Classic Mysteries

"His Burial Too"

Inspector Sloan was not having a good day. There had been a murder - a man very definitely crushed by a huge falling statue inside a locked church tower. The statue was far too massive to have fallen by itself. There was no way it could have been an accident. But when the statue was toppled, it broke into huge chunks of marble which completely blocked the door, so that nobody could get in or out. Yet the victim was alone.

And so we find ourselves with an impossible situation in Catherine Aird's "His Burial Too." It's the subject of this week's review on our Classic Mysteries podcast, and you can listen to the full review here.I have always enjoyed her mysteries. Detective Inspector C. D. Sloan is an excellent investigator, despite the worst efforts of his incompetent assistant, Detective Constable Crosby (known to other members of the force as "the defective constable") and his rather off-the-wall superior, Superintendent Leeyes. This was an early entry in the series - a series which Aird has continued writing. I'm glad that Rue Morgue Press has been reissuing some of her earliest books. They are quite funny, smartly written, with ingenious puzzles and some delightful characters. I mean, impossible crime AND humor - what more could a reader want?

Looking Back: The Best of Ellis Peters

The late Edith Pargeter, who wrote under the pen name of Ellis Peters, created two wonderful series during her lifetime. Most readers will know her for the marvelous historical mysteries she wrote about Brother Cadfael, the 12th Century monk. My favorite of those remains "An Excellent Mystery," and, if you have never read any of the Cadfael stories, it is a wonderful way to meet him. Peters creates characters who make you care deeply about what happens to them, and the people you will meet in "An Excellent Mystery" will haunt your memory long after you finish the book. It is truly an excellent mystery.

Before writing the Cadfael mysteries, Peters wrote another series featuring the contemporary detective work of Inspector George Felse. Most of these are still readily available. I would argue that the best of these is the marvelously titled "Black Is the Color of My True Love's Heart." The action takes place at a folk festival, and - as with the Cadfael mysteries - you will fall in love with the characters. Even the villains in Peters' novels will evoke sympathy from the reader. These are books to be savored, and you will find on re-reading them that they have lost very little of their power even if you know in advance what will happen. They are excellent companions on a long winter's night.

Getting Started on Cyber Monday

Forgive the interruption, but tomorrow is "Cyber Monday," the day that online sales are expected to peak. Our friends at Amazon.com have jump-started their sale and it's ongoing...and if you are so inclined to take a look at their offers by clicking through this link, and you buy something, you"ll be putting a small amount in my pocket (at no additional cost to you). Thank you.

Amazon's Black Friday Video Deals

"Black Friday" often strikes me as being a better title for a mystery than a name for a shopping day. But I do want to call mystery fans' attention to Amazon's Black Friday deals available right now on movies and classic TV shows. Today (Tuesday) they're offering the first six Harry Potter movies on DVD or Blu-Ray for $69.99 as a gold box set. (Yes, Harry Potter is a mystery. We've discussed that.) There are lots of other deals, too. They make great gifts for friends or family. Or for yourself. If you use my link (or the Amazon search box on the right), I'll get a small cut as well, which helps defray the upkeep costs. Thanks!

"The Trinity Cat and Other Mysteries"

Most mystery readers are probably familiar with author Ellis Peters through her excellent historical mysteries featuring the adventures of Brother Cadfael, a twelfth century English monk. Many of the Cadfael books were turned into a very enjoyable television series which should have sent audience members out to find and read the original novels - because they are very good indeed.

So it's a pleasure to be able to recommend "The Trinity Cat and Other Mysteries," a collection of short stories by Ellis Peters, edited by Martin Edwards and the late Sue Feder. It's the subject of this week's review on the Classic Mysteries podcast, and you can listen to the full review here.

The stories do not feature Brother Cadfael - they are contemporary mysteries, written over the course of Peters' long writing career. As you read the stories, arranged in the chronological order in which they appeared, you can watch the development of Peters' enormous abilities as a writer. She was marvelous at setting her scenes and at developing warm, believable characters, prople you will get to know well enough to care what happens to them.

Consider the title story in the collection, "The Trinity Cat." You won't find any "cute" cats here, no talking animals or psychic felines. The Trinity cat is an ordinary cat - who, by behaving as any normal cat would behave, is able to lead a police sergeant to discover the true identity of a murderer. It's a marvelous story.

