said. "But---ah, here comes Eva, and I wonder if you can afford one to her. She is certainly worthy of it."
    Evelyn did indeed look sweet and fair in a becoming white chip hat and her pretty dress of pale blue silk trimmed with lovely lace.
    Rosie's own dress was a delicate pink; Lulu's canary color; all of the same material.
    "That she is, in my opinion," returned the captain, bestowing a fatherly caress upon the young orphan girl, then offering the same to Rosie.
    "Well, now, you are a nice brother---my big, big brother, you remember," she laughed, "so I won't repulse you; help yourself and let us have it over."
    Just at that moment her mother came in, dressed for the wedding in a beautiful pearl-colored silk and point lace, a knot of white roses at her throat and in her belt, her lovely and abundant golden brown hair simply and tastefully arranged.
    "Mamma!" exclaimed Violet, "you are the most beautiful and tastefully attired one among us!"
    "In the partial eyes of my daughter Violet," was the smiling rejoinder. "But to me her youthful beauty far exceeds her mother's fading charms."
    "I incline to the opinion that the fading is perceptible to no eyes but your own, mother," remarked the captain gallantly.
    "I also," said Violet; "a richer, riper bloom is all that I can see."

No wonder the cover artists were struggling for subject matter.

BTW the riding interlude (>82 lyzard:) occupies half a page, and is no more than a mention that a group of young people are on horseback...

Aren't you tempted to drop your e-reader in the bathtub when you are reading this?

Oh hell yes.

Being punished already just by reading this series, though, no sense in piling on by killing my eReader. :D

After that duo, I admire your powers of perseverance... How many more have you got to struggle through?

>96 Helenliz:

"Perseverance" is the polite word for it, I guess.

Ten, I think; pretty sure there are 28 of the horrid things.

(ETA: Yup.)

Finished Zastrozzi for TIOLI #7.

And, because I'm a sucker for punishment---

---which I think we'd already established, actually---

---now reading St. Irvyne; or, The Rosicrucian, also by Percy Bysshe Shelley.

>98 lyzard: The star ratings are not enticing.

>99 NinieB:

I suspect people don't know what they're getting into with these: they're basically teenage Gothic fan-fiction. :D

Finished St. Irvyne; or, The Rosicrucian for TIOLI #16, and that is #100 for the year!

Which means I am back on track for a 150 year...having, for better or worse, caught up the pace via a couple of best-seller-free months.

OTOH, I have a problem - or at least, I have a problem in my head, which is always the worst place I can have a problem:

I picked St. Irvyne for the 1811 work for my 'Century Of Reading', only to discover after the event that it is one of numerous 19th century British books to be given the following year's copyright date despite being published in December.

Since in all the other instances I've stubbornly insisted upon the earlier year as the "correct" date...I now have to find another work from 1811 (and this time I'll check the fine print first!).

At the moment I'm hesitating between Charlotte Dacre's The Passions, as an example of someone writing in the Gothic area who knew what they were doing*, or going to the other extreme with Mary Brunton's absurdly didactic Self-Control...

(*Perhaps unfair to Shelley; I'm still pondering the point.)

Well done on 100!
I'm not a fan of the didactic, so I'd go with the other one (or indeed, almost anything else).

>102 Helenliz:

Thanks, Helen!

I'm tending that way too, but partly because Brunton is on the 'Pandora' list and I figure I'll get to that sometime or other (of course I will!).

Besides getting quite enough didacticism from Elsie & Co.

>103 lyzard: I'm with Helen--I'd go for some Gothic.

>101 lyzard: Gothic over didactic, all day long.

>104 NinieB:, >105 rosalita:

Would I get in trouble if I said Shelley had put me off the Gothics a bit??

I'll go further: HE'S NO CATHERINE CUTHBERTSON!! :D

Anyway...I'm going to leave that for next month and retreat back into the entirely predictable:

Now reading The Second Baronet by Louis Tracy.

(For which I have the choice of a modern reprint cover or an American first edition under the wrong title, sigh...)

However I will need a bath book too; not quite settled but probably The Clifford Affair by A. Fielding.

Finished The Second Baronet for TIOLI #3.

Still reading The Clifford Affair by A. Fielding; and---

---oh, charming!---

---apparently this is my month for decapitations...!? :D

>108 lyzard: No one should have a month for decapitations!

>109 rosalita:

Seriously! - none in, well, pretty much forever, and now twice in a week. :O

<110 Just don't let life start imitating art...

At which point I am might glad there's half a world between us!

>111 Helenliz:

Trust me, I don't have the energy these days for anything so physically demanding!

>112 lyzard: Besides, aren't you in lockdown? Or is that lifted in NSW? I have a friend in Melbourne who is still under lockdown, I think.

>114 lyzard:

Still in lockdown and no end - or library books - in sight...

And you're right, of course! - decapitating someone would require me to break lockdown, so obviously I couldn't do that! :D

>114 lyzard: I'm sure Helen will be as relieved as I am to hear that!

Publication date: 1922
Genre: Mystery / thriller
Series: Winter and Furneaux (sort of)
Read for: Series reading / TIOLI (dwelling type in title)

I've complained about this before, but for the sake of clarity in context, here is the story again: over the course of his career, Louis Tracy zig-zagged between publishing in the UK and the US, also between setting his works in London or New York. For his mystery series, he took it a step further and created two pairs of expys: Winter and Furneaux of Scotland Yard, and Steingall and Clancy of the NY Detective Bureau. One of Tracy's works, No Other Way, exists in two versions, each featuring one of the pairs of detectives.

Okay. But then for some inexplicable reason, in 1922 Tracy published The House Of Peril, which instead of bringing back Steingall and Clancy, turns Winter and Furneaux into Americans; and then, two years later, he rewrote his story as The Park Lane Mystery, which features the British versions of Winter and Furneaux.

Strictly, then, The Park Lane Mystery is part of the main series, whereas The House Of Peril is not...only The House Of Peril is fairly readily available, while The Park Lane Mystery is impossible to get hold of. Also strictly, The House Of Peril comes *before* The Second Baronet (see below), whereas The Park Lane Mystery comes *after* it.

Hmm. Maybe "clarity" wasn't quite the right word...

The House Of Peril - The morning after a bachelor dinner to celebrate the engagement of Anthony van Cortland to Mary Dixon, the host's rather scandalised butler, Brown, finds the entire party - he supposes - still sleeping it off in the dining-room. However, a closer inspection reveals that the guests are unconscious---and van Cortland dead... Rushing for help, Brown is relieved to discover another friend of van Cortland's, Captain Alec Stuart, on the doorstep. Taking in the tragedy, Stuart attempts to contact Mr Winter, the head of the New York Detective Bureau, an acquaintance of his: his call brings to the scene the mercurial Inspector Furneaux, whose conclusion is that van Cortland died by poisoning - murder or suicide, he cannot tell - while the rest have been drugged. To Stuart's horror, Furneaux sends him to break the news to Mary Dixon---though he gets an inkling why from her strange reaction to the news: her first thought is for her brother, Willie, who was one of the other guests; her second, that van Cortland was murdered. There is fear in her attitude, Stuart concludes, but no grief---and no surprise... The House Of Peril is a work that makes the non-availability of The Park Lane Mystery even more frustrating. It is obvious from some of the details that Louis Tracy conceived this as a British story, making the rewrite even more inexplicable; and the points at which it doesn't work are, unsurprisingly, those at which has been forcibly "Americanised". The makeovers of Winter and Furneaux are particularly jarring, consisting chiefly of slang forced into the latter's mouth (along, sadly, with a selection of racial slurs); what we might call the "Italian subplot" is also fairly wince-worthy; while the ex-military cast was obviously conceived in terms of British ideas about "the regiment". More understandably (and I imagine that this applies to both versions), the story never quite lives up to its bravura opening set-piece; nor is the eventual explanation of what actually happened that night remotely credible. Overall, however, this is still an engaging mystery-thriller. The crux of the matter turns out to be Anthony van Cortland's engagement to Mary Dixon: several among the group of friends were in love with her; and the announcement provoked both open disgruntlement and anonymous messages promising that the wedding would never take place. Mary, it turns out, was a reluctant bride in any event, van Cortland's rescue of her father from a financial disaster prompting her acceptance of him. Of course, she and Alec Stuart promptly fall in love---so that Stuart finds himself on the short-list of men whose lives, it is soon clear, are still in danger from Mary's "secret admirer"... Unexpectedly, about halfway through The House Of Peril all but turns into a different book---shifting its action from New York to the Adirondacks, essentially revealing the identity of its killer, and morphing from a mystery into a thriller. The detectives may know who murdered Anthony van Cortland, but proving it is another matter; and Alec Stuart soon finds himself occupying the unenviable double-role of bodyguard and bait, as Winter and Furneaux attempt to lure their dangerous quarry into the open...

