Tag: murder mystery

books

Books in the Wild: BLCC display

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Not going to lie when I saw all of these in Waterstones Piccadilly it made me really quite happy. And of course it made me wonder how many of them I have read. And then I started writing it and realised there were a few more I had on the pile and a few I had read but not written about so if I could just do that the post would be better. And then suddenly it’s three months later. Ahem. Anyway after having finally finished and posted the BLCC roundup that that that started (slowed by several of them ending up as Books of the Week rather than round up post fodder), here we are.

And so here we go… One the wall from clockwise top right we have He Who Whispers (read but haven’t written about), The Lost Gallows – haven’t read, Capital Crimes, Murder in the Mill Race, The Hogs Back Mystery,then two more I haven’t read (yet) It Walks by Night and Miraculous Mysteries.

Let’s start on the back row and work left to right going forward: Guilty Creatures – which I haven’t read; The Ten Teacups, The Edinburgh Mystery – haven’t read, Murder in Vienna; Death of a Bookseller; Capital Crimes again, Murder as Fine Art and Post After Post-Mortem. One the second row: The Wheel Spins – which I haven’t read but which is the book the Hitchcock movie The Lady Vanishes is based on, Tour de Force, Metropolitan Mysteries, Blood on the Train, Quick Curtain, The Cornish Coast Mystery, The Notting Hill Mystery which is one of the very first murder mystery books and which I read nearly a decade ago and Crimes of Cymru which I haven’t read and doesn’t seem to be on Kindle which may explain why that is. And on the front row The Widow of Bath, Someone from the Past, The Lake District Murder, Castle Skull, The Corpse in the Waxworks (haven’t read), The Hogs Back Mystery (again), Murder Underground (one of the very first BLCC I read) and Tea on Sunday.

And there were even more… so here we go again with the table – this time just the ones I haven’t already mentioned: Port of London Murders, Who Killed Father Christmas, Dramatic Murder, Final Acts, Death of Anton, Murder at the Manor, London Particular, Serpents in Eden, The Mysterious Mr Badman, Family Matters, Surfeit of Suspects, and Murder by the Book.

And the other side of the table: Death on the Riviera, The Theft of the Iron Dogs, Quick Curtain, The Death of Mr Dodsley, The Sussex Downs Murder, The Chianti Flask and Seven Dead (read but not written about).

And finally – and this time just the front facing ones that I haven’t already mentioned: Continental Crimes, Settling Scores (read), The Port of London Murders, Crook O’Lune (read), The Z Murders (read but not written about), The Spoilt Kill, The Murder of My Aunt, The Santa Klaus Murder, Mr Pottermack’s Oversight, Scarweather, Sergeant Cluff Stands Firm, and Death of Anton.

Phew. Honestly, I’m pretty pleased with my hit rate on this front, but it has given me a shove to finish a few things off that I have had kicking around on the kindle and on the shelves and also made me aware of a bunch of books in the series that I didn’t know about. Expect a(nother) BLCC post in the near future I think….

Forgotten books, Recommendsday

Recommendsday: British Library Crime Classics Summer 2025

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It’s been a few months so I’m back again with some more from the British Library Crime Classics series that I’ve read. I’m starting to lose count of how many posts about BLCC books I’ve done now – whether it’s round up posts like this or Book of the Week ones, but I do rea a lot of them – thanks to their rotation in and out of Kindle Unlimited and the fact that they often pop up in the charity shop book selections at sensible prices. And so here we are again. And this has taken me way longer than I was expected because I kept ending up picking candidates for this as Books of the Week. I can’t help myself.

Murder as a Fine Art by Carol Carnac

Carol Carnac aka E C R Lorac is probably one of the best forgotten authors brought back to prominence through the BLCC series. Or at least she is in my opinion, so I try to grab her books as soon as I see them in KU. Murder as a Fine Art sees a Civil Servant crushed to death by a marble statue at the new Ministry of Fine Art. The minister in charge of the department already had some concerns about events in his department and now has to contemplate the fact that one of his staff may be a murderer. Inspector Julian Rivers is called in to investigate and try and work out what is going on. This has a clever murder but also work rivalries and grievances all mixed up with the world of fine art and modern art. It’s clever and readable.

