Challenges Complete: Print Only and Strictly Print

I have now completed the commitments for both Print Only and Strictly Print. Thanks to both Tina and Gina for sponsoring these challenges!

 

Like Tina at As Told by Tina, I signed up for Book Dragon's Lair's Strictly Print Challenge last year. But the Book Dragon has been on hiatus in 2018, so Tina put together her own print book challenge: Print Only 2019. The idea is still the same--there are different levels and only hard copy books count (hardback/paperback/any physical book) and there are various levels. For all the details and to sign up, click on the link above.

I am signing up for the Collector's Edition -- 41+ books.


***Update: Gina at Book Dragon's Lair is back and has posted her Strictly Print Challenge again. I am consolidating both printed book challenges and joining both here. For Gina's I will sign up for the Chapter Books level (52 books).

1. The Ascent of Rum Doodle by W. E. Bowman (1/2/19)
2. The Winter Women Murders by David A Kaufelt (1/5/19)
3. Died in the Wool by Ngaio Marsh (1/7/19)
4. I Am Captain Kirk by Frank Berrios (1/8/19)
5. I Am Mr. Spock by Elizabeth Schaefer (1/8/19)
6. An African Millionaire by Grant Allen (1/10/19)
7. The Dead Shall Be Raised by George Bellairs (1/13/19)
8. The Murder of a Quack by George Bellairs (1/14/19)
9. A Whiff of Cyanide by Guy Fraser-Sampson (1/15/19)
10. The Haunted Man & The Haunted House by Charles Dickens (1/16/19)
11. The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie (1/18/19)
12. Tales of Terror & Mystery by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1/23/19)
13. Hitler's First Victims by Timothy W. Ryback (1/24/19)
14. The Secret Files of Sherlock Holmes by June Thomson (1/25/19)
15. The Secret Adversary by Agatha Christie (1/25/19)
16. Tower of London: A Chilling Interactive Adventure by Blake Hoena (1/26/19)
17. Terror on the Titanic by Jim Wallace (1/26/19)
18. Blind Corner by Dornford Yates (1/27/19)
19. A Death in the Night by Guy Fraser-Sampson (1/30/19)
20. Zion's Fiction by Sheldon Teitelbaum & Emanuel Lottem, eds (2/6/19)
21. A Treasury of Great Recipes by Mary & Vincent Price (2/13/19)
22. Final Curtain by Ngaio Marsh (2/14/19)
23. Blood of the North by James B. Hendryx (2/15/19)
24. Where the Snow Was Red by Hugh Pentecost (2/16/19)
25. A Wrinkled in Time by Madeline L'Engle (2/17/19)
26. Night of the Fox by Jack Higgins (2/19/19)
27. No Patent on Murder by Akimitsu Takagi (2/20/19)
28. Monsieur Lecoq by Emile Gaboriau (2/27/19)
29. The Lucky Stiff by Craig Rice (3/1/19)
30. Code Talker by Chester Nez w/Judith Schieff Avila (3/8/19)
31. A Wreath for Rivera by Ngaio Marsh (3/11/19)
32. Murdered: One by One by Francis Beeding (3/16/19)
33. Books to Die For by John Connolly & Declan Burke, eds (3/22/19)
34. Mr. Churchill's Secretary by Susan Elia MacNeal (3/23/19)
35. Becoming by Michelle Obama (3/27/19)
36. The Man Born to Be King by Dorothy L Sayers (3/31/19)
37. A Knife in the Back by Bill Crider (4/2/19)
38. Opening Night by Ngaio Marsh (4/4/19)
39. Mossflower by Brian Jacques (4/8/19)
40. The Man in the Brown Suit by Agatha Christie (4/13/19)
41. Gallows Court by Martin Edwards (4/13/19)
42. The Pocket Detective: 100+ Puzzles by Kate Jackson (4/19/19)