    “We are met for no other purpose than the highly important one of getting to know each other,” said Furneaux, speaking with a gravity that promptly brought Mary to attention. “I look for sensational developments in the van Cortland mystery during the next few days, and it would be foolish for the Chief and me to remain here without the knowledge of our very important aides. Please inform Mr
Dixon, junior, the butler, and that other man, the valet, as to our presence, as we do not wish to be shot if surprised in or around your house at some unearthly hour of the night. It is a nuisance having to take so many people into our confidence, but we cannot help ourselves. I came here some days ago, and the chief of the police at Saranac was able to persuade Evans, the Greens' motor-man, to take a holiday. The Chief arrived this morning, via Saranac, thus avoiding any remote chance of being recognised by Durrane on alighting from the train. Mr Frank Baker reaches Paul Smith's to-morrow morning. Then we have all our principals on the stage together..."
    Mary gasped with surprise and consternation. She had been in a slightly hysterical mood since a formal communication to hand by the early post from van Cortland's lawyers announced that she was an heiress, and Stuart's fantastic struggles to avoid a declaration of undying love had added to her tremors. Now, here was Furneaux, who figured in her imagination as a person of unbounded humour, a sort of comic detective such as one read of in magazine stories, bringing her back to an earth of tragedy and guile. Somehow the actual death of Anthony van Cortland seemed to be associated with the clatter and restless life of far-away New York. She thought she had left that evil thing behind when she fled to the Adirondacks, yet it was stalking her relentlessly in both her lakeside home and the fastnesses of the hills...

Publication date: 1923
Genre: Mystery / thriller
Series: Winter and Furneaux #6
Read for: Series reading / TIOLI (unit of time)

The Second Baronet (US title: The Pelham Affair) - Upon his arrival in England, after completing his army service in India, Captain Arthur Pelham is recognised by a porter at Victoria Station---so the latter thinks, though it transpires he has confused Pelham with his namesake cousin, who he resembles. The porter, Jenkins, was wounded during the same battle as Sir Arthur; spent a night in the same field hospital; and remembers the injured man repeating certain words over and over. Jenkins explains that all this had been brought back to his mind by seeing those very words in a recent newspaper agony column; adding that he thought Sir Arthur had died in Belgium. Never having met his cousin due to a serious family estrangement a generation back, curiosity leads Pelham to check the agony columns: he puzzles over the exchange of strange, threatening messages signed "Vaquero", "Matador" and "Soixante-neuf", and jokingly posts a response warning all three. At a loose end, that evening Pelham takes a walk to look at Sir Arthur's sprawling, comfortable villa in Barnes---where he finds himself fighting for his life against an assailant with a strong German accent... The Second Baronet is, thankfully, a "proper" Winter and Furneaux story: one which finds the colleagues dealing with the fallout from wartime espionage. Obviously heavily influenced by E, Phillips Oppenheim's famous thriller, The Great Impersonation, The Second Baronet likewise turns on a question of identity: whether the man seconded into MI6 after recovering from his wartime injuries and involved in highly classified intelligence work, including posing as a German agent, was the real Sir Arthur Pelham; or whether Sir Arthur did indeed die in Belgium, and was replaced by a German spy... This is a post-war story, however, and its intent is more prosaic: the question over Sir Arthur Pelham's identity being quite as much about his inheritance of a British title and fortune - and the consequent disinheritance of his cousin - as it is about whether he is or is not the notorious German agent, Karl von Heiding. Adopted, as it were, by the tag-team of Winter and Furneaux as they investigate these paired issues, Pelham must walk an uncomfortable line, being acutely aware of the implications of the situation to his own future, and trying to avoid being influenced by self-interest: a proposition that goes from difficult to impossible, when he falls in love almost at first sight with Phyllis Daunt, Sir Arthur's reluctant fiancée... Arrested outside his cousin's house - his assailant getting away - Pelham is able to clear himself, but is not surprised when he receives a call from Inspector Furneaux of Scotland Yard. However, to his bemusement Pelham discovers that it is not his arrest, but his impulsive interference in the newspaper correspondence, that has attracted the attention of the C.I.D. He repeats the story told to him by Jenkins the porter, and learns in return that "Vaquero", "Matador" and "Soixante-neuf" were the code-names of three enemy agents operating in England during the early part of the war, all three of whom subsequently evaded capture. Furneaux, in turn, is electrified by Pelham's revelation that, during their struggle, his assailant exclaimed in surprise that he, Pelham, was "not Karl". Their pool of knowledge is further added to by Phyllis, who reports that Sir Arthur has recently received telephone messages from "Vaquero" and "Matador"; her eye, too, was consequently caught by the agony columns. The implication that Sir Arthur is actually Karl von Heiding - "Soixante-neuf" - is clear enough; though the detectives realise that such an outrageous impersonation would demand the cooperation of Sir Arthur's mother: a point which takes on its own significance when the elderly Lady Pelham is found murdered...

    "There's something wrong in the yarn somewhere," interposed Pelham. "Major Drummer knew him well, and has seen him recently. There must be scores of other officers who will tell us the same thing. Now, Jenkins has told us what he believes to be the truth, but the two met on the last occasion in a field hospital, where the light would be bad, and the surroundings about as difficult for careful observation as they well could be. I don't lay much stress on these apparent variations in the main story."
    "What main story?" cried Furneaux.
    "The incidents of the battle, and the fact that Jenkins believed Sir Arthur to be dead, whereas he is very much alive."
    "But that is the merest side issue. The real question is---Who is 'Soixante-neuf', and what relation does 'Soixante-neuf' bear to Sir Arthur Pelham."
    "And why does Sir Arthur rush off to Scotland, leaving his mother, his fiancée, and another lady protected only by some timid servants, in a house which, to put it mildly, is not the safest of such residences?" said Winter.
    "After reporting an attempted burglary to the police, and being well aware, I suppose, of last night's mix-up outside his front gate?" rejoined Furneaux.
    "And not without knowledge of a lurking suspicion in Miss Phyllis Daunt's mind brought about by the concealment of his movements this morning and the queer-sounding telephone messages she had recently received," chimed in Winter.
    The two men were thinking aloud. They were perplexed, a trifle fascinated, perhaps, by a strange jumble of circumstances which hardly concerned them, since their actual quest was for a set of dangerous rogues who had imperilled the State during the anxious years of the war...

Finished The Clifford Affair for TIOLI #4.

Now reading The Gazebo by Patricia Wentworth.

>117 lyzard: That one reminds me of The Great Impersonation by W Phillips Oppenheim which I enjoyed.

Have a good weekend, Liz.

>119 PaulCranswick:

Yes, definitely, though with a different emphasis.

Thanks, you too! :)

Ooh badges! :D

>121 lyzard: Awesome!

>121 lyzard: Well deserved, I'm sure.

