The May Week Murders

 The May Week Murders (1937) by Douglas G. Browne

[note: cover says "murder" while the spine and various sources says "murders]

May Week at Cambridge is a pretty hectic time of year--nightly balls and a huge influx of visitors. This makes a prime setting for a Golden Age mystery. This particular May Week brings together the surviving members (and children of deceased members) of a university club which started before the first world war. The club, known as the Nine Bright Shiners also instituted a trust fund for any children of the original members. A trust fund that seems to operate somewhat along the lines of a tontine. The children earn an equal share of the trust as soon as they graduate from Cambridge. If any don't survive to graduate (or are sent down, one supposes), then the shares get larger for the remaining children.

Sir Vyvyan Roswell-Hogg hosts an annual dinner for them all to get together. But this year the dinner doesn't end well. Roswell-Hogg is found stabbed in the lane running behind his hotel and the diamond pendant presented to his wife by the club is stolen that same night as well. Suspicion soon lands on Wilfred Lanham, one of the founding members and the originator of the trust fund idea. Lanham had fallen on hard times and had applied to trustees of the fund for assistance from the fund (pointing out that exceptions had been made for widows of original members who had been lost in the Great War). But there had already been ill-feeling between the trustees and Lanham and they turned him down. Lanham particularly blamed Roswell-Hogg because he had great influence over the other trustees. Lanham was supposed to be in Cambridge--though to visit his daughter, not to attend the dinner--but when the police go looking for him, he's nowhere to be found.

Then several children of the survivors are murdered as well and it begins to look like someone either has a vendetta against the club in general (Lanham again) or is trying to make the shares bigger...or both. The police are making little headway in either finding Lanham or finding any evidence that will point to someone else. Added to the mix is a mysterious man from Chicago who is on the hunt for someone else from America but who doesn't seem quite clear on exactly who that is...Does this connect with the murders or is something else going on? Fortunately the Chief Constable, Colonel Nugent, is good friends with Major Maurice Hemyock, a well-known amateur detective, and Hemyock arrives to sort things out.

This is not the strongest mystery by Browne that I have read (see What Beckoning Ghost or Too Many Cousins). It takes a while to get into the swing of things and it was a bit disconcerting not knowing who exactly our narrator was and how they were connected to Hemyhock until we were well into the thick of it. The plot and motive are fairly well-worn (definitely now and, I suspect, even at the time of first printing). And, it may be that I was just having a particularly bright moment when the first clue to the culprit was presented, but I did see where everything was headed from that point. On the plus side, I do enjoy Browne's characters (once I had the chance to get everyone sorted properly) and our narrator--Myra--is quite charming. A decent mystery, but perhaps not the best introduction to Browne's work. ★★★

First line: I had been staying with the Nugents at Clayhythe since the beginning of May Week.

Last lines: "They won't be," said Maurice.
                  He was quite right.
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Deaths = 12 (four stabbed; one car crash; four in battle; one drowned; one natural; one shot)

Fer-de-Lance

 Fer-de-Lance (1934) by Rex Stout [read by Michael Prichard]

This is where it all began...at least as far as Rex Stout was concerned. Robert Goldsborough has written a book telling about how Archie Goodwin and Nero Wolfe met--which I have, but haven't read yet--but Fer-de-Lance is the first book in Stout's series about the crime-solving duo of West 35th Street. This debut sets up many of the Wolfe/Goodwin tropes--from Wolfe's love of orchids to his habit of storing the beer caps in his desk drawer; from Archie's needling Wolfe about putting his genius to work to make ends meet to his ability to report verbatim; from Fritz Brenner's superb cooking to Theodore Horstmann's tender-loving care of the orchids in Wolfe's plant rooms; and Wolfe's main three operatives Saul Panzer, Fred Durkin, and Orrie Cather. The only thing missing is Inspector Cramer (who doesn't show up until The League of Frightened Men).

Fred Durkin arrives at the brownstone to ask a favor of Wolfe. His wife's friend Maria Maffei is certain that something terrible has happened to her brother, Carlo. He had been telling her of good fortune and promised to meet her and pay back a loan she had made to him. But he never showed. Wolfe suggests that Carlo has run off with all the cash, but Maria insists she knows her brother better than that and manages to convince him the case is worth checking out--at least superficially. He sends Archie to Carlo's rooming house to look for clues, but it isn't until he gets an answer to a chance question from Anna Fiore, a maid in the house who overheard Carlo's last phone call, that he really believes there may be something to investigate. What he and Archie learn during this initial investigation leads Wolfe to suspect a connection to the recent death of Peter Barstow, president of Holland College. All he has to do is convince the officials to dig Barstow up and prove him right. Then maybe he can get someone to pay him to find the murderer. 

This is a great introduction to the Wolfe stories even though the characters are still a little rough around the edges--Wolfe is more pompous and apt to use the largest word in existence than in later books (not that he can't be/do both then too) and Archie is far less polished. And the story goes on a bit longer than necessary; we really don't need Wolfe to take a little vacation in the middle. But even with that, it's a good story with interesting characters and a nice murder method. Would it really work? Maybe--but it is chancy. 

I've read this before (long ago and far away) and had a great deal of fun listening to Michael Prichard read it to me this time. I have listened to several of the Wolfe stories as read by Prichard and his voice is what I hear in my head for Goodwin when I read. I've seen the series with Timothy Hutton in the role (and enjoyed it as well), but Prichard's voice is what sticks with me. Good mystery and even better audio edition. ★★★★

First line: There was no reason why I shouldn't have been sent for the beer that day, for the last ends of the Fairmont National Bank case had been gathered in the week before and there was nothing for me to do but errands, and Wolfe never hesitated about me running down to Murray Street for a can of shoe polish if he happened to need one.