Print Only Complete!
43. Murder at the Mardi Gras by Elisabeth Stone (4/20/19)
44. A Girl of the Limberlost by Gene Stratton-Porter (4/22/19)
45. Trixie Belden & the Mystery on the Mississippi by Kathryn Kenny (4/23/19)
46. The March Hare Murders by Elizabeth Ferrars (4/23/19)
47. Murder in a Nunnery by Eric Shepherd (4/26/19)
48. Is Skin Deep, Is Fatal by H.R.F. Keating (5/1/19)
49. Murder at the 42nd Street Library by Con Lehane (5/5/19)
50. Spinsters in Jeopardy by Ngaio Marsh (5/6/19)
51. Death on a Warm Wind by Douglas Warner (5/8/19)
52. Poirot Investigates by Agatha Christie (5/12/19)
Strictly Print Complete!

Trixie Belden & the Mystery on the Mississippi

Trixie Belden and the Mystery on the Mississippi (1965) by Kathryn Kenny finds the all but one of the Bob-Whites (Diana is vacationing with her parents) in St. Louis, Missouri. The friends are invited by Mr. Wheeler, Honey and Jim's dad, to travel with him as he takes a business trip. While they have every intention of having a good, old-fashioned vacation--visiting a space rocket exhibit and following in the footsteps of Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer, you know that wherever Trixie goes, she's sure to stumble across a mystery that just needs solving. In this adventure, she and Honey haven't even gotten settled into their hotel room before it starts.

A briefcase with papers was left behind in their room and a very rude man bursts in and snatches it--accusing the girls of trying to steal his property. After he leaves, Trixie discover more papers in the trash can--graph papers with odd drawings on them just like those in the briefcase. She and Honey become convinced that the man is a spy and the papers have something to do with the top-secret space program. When they keep seeing the man and his fancy car as they go about their vacation, Trixie is even more convinced that he's at the bottom of something nefarious. She doesn't know how right she is and soon she and Honey will face their most dangerous situation yet.

Trixie Belden is one of the many young detectives whose adventures I followed when I was young. I may not have been quite as dedicated in collecting her books as I was Nancy Drew--I have all of the original hardback Drews--but I was definitely on the hunt for Trixie stories when a new (to me) Nancy Drew mystery wasn't available. Trixie, whose first book was published in 1948 was in many ways a more realistic character for a middle-class girl to relate to. I might have wanted to be Nancy with her roadster and the ability to travel anywhere in the world at the drop of a hat, but it was far easier to see myself as Trixie--the tomboyish girl with a quick temper. I admired Trixie's determination to learn detecting as a skill so she and Honey will be able to open the Belden-Wheeler Detective Agency when they are adults.

Rereading this particular story, I'm struck by how intense the danger really is. I didn't remember the villains in any of the Trixie stories being so particularly nasty, but this villain is discussing the ways in which he considers murdering the two girls. It is quite intense for a young adult/childrens story from the time period. Of course, since it is a story aimed at the pre-teen crowd, the girls are rescued and there are no murders, but the deaths he contemplates for them are very unpleasant. I was also struck by the way Honey disagrees with Trixie over whether another person is involved with the plot. It's my recollection that Honey is very loyal to Trixie and her hunches and instincts about people. This time, Honey's insistence that she knows "people pretty well, and I'd trust her with anything.  She's so motherly." leads the girls into the trap that comes near to ending their detective careers.

Still--this was a very entertaining read and it was fun to go back and revisit a book from my childhood. ★★★★


First entry for  the 1965 Club bookish meme.
Calendar = May: title with word beginning with "M"

A Girl of the Limberlost

A Girl of the Limberlost (1909) by Gene Stratton-Porter

The heroine of Stratton-Porter's book is Elnora Comstock, a sixteen-year old girl who lives at the edge of Limberlost swamp in northern Indiana with her widowed mother. Elnora is a bright, beautiful (both inside and out) girl who longs to make a better life for herself. She has gone as far as she can in the local school and makes plans to attend the city high school. Her mother is a depressed, embittered woman who has never shown Elnora a mother's love--in part because she blames the girl's birth for her husband's death. Elnora was born the night her father died in quicksand in the swamp and Katharine Comstock is certain she could have saved her beloved if she hadn't been in labor at the time. Despite Katharine's coldness, Elnora has grown to be a kind, compassionate girl who is wise beyond her years. This is partly due to her nature, but also to the loving kindness of their nearest neighbors, the Stintons. 

