Golden Age of Detective Fiction

Stacking The Shelves is a meme hosted by Tynga’s Reviews and Reading Reality, all about sharing the books you are adding to your shelves, whether physical or virtual. This means you can include books you buy in physical stores or online, books you borrow from friends or the library, review books, gifts, eBooks, and audiobooks.

Purchases

Albert Campion is sailing home when he saves the life of fellow passenger, Judge Crowdy Lobbett. Hunted by the notoriously deadly Simister gang, it seems as though the judge’s troubles have followed him from America.

Amazon

Patrick Quentin, best known for the Peter Duluth puzzle mysteries, also penned outstanding detective novels from the 1930s through the 1960s under other pseudonyms, including Q. Patrick and Jonathan Stagge. Anthony Boucher wrote: “Quentin is particularly noted for the enviable polish and grace which make him one of the leading American fabricants of the murderous comedy of manners; but this surface smoothness conceals intricate and meticulous plot construction as faultless as that of Agatha Christie.”
 
On extended shore leave from the war in the Pacific, navy lieutenant Peter Duluth and his movie star wife, Iris, have escaped from the prying eyes of the press, landing at the Nevada desert mansion of their friend Lorraine Playgel. Unfortunately, they aren’t alone.
 
Staying with Lorraine are three old school friends who are all waiting to get a Reno divorce from their respective husbands for very different reasons. But the brassy Lorraine can’t help but stir up some drama by inviting all three soon-to-be exes out to the oasis. Naturally, things are a bit uncomfortable at first.
 
Then the tension snaps with lethal results. One of the hopeful divorcées turns up dead, followed quickly by another. Knowing there must be a lot more than just alimony at stake, Peter and Iris start hunting for a killer who’s taking “till death do we part” quite literally . . .

Amazon

On the quiet Berkeley campus, a visiting professor has been murdered. Someone stabbed Dr. Hugo Schaedel through the heart with an ice pick, and the only clue found on the scene is a strange symbol scrawled on a crumpled piece of paper.
 
Research fellow Martin Lamb is intrigued by the case and mentions it to his Sanskrit professor, John Ashwin. Together they hope to deduce who did the deed, but with no clear motive, it won’t be easy. They’ll need to quickly comb the campus for clues and hit the books—before the killer hits again . . .

Amazon

Somewhere among the dust and cobwebs of the sinister Benevent Mansion lies the legendary Benevent treasure. But a terrible death has been prophesied for whoever uncovers it. When Candida Sayle is invited to visit her elderly maiden aunts, she dismisses such gloomy thoughts. But as Candida begins to discover the family’s dark secrets she puts herself in grave danger. Thankfully Miss Silver has investigative skills of her own.

Amazon

Murder is no laughing matter.

Yet a prominent Indian scientist dies in a fit of giggles when a Hindu goddess appears from a mist and plunges a sword into his chest.

The only one laughing now is the main suspect, a powerful guru named Maharaj Swami, who seems to have done away with his most vocal critic.

Vish Puri, India’s Most Private Investigator, master of disguise and lover of all things fried and spicy, doesn’t believe the murder is a supernatural occurrence, and proving who really killed Dr. Suresh Jha will require all the detective’s earthly faculties. To get at the truth, he and his team of undercover operatives—Facecream, Tubelight, and Flush—travel from the slum where India’s hereditary magicians must be persuaded to reveal their secrets to the holy city of Haridwar on the Ganges.

How did the murder weapon miraculously crumble into ash? Will Maharaj Swami have the last laugh? And perhaps more important, why is Puri’s wife, Rumpi, chasing petty criminals with his Mummy-ji when she should be at home making his rotis?

Stopping only to indulge his ample Punjabi appetite, Puri uncovers a web of spirituality, science, and sin unique in the annals of crime.

Amazon

Library Loot

The Fairway Players, a local theatre group, is in the midst of rehearsals when tragedy strikes the family of director Martin Hayward and his wife Helen, the play’s star. Their young granddaughter has been diagnosed with a rare form of cancer, and with an experimental treatment costing a tremendous sum, their castmates rally to raise the money to give her a chance at survival.

But not everybody is convinced of the experimental treatment’s efficacy—nor of the good intentions of those involved. As tension grows within the community, things come to a shocking head at the explosive dress rehearsal. The next day, a dead body is found, and soon, an arrest is made. In the run-up to the trial, two young lawyers sift through the material—emails, messages, letters—with a growing suspicion that the killer may be hiding in plain sight. The evidence is all there, between the lines, waiting to be uncovered.

A wholly modern and gripping take on the epistolary novel, The Appeal is a “daring…clever, and funny” (The Times, London) debut for fans of Richard Osman and Lucy Foley

BBCOne show creator of Death in Paradise, Robert Thorogood delights in giving the Christie-mystery a busy-body twist. Judith (our favorite skinny-dipping, whiskey-sipping, crossword puzzle author), along with Becks the vicar’s wife, and Susie the dogwalker find themselves in a head-scratching, utterly clever country house, locked-room murder mystery. 

Holiday festivities are now January doldrums when Judith gets a call—Sir Peter Bailey, a prominent Marlovian is inviting notable citizens to his house the day before his wedding to celebrate. 

Judith decides to go—after all, it’s a few houses up the Thames and free champagne, for sure. During the party, a loud crash inside stops the festivities. The groom-to-be has been crushed to death in his study. The door was locked from the inside so the police say suicide, obviously. 

Amazon

 When Conrad Stanley dies, Laura is the only heir not concerned with her slice of his estate. Orphaned at a young age, she was Stanley’s ward, and cannot celebrate the death of the only father she ever knew. The executors of Stanley’s will find that he had a Polish relative, Conrad Stanislowski, who is due part of the inheritance. A search for Stanislowski produces only his daughter: eight-year-old Jonny, who comes to Chicago to live with Laura. Soon a man claiming to be Stanislowski turns up at Laura’s doorstep, demanding his daughter and his chunk of Stanley’s wealth. When the mysterious interloper is found stabbed to death, Laura is a suspect. If she doesn’t move fast, the only inheritance she gets from dear, departed Conrad will be a permanent stay in a federal prison.

Amazon

I am going on a few trips in June, so I just loaded up my Kindle with a few books by authors I enjoy and am hoping for the best. These are all blind buys, so if you’ve read any of them, let me know in the comments below!