Last line: "Indeed," Wolfe murmured.
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Deaths = 4 (one poisoned; one stabbed; two plane crash)

Murder in Brass

 Murder in Brass (The Brass Ring; 1946) by Lewis Padgett (Henry Kuttner & C. L. Moore)

Seth Coleman is a private eye oddity. He's a private eye who hates his job. As soon as he got successful enough, he hired men to run his agency and provide him and his wife Eve with a nice, steady income and left the business. Or so he thought. Eve has other ideas. Eve likes it when her man is being all brainy and brawny in equal measures and tracking down crooks. She especially likes it if she gets to hang out on the sidelines and "help." So, when a mystery pops up in her old home town of Raleigh, she wangles things so Seth will be pulled back into the saddle again. He tries to keep out of it, but he's no match for Eve when she's in full throttle.

Off he goes to Raleigh, with his least favorite ex-operative, Art Bedarian, in tow. Eve fixed that up somehow as well. It seems that Bruce Farr, twenty-something son of a man who used to be brass baron--now deceased, went crazy when he found his old man dead a few years ago. Bruce has been fairly well-behaved though he hates brass with a passion and has outbursts when confronted with the stuff, prefers to sit or lay in the dark and not move at all, and won't interact with anyone. Or wouldn't. Now Bruce has disappeared and his mother fears he's gone off the deep end into homicidal tendencies. When Bruce's doctor is found brained with a brass paperweight, it looks like she might be right. And when another man who looks (in the dusk) like one of the men who ruined Bruce's father is murdered it looks like there is a method to his madness. But Seth isn't so sure that Bruce is really the culprit and he follows a trail that leads to stolen keys and blackmail in order to find out the truth.

So...eight years ago I read my first Padgett book. It was a pretty decent suspense novel (not a Seth Coleman book). Nothing extraordinary, but solid. This....well. This is something else. The basic plot is okay. It's even decently clued. But there isn't really a likeable character in the whole book. No one to root for. Eve is a conniving wench who plays Seth for reasons that aren't worth mentioning. Seth allows himself to be played and you don't even get a sense that he loves this woman enough to allow her to do it. Why on earth is he with her? Why should we care if he solves the mystery she's wrestled him into investigating? There's a reason why Bedarian is Seth's least-favorite operative. He won't listen to the man who is paying him. He uses all his money to buy booze. And he's an irritating little snot in the bargain. The best thing he does in aid of the investigation is to lie through his teeth to get the culprit to fess up. Oh, and Bruce's mother is a real piece of work. And even the victims of the blackmailer make it difficult to sympathize with them.

Kuttner & Moore as Padgett seem to like psychology in their mysteries. My earlier read (The Day He Died) featured a woman under psychological assault by someone who seems to be able to enter her apartment at will. And this one, of course, has a certifiable young man as the central suspect. Padgett does make some interesting commentary on the views about and treatment of psychological patients at the time and this, in part, contributes to the few stars I am willing to give out. And, while I don't like Coleman much in general, I do like the sympathy he has with various characters--even when it's misplaced. He seems like he could be a detective with heart. He just doesn't get to display it much. I can't really say that recommend this one. ★★

First line: On Monday I woke late, with a dim recollection of a bell ringing in the night and a familiar voice that told me to go back to sleep.

Last lines: Very gently I put the receiver back. I crossed the hotel lobby and went out to the parked car.
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Deaths = 5 (three hit on head; one natural; one overdose)

The List of Adrian Messenger

 The List of Adrian Messenger (1959) by Philip MacDonald

Adrian Messenger presents his old friend George Firth with a list of ten names with addresses. While he is on a short trip to America, he would like Firth, an official with Scotland Yard, to check up on these men--without knowing the whys or wherefores. He just wants the answer to one simple question: Are these men living at these address? Firth owes Messenger many favors, so, of course, he agrees. But Messenger never makes it to America. The plane he's flying on goes down over the Atlantic. Three people make it out of the plane alive--including Messenger--but he dies of his injuries before help can arrive. A tragic accident. Or is it?

Raoul St. Denis, famous French journalist & former member of the French resistance during the war, was also on that plane. And he was one of the survivors. St. Denis is very familiar with the sound of explosive devices and he's quite certain that one went off before the plane went down. It begins to look like someone didn't want Messenger to make that trip to America...especially when reports begin to come in on the ten men. Every one of them but one has died in an accident within the last five years. Or what has been officially declared an accident. Firth calls on General Anthony Gethryn, former intelligence officer and master at unraveling out-of-the-way puzzles. Could someone be orchestrating this deliberate elimination of the men on Messenger's list? Would someone really blow up a plane and (in another instance) derail a train to get at a particular man? And, if so, to what purpose? 

Messenger's only comments to Firth about the situation was that "It's so big, and so--so preposterous, I daren't tell anyone yet." The only way for Gethryn and the Scotland Yard men to track the culprit is to find out what ties these ten men together. Their first clues come from St. Denis, who gives a near-verbatim recital of Messenger's last words before his injuries got the better of him But even then they don't catch all of the clues before the villain starts on the second part of his plan...They're going to have to move fast to catch him before he completes it.