>122 rosalita:, >123 Helenliz:

I'm not sure rewarding my OCD is really a good idea but anyhoo... :D

>124 lyzard: we may as well all benefit from it...
It's a bit like I'm sure my cleaner has a touch of OCD, she always lines things like the TV remotes up on the coffee table. But as she's also a very good cleaner, I'm happy to allow her to take her OCD out on my house. >:-)

>125 Helenliz:

I wish my OCD manifested as something so useful!

Finished Some Unknown Hand for TIOLI #11.

Now reading Death In The Dentist's Chair by Molly Thynne.

Wow. Wow.

Probably most of you haven't heard of Elaine Hamilton. She wrote general fiction during the 1920s before moving to mysteries and thrillers in the 1930s, most of the latter featuring Inspector Thomas Reynolds of Scotland Yard.

I say "most" because, while a handful of Hamilton's mysteries have recently been reissued, most of her early ones (with the exception of the first Reynolds entry, Some Unknown Hand aka "The Westminster Mystery") are unobtainable.

I was researching this, and the correct publication order, when I discovered that for some inexplicable reason, Hamilton twice acted as a lightning rod for - pardon the redundancy - some astonishingly stupid misogyny on the part of a newspaper literary "critic".

First, this, from the Adelaide Mail of 31st December 1932, apropos of Hamilton's The Green Death:





But this petty idiocy pales beside the dismissal of the entire female sex that was allowed to appear in - surprise! - the Daily Telegraph of 20th November 1937:


  


Where do you even begin to unpack this?

Of all of it, though, what struck me most was the accusation of practised dishonesties...in the context of MYSTERY WRITING!?

Nor is this the first time I've encountered this sort of moronic argument applied to women's writing: in fact I've blogged about the inability of some male critics to get their heads around the fact that Aphra Behn's Oroonoko is a work of fiction.

It would be easy - or easier - to dismiss this if we weren't all very well aware of the extent to which an author's sex still affects everything from publication to sales to awards. It's just that, these days, those responsible hide their claws a little better than did "Bodleian" and "Dr Watson Jr". (Are we surprised they didn't sign their real names?)

Anyway... There's plenty more I could say but I think I'll just leave that to speak for itself.

Oh---except to point out, for the benefit of those who may not be aware of it, that there has been an Australian Women's Eleven (i.e. cricket test team) since 1934: only three years after "Bodleian" declared this an unassailed bastion of the male sex...

Anyhoo...

The temperature having plunged again here, I'm going to be needing a bath book; and since I certainly don't want to read anything by one of those icky women, well, let's see...

...now reading Crime In The Arcade by Walter Proudfoot.

>128 lyzard: Oof. Of course we all know how rampant misogyny was in the bad old days but seeing it in print like that is still a bit of a kick in the gut. As you say, it's all the more irritating given that it is still a problem even if jerks are more subtle about their jerkiness most of the time these days.

And thanks for clarifying what the "Australian Eleven" was — I assumed it was sporty but couldn't quite pin down which sport. I was leaning toward rugby as the "least feminine" option, at least in the eyes of these jackwagons, I'm sure.

>130 rosalita:

Yes, it's pretty confronting seeing it laid out like that. I don't know if that's worse or better than the lurking stuff we get now.

I'm still trying to figure out what it was about poor Elaine Hamilton that was so triggering. :D

15 in a rugby union team, 13 in a rugby league team, 11 in a soccer (football) or cricket team. :)

But here at least "Eleven" tends to be applied exclusively to cricket (probably because soccer is a much more minor sport than in most places).

>131 lyzard: Yes, I was running through the sports I know and their respective number of players on the field at one time. "American (gridiron) football has 11 players, but that can't be it. How many players does Australian rules football have? I don't know. Baseball has 9, basketball has 5. Oh, soccer has 11 but I don't think they play much soccer in Oz. They do play rugby — maybe it's rugby?"

>132 rosalita:

Complicated by the fact that we play literally every sport here, just to different degrees and at different levels of professionalism. Also that we tend to call whatever ball-sport we prefer "football". :D

Ha! - a man after my own heart:

Finished Death In The Dentist's Chair for TIOLI #13.

Still reading Crime In The Arcade by Walter Proudfoot.

Now...

When I got so horribly distracted the other day, I was trying to sort out the series order and availability for the rest of Elaine Hamilton's Inspector Reynolds series.

Hamilton's subsequent mysteries run as follows, however it is uncertain whether Reynolds appears in all of them. I have found no indication that he is in The Silent Bell, and it isn't clear about The Green Death:

#1: Some Unknown Hand (aka "The Westminster Mystery")
#2: Murder In The Fog
#3: The Chelsea Mystery
#4: The Green Death
#5: The Silent Bell
#6: Peril At Midnight
#7: Tragedy In The Dark
#8: The Casino Mystery
#9: Murder Before Tuesday

As is frustratingly often the case, only some of these are available. A few years back, the Resurrection Press reissued The Westminster Mystery, Peril At Midnight, Tragedy In The Dark, The Casino Mystery and Murder Before Tuesday; but I can find no source for the intervening books. And as far as that goes, I'm chary of the quality of any RP releases; however, at the moment these seem to be the only game in town.

I should have posted this reminder earlier, however---

Next month there will be a group read of Margaret Oliphant's Salem Chapel, the first novel in her 'Chronicles of Carlingford' series.

This will be conducted through the Virago group, but all welcome. :)

>136 lyzard: The New York Times critic found The Westminster Mystery "concise and sophisticated". "Moving at an unusually rapid tempo, enough to capture the interest of even the most blasé of thriller fans, the story sweeps to a surprising finale . . . ." Sounds like it's worth a read!

>138 NinieB:

I don't know that I agree with any of that! It's quite a decent mystery but it takes a while to settle down into itself (if I can put it like that).

Hamilton's writing isn't the strongest, and Reynolds isn't the most likeable protagonist; however there is promise in this mystery, which makes it frustrating that the next couple in the series are unavailable.

I have caught up my blogging for Mary Leman Grimstone's 1830 novel, Louisa Egerton; or, Castle Herbert.

It's a two-parter, but the first post is a short one on the novel's publication history (the second one I can't help you with):

Louisa Egerton (Part 1)
Louisa Egerton (Part 2)

This sifaka was not expecting another blog-post so soon...

>141 lyzard: SIFAKA!!!! !

Wait, what is a sifaka? Besides adorable, I mean. :-)

>142 rosalita:

:D

It's another variety of lemur. You may have seen footage of these guys, they're the ones that move across the ground by standing up on two legs and bouncing.

>143 lyzard: You may have seen footage of these guys, they're the ones that move across the ground by standing up on two legs and bouncing.

Um, no. But I'll certainly look for some!

Courtesy of David Attenborough. :D

>145 lyzard: That whole video was fantastic, but omg the baby shifaka!! 😍😍

David Attenborough is a global treasure. So glad this vid didn't end the way so many of his do, with the spotlight animal serving as the main course in dinner for two.

>146 rosalita:

I'd never post one like that, I promise. :)

>146 rosalita: he is indeed.

We used to refer to that sort of programming as "tea time viewing" as it always seemed to be on early evening, just when we were having our tea. Not necessarily what you want to watch while eating yourself...

>148 Helenliz:

I must confess that I've reached the point where I don't have the emotional capacity to watch wildlife documentaries any more...

ETA: Yeah; this:

>148 Helenliz: Yes, always a bit awkward especially if you're chowing down on a lamb chop or something of the sort. :-)

>149 lyzard: Oh, that totally sums it up! I do enjoy the ones with happy endings, though, like this one of snakes chasing an iguana that went viral a while back: https://youtu.be/B3OjfK0t1XM

>150 rosalita:

:D

Trouble is, you have to watch the ending before you can be sure. (I absolutely checked the end of that sifaka footage before posting the link.)

Finished Crime In The Arcade for TIOLI #1...

...AND finished Chez les Flamands by Georges Simenon for TIOLI #2.

That is a line under August: a month which has the rather depressing distinction of all of my reading having been in ebook format, and quite a lot of it online.

