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    Mystery Publishers

    • Academy Chicago Publishers
      An imprint of the Chicago Review Press. Features a number of interesting authors, most long out of print, plus some other odds and ends, including some horror stories by Conan Doyle.
    • Crippen & Landru
      Crippen & Landru publish mystery short story collections. Of particular interest is what they call "Lost Classics," a series of anthologies of mostly uncollected stories by authors who might be enjoyed by a new generation of readers.
    • Dean Street Press
      This small British publisher has a great many classic crime books in its much broader catalog. They are bringing back many Golden Age classics by authors who deserve another chance at a new audience.
    • Felony & Mayhem
      This publisher specializes in classic mysteries, broadly defined, including newer mysteries that adhere to classic standards. They have just overhauled their website to make it much more informative and user-friendly.
    • Locked Room International
      A small press, specializing in very good English-language translations of (so far) mostly-French authors of locked room and impossible crime stories. They publish in Print-On-Demand and electronic editions.
    • Merion Press
      The Merion Press is an independent publisher of out-of-print works that were originally published over 75 years ago, but are enduring even today.
    • MysteriousPress.com
      The brainchild of editor/anthologist/author/bookstore-owner Otto Penzler, the Mysterious Press has recently returned to life and now works with Open Road Media as an electronic book publisher. It is already republishing the work of a lot of classic authors, with more books on the way.
    • Oconee Spirit Press
      A small, independent publisher committed to publishing "lively fiction, and provocative non-fiction." Most of their list covers early works by established authors writing traditional mysteries, such as Carolyn Hart and Margaret Maron.
    • Oleander Press
      This small eclectic British publisher has begun publishing a series of classic British mystery novels, primarily from the Golden Age. The series is grouped into a section of their catalogue named "London Bound," as the books are set in London.
    • Ostara Publishing
      "Ostara Publishing re-issues titles that have unjustifiably become unavailable either through the ravages of time or the forces of publishing economics. We specialise in Crime and Thriller fiction titles and our range goes from the1920s through to the 21st century. We publish thematically and currently have six series available. All our titles are published in a 'trade paperback' format and printed to order."
    • Poisoned Pen Press
      Based in Scottsdale, Arizona, the Poisoned Pen Press publishes a fairly wide variety of mysteries. Some are reprints; many are new, by newer authors. Their website has a great deal of information about their books and authors.

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    « "Cat of Many Tails" | Main | Kindling Some Excitement »

    February 02, 2009

    "The Asey Mayo Trio"

    A murder committed inside a Cape Cod house being moved to a new lot. A new teacher at a local girls' school is found dead when she arrives at her new job. And an astronomer turns up murdered inside his observatory. Three cases for the "Codfish Sherlock," in "The Asey Mayo Trio: Three Cape Cod Mysteries," a collection of short novels or long short stories by Phoebe Atwood Taylor, and the subject of today's book review on the Classic Mysteries podcast, which may be heard here.

    If you're not familiar with Asey Mayo, these stories from the early 1940s will be a good introduction. A man of all trades, he knows Cape Cod - and its residents - very well, and, as critic Marilyn Stasio is quoted as saying, he's "a local handyman who knows something about police work and everything about everybody's business." It's funny and also insightful and makes fine reading on a cold (or warm?) winter's night.

    Posted at 03:13 PM in Funny Mysteries, Golden Age, Short Stories |

    Tags: asey mayo, book reviews, Classic mysteries, detective fiction

    Comments

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    Jeffrey Marks

    Be sure to also check out the Alice Tilton books by Phoebe Atwood Taylor as well. They are great fun.

    Posted by: Jeffrey Marks | February 16, 2009 at 04:43 PM

    Les Blatt

    Good point. The books written as Alice Tilton feature the exploits of mystery writer, teacher and Shakespeare look-alike Leonidas Witherall. They're great fun indeed - lots of slapstick humor and cliffhangers. I'll have to review one of them (as soon as I learn to pronounce "Leonidas" properly...) Thanks!

    Posted by: Les Blatt | February 16, 2009 at 07:23 PM

    Jennifer

    I just read The Cape Cod Mystery, the first Asey Mayo book and I LOVED it! It was such a pleasant surprise. The book was very funny and kept me guessing until the end. I look forward to reading more books by Mrs. Taylor.
    As I was reading, i kept picturing this as a movie, along the lines of The Thin Man, and am surprised one was never made. Maybe our friends at PBS will surprise us one of these days?

    Posted by: Jennifer | January 11, 2011 at 05:38 PM

    Les Blatt

    Jennifer, check out the backlist page (on the right) for reviews of a couple of other Asey Mayo mysteries. There's also a review of one of Taylor's Leonidas Witherall mysteries (which she wrote originally as Alice Tilton). Those are wild slapstick farces - and great fun.

    Posted by: Les Blatt | January 11, 2011 at 07:14 PM

    The comments to this entry are closed.

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      That means that if you order anything from Amazon through a link from my site I get a small commission. As a result, I'd consider it a favor if you would consider making your purchases through my links. As always, though, if you have a local mystery book store, I encourage you to use them as your first choice. For anything else...thank you.

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