This was the first MacDonald book I ever read...many moons before I ever even knew what a blog was. And it was one of the first mysteries I read where a killer was working his way through a group of people for purposes of his own; purposes that our detective had to discover in order to make sense of the apparently randomness of the group. And definitely one of the first where the motive wasn't psychologically driven. I thought it was a knock-out book that kept me reading like mad to get to the end. It made enough of an impression on me that once I got settled in again, I remembered what the connection was. But the book is so good that it didn't matter. I loved following the investigation with Gethryn and the way he worked with St. Denis in the last half of the book. And I still love the poetic justice (mentioned in the last line of the book--below) that comes to the killer in the end. 

Outstanding book that was made into a movie in 1963 with Kirk Douglas and George C. Scott (among others). Now I just need to find time to sit down and watch it too. ★★★★★

First line:For several years after it was all over, there was understandable resistance in high places to the public telling of the story, and even now the project is eyed askance.

Last line: "What you would call, I think, a justice poetic..."

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

Deaths =  14 (two airplane (bomb); one cycling accident; three fell from height; four car/motorbike accident; two drowned; one shot; one hit by a bus)

Unnatural Ends

 Unnatural Ends (2023) by Christopher Huang

Early 1900s, Britain. Sir Lawrence Linwood and his wife were unable to have children of their own, so they adopted three children: Alan, Roger, and Caroline. Linwood was a stern and demanding taskmaster--expecting his children to compete against each other and excel in every contest and "experiment" that he put before them. By any means, necessary. Just so long as they were winners. The Linwoods have since grown and gone forth into the world to prove how successful they can be there--Alan is an archaeologist with a exhibition now on display in London. Roger, a successful military man during WWI, now designs his own automobile engines and aircraft. He hopes to run his own company. Caroline is a journalist in Paris. 

They've all been called home to Linwood Hall--Sir Lawrence Linwood is dead. When they arrive home, they find that their father is not just dead--he was found beaten to death with an ancient mace and, rather than Alan inheriting outright as the eldest child had every right to expect, Sir Lawrence's will divides the estate equally among the three children...unless one of them successfully solves their father's murder. In that event, the clever sleuth will inherit everything. So, even in death, Linwood has found a way to challenge them and try to set them against each other. The inspector in charge of the case reluctantly allows them to view the evidence--he doesn't want to go against the victim's last wishes, after all. But he's surprised when they start finding clues that he and his men missed. Like the hidden grate in Sir Lawrence's study where it looks like a legal document was burned. Was there another will? And the pocket watch that was dropped in the area below the study's window. And the secret passages that riddle the house. 

Alan, Roger, and Caroline make little headway on the mystery though until a strange woman visits Sir Lawrence's final resting place with a show of obvious contempt. As the children begin searching for the woman, they find evidence of other women connected to their father and indications that everything they've been told about their adoptions may be false. But what do these women have to do with Sir Lawrence's murder? And why does all the evidence uncovered by the police seem to point to their mother--a broken woman who would never have done anything against Sir Lawrence's wishes, let alone to the man himself? Are the Linwoods up to this final challenge? Or will someone get away with murder?

This is the second book by Huang that I have read and enjoyed. Last year I read A Gentleman's Murder on the suggestion of my friend Ryan Groff (for a challenge based on suggestions from friends). I was so glad he drew the book to my attention. So when this Huang title came up as a possibility in the Book Challenge by Erin bonus round I knew I had to try it. I'm glad I did. Huang writes such good historical mysteries and they're set right in the Golden Age period which is all the more delightful for this GAD fan. The set-up is good--it was interesting having the victim directing his heirs to find his killer and giving them extra incentive to do so. 

As a mystery, it has an intriguing premise but I have to say that Huang did not deliver on mystification (at least not for me). I saw where this was going before I was half-way through the book. There are a couple of phrases that were used repeatedly that just clued me in to the motive and once I had that, the solution followed. That's not to say that I knew every twist and turn, because I didn't. And that's not to say that it wasn't worth reading to the end, because it was. The characters of the three Linwoods are great and when I finished I wanted there to be more to tell me what happened to Alan, Roger, and Caroline next. So--Huang left me wanting more and that's always a good thing. ★★★★

First line (Prologue): In the beginning was Linwood Hall, and Linwood Hall was the world.

First line (Part 1): There were better reasons for coming home, Alan supposed, than Father's funeral.

Last line: Light restored, the four of them made their way back up the path to the house above.
***********************

Deaths =  8 (one beaten; two stabbed one shot; two poisoned; one natural; one fell from height)

Seance for a Vampire

 The Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes: Seance for a Vampire (1994) by Fred Saberhagen

This is a follow-up story to Saberhangen's The Holmes-Dracula File from 1978. Here, Dr. Watson reluctantly calls on the sanguinary count when Holmes is apparently kidnapped by a vampire. But...I get ahead of myself. Ambrose Altamont has lost his eldest daughter in a tragic boating accident. His wife has gotten mixed up with a couple of spiritualists who claim to be able to put them in touch with their beloved Louisa. Altamont is convinced the two are charlatans and wants Holmes to prove it. His wife has become convinced of the spiritualists' power after the last séance produced what seemed to be their dead daughter. When another séance takes place it seems that Louisa has truly come back from the dead, but before Holmes can investigate, he is snatched up by a powerful man who disappears with him into the wood. What Watson witnesses, convinces him that both Louisa and the kidnapper are vampires and his only hope is to summon Dracula to help rescue Holmes and get to the bottom of the vampires' involvement with the Altamont family. They soon discover that the vampire which kidnapped Holmes holds a long-standing (over a century) grudge against the Altamonts and has used their daughter as a means to avenge himself. Holmes has gotten in the way and must be put out of commission. Will Dracula and Watson be able rescue Holmes and then work together with the detective to put an end to the vampire's hold on the Altamont family? 