Now reading Salem Chapel by Margaret Oliphant.

Finished Salem Chapel for TIOLI #9.

Now reading Scarlet Feather by Maeve Binchy.

I have set up the thread for the group read of Margaret Oliphant's Salem Chapel - here.

It is through the Virago group, but all welcome, of course! :)

Finished Scarlet Feather for TIOLI #4.

Now reading A Woman In Exile by Horace Annesley Vachell.

Finished A Woman In Exile for TIOLI #10.

Now reading The House Of Murder by H. L. Gates (1931)

>149 lyzard: Ecology and conservation are becoming issues that I have gotten more interested and involved with as I have gotten older. There are numerous schemes for investing money in sustainable forestry (effectively replenishing woodland) and specific habitat causes that have caught my eye in the last decade or so and in fact the former is a good and safe form of investment in more ways than one.

Have a lovely weekend.

>157 PaulCranswick:

If only I had investable amounts of money! That's a great idea, though.

Thanks, Paul!

Please. I already have Philip MacDonald. I don't need another British author who (i) published several books a year, (ii) had his books often appear in the US before the UK, and (iii) whose American publisher changed EVERY title.

Sigh.

Finished The House Of Murder for TIOLI #1.

Now reading The Five Suspects by R. A. J. Walling.

>160 lyzard: I'll look forward to your review. The American critics were very enthusiastic about Walling in the 30s.

>161 NinieB:

He tends to get shrugged off amongst the hum-drums, but I quite like his books. Second tier, maybe, but one of the better second tier writers. Also Tolefree seems to be getting less not more annoying as he goes along, which is rare and welcome! :D

>162 lyzard: Thanks! I'll have to give him a try.

Finished The Five Suspects for TIOLI #2.

Now reading Murder On The Blackboard by Stuart Palmer.

Bath book alert! - now also reading The Mystery Of The Vanishing Treasure by Robert Arthur.

Well, that makes a refreshing change:

>165 lyzard: Bless Bantam Books!

>166 rosalita:

I guess I'll have to forgive them the typos. :D

Finished Murder On The Blackboard for TIOLI #6; also finished The Mystery Of The Vanishing Treasure for TIOLI #11.

Phew!

Now reading Invisible Death by Brian Flynn.

>167 lyzard: maybe the typos are original as well?

>167 lyzard: It says not one word has been omitted. It doesn’t guarantee correct spelling. :)

>169 Helenliz:, >170 casvelyn:

"No words omitted, just the occasional random letter." :D

>170 casvelyn:

Hi, thanks for visiting! :)

Publication date: 1965
Genre: Young adult
Series: The Three Investigators #4
Read for: Shared read / TIOLI (adjective in title)

The Mystery Of The Green Ghost - Pete Crenshaw and Bob Andrews, along with a group of neighbourhood men, hear terrifying screams coming from a partially demolished old house: a house with a reputation for being haunted. Though their first impulse is to bolt, they overcome their fears long enough to turn on a tape recorder---capturing the scream when it is repeated. At the urging of one of the men, the group then investigates the strange sounds---and are witness to the manifestation of a green, spectral figure, which appears on the very spot where Mathias Green fell and broke his neck some fifty years before... So begins The Mystery Of The Green Ghost, the fourth adventure of "The Three Investigators", and another which I remember from childhood (though not as clearly, so it must have been a library book). The initial investigation of a supposedly haunted house leads the boys into a complicated mystery involving - in addition to the ghost - a priceless pearl necklace, a gang of crooks, a Chinese Tong, and a desperate game of cat-and-mouse in the canyons and mines surrounding the winery headed by the elderly Miss Lydia Green, who is also the owner of the apparently haunted house in Hollywood. The main narrative follows Pete and Bob to northern California, where the green ghost has begun to appear to Miss Lydia. However, the two boys, along with their companion, Miss Lydia's great-nephew, Charles Chang Green, end up encountering a far more immediate danger... When Pete, Bob and Chang go missing, it is up to Jupiter Jones to find them---using his own intelligence, and following the scanty clues the threatened boys are able to leave for him...

    Jupiter was on the job, but what he could do remained very uncertain. he doubted that Bob and Pete and Chang were merely lost in the mines and would be found so easily.
    Nor was he wrong. a short time later, Bob and Chang were whisked through the ring of men searching the mines on the Verdant Valley side of the ridge, and driven away totally unseen and unsuspected. They were unseen because they were inside large wine casks, and wine casks were such common objects around the vineyard that no one gave them a second thought, even when they were loaded on a truck and driven away.
    So, even as they were being hunted, Bob and Chang were on their way in the hands of their captor to an unknown destination. And Pete, bearer of the fabulously valuable Ghost Pearls, was wandering through the complex network of mine galleries...

Publication date: 1966
Genre: Young adult
Series: The Three Investigators #5
Read for: Shared read / TIOLI (protagonist in high school)

The Mystery Of The Vanishing Treasure - Jupiter Jones' theoretical musings over how one might steal the fabulous Rainbow Jewels and its companion-piece, an emerald studded gold belt, become startling reality when he and his friends, Bob Andrews and Pete Crenshaw, are present at the Peterson Museum during a daring robbery that nets the belt. The guards immediately prevent anyone from leaving and conduct a search, but the belt has disappeared... Jupiter's offer of The Three Investigators' services is peremptorily rejected, but the boys soon find themselves dealing with another baffling case when Alfred Hitchcock sends them to a friend of his, who claims she is being tormented by gnomes... The Mystery Of The Vanishing Treasure is a curious entry in the Three Investigators series, inasmuch as the central mystery disappears from the narrative for much of the book - at least, it does depending on how you interpret the word 'treasure' - while the boys deal with Miss Agatha Agawam's gnome-infestation. Curious, too, is this series' retconning of Alfred Hitchcock, though again he is the catalyst for their investigation: whereas in The Mystery Of The Green Ghost it was a "director friend" of Mr Crenshaw who had the boys searching for a haunted house in The Secret Of Terror Castle, here Hitchcock is referred to as "a mystery novelist". Meanwhile his vocabulary has become distinctly American. Hmm. Meanwhile, I barely remembered this entry in the series (just the gold tooth---weirdly enough, all things considered), so I was able to enjoy it fresh. Once a famous children's author, Miss Agatha Agawam still lives in the narrow, secluded house wedged between a bank and an abandoned theatre that she stubbornly refuses to sell. Having drawn for her work upon European folklore, Miss Agawam considers herself an authority on gnomes---but she is not prepared for the nasty behaviour of the little people she insists are tormenting her. Though understandably sceptical, Jupiter and Pete agree to spend a night in her house and see for themselves---and are astonished when they, too, see the little invaders. However, when Pete's eagerness for the chase overrides his discretion, he and Jupiter find themselves being hunted through the abandoned theatre... The next morning, when Bob doesn't hear from his friends, he goes to the Agawam house himself---and discovers that Jupiter, Pete and Miss Agatha have all disappeared...

    Pete went headlong on the ground. Jupiter fell over him. As they picked themselves up, they saw the four little creatures disappearing into a dark opening in the wall of the theatre.
    "The door!" Jupe gasped. "It's open now."
    "They went inside. Now we've got them!" Pete cried. "Come on, Jupe."
    He ran headlong for the open door.
    "Wait, Pete!" Jupiter yelled, holding back. "I've had time to think some more and now I deduce---"
    But Pete wasn't listening. He had already rushed through the open emergency door. He held tight to the rope Jupe had tied to his own wrist, and his speed pulled Jupe along behind him.
    Jupiter, running as fast as he could to keep from falling on his face, ran through the door and into the pitch darkness inside the great building.
    The instant they were both inside, the door closed with an iron bang. They were trapped!
    And a second later small creatures with sharp nails were attacking them from all sides...

>171 lyzard: You’re welcome!

I read some of the Three Investigators when I was a kid. Sadly it’s been long enough now I can’t remember which ones.