Metropolitan Mysteries ed Martin Edwards

This is another of the short story collections from the BLCC and as the title suggests features mysteries set in London. I can sometimes find the collections a bit patchy – but this is one of the stronger ones with one proviso: because it’s got a lot of well known authors in it you may have come across some of these stories before. I had definitely read the Peter Wimsey short story before and the Allingham also seemed familiar. But if you haven’t read as much of Sayers or Allingham’s work as I have you may not have done and it’s lovely to come across familiar (and reliable) authors. And there’s one very clever if somewhat improbable mystery in here that I was completely bamboozled by and if I didn’t quite believe the solution was possible, it was so much fun I didn’t mind.

Murder in Vienna by E C R Lorac

Yes, I can’t deny it, this is the second book from the same author in this list, just under that other (main) pseudonym. This is one of her novels featuring Inspector MacDonald, but takes him away from the UK to Vienna, where he is taking a holiday and visiting an old friend Dr Nagler. Also on board the flight is Elizabeth Le Vendre, on her way to Vienna to take up her new role as secretary to a British diplomat, Sir Walter Vanbrugh. But in Vienna Elizabeth goes missing and there are a series of violent events – including murder – affecting Nagler and Vanbrugh’s connections and MacDonald finds himself investigating. This isn’t my favourite of Lorac’s books, but it is a fascinating picture of the turbulant post war situation in Vienna.

That’s your lot today – Happy Humpday!

books

Recommendsday: Mysteries set on film sets

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A few weeks back I wrote about the 18th Royal Spyness mystery, which featured a movie being filmed at Georgie’s house, and that got me thinking about other mystery books that are set on or around movie sets.

Of course the most recent one that I’ve read is the latest Daniel Clement mystery, A Death on Location. This sees a movie crew take over Champton to film a historical epic and many of the locals sign up to appear as supporting artists – aka extras. But when one of them dies after filming a ball scene Daniel finds himself caught up in another murder investigation with Neil. I actually had the culprit for this one spotted early doors, but not the reason why so I enjoyed finding out the why of it all (and if I was right obviously). I continue to find this series very readable, but I’m not sure how many more scenarios Richard Coles will be able to come up to put Daniel in the way of bodies!

Going back to May, I read A Knife to Remember by Jill Churchill, which is the fifth book in the Jane Jeffries series, which is a 1990s written series. In this there’s a crew filming in the field behind Jane’s house and is using her backyard as part of the behind the scenes. The visitors seem to be riven with rivalries and then the set designer is found murdered and it goes from there. I really like this series, they are very easy reads and shorter than the average cozy these days which always leaves me wanting more. Unlike the Goldy Schulz series, these don’t seem to have been picked up for Kindle, so I’m having to resort to the second hand sellers to try and get some more at reasonable prices.

The fourth Flavia De Luce I am Half Sick of Shadows sees Flavia’s home invaded by a film crew in the run up to Christmas, and a snow storm trapping villagers there too. Flavia ends up investigating the death of one of the film contingent as well as whether Father Christmas really exists. I had a few moments with the early Flavia books, and I also read them out of order which I don’t think helped, but Flavia in this one is an engaging mix of innocence and omnipotence which works really well.

I’m sure there are more that I can’t remember at the moment, but that’s ok – I can always do a second post!

Forgotten books, mystery, Recommendsday

Book of the Week: Not to be Taken

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It’s been a few weeks since I had a British Library Crime Classic as the BotW: it was early May that I picked Tea on Sunday so I think I’m allowed another one now.

The victim in Not to be Taken is John Waterhouse, who dies after a gastric episode which all of his friends think is accidental. But his brother doesn’t agree and forces an exhumation. Further investigations show that he was killed by arsenical poisoning and the police set out to try and figure out who was responsible. We see the story from the point of view of one of the friends, Douglas, who is a country gentleman farmer. Over the course of the book we learn more about all the characters and the options for who might have killed John become wider and wider.

Not to Be Taken was originally published as a serialisation for readers themselves to solve, with a prize available for readers who could answer the question “who was the poisoner” correctly. This BLCC edition has the solution provided, after telling the reader that they should now be able to work it out. This is very twisty and very clever. I had some ideas, but like the readers at the time, none of them were totally accurate. I’ve read a couple of of Anthony Berkley’s other books, including Murder in the Basement which was also a BotW (four years ago!) but I think this is the first of his that I’ve read that doesn’t feature his regular detective, Roger Sheringham. It’s well worth a look – I’ve had a mixed run with the more recent BLCC releases, but this is a really good one.