Life got in the way after I finished reading this and I'm having a bit of trouble gathering my thoughts to put a review together. Saberhagen's second book about the Dracula-Holmes connection is entertaining and I still feel like he got the characters of Holmes and Watson right, but it doesn't quite have the charm of the earlier novel. Dracula isn't quite as appealing and the mystery isn't quite as solid. That's not to say it's a bad book, it's not. It's still quite fun and I enjoyed the alternating narration from Watson and Dracula. Definitely a good choice for those who like a bit of the supernatural mixed with their mysteries. ★★★ for a solid read.

First lines: Of course, I can tell you the tale. but you should understand at the start that there are points where the tell may cause me to become rather emotional.

Last line: In fact, there were witnesses  who heard Mr. Prince, just before departing for Scotland, confide to his cousin Sherlock Holmes that he wanted nothing more to do in any way with Gregory Efimovich Rasputin.
*****************

Deaths = 4 (one strangled; one stabbed; one hit on head; one shot)

Daisy Darker (Spoilerific)

 Daisy Darker (2022) by Alice Feeney

It's time for Nana (Beatrice) Darker's 80th birthday and she decides to invite her dysfunctional family to her tiny tidal island for the celebration. They all come--Daisy Darker, Nana's favorite granddaughter and our narrator. Nancy and Frank Darker, Daisy's parents (now divorced); Rose and Lily, Daisy's sisters (who seem more like the evil stepsisters from Cinderella); and Trixie, Daisy's beloved niece. Also on hand, though late to the party, is Conor Kennedy--a young man who grew up with the Darker girls and was treated like family when his father was "unwell" (read drunk). It's not surprising that the family has gathered, even if they haven't gotten along well for quite some time. Because Nana believes what a fortune teller once told her...that she will die in her 80th year...and plans to reveal what's in her will. They all could use an inheritance and don't mind spending eight hours in each others' company if that means they're in the will. Eight hours? Well, for eight hours after the tide comes in, the Darkers will be cut off from the mainland. And, of course, a nasty storm is thrown in for good measure--just in case someone wants to leave by boat (or swimming) before the tide goes out again.

And why would they want to leave you might ask. Well...just after midnight, Nana is found dead in the kitchen. She appears to have fallen from a chair while chalking a particularly nasty poem on the wall and has a gash on her head where she may have hit the table. But then when other Darkers start dying every hour on the hour, it looks like someone in the house has it in for the family. Which of them is doing it? Or is there someone else on the island that they don't know about? But if so--who could have a grudge against an entire family.

SPOILERS AHEAD! The only way to give my full reaction is to spoil the ending. If you haven't read this and think you might want to, you might want to stop reading the review now.

So....I have mixed feelings about this one. I loved the set-up. Feeney plays nicely on Christie's And Then There Were None theme--with the group trapped on the island, the poems to match the murders, and the murders themselves. She also uses Christie's red herring--again with a twist. The accomplice in this case actually does some killing and isn't knocked off by the herring.  The atmosphere is great and the family relationships (or lack thereof) add to the tension. Feeney does a pretty good job of using Christie-like sleight of hand to mislead the reader about the true nature of our narrator. I had to really think about previous scenes to realize that she hadn't played unfairly. BUT....a ghost? Really? And how on earth is Trixie not going to be arrested and convicted of murdering everyone? We're told that names have been changed--but surely in the "real" world someone will notice that these people who have lives outside of Seaglass island are suddenly not showing up where they're supposed to be and an investigation will be made. Maybe Trixie plans on doing a disappearing act. But we're not told that. 

I had two ideas about the killer (neither correct, of course). One: that Daisy wasn't a ghost and actually did it (after all, she tells us straight up that she lies sometimes and we get to see how she could take revenge). Two: that Conor's dad was really still alive and was hidden on the island and doing it all. I'm still trying to figure out where the men's boots came from....So, yeah, there are a few loose ends here and there.

But overall--I think this was a pretty good effort to walk in Dame Agatha's footprints and I did enjoy it. So.... ★★★ and 1/2.

First line: I was born with a broken heart.

Doesn't everyone wonder who they would have been if they weren't who they were? (p. 22)

My mother used to button up her resentment, but it has grown over the years, and no matter how much she tries to hide it, a little is always left on show. (p. 25)

Sometimes, if the thoughts inside her own head are not forthcoming, she'll scribble an inspirational quote from a dead author on there. The dead often seem to know more about living than those still alive. (about Nana; p. 33)

"There are much cleverer ways of ending a person than killing them." (Nana; p. 36)

We make moments with our families. Sometimes we stitch them together over time, to make more of them than they were. We share them and hold on to them together as if they were treasure, even when they start to rust. (p. 139)

The trouble with little white lies is that they sometimes grow up to become big dark ones. (p. 172)

Life is a performance, and we don't all like the scripts we're given; sometimes it's best to write your own. (p. 181)

When you love someone, you can't just turn it off, there isn't a switch. Even if you hate someone that you once loved, there is still a little bit of love there. Love is like the soil that hate needs in order to grow. (Rose; p. 234)