I'm loving the summaries of the Three Investigators mysteries. Keep 'em coming!

I've never read the Three Investigators, but your reviews (which I'm enjoying as well) suggest that they're similar to my childhood favorite, Brains Benton.

>174 casvelyn:

The amount of clear memory varies but so far I haven't hit one I didn't read as a child---although I have no recall of The Secret Of Skeleton Island, which is next up.

>175 swynn:

Good to know! - though right now I'm just relieved to get anything coming...

>176 NinieB:

I'm not familiar with those, they can't have made it here.

No, I've checked, and we have a grand total of two books countrywide...both held by my beloved academic library, which I'm beginning to fear I'll never access again... :(

Those books seem to predate The Three Investigators, which is interesting. (Conversely Julia and I have suggested the latter as an inspiration for Scooby Doo.)

>177 lyzard: Well, if you ever get a chance to read The Case of the Roving Rolls, I will happily join you.

>177 lyzard: I would be devastated not to have access to an academic library.

>178 NinieB:

Hmm. Were there continuations of the series? - because it looks like there are some on Kindle but not by the right author.

>179 NinieB:

Even when were out of lockdown they weren't allowing entry by the general public. My fear is that they will just stick to that ongoingly as easier to manage.

OTOH---whoo!!







Of course the bad news is that I won't be able to put off Portnoy's Complaint any longer! :D

Hmm...and the other bad news is that I'll have to get my ILLs reviewed---yike!!

>180 lyzard: I don't know much about the series other than remembering reading the three volumes that my family had--2, 4, and 6--in the instance of 4, quite vividly.

>181 lyzard: Of course the bad news is that I won't be able to put off Portnoy's Complaint any longer! :D

I've started reading this and ... the humor helps, but I expect your expectations will be met.

>181 lyzard: well that deserves a little whoop. Even if it does come with a side order of complaints.

>183 swynn:

I'm hoping to like it more than I expect, but we'll see. It's nice that you and I are on the same page again, anyway. :)

>184 Helenliz:

I need to contact them about the current plan for ILLs but this may mean I finally have access to The Conqueror!

Finished Invisible Death for TIOLI #8.

Now reading The Dark Highway by Arthur Gask.

Finished The Dark Highway for TIOLI #12.

Now reading The Grouse Moor Mystery by John Alexander Ferguson (online, so I may need a bath book later...)

Publication date: 1928
Genre: Mystery / thriller
Series: Gilbert Larose #2
Read for: Series reading / TIOLI (title implies a journey)

The Dark Highway - As Eli Barton and his friend, Sam Gover, drive at night along the dark, isolated road that winds along the coast between Melbourne and Adelaide, they are ambushed---and a bloody confrontation follows... Barton's non-appearance means that his horse, the favourite, is scratched from the Adelaide Cup, opening up the field and allowing for the victory of a rank outsider. Stanley Barton determines that his uncle and his friend dined in Kingston, but never made it to the township of Meningie. The case takes a shocking turn when, injured, dehydrated and near death, Sam Grover is discovered on the outskirts of the property owned by rancher and magistrate, Jim Dice, where he is nursed back to health. When he can, Gover tells of the ambush, his own shooting of one of the two assailants, and Eli Barton's murder... Pre-dating Arthur Upfield's much better known 'Bony' books, Arthur Gask's novels featuring Gilbert Larose comprised Australia's first true detective series---and were likewise the first to make the Australian landscape and way of life a critical factor in the setting of his mysteries and their unfolding: in this case, the eerie sandhills and lagoons of the Coorong in South Australia. In Gilbert Larose, however, we have a far more conventional detective figure. After being introduced in a supporting role in Gask's Cloud, The Smiter, Larose is here brought front and centre---having quit the police and become a private investigator. Gask really lays it on here, extolling his detective's perfections and talents at almost every turn, and giving Lasrose the habit of announcing himself in clear expectation of recognition and awestruck deference. (Rather like Hercule Poirot, only here it isn't tongue in cheek.) However---there is just the possibility that this was intended ironically as, despite all this, Larose makes a couple of serious blunders here; while the resolution of the Barton case, if it can be considered a victory, is rather pyrrhic in nature. Time (and more novels) will tell. When the police are unable to make anything of the Barton case, both the Adelaide Times, publicly, and Sam Gover and Stanley Barton, privately, appeal for help to "the great Sydney detective", Gilbert Larose. Both are refused---only for Grover and Barton to learn that Larose is already on the scene. He offers his services, in exchange for the men's total silence; warning them that their greatest weapon is the killer's sense of security. Taking Gover out into the Coorong, Larose has him re-enact the crime: the stopping of Barton's car for a supposed accident, the exchange of gunfire, the killing of Barton, and the disposal of the car and the victims. What Larose sees is a crime planned and executed coolly up to a point---but beyond that point, the work of a man in a state of panic... About two-thirds of the way through, The Dark Highway takes an unexpected turn---frankly revealing its killer and his motives, so as to set up an extended game of cat-and-mouse between him and Larose, who is sure of his suspect's guilt but hasn't the evidence he needs. Working undercover, Larose manoeuvres into his suspect's employment, working on his nerves in an attempt to provoke him into revealing himself. The plan works well---until the day when, unwittingly, Larose gives his true identity away...

    The detective smiled. "Then, just think in what a quandary the man with the revolver was. He had to act with the greatest despatch possible, for every second he delayed only added to his danger... He couldn't leave the car on the track to be found where it was, and it had to be driven away somewhere. But the devil of it was, he couldn't drive it far, for he had, of course, to return to the other car on foot. So he just drove it, as we know, to the spot where we went last night, less than a mile off the track, and left it as it was afterwards found. And it's quite clear to me that all the time the man was working in a perfect frenzy of fear. You, Mr Gover, were just picked up anyhow; you were unsearched, and you were just flung in and pulled out with no caution at all. Something, too, must have suddenly accentuated his fears the moment after he had pitched you down that gully, for why was not the body of Mr Barton flung out too? No, everything was done in a frenzied hurry as if his only thought uppermost was to get away. It was panic, I tell you, panic, and there---there for the moment our surmises must almost end."
    Larose stopped speaking and, folding his arms, leant back against the side of the boat. It seemed as if he had suddenly become tired, for he sighed heavily and half closed his eyes.
    "Well," said Stanley Barton breaking into the silence, "and do you think we shall ever know who the wretches were?"
    "Certainly, I do," replied Larose emphatically, and at once reopening his eyes. "It requires time and patience; that is all."
    "But that wounded man," said Sam Gover, "I am always wondering how he was hidden away. If only we could have discovered him."
    "Don't worry," replied the detective grimly, "I shall find him. Soon I shall come back here to look. He is not far away." He spoke very solemnly. "He lies buried somewhere under these sands." Sam Gover and young Barton stared incredulously. "Yes," went on Larose, "his companion killed him because of his wound, and that was his death-shot that you heard when you thought you were back in the Boer War. Yes, he lies buried here..."

