AN ACDC INTERLUDE: Introducing Colonel March, Looking Pretty Good in a Pair of Shorts

Those of you who are good enough to follow my adventures through the treasure trove that makes up A Carter Dickson Celebration will know that we last left off in 1938 with The Judas Window. The next novel, Death in Five Boxes – a first timer for me – will follow in due course. Both …

THE REIGN OF PAIN STAYS MAINLY IN THE PLANE: Franco Vailati’s The Flying Boat Mystery

Trains and boats and planes are passing by They mean a trip to Paris or Rome For someone else but not for me The trains and the boats and planes Took you away, away from me                                             I’m sure when Burt Bacharach wrote this melancholy song, he never imagined that the thing that “took you away …

ACDC, PART EIGHT: Waving Through the (Judas) Window

For those mystery fans who may be in the dark about the title of this post, it’s a reference to Dear Evan Hansen, the award-winning musical about a lonely boy on the spectrum who one day decides to have a drink with his prospective father-in-law over a game of bows-and-arrows behind the locked door of …

THE MAN WHO MET THE MEN WHO EXPLAINED MIRACLES: Part I

You all know I went to London and met a lot of people and saw a lot of presentations and had a lot of fun and bought two books that sort of stank . . . a lot. But the absolute highpoint of my trip was a Monday night at the end of June, in …

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 …

REPRINT OF THE YEAR : Les Crimes Impossibles, à la Française

Today’s post is not so much tinged with irony as soaked in it. Many months ago, Kate Jackson invited me to be part of a sort of “contest” designed to cast a light on some of the marvelous re-issues of classic mysteries that have occurred this year. We were asked to name our poison, so …

PONDERING THE IMPOSSIBLE, CHRISTIE-STYLE

I’VE never hung out so much with other guys until I started blogging about death. Seriously, if you knew me, it makes total sense that this GAD commentator would associate with the elegant Moira, the scrappy Kate, and the sagacious Bev. To my surprise and delight, however, I find myself welcomed into the company of …

GAME, SET, AND MATCH, CARR STYLE

Before you read any further, please note that if I had any trouble with today’s mystery novel, it had more to do with me than with the book itself. You see, the school term finally came to an end on Friday, and I have to say that if someone had rung my doorbell two weeks …

THE SEVEN BLUNDERS OF THE SEVEN WONDERS OF CRIME

I want to make it clear right from the start. I have nothing against ambition. They called the Wright Brothers foolhardy for imagining they could fly. Yet this real-life Daedalus and Icarus gave vent to their ambition, and because of them I can now relax in my cramped seat on Jet Blue, hoping against hope …

DRACULA IT AIN’T: Paul Halter’s The Vampire Tree

After reading all of Agatha Christie’s novels and stories – most of them multiple times – I feel I can talk about her with, if not authority, then great confidence. After reading nine novels by Paul Halter, an author I have admittedly had trouble appreciating, I cannot admit any authority or confidence, but I feel …