Where does the love go when someone dies? Their last breath disappears into the atmosphere, their body gets buried in the ground, but where does the love go? If love is real, it must go somewhere. (Trixie; p.328)

Last line: There are some stories only time will tell.
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Deaths =  9 (five poisoned; three fell from height; one shot)

A Fete Worse Than Death

  A Fete Worse Than Death (2007) by Dolores Gordon-Smith

In 1922, Jack Haldean is staying with his aunt and uncle in Breedonbrook and attends the local fete. It's a lovely day filled with games (the coconut shy, darts and hoop-la) where he wins everything from coconuts to violently colored candies to a dolly with carrier, blanket, and pillow. He's also trying desperately to avoid a man who served under him in the RAF. Jeremy Boscombe is an annoying little tick who has always loved finding out people's weak spots and leaning on them hard. 

Apparently he leaned too hard on the wrong person because he's later found shot to death in the fortune teller's tent. Haldean is a detective novelist who has also had a bit of real-life detective experience--solving a little matter of the "mess bill business" while still in the service and then helping Inspector Rackham of Scotland Yard with "the affair at Torrington Place" after the war. He offers to help Superintendent Ashley with this latest local case and they've barely begun to investigate when Reggie Morton (soon proved to be an unsavory friend of Boscombe's) is found in Boscombe's room at the local inn--also shot to death. They uncover signs of blackmail and indications that the motive for the murders may be linked to the battle of Augier Ridge. 

The battle was the source of Victory Cross for Colonel Whitfield, local hero and hopeful suitor to Marguerite Vayle. Jack's uncle is one of Marguerite's trustees and, along with Hugh Lawrence the other trustee, must give approval for her marriage. The battle was also the source of treachery--someone had been spying for the Germans and betrayed the British troops when they discovered a tunnel under the ridge. The blame always fell on Major Tyburn who has been assumed dead. But now there are rumors that Tyburn is still alive. Did Boscombe (one of the few survivors of Augier Ridge) recognize him in the crowd that day and decide on a spot of blackmail? Or was he putting the black on someone else? There are several suspects to choose from and Haldean and Ashley will find their suspicions resting on various people before they discover the real culprit.

This is a lovely first mystery in a historical series that captures the spirit of the Golden Age of crime in every way possible--from the amateur sleuth who gives vibes of Lord Peter Wimsey to the village fete to a nice little circle of suspects, all wrapped up in a well-clued puzzle. Very entertaining with deftly sketched characters and a great setting. I'm definitely looking forward to the next in the series. ★★★★

First line: With a feeling of relief, Jack Haldean walked into the dim green interior of the beer tent.

Last line: "But here's to the pilot."
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Deaths = 6 (three shot; three natural)

Winter in June

 Winter in June (2009) by Kathryn Miller Haines

1943. The war in the South Pacific has been heating up. When aspiring actress Rosie Winter learns that her ex-boyfriend is MIA in the South Pacific, she decides to join the USO with the idea of using the tour to search for Jack. (Like the South Pacific isn't a might big place...) She convinces her best friend Jayne to join her and they find themselves in San Francisco waiting to board a naval vessel where they will join a troop led by the famous actress Gilda DeVane. Lined up on the dock, they're delayed when a body is found in the bay. They later find out that the dead woman was formerly a WAC stationed on the very island which will serve as their home base in the South Pacific. 

That's not the only mysterious business on this trip. Kay, another of their troop, is also an ex-WAC who knew the dead woman. They learn that the woman who died in San Francisco had thought she knew who was responsible for supplies that had gone missing from the camp on Tulagi Island. Then someone takes potshots at the actresses during one of the performances. Jayne is slightly wounded, but Gilda is killed. Is there a connection to the WAC's death? Oh...and don't forget Jack. First, Rosie is told he's dead--killed by a shark. But then she finds out he may be alive. Who's telling the truth? And what are the others hiding?

I don't know if I'm just tired or if my summary really is as much of a mess as I think it is. If it is...well, there's good reason for that. This book was, in my opinion, a bit of a mess. The mystery was all over the place and I love (where's the sarcasm font when you need it) how absolutely everyone is either on the island Rosie goes to or used to be on the island. Looking for Jack in the middle of the South Pacific--guess which island he was last seen on? Dead woman was a WAC? Well, of course, she was stationed on that island too. So was Kay. And, quite frankly, the mystery doesn't make a whole lot of sense--neither the mystery surrounding Jack's disappearance nor the mystery of the WAC and Gilda. The latter felt contrived. And I was disappointed that Jack's situation was never really explained fully. 

Once upon a time I read the first of this series and I liked the unusual motive for murder and plot well enough that I snapped this one up when I found it at Half Price Books. I don't know if Rosie's character has changed that much from the first book to now (this is third in the series) or if I have changed, but I really didn't care for her much at all and she isn't much of an amateur sleuth. At the end of the book, she talks about how selfish she is--and she's right, She has been incredibly selfish...not in a mean-spirited way; she's mostly just oblivious. The best part of the book (and earning all the stars) are the descriptions of life in the USO and the life of those stationed on the islands. Good descriptions of the locale as well. But not the best of mysteries. ★★

First lines: I was hoping we'd get champagne for our bon voyage. Instead, we got a corpse.

Last line: It only seemed fair that if she was willing to accompany me on my journey, I would do the same for her.

