Classic Mysteries

"The Fingerprint"

The fingerprint was the highlight of Jonathan Field's collection. He loved to tell visitors about how he got the fingerprint after a wartime bomb blast left him trapped with one other man in a bombed-out building. The other man confessed that he had committed a murder and gotten away with it. And, without the man's knowing it, Jonathan had managed to get a fingerprint from him - though he never saw the man's face and had no idea whether he had even escaped from that ruined house. But, Jonathan said, he would recognize the man's voice again - if he ever heard it.

Did that fingerprint lead to Jonathan being shot to death in his country house more than a decade later?

That's the question at the heart of "The Fingerprint," by Patricia Wentworth, featuring one of my favorite Elderly-British-Lady detectives, Miss Maud Silver. "The Fingerprint" is the subject of today's audio review on the Classic Mysteries podcast, and you can listen to the entire review by clicking here.

If you don't know Miss Silver, you're really missing a treat. She is often compared to Agatha Christie's Miss Marple - which is a little unfair to both of them. Miss Marple, after all, is an amateur sleuth. Miss Silver most decidedly is not. Miss Silver spent much of her life as a governess and school teacher. When she retired, she became a private investigator, and she has had a great many successes in tracking down dangerous criminals. Like Miss Marple, Miss Silver knits articles of clothing for the children of relatives and friends - and for much the same reason: nobody thinks twice about talking freely in the presence of an apparently harmless little old lady who is sitting nearby and knitting. That is a talent which certainly helps Miss Silver find her way to the truth in "The Fingerprint," for it is by no means a sure thing that Jonathan Field's murder had anything to do with that mysterious fingerprint specimen.

Miss Silver appeared in more than 30 books by Patricia Wentworth between her first appearance in 1928 and her last in 1961; "The Fingerprint" appeared in 1960. As such, it just makes it under the wire as another entry in the Vintage Mystery Reading Challenge, in the category: Leave It to the Professionals: a book featuring cops, private eyes, secret service, professional spies, etc. Miss Silver, as the complete professional, surely falls into this category.

"The Fingerprint" is one of a number of Miss Silver mysteries now available in e-book format, although there seem to be a fair number of used copies available as well through the network of used book dealers. While I think there are better Miss Silver books - particularly the early ones - "The Fingerprint" is enjoyable.

"Rest You Merry"

All right, here we are at the end of January. Have your neighbors - the ones with the unbelievably garish Christmas displays on their house - taken the decorations down yet? No? Then here's a mystery that may help you survive until they do.

It's called "Rest You Merry," by Charlotte MacLeod, and it is a very funny, very well-written mystery about Peter Shandy, Professor of Horticulture at Balaclava Agricultural College in New England. It is the subject of today's audio review on the Classic Mysteries podcast, and you can listen to the full review by clicking here.

For many years, Balaclava Agricultural College has earned a considerable amount of money by having a winter festival of lights and sound generally called "the grand illumination" - with all the residents of the area around the college decorating and over-decorating their homes with garish lights and playing recordings of holiday music. Well, all the residents except Professor Shandy. He's not anti-holiday, he just doesn't like all the noise and nonsense. But he is constantly pressured to break down and load up the decorations - with much of the pressure coming from his busybody neighbor, Jemima Ames. Finally, Shandy snaps. He hires a team of electricians and decorators to put up the largest, most garish, most brightly-lit, blinking and twinkling decorations anywhere, loads up a sound system with loud holiday music, carefully turns everything on full-blast, locks the controls (so that nobody can turn them off) - and leaves home on vacation.

Unfortunately for him, the ship on which he is cruising breaks down, so he must return home - where he finds, inside his house, the body of that busybody neighbor. The police think she died from falling off a ladder while trying to turn off his display, but the professor is sure it is murder.

Do I have to tell you who's right?

And that is just the beginning of a very amusing, very cozy mystery by Charlotte MacLeod. In the course of her writing career, she turned out  some 30 books, including several series. "Rest You Merry" was the first of ten books to feature Professor Shandy. MacLeod's books are very definitely "cozies" by definition - there's little in the way of violence or sex, with everything taking place well offstage, and there's a lot of humor. There's also a pretty good mystery as part of it all. If you enjoy the cozy style, you will almost certainly enjoy Charlotte MacLeod's books. Many are out of print, though there seem to be plenty of used copies available. The Mysterious Press and Open Road Media are bringing her novels back as e-books, and "Rest You Merry" is available in a variety of formats, including one for the Amazon Kindle.

