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The League of Frightened Men (1935) – Rex Stout
It’s been a while since I’ve read a Nero Wolfe mystery, though I recall reading many of them in my younger days. I greatly enoyed Tim Hutton’s recent TV series of Nero Wolfe mysteries though, so when...
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A Stitch in Time (1968) – Emma Lathen
Imagine the business world without computers, without cellphones, without the Internet. Imagine a book with a Wall Street banker as a hero/detective. That is the world of John Putnam Thatcher, vice...
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The Theban Mysteries (1972) – Amanda Cross
“People don’t speak in semi-colons.” I remember saying that to my husband many years ago, referring to one of Amanda Cross’s books. I was reminded of that again when I recently reread The Theban...
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Overture to Death (1939) – Ngaio Marsh
Overture to Death is a perfect example of Golden Age Ngaio Marsh. Continuing to play catch-up with Ngaio Marsh after years of neglecting her books — see Clutch of Constables and Surfeit of...
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Light Thickens (1982) – Ngaio Marsh
Does a mystery written in 1982 qualify as a Golden Age mystery? Well, sure – if it’s the final book in a series that was begun in 1934 and still keeps the spirit of the Golden Age alive. Light...
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The Will of the Tribe (1962) – Arthur Upfield
I’d like to welcome Beth Kanell, one of my fellow authors from the brand new e-book 25 Years in the Rearview Mirror, 52 Authors Look Back. Beth is stopping by as part of the 25 Years in the Rearview...
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The Nine Tailors (1934) – Dorothy L. Sayers
I’d like to welcome Donna Fletcher Crow, one of my fellow authors from the brand new e-book 25 Years in the Rearview Mirror, 52 Authors Look Back. Donna is stopping by as part of the 25 Years in the...
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Curtain (1975) – Agatha Christie
Curtain is Hercule Poirot’s last case. Agatha Christie wrote it during World War II, not sure she would survive the war. She had it locked away, to be published after her death, but in fact, she had it...
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Whose Body (1923) – Dorothy L. Sayers
This is the the book that introduced Lord Peter Wimsey to the world. It’s fascinating to see how most of the characters who would become a fictional repertory company are here at the start: Bunter,...
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The Five Red Herrings (1931) – Dorothy L. Sayers
The Five Red Herrings is usually considered one of Sayers’s least successful books, and I have to agree. It lacks the wit and colorful characters of most of the Lord Peter Wimsey mysteries. And yet...
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The Big Sleep (1939) – Raymond Chandler
This was a big year for Raymond Chandler and his fans. Billy and Ray, a show about Chandler’s writing the screenplay for Double Indemnity with Billy Wilder, opened off Broadway. A new book, The...
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Golden Age Mysteries: My Favorites
The Golden Age of Mystery is usually defined as the period between World War I and World War II, or roughly 1920-1940; some people would extend it into the early 1950s. As for me, I like to think of...
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A Sleeping Life (1978) – Ruth Rendell
Unlike many fictional detectives, who are often eccentric loners, Reginald Wexford is a family man: happily married, with an adoring wife and two grown daughters. In A Sleeping Life, one of his...
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Dance Hall of the Dead (1973) – Tony Hillerman
This is the second book in Tony Hillerman’s Joe Leaphorn/Jim Chee series set in the Four Corners area of Arizona/New Mexico. The series almost didn’t happen: Hillerman’s agent, on reading the first...
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Peter Dickinson – A Tribute
I recently reread Peter Dickinson’s Some Deaths Before Dying (1999) – it may have been the fourth time I’ve read it – and was deeply impressed still again by the magnificent story-telling. Sure, there...
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Night at the Vulcan (1951) – Ngaio Marsh
Back to the Golden Age with Ngaio Marsh! This is another of her mysteries with a theatrical background, (see my review of Light Thickens), and her long experience as a producer/director is evident...
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The Story of Classic Crime in 100 Books (2017) – Martin Edwards
I received this book as a Christmas gift and I’ve been having a wonderful time with it! My first instinct — and this may be yours as well, since you are a reader of this blog — was to go through the...
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Photo Finish (1980) – Ngaio Marsh
I’m still making my way through unread books of Ngaio Marsh; Photo Finish, a book late in the Roderick Alleyn series, is not one of her best, I’m sad to say. As in many of her books, there is a...
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Friday the Rabbi Slept Late (1964) – Harry Kemelman
Friday the Rabbi Slept Late is a traditional mystery with an untraditional detective. The protagonist, Rabbi David Small, is a young, somewhat unkempt, scholar and rabbi, who is new to his congregation...
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The Father Dowling mysteries (1977-2011) – Ralph McInerny
The Father Dowling mysteries by Ralph McInerny must have been quite popular because McInerny’s publisher (St. Martin’s from the ’80s on) kept them in print for so many years. Yet the only major...
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