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

Deaths = 4 (two shot; two enemy fire)

Inspector of the Dead

 There's no such thing as forgetting. The inscriptions on our memories remain forever, just as the stars seem to withdraw during daylight but emerge when the darkness returns. Thomas De Quincey in Inspector of the Dead (2015) by David Morrell

It is the time of the Crimean War and things are not going well for England. The British government collapses due to the incompetence of its leaders and Queen Victoria is trying to hold things together. Meanwhile, a ruthless killer begins striking at people in power--men who represent the justice system are killed and displayed to produce the most chilling effect on the populace of London. Entire households are slaughtered. And notes are left indicating that the killer means to work his way up to Queen Victoria herself. Enter Thomas De Quincey and his friends Detectives Ryan and Becker of Scotland Yard. De Quincey sees, through an opium haze, a pattern even deeper than political unrest...a pattern of revenge and hate that must be stopped before what's left of the government is brought to its knees. 

The first death is discovered at church. Most of London's elite are at St. James Church for morning services...but also because one of the heroes of the Crimea (one of the few good stories to come from that poorly managed war), Colonel Trask is home on leave and will be in attendance. There is an air of rejoicing...until blood begins seeping out of the closed pew belonging to Lady Cosgrove and she is found stabbed to death. A stabbing that apparently took place during the beginnings of the service. When Detective Becker is sent to inform Lady Cosgrove's household of the tragedy, he finds more death--all the servants and Lord Cosgrove have been attacked. And Lord Cosgrove is posed holding a law book with a paper with "Edward Oxford" on it. Oxford had attempted to kill Queen Victoria some years ago. The next victims are left in a manner that references the law and injustice and with the names of others who have tried to kill the Queen. De Quincey believes they must look for a man who is seeking revenge for some mistreatment of himself or his family at the hands of the justice system and the government. But how many will have to die before the investigators can gather enough clues to catch the killer?

It's been a while since I read a Morrell book--and that was Murder as a Fine Art, the first of his Thomas De Quincey novels. As I said then, I'm not usually one for gruesome serial killings, but when I do read them I like the stories to be far removed from the present day. 1855 England does very well for that. Morrell does a terrific job bringing the brilliant, but troubled Quincey to life and uses descriptions and details to make early Victorian England very real as well. He gives our killer a complicated background and while I don't condone the killings, I certainly understand the circumstances that produced the killer. A very good book all around and even though I had a suspicion about who was behind it all, the ending still managed to surprise me. A little over ★★★★

First line: Except for excursions to a theater or gentleman's club, most respectable inhabitants of the largest city on earth took care to be at home before the sun finished setting--which on this cold Saturday evening, the third of February, occurred at six minutes to five.

Last line: I left the tent, peered up at the stars, and prayed for him.

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Deaths = 15 (three stabbed; seven strangled/smothered/hanged; one drowned; one hit on head; two poisoned; one natural)

The Song of Roland

 The Song of Roland (1115) by Unknown; translated by Dorothy L. Sayers

Here is Sayers translation of the epic poem that grew out the events of August 15th, 778 when Charlemagne's army was returning home to France after a successful routing of Saracen Spain. It's rearguard was ambushed as they held a pass in the Pyrenees. When the event was recorded, there was a brief mention of the attack: "In the action were killed Eggihard, the king's seneschal, Anselm count of the palace, and Roland duke of the Marches of Brittany, together with a great many more." A later account just says that the names of the fallen are already on record and need not be repeated. Then, after not much mention for 200 hundred years, we suddenly have a full-blown drama with many names and Roland has become the nephew of Charlemagne, his right-hand man. And there are so many details of the battle. So. Many. We get the play-by-play on how this knight of Charlemagne destroyed the armor and shield and lance and helmet of that member of the villainous horde. How the man's head was split open down to his beard. How his wrists or arms or head was lopped off. And blood gushing. And then when the tide turns and Roland and company start getting slaughtered we get all those details too. In verse. In rhyme that doesn't quite work.

I really looked forward to reading this work translated by Sayers. She did an absolutely beautiful job with Dante's Divine Comedy. The verses sang, her word choice was on point, and it was just lovely. This--well, I just don't where the fault is. I don't know if the subject matter turned me off (how many different verses are we going to have with knight so-and-so being split from skull to beard and blood gushing everywhere and all we do is change the knight's name?). I don't know if it was the original work and there was no way to translate it and make it palatable to me. Or...if this time Sayers just didn't bring her A-game and the translation is to blame. Regardless...it just didn't work for me.  I get that it extols the code of chivalry and balances that against the treachery of Ganelon. The themes are good. I just didn't find it as well-executed as I was led to expect. For me--it was just an epic failure. ★★ 

First line: Carlon the King, our Emperor Charlemayn,
                Full seven years long has been abroad in Spain

Last line: Here ends the geste Turoldus would recite.