And, with Christmas around the corner, let me also recommend the story called "Let Nothing You Dismay," about some burglars who break into a house and the rather surprising events which follow from that break-in. As with so many of Peters' stories, the warmth of the story and the believability of the characters will carry you away. All in all, you'll find fifteen stories to be savored and enjoyed.

Checking the Backlist

Just a reminder, especially for those of you who may be fairly new to this site, that I've accumulated more than 180 podcast reviews of classic mysteries here over the past 3 1/2 years. If you check the backlist, you can see what was reviewed and listen to any of those reviews by clicking on the link. The list is alphabetized by author and title (there are skills to be gained by being married to a librarian).

With the holidays just ahead, if you are looking for copies of these books, and you don't have a favorite mystery book store, please feel free to search for them on Amazon.com, using the search box you'll find in the upper right hand corner of this site. If you do, I get a small percentage, which helps defray the hosting costs for this blog and the podcasts. For that matter, if there's anything else you want to buy online, why not check out Amazon for it first - again, if you use my search box link, I'll get a few cents for it, and I assure you it's much appreciated.

Where to Start with Michael Innes

As I've said in my last post, I find Michael Innes' "The Daffodil Affair" to be thoroughly enjoyable. However, if you have never read anything by Innes, I don't think it's a good place to start. The oddities and eccentricities of the plot and the characters might be a deterrent to your enjoyment, unless you're already familiar with Innes' quirky sense of humor.

As I wrote in a post several months ago, I think there are two other Innes books you should read first. One is "Lament for a Maker," which is a good introduction to his primary series detective, Inspector John Appleby. It's a riveting mystery set in the wilds of the Scottish Highlands. It is beautifully written, with an ending that is likely to leave you breathless. The second book is "The Journeying Boy," which is out-of-series. It's more of a thriller than a straight mystery, and there are some wonderfully surreal episodes in the book, but it's a funny, cleverly-written mystery and very much worth your time.

After these two books, there's a great deal more Innes to explore - including "The Daffodil Affair." It's difficult to go wrong with Innes (though I'm not thrilled by some of his later books featuring Charles Honeybath), and I'll be reviewing more of his books in the months ahead. At the moment, he seems to be in print and readily available - in fact, "Lament for a Maker" even has a Kindle version.

"The Daffodil Affair"

Michael Innes has always been one of my favorite British mystery writers. But I have to admit that some of his mysteries carry British eccentricity to the kind of extreme that I usually associate with writers such as Gladys Mitchell. Innes wrote a number of mysteries - some quite funny, but most with serious undertones - that really pushed the envelope in terms of odd plot twists.

This week's review on the Classic Mysteries podcast concerns one of those Innes mysteries, "The Daffodil Affair."  It's from fairly early in his career - 1942 - and the situation is most unusual: first a young girl disappears - a girl, we soon learn, with an unusual personality disorder. Then, we find that a house - a haunted house, no less - disappears, having apparently been disassembled and moved somewhere. And then there is the case of Daffodil, a horse frequently described here as "half-witted," but who apparently has the ability to count out numbers - and who also disappears. It's up to Inspector Appleby to figure out what's going on, and it eventually requires a journey for Appleby and another police inspector to the jungles of South America.

It's an odd plot - and features one of the most unusual motives for murder in any mystery I have ever read. It's a cross between a mystery and a thriller - there is a world domination plot going on here as well - and it's full of Innes' usual quirky touches of humor. Don't let its oddities put you off - it's a thoroughly enjoyable book. As always, you can listen to the full review here.

Criminal Gifts

Looking for ideas for the mystery lovers on your gift list? Jen Forbus at Jen's Book Thoughts has been talking to a lot of crime fiction writers to find out what other authors and books they would recommend as gifts for the widely-read mystery fanatic. She calls the series "Crime Writers Caught Recommending Crime." You'll find her conversations and the authors' thoughts here.

Crime Spree in the U. K.

I'm a little late to the party on this, but the latest monthly installment of Mike Ripley's "Getting Away with Murder" column (from Shots magazine) has been posted. If you want to know what's happening on the fictional crime scene in the U. K., this is the place to find out. It's well-written and informative and generally fun to read. Check it out.