It’s in Kindle Unlimited at the moment, which means it isn’t on Kobo, but as I always say, these rotate through the various schemes and offers so add it to your watch list and it will come around soon I’m sure. And just to flag that for some reason the Kindle and paperback versions of this have some how ended up listed separately on Amazon, which is annoying but seems to be happening more than you would expect at the moment.

Happy Reading!

Book of the Week

Book of the Week: We Three Queens

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Yes, I’m breaking one of my own rules this week and writing about a book that’s a long way into a series. No I don’t really care. Last week was one of those weeks, and anything that wasn’t rule breaking wasn’t something that I really felt inspired enough to write about. So here we are.

Cover of We Three Queens

This is the eighteenth in Rhys Bowen’s series about Georgiana, a fictious granddaughter of Queen Victoria, who is facing all sorts of troubles in the loose orbit of the Royal Family of the 1930s. As I said in my post when this book was released in November, in this book we have finally reached the winter of 1936 and crunch time for Georgie’s cousin David when it comes to choosing between the Crown and Wallis Simpson. And of course Georgie and her husband Darcy are caught up in it with the woman in question hiding away at their estate. As if that wasn’t enough, Georgie’s former stepfather, who owns the house, arrives home unexpectedly and with a film crew in tow to film scenes in the grounds. And on top of all this Georgie’s brother, his wife and their two children have also invited themselves to stay. And did I mention that she’s a new mum?

There is a murder in this, but it actually happens quite a long way through. But there is a lot going on to get to that point, so you don’t feel like you’re missing out on a mystery plot – in fact if i hadn’t read the blurb to know there was going to be one, I wouldn’t have been surprised if there hadn’t been one, although this is obviously a mystery series.

For the last few books I have been wondering if we were nearing the end of the series, especially as there have been a couple of big moments coming up where it would have been possible for Bowen to sign off from Georgie and leave on a satisfying note, but there is a nineteen book coming in the autumn, so it looks like we’re going to be following Georgie and the family into the reign of George VI as the world hurtles towards World War Two. And without giving you any spoilers, there are still a few hanging threads left to tie up, and as long as Bowen can keep coming up with new adventures for Georgie, I’m happy to read them!

This series used to be published in UK paperback editions, but I haven’t seen any of them for some time. So your best bet for this is Kindle or Kobo, although I have a seen some of them occasionally in the Cozy Crime Mass Market shelves at Waterstones Gower Street and Waterstones Piccadilly, but it is a totally lottery which one it is.

Happy Reading!

Book of the Week, first in series, historical, mystery

Book of the Week: Death and the Conjurer

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Another mystery book this week, this time a new to me author writing mysteries set in the 1930s.

In Death and the Conjurer, a celebrity psychiatrist is found murdered in his study – but the door was locked and there seems to have been no way for anyone to have committed the crime. The Scotland Yard detective calls in magician turned sleuth Joseph Spector to help solve a seemingly impossible murder.

And this really does seem to be an impossible one. The solution when it comes is clever and well worked out and as the book says the clues are there, even if I didn’t believe it when the book said that! Inspector Flint and Spector are a good duo – they both have their strengths so it feels like a pretty equal relationship rather than a stupid cop and a brilliant amateur. It’s also the first of three so there are two more for me to read now too.

This one is in Kindle unlimited at the moment and so if you’ve got a membership it’s worth a look.

Happy Reading!

Book of the Week, mystery, reviews

Book of the Week: Helle and Death

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It’s Tuesday and I’m back with another murder mystery for my book of the Week pick. And it’s a wintery one despite the fact that it’s a heatwave here. Does reading a book about cold weather make you feel better or worse in situations about this? Who knows. Anyway.

The set up here is that Torben Helle and a group of his university friends have been invited for a reunion by the most successful of their group, a man who because super rich after his invention took off. They haven’t really spent time together as a group in the ten years since they graduated but in snowy Northumbria they reassemble. The morning after their arrival they are snowed in and their host is dead in his bed. One of them must of done it – but who? Torben and his knowledge of Golden Age murder mysteries (and his closest friends in the group) set out to solve the crime.

As we all know at this point, I love a murder mystery – and I especially love a country house murder mystery so this was right up my street. The pacing is a little slow, but I liked the characters and the idea of a group of previously close friends brought back together. I saw a few of the twists coming, but I was ultimately pretty satisfied with the way that it all worked out. And I loved all the references to classic murder mysteries – because of course loads of them were books that I’ve read (some of them read multiple times!).