Murder by the Book: Mysteries for Bibliophiles

 Murder by the Book: Mysteries for Bibliophiles (2022) by Martin Edwards [all stories pre-1990]

Another terrific collection of little-known and never-before-collected short stories from the British Library Crime Classics series. This time the mysteries feature books and the written word--from collectors to writers to disgruntled mystery lovers. We have dying clues left in books and clues that could only be understood by someone who is well-read. There are seemingly impossible murders and inverted mysteries where we wonder if the investigator will catch up with the criminal. In fact, we have a little something for everyone. And what book and mystery lover could resist a whole anthology full of book-related mysteries? Not me! My personal favorites: "A Lesson in Crime," "Malice Domestic," "A Savage Game," and . I would have ranked "Murder in Advance" among them but I just don't see all the indications that Dacre says indicates the guilty party.  ★★★★

"A Lesson in Crime" by G. D. H. & M. Cole: A disgruntled (and slightly crazy) mystery fan decides to show a famous detective novelist what the perfect murder is really like. [one strangled]

"Trent & the Ministering Angel" by E. C. Bentley: Philip Trent's friend Arthur Selby presents him with an odd incident which occurred just before Gregory Landell died and asks for Trent's advice. After hearing details of a business transaction that didn't need to take place, Trent decides he simply must view the late Landell's rock garden. And there he finds clues to a hidden will. [one poisoned]

"A Slice of Bad Luck" by Nicholas Blake (Cecil Day-Lewis): At a very Detection Club-like dinner, the mystery writers get a chance to see murder up close and personal when one of their number is stabbed when the lights go out. [one stabbed]

"The Strange Case of the Megatherium Thefts" by S. C. Roberts: When a couple dozen books go missing from the Megatherium Club, Sherlock Holmes is called in to discover which member (or members) is behind the thefts.

"Malice Domestic" by Philip MacDonald: Carl Borden's friends noticed that things just didn't seem right between the writer and his wife. His doctor and his friend suspects even more when Carl has a bout of sickness. And his suspicions seem to be well-founded when he finds arsenic in Carl's food during another bout. But Carl refuses to believe his wife is trying to kill him... [one poisoned]

"A Savage Game" by A. A. Milne: Coleby, a mystery writer, declares that detective novelists are just as good as the police at taking a bunch of clues and devising a story from them. His friend, Colonel Saxe--the Chief Constable, dares him to come up with the correct story to explain the stabbing of an elderly miser. It would seem that one of his heirs must have done it...except circumstances seem to prove that neither one of them could have. [one stabbed]

"The Clue in the Book" by Julian Symons [one poisoned]: A collector of books and manuscripts is killed just after Quarles contacts him about examining certain documents in the manuscript collection. He quickly determines who poisoned the elderly man. *SPOILER: Can I just say that Symons could be rather severe in his critiques of other mystery writers. And the major clue in this one is so absolutely obvious that he might well have just told us in the first sentence who did it. There is zero mystery here. None.

"The Manuscript" by Gladys Mitchell: When one brings former lawbreakers into one's home, one shouldn't be surprised when trouble follows--no matter how reformed they might be. A writer hires a maid with a police record--precisely because she has a record. That fact will be useful for his current book. When her usefulness to him is done with, he fires her and she retaliates by throwing his manuscript in the fire. She's later found dead with her neck broken and the police think there is an obvious answer. But maybe not...(one neck broken)

"A Man & His Mother-in-Law" by Roy Vickers: A fairly self-centered man who thinks his wife should be the "yes-woman" in his life, is brought to grief by his mother-in-law, his wife, and a copy of a book by his mother-in-law's favorite poet. (one natural; two by enemy fire in WWII; one strangled)

"Grey's Ghost" by Michael Innes (J. I. M. Stewart): A man's ghost writer exacts revenge on his ungrateful employer. That'll teach him to underpay the help...

"Dear Mr. Editor..." by Christianna Brand: A very disturbed young woman who tried to kill her sister once and was "punished" (I read put into a facility for the mentally disturbed) is released. She received a letter from a literary editor requesting a murder mystery, so she decides to kill her sister again. But just for the story, you know. (one natural; one shot)

"Murder in Advance" by Marjorie Bremner: A playwright is killed after having announced the premise of his next play--about a man who is blackmailed into leaving his job. Some of the details mirror the fate of his friend, a man who recently died in an airplane crash. When the playwright is shot, Inspector Dacre thinks there must have been something in that blackmail story.... (one shot; two airplane crash; one car accident):

"A Question of Character" by Victor Canning: A well-established mystery author finds himself constantly coming up second to his wife--not just her books, though once she starts writing, they're bestsellers; but also in golf and gardening and...anything she decides to take up after he's shown interest. He meets a nice girl and decides to devise his most fool-proof murder plot ever. (two in a fire)

"The Book of Honour" by John Creasey: A man in the book business in Bombay witnesses the feud between a local man who has become his friend and the man's son--as a result of the son's insolent and illegal behavior. When his friend seems determined to suffer dishonor rather than betray his son, Graham takes matters into his own hands....

"We Know You're Busy Writing..." by Edmund Crispin: What's a man to do when the people in his life--friends, family, neighbors, bare acquaintances--won't leave him alone to do his writing? (two hit on the head)

"Chapter & Verse" by Ngaio Marsh: Timothy Bates, a New Zealand bookman who had become friends with Alleyn when the inspector was in that country, arrives in England with an old Bible with odd inscriptions. Alleyn is not at home & Bates tells Troy that he's got something a bit in Alleyn's line...but he dies in a fall from the church tower before Alleyn gets home.  (four fell to their death)

First line (1st story): Joseph Newton settled himself comfortably in his corner of a first-class compartment on the Cornish Riviera express.

Las line (last story): "And she ought to know," Alleyn said and turned back to the cottage.