Publication date: 1928
Genre: Mystery / thriller
Series: Inspector French #4
Read for: Series reading / TIOLI (liquid on cover)

The Sea Mystery - While fishing in an inlet on the coast of South Wales, a man and his young son snag a wooden crate which, dragged ashore, proves to contain a body. Examination determines that the man has been dead some six weeks; his face is badly battered, and there are no identifying marks on the body or clothing. The local authorities notify Scotland Yard, and Inspector Joseph French is dispatched to the scene. With no way of identifying the victim, French begins his investigation with the crate and the geography of the inlet. The inspector recognises that the body being found at all was a complete fluke---and in this he gains his first clue: in his over-confidence, the killer - or, perhaps, one of the killers - has been just a little careless in leaving the scene... "The Sea Mystery" is something of a misnomer, as this fourth entry in the series by Freeman Wills Crofts moves away from the coast soon enough, and in fact finds Inspector French pursuing a puzzling disappearance in the moors of Devonshire. Crofts' works were among the first mysteries that could be classified as police procedurals, and from that perspective the first section of this novel is fascinating: no well-known victim and a house full of suspects here, but an entirely anonymous corpse dumped in a public place, with nothing overt to guide the investigation. French must work backwards, figuring out from the size, weight and nature of the crate, and the tidal patterns of the waterway, where and how it must have been dumped; how the dumper got there and away; and where he came from in the first place. Sightings of a crane-lorry in the vicinity, plus the crate itself, lead French to Ashburton in South Devon, and to the disappearance some two months before of Stanley Pyke and Charles Berlyn, presumed lost in the mires of Dartmoor... Joseph French is a painstaking detective, and his step-by-step methods are reflected in the writing style of Freeman Wills Crofts, which some people find dull; though of course that's a matter of taste. (Personally I prefer French's plodding to the deductive leaps of some of his contemporary amateurs, but YMMV.) Theorising that one of the two murdered the other and then somehow hid himself, French begins constructing a case built on the geography of the district and access to the necessary materials. But thorough as he is, even Inspector French sometimes makes mistakes. In fact, he makes several along the way in this complicated case---and ends up learning a severe, indeed almost fatal, lesson about the consequences of not following his clues to their utmost extent...

    And then another factor occurred to him, an extremely disturbing factor, which bade fair to change his whole view of the case. He saw that even if Pyke had murdered Berlyn it would not clear up the situation. In fact, this new idea suggested that it was impossible either that Pyke could have murdered Berlyn or that Berlyn could have murdered Pyke.
    What, he asked himself, must have been the motive for such a crime? Certainly not merely to gratify a feeling of hate. The motive was undoubtedly to allow the survivor to claim Phyllis as his wife and to live with her in good social standing and without fear of his rival. But the crime, French reminded himself, had a peculiar feature. The staged accident on the moor involved the disappearance of both actors, the murderer as well as the victim. If, then, the murderer disappeared, he could not live with Phyllis. If either Berlyn or Pyke were guilty, therefore, he had carried out the crime in a way which robbed him of the very results for which he committed it.
    French saw that he was up against a puzzling dilemma. If Berlyn had murdered Pyke it was unlikely that Mrs Berlyn would have assisted. If, on the other hand, Pyke had murdered Berlyn, Mrs Berlyn's action was clear, but not Pyke's, for Pyke could get nothing out of it.
    French swore bitterly, as he realised that in all probability his former view of the case was incorrect, and that he was once again without any really satisfactory theory on which to work...

Publication date: 1939
Genre: Mystery / thriller
Series: Dr Fu Manchu #9
Read for: Series reading / TIOLI (title 'the xxx of yyy')

The Drums Of Fu Manchu - Before a meeting can be arranged between himself and Sir Denis Nayland Smith, General Quinto, right-hand man and military leader of a certain European dictator, is mysteriously murdered. Nayland Smith tells his friend, freelance journalist Bart Kerrigan, that this is the latest in a series of deaths ordered by the mysterious and powerful Oriental organisation, Si-Fan, and carried out by the minions of Dr Fu Manchu. The Si-Fan, he adds, has determined upon peace at all cost---and is removing anyone who might be an influence in pushing Europe - and the world - toward war... While that synopsis is probably enough to raise eyebrows, it barely scrapes the surface of just how deeply bizarre is The Drums Of Fu Manchu, which ultimately finds Our Heroes {sic.} fighting a desperate battle to---save the life of Adolph Hitler---in 1939!!?? Sax Rohmer doesn't come right out and say so, instead placing a couple of obvious expys in his narrative: General Quinto is, or was, the power behind "Signor Monaghani" (Mussolini); while the main narrative revolves around "Rudolf Adlon". (Stalin - then an ally, remember - is not included on the Si-Fan's list of warmongers and consequently gets mentioned by name.) The Fu Manchu series has been wrong-headed from the outset, granted, but nothing can really prepare the reader for just how mind-bogglingly insane this particular entry is, with Fu Manchu working for world peace - via a series of murders, admittedly, and for his own reasons - and Sir Denis Nayland Smith tasked with preserving the people self-evidently destined to bring about WWII. There is even a sense of wish-fulfillment here, in that Sax Rohmer allows Nayland Smith to get closer to total failure than ever before---as if he saw exactly what was wrong with his premise but couldn't bring himself to admit it. Meanwhile, we get all the usual nonsense, with captures and escapes, death-traps, repeated attempts on Nayland Smith's life (he finally admits that his continued survival suggests that Fu Manchu hasn't really been trying), a game of cat-and-mouse conducted through the palaces and passageways of Venice, and Bart Kerrigan (who also narrates) falling for a beautiful female minion and consequently behaving in a stupid and dangerous manner. However, he's not the only one: while visiting Italy in defiance of the warnings of the Si-Fan, Rudolf Adlon allows himself to be decoyed by a female agent, and ends up a prisoner of Dr Fu Manchu...

    "Dictators"---the guttural voice compassed that germanic word perfectly---"hitherto have served their appointed purpose. Their schemes of expansion I have been called upon to check. The Si-Fan has intervened in Abyssinia. We are now turning our attention to Morocco and Syria. China, my China, can take care of herself. She will aways absorb the fools who intrude upon her surface as the pitcher plant absorbs flies. To some small extent I have forwarded this process."
    And Rudolf Adlon remained silent.
    "I opened the floodgates of the Yellow River"---that note of exultation, of fanaticism, came now into the strange voice. "I called upon those elemental spirits in whom you do not believe to aid me. The children of China do not desire war. They are content to live on their peaceful rivers, in their rice fields, in those white valleys where the opium poppy grows... The people of your country do not desire war---"
    And Adlon still remained silent, enthralled against his will...
    "My agents inform me that a great majority desires peace. There are no more than twelve men living today who can cause war. You are one of them. Your ideals cross mine. You would dispense with Christ, with Mohammed, with Buddha, with Moses. But not one of those ancient trees shall be destroyed. They have a purpose: they are of use---to me. You have been ordered by the Council of Seven not to meet Pietro Monaghani---yet you are here!"
    Some spiritual battle the dictator was fighting---a battle which I had fought and lost against the power in those wonderful, evil eyes...
    "I forbid this meeting. I speak for the Council of which I am the president. A European conflict would be inimical to my plans. If any radical change take place in the world's map, my draughtsmen will make it..."

The Die Is Cast...

>191 lyzard: well done!

I've just read The Quiet Gentleman and have some questions. We'd describe Gervase's relationship to the Dowager Countess St Erth as being step son/step mother. Heyer uses these terms but also has Gervase referring to her as his mother in law. Were the two terms interchangeably, and have since become to have different meanings? Just intrigued me. Can't imagine she;d have got it wrong, but it did sound odd.

>192 Helenliz:

I'll be picking up The Conqueror at the same time, that's the good news. :D

Yes, it was a holdover from early canonical laws that dealt with who was allowed to marry who(m). 'Step' was in use at the same time (and actually was an older usage) but it didn't have the same legal and religious connotations. '-in-law' meant that the relationship was legally recognised as being the same as a blood relationship (so you couldn't marry an -in-law).

The terms were used interchangeably until there was a shift during the 19th century for some reason to the modern usage of -in-law to denote the relative of a spouse and step- to denote a second marriage.

ETA: You can find the -in-law usage in Dickens, apparently.

>192 Helenliz: Imagine the look of surprise on my face >:-o I have my copy upstairs, so just give me a little bit of notice - I read slower than you.

Thanks for the explanation, I thought it might be something like that. It just read oddly so I assumed it was a shift in usage.

>194 Helenliz:

I've got three holds and two ILLs waiting for pickup, but alas! - the TIOLIs I requested them for are long gone...

But a shared read will be very nice. :)

>188 lyzard: I was delighted to discover that this series is on Project Gutenberg Australia. Something to look forward to!