Katharine begrudgingly tells her daughter that she may go to high school (provided all of her chores get done either before or after school) and that all has been arranged. But Elnora's dreams look to be dashed before she's even begun--she arrives at the school dressed (to the city kids' eyes) in outlandish clothing, with no books, and without having the out-of-city registration fees paid. Her mother knew the books and fees would be required but didn't tell Elnora and didn't bother to tell Elnora. In fact, she hoped the girl would be so disheartened that she'd refuse to go back. It's obvious that Katharine doesn't know her daughter. Elnora learns that there are those that will pay good money for natural specimens (moths, cocoons, and the like) as well as arrowheads and she sets about selling what she has and making plans to collect more. An even bigger break in family relations comes when Elnora needs just one more moth to complete a collection that will fund her college enrollment. How she and her mother reach an understanding and become a real family....as well as how Elnora wins over her city classmates and gains the love and admiration of a good man comprises the rest of this classic story. 

I grew up reading and rereading one of Stratton-Porter's other classics, Laddie. It was, in fact, one of my all-time childhood favorites and it still resonated with me when I reread it just a few years ago (see review at linked title). Whether my continued love for the book was primarily from a sense of of nostalgia or that it is just a much better told story (Laddie was published four years later), I can't say for sure. But I do know that I did not enjoy Elnora's story nearly as much as I did Little Sister's. It's possible that part of my difficulty stems from my inability to understand Elnora's mother. I simply cannot understand how someone could spend 16 years (and more...since the events of the book take place over several years) blaming their child for something that was absolutely not their fault. How a mother could be so cold and unloving to their own daughter. It is also quite possible that I would have appreciated the story more if I had first read it near the time I first read Laddie.

There are many reasons to appreciate the book--its lessons on self-reliance and belief in oneself, for one. I certainly do appreciate Elnora's thirst for knowledge and the desire to better herself. It was very good to read a story about an intelligent young woman's whose sense of self and purpose was strong enough that she refused to let obstacles (like her mother's refusal to help) stand in her way. And she manages it without becoming bitter. A good solid story that I wanted to like much more than I did. ★★★

The Pocket Detective: 100+ Puzzles

I am so ashamed. After the lovely Kate Jackson arranged for me to receive a review copy of her The Pocket Detective: 100+ Puzzles last year and I somehow put it aside to "do the review later"...I never did it. How on earth did I manage to forget to sing the praises of this terrific little book of brain teasers, crossword puzzles, word searches and the like? Needless to say, I'm going to do it now!



The Pocket Detective puzzle book is perfect for those who enjoy both Golden Age detective novels and word puzzles. Jackson has collected a variety of puzzles--everything from quizzes related to the content of various Golden Age mysteries that have been recently reprinted under the British Library Crime Classics imprint to crosswords and kriss kross puzzles to spot the difference puzzles based on the covers of those mysteries. I've always enjoyed word puzzles of all kinds, so having a book of puzzles based on my first reading love--mysteries--was especially delightful. There are definite pluses to the "pocket-size" of the volume--it is very portable and you can easily slide it into a pocket, bag, or purse to pull out at any moment when you need something interesting to do while you wait. The only drawback to the size is in regards to the cover-related puzzles. The sizing on the covers make it a little more challenging to spot the differences (especially for those of us who aren't good at that kind of puzzle anyway....). Overall, a fabulous little book of puzzles! ★★★★★

And good news for puzzle and mystery fans...a second volume is in the works and due out this coming Fall--hopefully in time to be given as stocking stuffers.

Gallows Court: Review

From the book flap:

LONDON, 1930
Sooty, sulphurous, and malign: no woman should be out on a night like this. A spate of violent deaths – the details too foul to print – has horrified the capital and the smog-bound streets are deserted. But Rachel Savernake – the enigmatic daughter of a notorious hanging judge – is no ordinary woman. To Scotland Yard’s embarrassment, she solved the Chorus Girl Murder, and now she’s on the trail of another killer.