Murder in C Major

 Murder in C Major (1986) by Sara Hoskinson Frommer

Joan Spencer, a widowed mother of a teenage son, moves back home to Oliver, Indiana when life becomes a bit complicated where they were. She had spent the first dozen years or so there before her family moved and had good memories. She's trying to find a way to fit in again and is pleased to be able land a chair in the viola section of the Oliver Civic Symphony. There she finds a familiar face in her sixth grade best friend, Nancy (Krebs) Van Allen. Soon Nancy has caught her up on everyone still in town and suggests she call on their sixth grade teacher, Mrs. Duffy. Margaret Duffy hooks Joan up with a director's position at the local Senior Citizen's Center. She also takes on a part-time position as the orchestra's secretary. Her son is doing well at his new school and all seems to be smooth sailing....

Until George Petris, the very rude and obnoxious first oboe, collapses during a rehearsal and dies in the emergency room. The doctors initially want to put it down as a heart attack, but Yoichi Nakamura, the orchestra's manager isn't so sure. The symptoms displayed before Petris was taken to the hospital remind him of a death he witnessed that was the result of puffer fish poisoning. He confides in Joan who suggests, if he concerned, that he should bring it to the attention of one of their bassoonists, Sam Wade--who is also the county prosecutor. 

Soon Lieutenant Fred Lundquist is assigned to "babysit" the case. That is, to do a good enough investigation to lay Yoichi's fears to rest and forget about it. But the more Lundquist asks question, the more he thinks Yoichi is right. And then another orchestra member, who picked up Petris's oboe after the emergency, is found killed and the oboe is nowhere be found. Now Lundquist is sure that Yoichi is right. But who among the many who disliked Petris hated him enough to kill...and to kill again to cover their tracks?

This is the first book in the Joan Spencer mystery series and the second one that I've read. I tried Frommer's style out first in The Vanishing Violinist--where, as I mentioned in the review, I didn't feel like I had lost anything by jumping in mid-stream, so to speak. It was nice to go back to the beginning and see how it all began for Joan and getting the initial introduction to the characters that reappear in later installments. Frommer does a very good job in this series debut setting the framework and establishing Joan and the other characters. Her plotting is really quite good for a first mystery (for this is her debut as a mystery author as well as the debut for Joan). She gives the motive a very nice twist and even though I did spot the killer, I absolutely missed on the why. Of course, [Spoiler hidden in ROT13 Coding] vg urycf (jvgu uvqvat gur zbgvir) jura lbhe ernqre qbrfa'g ernyvmr gung gur jebat crefba jnf xvyyrq. Naq V gbgnyyl zvffrq gur nppvqragny fjvgpu gung unccrarq juvpu erfhygrq va gur Trbetr'f qrngu. If I had caught that, I might have figured out why the killer did it.

Overall, a very good cozy mystery. ★★★★

First line: Ironing for a corpse wasn't Joan Spencer's idea of fun.

Last line: "Could you really have played the oboe solo on that sax?"

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

Deaths = 2 (one poisoned; one throat cut)

Picture Prompt Book Bingo

Oh, look, Jamie (who keeps throwing newly-found reading challenges at us over at Sleep Less, Read More--Reading Challenges, Events, & More! on Facebook) found another challenge that I simply can't resist: Bookforager's Picture Prompt Book Bingo 2024. This is a pretty open challenge--just read books that connect in some way with the pictures on the bingo card. A shoe? Well, "shoe" could be in the title, a shoe could appear on the cover, or like the story of Cinderella, a shoe could be really important to the story. If you can make a connection between the picture and the book, then it counts. So...here goes. I'm in.

1. Shoe: A Fete Worse Than Death by Dolores Gordon-Smith [tiny shoes on cover] (2/20/24)

2. Microscope: Death, My Darling Daughters by Jonathan Stagge [the book is simply crawling with scientists] (1/1/24)

3. Partially Unrolled Scroll & Pen: Murder by the Book by Martin Edwards, ed [all about books, manuscripts, & writers] (1/20/24)

4. Snail: The List of Adrian Messenger by Philip MacDonald [murderer took five years to work his way through everyone he wanted to kill] (5/4/24)

5. Old Roman Coin: The Cambridge Murders by Glyn Daniel [amateur sleuth is an archaeologist who might dig up old coins] (1/24/24)

6. Fern: Fer-de-Lance by Rex Stout [fern = plant; Nero Wolfe grows orchids] (6/25/24)

7. Crown: The Song of Roland translated by Dorothy L. Sayers [King/Emperor Charlemagne features prominently] (2/2/24)

8. Armillary Sphere: Murder in Brass  [aka The Brass Ring] by Lewis Padgett (5/29/24)

9. Seashell: Winter in June by Kathryn Miller Haines [set on a South Pacific Island--shells on the beach] (2/12/24)

10: Cannon: Inspector of the Dead by David Morrell [main character Colonel in the Crimean War] (2/7/24)

11. Harp: Murder in C Major by Sara Hoskinson Frommer [set in an orchestra] (1/15/24)

12. Hands making a dog shadow puppet: Daisy Darker by Alice Feeney [the dog is a fairly important character] (3/26/24)

13. Old camera on tripod: Unnatural Ends by Christopher Huang [old pictures provide some of the clues to solve the mystery] (4/14/24)

14. Dog: The Blood-Dimmed Tide by Rennie Airth [one of the critical characters at the end has a dog] (2/16/24)

15. Beehive (with bees): The Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes: Seance for a Vampire by Fred Saberhagen [when Holmes retires he keeps bees] (4/9/24)

16. Fluffy cumulonimbus clouds: The May Week Murders by Douglas G. Browne [denouement takes place during thunderstorm] (8/7/24)