My copy came via NetGalley (yes, I know, I know, I know) but it’s out now in Kindle and Kobo. I’ve seen the sequel in the shops and would definitely give it a read to see if the pacing improves when there isn’t so much heavy lifting to do in the set up.

Happy Reading

not a book, streaming, tv

Not a Book: Signora Volpe

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Back with a TV/streaming recommendation today, for those of you who like a murder mystery series at the gentle end of the spectrum.

Our set up is this: in episode one Sylvia Fox, a British spy, is off to Italy for her niece’s wedding. Then someone turns up dead and the groom goes missing so she starts to investigate. There’s a hot Carabinieri officer and by the end of the first episode she’s solved the crime, decided to take a career break and bought a house to do up. There are two more two hour mysteries for her to solve in series one and another three in series two. And I really do hope we get a series three.

For all that Sylvia is an ex spy, these are pretty chill mysteries – there’s not a lot of blood, no jump scares and until the last episode of series two not a lot of peril. And by the time you get to that final episode you’re fairly sure it will all work out ok in the end. There’s lots of beautiful scenery and I want Sylvia’s house, wardrobe and defensive driving skills. I’ve been watching Emilia Fox in things since she was Georgiana in Pride and Prejudice and she’s always very watchable and in this she makes a nice duo with Tara Fitzgerald as her sister.

There are a few occasions in series one why you wonder why the Italian characters are speaking English to each other rather than Italian, but that’s mostly sorted out in season two. The romantic strand is very slow moving – and more long looks and brooding stares than anything else (so far) but Capitano Riva does a very good brooding stares than anything so I forgive it and just hope that we get a bit of progress if we get a series three!

These have just been shown on U and Drama in the UK, and are on their streaming service at the moment, elsewhere in the world they are available through Britbox.

Enjoy!

Book of the Week, books, cozy crime, crime

Book of the Week: Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers

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So a bit of a strange one this week – because I started this literal years ago and couldn’t get into it, gave up and then came back to it this weekend, started again and read it all in evening. So here we are.

Vera Wong is the 60-year-old proprietor of a tea shop. She likes to match make and meddle in her son’s life. But one day she finds a dead body in her shop and switches her focus to finding out who killed him – because she doesn’t think the police are trying hard enough. But it turns out that she likes her chief suspects a lot more than the victim and soon it’s all getting a bit messy.

So as I said, I didn’t get into this first time around at all and it did take a while to get into it the second time too. But I really liked Julia and Emma when they arrived and the effect that Vera had on their lives and that’s where I started to get into it and after that something clicked. The solution is clever and something I hadn’t spotted as well.

I do have a bit of a mixed record with Sutanto – I liked Dial A for Aunties, but didn’t enjoy the sequel and haven’t read the third yet, although I probably will for the sake of completeness because I am that person. There is a sequel to this, but given my prior experience who knows what I might make of that!

My copy of this one came from NetGalley an eon ago, but it should be fairly easy to get hold of if you want to – I’ve seen it in paperback in the big bookshops and of course it’s on Kindle and Kobo.

Happy Reading!

Book of the Week, detective, mystery

Book of the Week: Swan Song

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After a break last week for a book that wasn’t strictly a mystery, this week I’m firmly back in the mystery world – not just with today’s pick but with basically everything in tomorrow’s Quick Reviews too. Because basically almost everything I haven’t already told you about from last month is murder mystery because that’s the sort of month it was, and June continues the same way (I finished this on Sunday!)

The Second World War is over, and on Oxford preparations are underway for the first postwar production of Wagner’s Die Meistersinger. It is not a happy company because one of the singers, Edwin Shorthouse, was already unpopular before he started throwing his weight around and behaving badly at rehearsals. So when he is found dead, few of the company are upset, until it starts to look like it may be murder and not a suicide and one of their number may be responsible. Gervase Fen has a challenge on his hands.

I am slowly (and out of order) working my way through Edmund Crispin’s series about the eccentric Oxford Don, and this is a really good one. I love a theatre-set mystery and this is a perplexing locked room puzzle, and those are always good too. This has a dash of the absurd about it as well as the eccentricities of Fen and it’s very easy to read and the solution fits with that.

This is available in all the usual ways including Kindle and Kobo and there have been enough recent editions that you maybe able to pick it up second hand too.

Happy Reading!