Jacob Flint, a young newspaperman temporarily manning The Clarion’s crime desk, is looking for the scoop that will make his name. He’s certain there is more to the Miss Savernake’s amateur sleuthing than meets the eye. He’s not the only one. His predecessor on the crime desk was of a similar mind – not that Mr Betts is ever expected to regain consciousness after that unfortunate accident...

Flint’s pursuit of Rachel Savernake will draw him ever-deeper into a labyrinth of deception and corruption. Murder-by-murder, he’ll be swept ever-closer to its dark heart – to that ancient place of execution, where it all began and where it will finally end: Gallows Court.

Gallows Court (2018) is a bit of a departure for Martin Edwards, though those of us in the GAD (Golden Age of Detection) world shouldn't be surprised. Edwards is the author of two modern mystery series: one featuring Liverpool lawyer Harry Devlin and the other set in the Lake District and featuring DCI Hannah Scarlett and Oxford historian Daniel Kind. But Edwards is also very much a GAD man--serving as eighth President of the Detection Club, an office filled by the likes of G. K. Chesterton, Dorothy L. Sayers, and Agatha Christie. He has also helped bring vintage crime classics back into the public view by introducing British Library Crime Classic reprint editions of various long-forgotten GAD authors, providing a guide to such crime classics in The Story of Classic Crime in 100 Books, and giving us the history of crime fiction between the wars in The Golden Age of Murder. With Gallows Court, Edwards uses his extensive knowledge of the Golden Age period and accepted tropes to create a historical novel that both pays homage to the conventions and atmosphere of the mysteries of the period and turns some of those conventions on their head.

In fact, it wasn't until I started totting up the number of deaths (for the Medical Examiner Reading Challenge) that I realized just how far this had strayed from some of the conventions of GAD mysteries. Generally speaking, the bodies don't tend to pile up in the detective novels of the 1920s and 30s they way they do here--unless you're Agatha Christie and plotting a house party on an isolated island where the guests will die one by one. But Edwards spins such a terrific, twisty tale that I didn't mind that it's a bit more corpse-laden and grisly than my usual GAD fare. The characters are well-done with interesting motives and realistic reactions to the situations they find themselves in. An absorbing and atmospheric historical mystery that kept me reading--I finished it in one day and enjoyed every minute. My only slight quibble is that, as a GAD mystery fan, I had anticipated fair play in the solution. There is an element to the ending that I didn't find to be quite fair. Nevertheless, it was a satisfying ending with a bit of poetic justice delivered to the villain of the piece.  ★★★★★


*************
All Challenges Fulfilled: Virtual Mount TBR, Calendar of Crime, Alphabet Soup Authors, Alphabet Soup, Historical Fiction, Cloak & Dagger, Print Only, Outdo Yourself, How Many Books, Medical Examiner, Mystery Reporter, Print Only, Strictly Print
Deaths= 18 (two strangled; two shot; one poisoned; three burned to death; two stabbed; one drowned; one gassed; one hit by a car; one beaten to death; one car crash; three tortured to death)
Sept = pub month

Mossflower: Review

Mossflower (1988) is the second book in Brian Jacques's Redwall series about the brave deeds of the woodland creatures in and around Redwall Abbey. But it is also a prequel to the first book, Redwall. It tells the foundation story which gives background on what the Mossflower Wood was like before the abbey was built and how it all came to be. At this time, the woodlanders are suffering under the cruel paw of Verduaga Greeneyes, king of the wildcats, and his even more vicious daughter Tsarmina. Tsarmina is so greedy for power that she arranges for her father's death and places the blame on her more peaceful brother Gingivere. 