>196 NinieB:

You'll get easier access through Roy Glashan's Library, which is turning the PGA texts into proper ebooks. :)

Well, here's a weirdness:

I had to read the American edition of The Grouse Moor Mystery - which inevitably had its title changed to "The Grouse Moor Murder" - and they've also changed the detective's surname from McNab to MacNab; why????

And, oh poop:

There is one book to go in the McNab series and it looks impossible to get hold of. :(

Anyway---

Finished The Grouse Moor Mystery for TIOLI #13.

Now reading Ellesmere by Mary Meeke.

Publication date: 1934
Genre: Mystery / thriller
Series: Francis McNab #4
Read for: Series reading / TIOLI ('Readers Imbibing Peril')

The Grouse Moor Mystery (US title: The Grouse Moor Murder) - When five young men, houseguests at the Scottish estate of Mr Willoughby, go out shooting despite the misty conditions, it ends in a serious accident. The initial suggestion is that Eric Brent tripped and shot himself; but Sergeant Cameron is soon certain that - accidentally or not - one of the others is responsible. However, when Superintendent Rintoul gets involved, information emerges to indicate that Brent, who was wearing Mr Willoughby's distinctive white coat, was shot by mistake by the vengeful friend of a convicted poacher. Brent recovers, but the injury to his left shoulder is serious, and there is some question over its possible effect upon his burgeoning musical career. This is, in any event, assumed to be the motive when Brent is found shot dead inside a locked room. However, the dead man's mother argues so convincingly that her son had no pistol with him during his stay in Scotland that finally the investigators are moved to call in outside assistance in the form of Francis McNab... The Grouse Moor Mystery has an interesting scenario, but it is finally a somewhat disappointing work. To be fair, this is partly a case of tempora mutantur: the set-up requires the reader to understand the behaviours and etiquettes of this sort of hunting, and without that knowledge - and despite the rather artistic sketch of the scene provided by "Sergeant Cameron" - it is nearly impossible to envisage the first shooting of Eric Brent or to grasp the significance of some of the details given. On the other hand, the narrative makes good use of the differences between English and Scottish legal practice: there is no body like Scotland Yard, and no public inquest into Brent's death, with a Procurator-Fiscal having sole charge. Moreover, the local police have no experience in murder investigation. When questioning supports Mrs Brent's claims about the supposed suicide weapon, Mr Murray, the Procurator-Fiscal, agrees to the summoning of Francis McNab---who has previously been presented as a newspaper crime analyst who dabbles in detection on the side, but is here simply called "a detective". McNab is therefore late on the scene, and when he arrives he is hampered by the need to pose as Mrs Brent's solicitor---unable to question and investigate, but rather forced to "pick up straws", as he puts it. This muted approach is reflected in the narrative as a whole: the reader does not see enough of the suspects, the supposed motives are very tell-not-show, and the results are generally unsatisfactory. Accepting Mrs Brent's arguments, McNab concludes that the moor shooting was a first attempt on Brent's life, and that the killer is to be found amongst Mr Willoughby's guests. He identifies two main suspects---though in one case it looks like motive without opportunity, the other opportunity without motive. But as he quietly pursues his investigation, McNab finds himself up against an antagonist who has not only seen through his solicitor disguise, but seems one step ahead of him at all times...

    But who else was there left open to suspicion? McNab moved to the edge of the terrace to look over the tree-tops on the lower slopes to the world beyond. It seemed as empty of suggestion as the contents of his own mind. Gazing on the great stretch of the Loch Linnhe and the hills beyond, his lacklustre eye took in nothing of what he saw. In his mind's eye he was looking into the little sitting-room in the Loch Laggan Hotel, seeing once more the Procurator-Fiscal urging him to take up this case. He remembered that official's face flushed with hope, the eyes bright and pleading. Murray's faith in him was, of course, based entirely on what he had heard from Peter Dunn.
    And now, as the reverse of that picture, he conjured up another: a disappointed and disillusioned Procurator-Fiscal and a discredited friend. Horrid doubts began to assail him. What if there was no connection whatever between the shooting on the moor and the death in the library? What if Brent's death had been a case of suicide after all? There was that locked door, for instance, with the key in the dead man's pocket. And the shot overheard by the housekeeper with no one within call except Bray, who had certainly been cleared by the boy Dick.
    But no! All that left the mystery of the revolver unanswered. Somebody either carrying that weapon, or knowing where to find it in the house, entered the library at some moment after the car containing Mr Willoughby, Dr Frossard and Mrs Brent had left, and while the housekeeper was standing waiting for her kettle to boil, had found Brent in the library in the act of writing that letter, and shot him dead...

OH MY GOD LIBRARY BOOKS!!

One disappointment already, though: I was hoping that I'd found in my local library an easy source of the Nancy Drew books, but it wasn't clear from the website whether the books it holds are the original texts or the revised version.

Alas, one glance at the first page of The Secret Of The Old Clock was enough to know they are the latter: Nancy is eighteen, her car is a convertible, and the entire opening section of the novel has been rewritten. :(

The search continues...

OTOH the fact that I've finally gotten my hands on George Goodchild's McLean Of Scotland Yard means I don't have to finish a four-volume 18th century novel by the end of the month! :D

>201 lyzard: Yay! They look so pleased to see you. :)

>201 lyzard: Squeeeeee! How exciting.

>204 MickyFine:, >205 Helenliz:

It was a red-letter day! :D

So, yeah---

Now reading McLean Of Scotland Yard by George Goodchild; still reading Ellesmere by Mary Meeke.

Finished McLean Of Scotland Yard for TIOLI #3, and that is a line under September - eek!

Apologies, Helen, if this isn't enough warning, but---

Now reading The Conqueror by Georgette Heyer.

(I think I'm just a little over-excited at having books in my hands again!)

Over-excited, yes: I've just updated my library due dates for the first time in months, and now I'm committing myself by pre-listing books for TIOLI---whoo!!

I'm still hampered by the shutdown of our ILL system, though if libraries are starting to do click-and-collect, hopefully that won't be too far behind.

>208 lyzard: I can take a break in my current read, I'm only a few chapters in. And it's not grabbed me so far. Any excuse to read Heyer. My review of The Conqueror makes mention of cooking Christmas dinner and it being a good thing it wasn't any longer, or we'd have had a burnt bird!

Sloth fan, you might like to see this link: https://www.lovequiltsuk.com/childquilt.php?qid=3198

I stitch for a charity that produces quilts for children who are ill or have lifelong conditions. The quilts are to themes selected by the children or their carers. You might like this set of stitched squares. >:-)

>210 Helenliz:

Excellent! I'm about halfway through and finding it a bit more successful than the previous straight historicals.

>211 Helenliz:

Aw, thank you! That's a great cause. :)

Finished Ellesmere for TIOLI #12.

Now (sigh, re-)reading The Mysteries Of London: Volume III by George Reynolds; still reading The Conqueror by Georgette Heyer.

Finished The Conqueror for TIOLI #8.

Still reading The Mysteries Of London: Volume III by George Reynolds.

OK, I'll bite. Why are you sighing at re-reading The Mysteries of London: Volume III? If it is that bad, give it a pass. Why subject yourself to it again?

>215 alcottacre:

Hi, Stasia, how lovely to see you here again! :)

Oh, no, actually it's fabulous---but I was supposed to blog about it, only I left it too long, and it's far too long and complicated just to do it by flicking back through.

It's about a 1000 pages, so a re-read is no minor undertaking... :D

>216 lyzard: Ah, so re-reading for the blog. Why is it so fabulous that you must blog about it?

>217 alcottacre:

It's one of a number of mid-Victorian penny dreadfuls that were very important in the development of modern crime and detective fiction. These serials ran weekly for a year when they were first published, so not a small undertaking; nor is doing it twice! :)

Some blogging done, anyway, with a two-parter on Mary Meeke's amusingly anti-romantic (and not-so-amusingly anti-Catholic) novel of 1799:

Ellesmere (Part 1)
Ellesmere (Part 2)

Apparently this tarsier is both surprised and impressed:

>218 lyzard: Yikes!