"The Golden Dagger"

The case began with an anonymous phone call from a public telephone to the police, insisting there had been a murder at Cobblers, an estate belonging to Lord Rone and Saine. It sounded like a prank phone call, but the police, in the person of Scotland Yard Commander Bobby Owen, thought it would be wise to check anyway.

Then a second call was received - this time from a woman, calling from the same public telephone box not far from Cobblers. She had just discovered a wicked-looking, and bloodstained, golden dagger in the phone booth.

So maybe something really was going on at Cobblers? The police dutifully trooped out there - to find only bland and rather indignant denials that anyone had been murdered, even though that dagger did come from Lord Rone's collection.

That's the opening of a fine mystery called "The Golden Dagger," by E. R. Punshon, another of those authors whose name is virtually unknown today. For once, that link doesn't go to Amazon - I can't find the book on Amazon - but links instead directly to the book's page on the website of Ramble House, which has brought this post-Golden Age mystery back into print. "The Golden Dagger" is the subject of today's audio review on the Classic Mysteries podcast, and you can listen to the full review by clicking here.

So here are the police, with a bloody dagger, and - they are assured - no murder. Someone missing? Why yes, now that you mention it...two people in fact. And much of the book will be spent trying to figure out exactly what did happen, and to whom, that night in and around Cobblers. Oh, and there's another clue: an expensive hat. It may have belonged to the murderer. If, in fact, there is a murderer...

Yes, it's a delightful, trickly little puzzle mystery, filled with distinctive and memorable characters. And, yes, all that blood on the dagger must have come from somewhere. Check out that page at Ramble House for information about how to get a copy; it's probably also available in an e-book format for six bucks, and it's great fun.

Mysterious Travel Plans

I am reminded that time is running out to make early travel plans to attend a couple of fine and mysterious conferences next year. Or, at least, to do so at a discount.

I am planning to attend two such conferences in 2013. The first, to be held May 3-5 in Bethesda, MD, will be the 25th annual Malice Domestic conference - home of the Agatha Awards. It's for lovers of traditional mysteries, typified by Agatha Christie. Among the honorees in attendance in 2013 will be Laurie R. King, Laura Lippman, Aaron Elkins, Peter Robinson and Carolyn Hart. If you register before December 31, you'll not only get a price break but you'll be eligible to submit possible nominees for the Agatha Awards.

Then, in September, come to Albany, New York, for the 44th Bouchercon, the granddaddy of all mystery conferences, which will run from September 19th through the 22nd. Once again, there's a special low rate if you register before midnight on December 31st. There's always a star-studded guest list of authors for this one; in 2013, the honorees will include Sue Grafton, P. C. Doherty, Tess Gerritsen and Steve Hamilton, among others. As always, attendees get to participate in the selection of the Anthony Award winners.

Of course there are others. Left Coast Crime (happening in March) comes to mind, but I'm an east-coaster, so I don't often get out to that one (though people who have attended love it just as much as I enjoy, say, Malice Domestic). There are some great conferences in the U.K. as well, and one of these years I really do want to try one.

If you've never been to a mystery writers/fans conference, and you really enjoy reading and talking about mysteries, why not make 2013 the year you attend your first conference? All the conferences I've attended have been a treat from first to last - a chance to meet and talk with literally hundreds of your favorite authors. Find out what's new, what's in the publishing pipeline, meet some new authors and get autographs from longtime favorites. Everyone is friendly, everyone loves talking mysteries. Still a reading neophyte? Not to worry; EVERYONE you meet will have suggestions for you about books you'll enjoy. It's a wonderful way to take a short vacation while talking about something you love, the conferences are NOT particularly exspensive, and the host hotels are pretty reasonably priced. I hope to see you at a conference in 2013.

Meeting Miss Silver

For those of my visitors who are new to Patricia Wentworth's Miss Silver, she is very much worth meeting. Wentworth's books have been more-or-less out of print in the United States for a while now, but I'm delighted to find that Amazon has made many of her stories available for the Kindle. They're pretty inexpensive (and, yes, if you buy them through my links, I get a small cut), but - more to the point - they're highly enjoyable mysteries with a very unusual detective. Give them a try.