When the oppressed creatures who live in the shadow of Kotir, the wildcats' castle, go hiding in the woods, Tsarmina declares all-out war. She will have serfs and slaves to pay tribute and work for her evil hordes or they will all die. The woodland creatures are fighting back the best they can, but are losing hope. Then along comes a brave mouse by the name of Martin the Warrior. He is captured after a vigorous fight (one against many), but escapes the dungeons of Kotir with his new friend Gonff the Mousethief. After helping the woodlanders mount a few battles, Martin is persuaded by Bella the Badger to lead a party to search for her father Boar the Fighter who left on a quest and never returned. Martin sets out with Gonff and Dinny the young mole to bring back help to defeat Tsarmina and her villainous vermin. Martin leaves a young warrior with a broken sword and returns to Mossflower with a reforged weapon, newfound friends and fighters, and the resolve to defeat the evil queen.

I read this one to fulfill my final category for the Book Challenge by Erin 10.0: Read a book that is a friend or family member's favorite book. My son has never been a great reader--but he fell in love with the Redwall series when he was young and I wanted to use one of his favorites for this category. He initially thought of Triss or The Legend of Luke, but when it came down to it he finally decided on Mossflower. It's easy to see why he loved this one. It has it all--big battles, hand-to-hand combat, sneaky mice getting the better of the evil cat Queen, rat pirates, a quest for an ancient hero, and a final take-down of Tsarmina that is earth-shattering (quite literally). There are also tremendous themes of friendship and loyalty; love and loss; and the constant struggle (especially for Martin) between needing to fight to protect those he loves and not wanting to kill needlessly. Great lessons for young readers wrapped in a delightful animal fantasy world that kids (if they're anything like my son) will want to visit again and again. ★★★★

The Man Born to Be King: Review

In The Man Born to Be King (1943), Dorothy L. Sayers brings her literary powers to bear on the life of Christ. She follows His story from birth to Resurrection and Ascension--combining the texts from all the Gospels into one seamless, coherent story. Her radio drama play cycle (12 in all) brings the story of Jesus of Nazareth to modern, mid-20th Century listeners in language and situations that, while remaining true to the scriptures, modern audiences recognize. she couched her dramas in such a way that the British public of the 1940s could picture themselves in the story and recognized the behavior of the participants as very like people they knew.

One of her goals in creating this play-cycle was to reveal events as if they were happening for the first time. Her introductory notes explain that everyone who has read the gospel accounts always view the events from a post-resurrection point of view. The tendency is to look at the doubters and wonder how on earth could they not have known who Jesus was...but they didn't have the advantage of years of hindsight and ability to study the New Testament. It's like we all turned immediately to the last chapter of a mystery where the detective goes through all the evidence that proves who did it and then we go back and wonder why all those people in the story didn't automatically know that Mr. Smith was the villain of the piece.

Most of the people who didn't recognize who Jesus was were just ordinary people going about their everyday business. If the boy next door whom you had grown up with and known all your life left home and you started hearing stories about how he was performing all kinds of miracles--would you immediately believe. Or would you say, who Johnny? Why, I remember when he was running around in diapers. How could he be turning water into wine? Sayers allows us to understand how those people felt and why it was so hard for them to believe.

She gives us an in-depth view of the disciples and other major figures--thoughtfully bringing forth their humanity in all its flaws and best moments. She provides a very convincing argument for how Judas, who had been chosen as one of the twelve, could betray the man he believed in.

I have yet to read any of Sayers' work that has not been thoughtful, interesting, and--where needed--well-researched. She infuses her serious writing with wit and humor while never losing sight of the serious issues involved. ★★★★★

Becoming: Review

Now I think it’s one of the most useless questions an adult can ask a child—What do you want to be when you grow up? As if growing up is finite. As if at some point you become something and that’s the end.
~Becoming (2018) by Michelle Obama

Sometimes a work is so important that it becomes difficult to put into words what you thought and felt while reading it. Most often (for me, anyway) that happens with poetry. It has happened again with Michelle Obama's memoir. This is a powerful and moving story of her journey--a journey of becoming that is still going on. A process that doesn't stop as long as you are willing to keep learning and growing and changing when necessary.

