“THESE PRECIOUS ILLUSIONS IN MY HEAD DID NOT LET ME DOWN . . . “

Author and blogger Margot Kinberg, who comes up with something thought-provoking every . . . single . . . day . . . recently offered up a tantalizing article about illusion. Her focus was on characters in mysteries whose lives, built to varying degrees around an illusory view of the world around them, form the …

PUBLISH OR PERISH: Helen McCloy’s Two Thirds of a Ghost

I have just come off reading Noel Vindry’s The Howling Beast: very French, very chauvinistic, and very 1934 puzzle-beats-all. That means that the characters were basically cardboard cutouts, and there’s no good bemoaning this fact, it’s the way things are with most Golden Age detective fiction. If you want more focus on character, you need …

PUZZLING PUDDLES: Paul Halter’s The Madman’s Room

“A family united all together under the same roof, in an old manor, with a generous and very rich man. If this were a novel, it would end in tragedy.” It would seem that the madman here is yours truly. My problematical relationship with author Paul Halter has been well documented on this site. And …

MY READINGS (AND REVISITINGS) OF 2016

Happy New Year, everyone! As a new blogger, I have only just become aware of the tradition in this community for those who blog about books to reflect on the past year in reading. Yes, let’s focus on the reading because in most other respects, for me at least, 2016 was not a keeper! So …

MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING: Norman Berrow Stumbles a Bit

“ Pretty boring job this, sir, to tell you the truth. Nothing happens. Nothing looks likely to happen.” Nobody pays closer attention to what bloggers recommend than other bloggers! I joined the GAD group on Facebook and started my own little operation here for two reasons: to locate others like me in this lonely world …

LET THE VACATION COMMENCE: A Blogger’s 12-Step Plan

It’s May 31, the fifth Tuesday of the month, and the final opportunity for the Tuesday Club Bloggers to post on our first “theme” month ever! Curtis, Kate, Bev, Moira, JJ and various guest stars have explored the concept of vacations and transport all month, and I suppose I could have sought out one more …

MURDER ON THE MOORS: Helen McCloy’s The One That Got Away

Whenever Rich over at Past Offenses - - announces his monthly exploration into the mystery fiction and films of a specific year, I always check the writers who most intrigue me to see what I can review. This month, the year is 1945, and one of my favorite recent finds, Helen McCloy, penned a mystery that …

A Meeting of the Criminal Minds: A Joint Review of Alias Basil Willing (1951)

Introduction I’ve been singing the praises of Helen McCloy ever since I discovered her novels last year. I’ve read and reviewed four or five of them and am excited that she wrote 28 novels and a number of short stories, about half of them featuring her series sleuth, New York psychiatrist Dr. Basil Willing. So …

DO YOU SWEAR TO TELL . . . ?:Helen McCloy’s The Deadly Truth

The year is 1941, and the shadow of war encroaches on our nation from both sides. Paris has fallen, and in a few short months the Japanese will bomb Pearl Harbor. You wouldn’t know this, however, if you peeked into the windows at Blessingbourne, the Long Island estate where society hostess Claudia Bethune and her …

THE DARKER REACHES: Helen McCloy’s The Slayer and the Slain

Thanks to a sale on Kindle, I snatched up about a half dozen titles by Helen McCloy and have been enjoying them like literary bonbons ever since. I previously reviewed two of her titles, Through a Glass, Darkly and Mr. Splitfoot, here. Both of these novels feature her sleuth, Dr. Basil Willing, a psychologist, allowing …