"The Brading Collection"

Have you met Miss Silver? Miss Maud Silver?

Some people think Miss Silver and Miss Jane Marple have a lot in common.

Well, there are a few similarities. They are both old-fashioned unmarried ladies of what used to be called A Certain Age. They both are expert at knitting small items of clothing for an apparently limitless assortment of child relatives. They both have a keen appreciation of the unattractive side of human nature. They both have some experience in solving serious crimes.

That's pretty much where the similarities end. Miss Marple is, always, an amateur. Miss Silver is a professional - a private inquiry agent, a role she has taken to supplement her limited retirement income. She is, to be blunt, a private eye, and a very successful one, in part because wrongdoers who would be very careful about speaking out in front of a police officer are far less careful in the presence of a little old lady sitting in a corner doing her knitting.

Miss Silver is the delightful creation of Patricia Wentworth. After her first appearance in 1928, Miss Silver starred in dozens of mysteries, including "The Brading Collection," also known as "Mr. Brading's Collection," first published in 1950. It is the subject of today's audio book review on the Classic Mysteries podcast, and you can listen to the entire review by clicking here.

"The Brading Collection" is pretty typical for Miss Silver. It begins when Lewis Brading comes to visit Miss Silver, hoping to hire her. He is worried that his collection of fabulous and valuable jewelry may be threatened by robbers. It is a collection he has amassed through both honest and less-than-honest means. He also boasts to Miss Brading of some of the ways he controls members of his family and staff. Miss Silver refuses to work for him and sends him away with a warning that he is putting himself at considerable risk.

Soon afterwards, Miss Silver receives an urgent message from Brading, asking her to come down to his estate - he says there have been "developments." But that same morning's newspaper reports that Brading has been shot to death. Now, Miss Silver must work with the police and help guide them through a pretty complex plot involving robbery and murder.

Regular readers of Patricia Wentworth will find many of her usual plot twists here. There is a young couple, separated by serious misunderstandings (and some malicious relatives) who will find themselves under suspicion. There will be greedy relatives and associates. But Miss Silver will come through with a satisfactory answer to the mysteries surrounding Mr. Brading and his collection.

Maud Silver is a delight.I am always surprised when some modern readers sneer at her - she seems so very old-school, with her rather Edwardian modes of speech and dress and her fondness for the poetry of Tennyson. But most will come to admire Miss Silver, who is quite thoroughly captivating. If you haven't met her yet, "The Brading Collection" is a good way to do so. While there is a hardcover version available, I think it's a bit on the expensive side, so it's worth noting that there is also an edition for the Amazon Kindle.

Malice Aforethought

Well, that headline may have it a bit backwards: I am talking here about an excellent "forethought" on the part of the Malice Domestic board, the folks responsible for the annual conference for readers and writers of the "traditional" mystery - the organization that presents the Agatha Awards to books that carry on those traditions.

Malice Domestic has added another award to be presented at next year's conference - to mystery writer Carolyn Hart, who has several series and a number of stand-alones to her credit. She will be honored next year with an award caled the Amelia Award, presented, as their e-mail puts it, to "someone we feel has contributed significantly not only to the Malice Domestic convention but to the Malice Community. Malice Domestic 25 is a milestone year for us and we felt that the celebrations would not be complete without honoring someone who has been a part of Malice from the very beginning."

Next year is the 25th annual Malice Domestic conference, which will be held in Bethesda, MD, outside Washington D. C., from May 3 to May 5, 2013. Other honored guests at the conference will include Laurie R King, Guest of Honor; Laura Lippman, Toastmaster; Aaron Elkins, Lifetime Achievement; Peter Robinson, International Guest of Honor; Cindy Silberblatt, Fan Guest of Honor; and Malice Remembers Dick Francis.

It ought to be quite a gathering. I'm already registered, and I urge you, if you enjoy "traditional" mysteries, to consider joining us there. On-line registration is open; you can find full details at the Malice Domestic site.