Reading about Michelle's early years, I was struck by how similar our backgrounds were. A mother who was there, at home whenever we were home (though mine worked part-time in the school lunch room--she was there when I left for school in the morning and there when I got home in the afternoon). A father dedicated to hard work and supporting his family--a man who never let physical ailments stand in the way of his responsibilities to go to work and get the job done. A feeling as a student that it was unthinkable to not excel. And not because parents put out any kind of overt pressure that grades must be at a certain level--but knowledge that those parents had done everything they could to ensure their children would have a better life and knowing that we didn't want to disappoint them...or ourselves. 

It was inspiring to read her reflections on where she came from and where her journey had taken her. To have underlined the evidence that she and Barack Obama are good people who come from solid American families; who value the same things we all value (or should value if we don't). Unfortunately, it was also disturbing to read her personal experiences of what it was like to be on the receiving end of all the hate and racial diatribes and the down-right lies that confronted and followed them once her husband began his political ascent to the nation's highest office. Reading newspaper reports--even viewing it on television is one thing; reading about the personal toll it took on Michelle and her family is another. It reminds me how truly horrible some people are at being human. 

But--that's not the take-away that Michelle would want us to end with. She reminds us throughout the book that whoever we are and wherever we are, we can take what we're given and make the most of it. We are all in the process of becoming and where we have the power to do so we need to take control and become with a purpose--choose to become more than we are now, to become a better version of ourselves. And to encourage others to do the same.  ★★★★★

Mr. Churchill's Secretary: Review

Mr. Churchill's Secretary (2012) by Susan Elia MacNeal follows the war-time adventures of Maggie Hope who has just landed a job as a typist at 10 Downing Street under the brand-new Prime Minister Winston Churchill. Maggie is a British girl--but spent most of her life in the United States with her aunt after her parents were killed in an automobile accident. Her aunt, also British, had accepted an academic position in the States and taken the young Margaret with her. Maggie, all grown up with a mathematics degree under her belt, returned to England to sell the aunt's house and when she found it impossible to sell in the current market she decided to stay in England. 

She had hopes of doing more important war work than just typing--after all, with her degree she felt she could manage a high-level private secretarial position just as well as her good friend David who works at Downing Street. But she found that door closed--tightly shut as an all-boys club. David convinces her to take the typist's position when her predecessor is murdered--stabbed in what is officially being called a mugging, but there are rumors that it may have been more serious. It isn't long before Maggie's flair for intricate problems and remarkable code-breaking ability plunges her into more difficult situations than typing fast enough to keep up with Churchill. She finds herself in the middle of a plot that involves her very much alive father, a threat to the Prime Minister, and bomb hidden somewhere in St. Paul's Cathedral. She has some very important war work to do after all.

This is a nice introduction to a new series. MacNeal has invested a lot in historical research and it definitely shows--although there are moments when Maggie uses certain phrases that sound very 2012-ish rather than 1940-ish. Not often enough to really jar, but momentarily distracting. I enjoyed getting to know Maggie and her friends very much and felt that this book was really a "getting-to-know-you" effort rather than a total immersion in Maggie's world. I look forward to Maggie finding her feet and settling down to her work in future installments. And perhaps when she is more settled, the reader will be as well.

Overall, the story is absorbing and highlighted the fact that the Irish unrest was more of a factor during the war years than I realized. I didn't know how much damage was done on the home front by the Irish radicals even during the time that the Blitz was going on. That thread gave the plot an extra depth and a slight twist at the end. A good read for a Saturday afternoon. ★★★

Books to Die For: Review

The subtitle for Books to Die For (2012) by John Connolly & Declan Burke is The World's Greatest Mystery Writers on the World's Greatest Mystery Novels. I felt from the first that I wasn't sure that I ought to take the word of a book that claims as "the World's Greatest Mystery Writers" a whole slew of people I've never heard of. Not just haven't read...but haven't actually heard of OR seen their books on shelves when browsing. I do not recognize about 80 out 120ish names. [I may have inadvertently counted some twice--some authors submitted more than one novel.] That's quite a lot. Now, granted, I don't read a lot of modern crime fiction--but some of my blogging friends do and I should have at least seen these names go by--If they really are the "World's Greatest." One of the contributors's work is described as "glamorous thrillers/bonkbusters/chick lit...Tart Noir"....um. Not exactly a recommendation in my book. I didn't want to be snobbish about this, really I didn't. But seriously?

