It is that time of the year again when we nominate and vote for the reprint of the year, thanks to Kate Jackson @ CrossexaminingCrime. If this is new(s) to you, see this post. This year, it gives me great pleasure to nominate one of my all-time-favourite murder mysteries: The Clock in the Hatbox by … Continue reading Reprint of the Year 2025: The Clock in the Hatbox by Anthony Gilbert
Tag: 1939
Friday’s Forgotten Book: Mr. Babbacombe Dies by Miles Burton (1939)
String-King Adrian Babbacombe is a self-made man. Born to be lord of the manor, he ran away from his country-estate and started working in a London factory while in his teens. This shocked his parents and three sisters who could not imagine somebody besmirching the family name by getting into trade. However, Babbacombe continued with … Continue reading Friday’s Forgotten Book: Mr. Babbacombe Dies by Miles Burton (1939)
Friday’s Forgotten Book: Exit John Horton by J. Jefferson Farjeon (1939)
John Horton is a mild-mannered small-time businessman stuck in a bad marriage. His wife, Ethel, spends more time with artistic 'modern' young men who John finds utterly vapid. There are only a few sparks in his dull routine-life: his secretary, Mary Brown and an annual weekly tour of the countryside on a cycle. When the … Continue reading Friday’s Forgotten Book: Exit John Horton by J. Jefferson Farjeon (1939)
Friday’s Forgotten Books: Two Mysteries by Cecil John Street
This year I read two books by Cecil John Street which curiously enough employed the same method of murder. In Miles Burton's Death Leaves No Card (1939) which I read way back in February, young Basil Maplewood is staying with his uncle, the miserly Geoffrey Maplewood, when he is found dead inside the bathroom. The … Continue reading Friday’s Forgotten Books: Two Mysteries by Cecil John Street
#Classic Club: Kakori ke Diljale (The Kakori Bereaved) by Ram Dulare Trivedi (1939)
On August 9, 1925, members of the Hindustan Republican Army, a revolutionary organisation, looted a train carrying cash to the treasury in Lucknow. The revolutionaries stopped the train, overpowered the guards and decamped with the cash. It is an event written in the annals of Indian history. While the cash robbed was not much, it … Continue reading #Classic Club: Kakori ke Diljale (The Kakori Bereaved) by Ram Dulare Trivedi (1939)
Friday’s Forgotten Book: The Legacy by Robert Eton (1939)
I was successful once and might have done something, and now it has come to this. Last year, I discovered an author by the name of Laurence W. Meynell. The book, Third Time Unlucky, was very interesting and made me determined to read more of the author. A few weeks back, while browsing through library … Continue reading Friday’s Forgotten Book: The Legacy by Robert Eton (1939)
Friday’s Forgotten Book: The Golden Swan Murder by Dorothy Cameron Disney (1939)
Susan Elspeth Page brought up her niece, Barbara, after her sister Lily's death. When Barbara turned seventeen and Susan was ensuring that she get a successful debut, Barbara ran away with their neighbour Louis Gurning, a boy nobody approved of in Philadelphia. In fact, Louis' own father asked him to leave Philadelphia after the elopement. … Continue reading Friday’s Forgotten Book: The Golden Swan Murder by Dorothy Cameron Disney (1939)
Debut: Let Him Die by E.H. Clements (1939)
Author Graham Howard, more interested in occupying the historical and imaginative spaces of his books, is suddenly saddled with the welfare of four Chattans - David, Elizabeth, Catherine, and Hugh- children of Caroline Chattan, his friend and the adored recipient of his calf-love. Caroline, years older than Graham had been gracious about his love for … Continue reading Debut: Let Him Die by E.H. Clements (1939)
Two Mysteries by John Rhode: Death on Sunday (1939) and Death at the Helm (1941)
After reading three mysteries by Miles Burton recently, I was able to borrow two mysteries of Cecil John Street's other nom de plume, John Rhode. Death on a Sunday begins in Barleyfield Park, a rather upper-class boarding house that caters to the respectable gentry. There are people who have been knighted, reverends, widows with money... … Continue reading Two Mysteries by John Rhode: Death on Sunday (1939) and Death at the Helm (1941)
Last Read of 2021: In Andamans: The Indian Bastille by Bejoy Kumar Sinha (1939)
2021 is not ending on a good note and my last read of the year too was pretty grim in places. The Andamans are a group of islands in the Bay of Bengal off the eastern coast of India. Separated from mainland India, they are still home to the indigenous people who have been here … Continue reading Last Read of 2021: In Andamans: The Indian Bastille by Bejoy Kumar Sinha (1939)
a hot cup of pleasure