The Cat Who...Lost An Author

We have lost an extremely popular mystery author - Lilian Jackson Braun, the author of the best-selling "The Cat Who..." series has died. She was 97 years old.

Lilian Jackson Braun began writing her "The Cat Who..." mysteries back in the mid-1960s, but the series stopped after three novels, because, she said, the publisher wanted her to put more sex and violence into the books, something she was unwilling to do. She didn't return to mystery writing until persuaded to do so by her second husband, Earl Bettinger, in the late 1980s, and all of her later books include a dedication to him as "The husband who..."

Her books featured a newspaperman named Jim Qwilleran, but they were really about his Siamese cats, Koko and Yum Yum, who played major roles in the novels, often by cryptically calling Qwilleran's attention to some object or book that might be construed as a clue. Most of the later books are set in the fictional town of Pickax, which was said to be modeled on the real town of Bad Axe, Michigan, where the Bettingers lived until the mid-1980s.

In all, Lilian Jackson Braun wrote 29 novels in the series. If you enjoy "cozies," you probably already have read some of her books - if not, you should do so. Personally, I can't recommend the last couple - I felt that - to me - they abandoned mystery and simply became loosely connected anecdotes. But most of her earlier books were quite good, surprisingly ingenious, entertaining and she certainly earned her place on the best-seller lists. The Washington Post had a pretty good obituary, and you might also enjoy this profile originally published by the Detroit Free Press in 1987, which the newspaper reprinted this week as a tribute to The Author Who...

Looking Back: The Turquoise Shop

The detectives in Frances Crane's "The Pink Umbrella," the book reviewed on this week's Classic Mysteries podcast, were Pat and Jean Abbott, who became one of the most popular husband-and-wife sleuths in books during the first half of the 20th century and beyond. If you'd like to see where they came from, take a look back at the very first book in the series, "The Turquoise Shop." I reviewed it on this blog last year - here's what I had to say at the time.

"The Turquoise Shop" is set in an artists' colony in New Mexico - quite deliberately modeled after Taos, New Mexico. Turquoise shop proprietor Jean Holly gets involved with the investigation into a body found outside the town. It becomes even more interesting when Pat Abbott, a private detective who says he's on vacation and trying to learn how to be an artist, shows up in town.

Overall, it's a good mystery, a nice portrait of a semi-fictional town, peopled with interesting characters and peppered with a couple of murders. The 1941 book was based on a real incident that had happened in Taos. Crane's series eventually ran to more than two dozen Pat and Jean mysteries - here's where it all began.



"The Pink Umbrella"

In the center of New York City, right during the heart of World War II, a young private detective, Pat Abbott, is dealing with some major changes in his life. For one thing, he has just joined the Marines, and he is awaiting call-up to active duty - which, in 1943, almost certainly meant heading overseas to fight. For another thing, he has just married a young woman named Jean Holly. And the young couple has come to New York City, hoping for some quiet time alone together before Pat is called up.

That's what they had hoped would happen. What happens instead is the events in "The Pink Umbrella," by Frances Crane, the fourth mystery to feature Pat and Jean Abbott, who went on to become enormously popular with the mystery-reading public during the mid-twentieth century. It's the subject of today's review on the Classic Mysteries Podcast, and you can listen to that review here.

In New York, Pat runs into an old friend and her family, now refugees from war-torn Europe. Ellen Bland has a particularly unpleasant former husband still hanging around. The rest of her family is deeply embroiled in feuds, passions and jealousies. And before the Abbotts know it, they're involved in some very nasty murders, and the local police want Pat, as a private detective, to help them solve the case. Jean Abbott serves as both Watson and narrator.

It's all handled with something of a light touch - or as much as you might expect in a story where war is never far from the reader's consciousness. Pat and Jean Abbott appeared in more than two dozen mysteries, most of which would qualify as forerunners of today's "cozies." To a public that loved these husband-and-wife teams such as Nick and Nora Charles or Pam and Jerry North, the Abbotts were great company. The Rue Morgue Press has been republishing Frances Crane's novels. They make for light and enjoyable reading.

"The Pink Umbrella" is another book for the Vintage Mysteries Reading Challenge under way at the My Reader's Block blog. You'll find a huge number of vintage titles there, all pre-1960, offering lots of ideas about books you may not have read - and probably should.