ACDC, PART SEVEN: Smashing the Teacups

After a lifetime of denial, I finally gave Carter Dickson a try a little over two and a half years ago. My experience was so pleasant that I picked up another right away. I based my choice on the fact that a trusted friend was posting a spoiler-filled piece on this one, and I wanted …

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THE MORLAND CONUNDRUM

A question for my fellow bloggers: do you ever start writing a book review before you finish the book? Maybe you write the introduction, giving background on the author or the history of the novel in question. Maybe you’re halfway through reading, and you’re getting a really good - or bad – feeling about how the …

TIC-TAC! TIC-TAC!: Paul Halter’s The Gold Watch

This is really a special event! For the first time, Paul Halter is releasing his newest work in English before it is published in French. And while the new book, The Gold Watch, er, clocks in at a typical 178 pages, its scope is nothing short of epic. Divided into two narratives - yet essentially …

FALLING STAR/RISING STAR: The Opening Night Murders by James Scott Byrnside

For a long time, my pal JJ has taken a strong interest in modern authors who self-publish impossible crime mysteries. Sometimes things do not work out so well, but once in a while an author hits the mark. Clearly the most exciting discovery JJ has made thus far has been James Scott Byrnside. If you …

THE IRONIC FRAGILITY OF THE JAW-DROPPER ENDING

They are the solutions that you can’t forget, no matter how much you try. You desperately want to re-read and experience that delicious jolt you got the first time, but you can’t. There’s something so original or special or boundary-breaking about these books that often they end up at the top of many “best of” …

ACDC, PART FOUR: “Don’t Wanna Be in the Room Where It Happened” in The Red Widow Murders

Before I conceived of this chronological Carter Dickson celebration, my experiences with Sir Henry Merrivale were more piecemeal. Even when I spotted and grabbed a lot of Carter Dickson novels on eBay and placed them carefully on my shelf in order of publication, I grabbed down She Died a Lady first because . . . well, …

ACDC, PART THREE: Footprints and Fade-Outs in The White Priory Murders

“The first thing is to determine the murderer’s motive. I don’t mean his motive for murder, but for creating an impossible situation. That’s very important, son, because it’s the best kind of clue tothe motive for murder. Why’d he do it? Nobody but a loony is goin’ to indulge in a lot of unreasonable hocus-pocus …