>220 lyzard: And it carries it off well!

>221 alcottacre:

In my own defence, I've remembered why I dragged my feet the first time around: there's a difficult and rather distasteful plot-thread in The Mysteries Of London: Volume III and I think I found it hard to know how best to address it. I'll have to grit my teeth and push through this time, though.

>222 lyzard: Good luck to you, Liz!

>220 lyzard: That's an "ohh" expression!

>223 alcottacre:

Thanks, Stasia! :)

>224 Helenliz:

I was seeing, "Well, would ya look at that?" :D

>219 lyzard: Nice review! I sense Mrs. Meeke let you down a little with this one.

>226 NinieB:

Thanks, and thanks for visiting!

Yes, she was more heavy-handed than usual here and it was hard to get past the idiocy of our "romantic" couple. Still, a baby substitution, an evil monk and an almost-divorce were some compensation. :D

My current Victorian novel keeps making me sleepy . . . a good baby substitution would be a plus!

>228 NinieB:

Mine is making me angry...though while we haven't had a baby substitution, we've had almost everything else! :D

>214 lyzard: So have I (well the first part, anyway).

Be interested to see what you make of it. Had me in tears at the end. Again. That's one nasty battle.

>230 Helenliz:

Yes. :(

I do have some issues with it, though they're not entirely Georgette's fault; but I was particularly interested in her increasing ability to manage big, complex scenes like the final battle---pointing towards her famous depiction of Waterloo in An Infamous Army.

Anyway, I am very glad and grateful we finally got our shared read act together! I will be moving on to Royal Escape at some point (though after wrestling with him at my blog for so long, I'm not really looking forward to Charles-as-hero!), you'd be very welcome to join in if you liked. :)

Finished The Mysteries Of London: Volume III for TIOLI #10.

And now---

Oh well. In for a penny, in for a pound.

Might as well be hanged for a sheep as for a lamb.

I am in blood / Stepped in so far, that, should I wade no more, / Returning were as tedious as go o'er...

---now reading The Mysteries Of London: Volume IV by George Reynolds.

A quiet few days Liz? Bogged down by the Mysteries of London?

>233 PaulCranswick:

Ibid.? :D

Yes, that and some other things; thanks for checking in!

So, yes---

Finished The Mysteries Of London: Volume IV for TIOLI #6.





Now all I have to do is get it written up

Ahem. Among other things...

And also---finished Portnoy's Complaint by Philip Roth for TIOLI #9.

And also---albeit in a very different way---

...and now very thankfully reading The Fingerprint by Patricia Wentworth.

Finished The Fingerprint for TIOLI #7.

And having (very thankfully again) tracked down the original text---

Now reading The Hidden Staircase by Carolyn Keene.

Even by my standards, I'm in a state of chronic and panicky disorganisation. The last few weeks have just been one mess after another; I hardly know where to start in putting things back together...

...except, as always, by making a list.

At the present time, my local library system is open; so is the private library downtown; while the State Library is open, but it isn't clear if they are accessing offsite material yet (most of mine is): I suspect not, as they haven't begun processing ILLs yet.

However, there is still no sign whatsoever of my academic library reopening to the general public. The best I can hope for there is that something resembling normality will be resumed in the New Year; my fear is that they will continue as if, just for ease of management.

So a number of my self-challenges are still impossible to pursue, as well as any number of series.

My other problem is entirely of my own making: I'm so far behind in my reviews that I am not "letting" myself read the next book in various series...which has reached the point of not leaving many series I can read! I know I just need to knuckle down to a one-review-a-day routine but it keeps not happening. Maybe the old "start a new thread" trick?

At the moment my November commitments are restricted to the following:

Love Story by Erich Segal {best-seller challenge / ILL}
Richelieu: A Tale Of France by G. P. R. James {C. K. Shorter challenge / ILL State Library?}
The Secret Of Skeleton Island by Robert Arthur {shared read}
Elsie At Ion by Martha Finley {series reading / TIOLI}

I don't want to place any more ILLs for this month, so I will be leaving Royal Escape {Georgette Heyer straight historical fiction} for December.

I haven't yet pondered TIOLI to any extent, but I will add a few more books to that list when I get the chance.

>239 lyzard: So sorry to hear that things have been rough, Liz. I'm happy to have you back and posting again.

On the review front . . . please write one so you don't have to read another Elsie for awhile!

Just dropping by to say "Hello," Liz! I hope that the review troubles get sorted soon!

>240 NinieB:

Thanks, Ninie!

:D

Lack of TIOLI co-operation means I've actually had a couple of months off so I guess I can't bitch too much!

>241 alcottacre:

Hi, Stasia! You and me both, sister. :)

And we (at least some of us) appreciate it:


  


As I was saying earlier, my local library holds the, or rather a Nancy Drew series---but it turned out to be the post-1959 rewrites, alas. (I may say I am very disappointed with Penguin for buying into that.)

However, I have since found a couple of sources for the original texts. Whether I can access all of them remains to be seen, but it's good to know they're out there.

>243 lyzard: When I was a kid I read more of the rewrites, but I definitely read some of the originals as well. I'm not sure why I had some originals; I think some may have been my mother's, and others may have been picked up for me by my mother at garage sales. I didn't remember her having a golden bob but I do remember her age (16) and her car (a roadster).

I do remember her age (16) and her car (a roadster).

And they changed both of those details in the rewrites (18 / convertible). As if they weren't what everyone remembers.

Honestly...you might as well make Miss Marple a dashing divorcee.

ETA: It already looks like The Bungalow Mystery is going to be a problem. :(

I was not a fan of the Nancy Drew books, but I loved the Hardy Boy books growing up. Somewhat ironic, eh?

>246 alcottacre:

I never had access to any of these, though as I've said I did read the Hunt boys (adventure stories, not mysteries). I don't know why those were available here and not the others, just later publications I guess. (Yes, first one was 1949; we must have had the copyright renewal reissues.)

>247 lyzard: My school library had both the Nancy Drew and Hardy Boy books. I read through the entire Hardy Boy series before I ever touched the Nancy Drew books.

I admit that I have never read the Hunt boys books.

>247 lyzard:

They would probably horrify me now! - the boys travelled the world catching animals for zoos, mostly, though sometimes they intervened to save animals and sometimes the opposite (I know there's a whaling one {*shudder*}). They were quite violent sometimes considering they were what we would now call young adult.

>249 lyzard: I am shuddering right along with you about the whaling one. Yuck!

I enjoy reading about your adventures in trying to find the real Nancy Drew books. I devoured most of them when I was a kid/tween.
I was also a big fan of The Dana Girls, also by “Carolyn Keene”. Anyone else read those?

>251 PawsforThought: Yes! I remember one Christmas I read my new Dana Girls book by noon.

Goodness, I was a deprived child! I don't remember being aware of any of these series. I jumped straight to Brother Cadfael and Miss Marple. Interesting mismatched crime fighting duo right there!

>251 PawsforThought:, >252 NinieB:

Hi, Paws! I was never aware of them as I was the others but they have come to my attention more recently via my tracking down of their contemporaries. If you guys recommend them I will add them to my 'someday' list. :)

>253 Helenliz:

A match made in heaven!

The Hunt boys were an exception: I nearly always read above my age and went straight into Agatha, from memory.

>254 lyzard: Well, it's been over 20 years since I read them so I don't know how they stand the test of time, but I did really like them.

>254 lyzard: What >255 PawsforThought: says! It's been too many years to count since I read these, but based on my recollection they were a worthy supplement to the Nancy Drews.

>255 PawsforThought:, >256 NinieB:

Noted, thank you!

Finished The Hidden Staircase for TIOLI #5.

Now reading Death Must Have Laughed by John Victor Turner.

I have a new thread up - here.

Hopefully there will be some reviews up there before long... :D