So...I wrote the above as I was starting the book. I've now finished it. And, I must say, this is quite the disappointment for a mystery reader. A large percentage of the books recommended are noir, hard-boiled, spy/espionage, or thrillers. Not true mysteries. Some of the recommenders even say that straight up and they themselves are not authors of true mysteries. Fine. But don't be advertise your book as being recommendations on mystery novels by mystery writers. At best, you might say that it's a book of recommendations on crime novels by crime writers. It was a huge disappointment to see how few true vintage mystery novels were mentioned for years representing the Golden Age--one Christie, one Sayers, one Crispin, one Allingham, and one Tey. That's it. And of the later books just a handful would count as mysteries rather than noir and all the rest. 

My final take: most of these seem to be books I'd be just fine with having died without having ever read.....I can't say that I'd recommend it for those of you who consider yourself a mystery lover. But--if noir, hard-boiled, spy/espionage, suspense, and/or thrillers are your thing, then this may just be the reference book for you. ★★

Murdered: One by One

Inspector Crosby: People don't need to account for their movements before six o'clock in the morning. Your suspect, when you find him, will tell you he was still in bed and asleep.

Inspector Martin: That would make it all the more difficult for him to explain why he was in fact out and about.

~Murdered: One by One (1937) by Francis Beeding

Valerie Beauchamp (aka Vera Brown) was the prolific and wealthy author of romances which end, as all love stories should, happily ever after. Unfortunately for Valerie, her story didn't end quite so happily. She receives fan letters from an Arthur Scott-Digby who shyly imagines that they are kindred spirits--souls adrift looking for lasting love. He finally begs her to meet him and she, like many of her fictional heroines, is caught up in the romance of it all and rushes off to do so. Only Arthur Scott-Digby doesn't exist. He has been created in an elaborate hoax concocted by her supposed friends in the local literary society--in an effort to cut the lady (who they think rather full of herself) down to size.

She does appear distraught--denouncing them all and even kicking Lavinia, her cousin, friend and confidante, out of the house because she suspects her of being in on the hoax. After a few days, Lavinia receives a letter that indicates that all may be forgiven, but that Valerie is still distraught enough that she may take her own life. Lavinia comes back to 'Avilion (the house) to find her cousin dead--not by her own hand, but battered to death in her own bed. Mysterious fingerprints are found in the room, the safe has been pilfered, and a ladder used to enter the bedroom window. The fingerprints will be found to belong to no one in the case--including the members of the literary club who quickly fall under suspicion. For you see--Valerie left behind a rather curious will. After making provisions to care for Lavinia and others, she has left a life interest in the remainder of her estate to the very people who humiliated her...in a winner take all, tontine-like fashion. As long as the legatees remain alive and part of the literary society, they each will receive £200 per year. If someone dies or resigns from the society, the remaining members will split the principle sum assigned to the one who is gone. So, maybe someone knew about the will and rushed their inheritance a bit. Then the members of the society begin to die...one by one.

The beginning of the novel seemed hauntingly familiar to me--a romance writer with no real romance in her life who receives supposed love letters from an unknown admirer and it all leads to murder & mayhem. I wish I could remember the book...I enjoyed this one very much. Beeding is very descriptive and manages to build up the suspense surrounding the serial killings very nicely. I'm not going to comment too much at this point--my good blogging friend, Brad over at ahsweetmysteryblog, and I have been reading this novel in tandem, so to speak, and plan to inflict our opinions on...er, share our thoughts with you in a joint post. So, stay tuned...watch this space...we'll be back with a scintillating conversation soon. ★★★  and 3/4


Medical Examiner Challenge Round-up:
1st death = blunt instrument
2nd death = poison
3rd death = shot
4th death = knife
5th death = shot