Subscribe to this blog's feed

Subscribe to the Podcast

Twitter Updates

    follow me on Twitter

    About Comments

    • Comments are welcome...but...

      Please carry on all conversations without shouting, excessive ranting, or crudity. Profanity and personal attacks will not be tolerated. I am delighted to have you in my house - well, on my blog, anyway - and look forward to discussions. But please remember that we are all trying to carry on a civilized discussion. Your views are valuable. Please treat them that way. Thank you.

    Categories

    Archives

    More...

    About

    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.

    Search Classic Mysteries

    • Search This Site via Google Search
      Google

      WWW
      www.classicmysteries.net

    Amazon invitation

    • Link to Amazon
      Classic Mysteries is an Amazon.com Associate. If you're going to buy something from Amazon, please use this link to reach their site. I appreciate it!
    Blog powered by Typepad

    « Looking Back: More from Elizabeth Daly | Main | Libraries of Crime »

    October 26, 2009

    "The Widening Stain"

    There's something of a mystery to our mystery reviewed this week on the "Classic Mysteries" podcast: who, pray tell, is author "W. Bolingbroke Johnson," the pseudonym of the author of "The Widening Stain," a very funny story about murder on an Ivy League campus? Not so much of a mystery: Johnson is actually Morris Bishop, who was a professor at (and later provost of) Cornell University. Bishop used to write short humorous articles for The New Yorker, but when "The Widening Stain" was published, in 1942, he hid behind that rather peculiar alias.

    Nevertheless, it's a funny book nnd a good mystery, as a French professor is murdered in the unnamed Ivy League university's library - surely no place for such misbehavior. A second murder falls into the "impossible crime" category, too. The whole is fast-paced and funny - and quite fair to the reader, which counts for a great deal. It helps if you enjoy limericks, too. You can listen to the full podcast review here.

    Posted at 07:50 AM in Funny Mysteries, Golden Age |

    Tags: classic mysteries, detective stories, funny mysteries, GAD, Golden Age of Detection, humor

    Comments

    Feed You can follow this conversation by subscribing to the comment feed for this post.

    The comments to this entry are closed.

    Disclosure: Amazon Associates

    • As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
      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.

    The Backlist

    Bookmark This Page!

    Google Analytics