Golden Age of Detective Fiction

Our local library was having its annual summer library sale as a part of a more comprehensive town-wide celebration called “Crazy Days.” All the local stores had steep discounts, sidewalk sales, food trucks and bounce houses, and lots of happy people hanging out on the town square. It was a great way to celebrate our tight-knit community; the weather was hot and humid at 96 degrees. I picked up many exciting books, and I’m curious whether you have read anything I picked up.

Aunt Dimity Mystery Series

The Aunt Dimity series by Nancy Atherton was recommended to me by my grandma, who isn’t usually a fan of the cozy mystery genre, so I think there must be something different about these books to attract her attention. Nancy Atherton’s beloved series has been running strong since the initial publication of Aunt Dimity’s Death in 1992. I’m hoping to plunge right in, even though I found books 4, 9, 10, and 11 in the series. Do you have any favorites from the Aunt Dimity series that you recommend? Let me know in the comments.

A Matthew Hope Mystery Series

I am a fan of Ed McBain’s 87th Precinct series and even listen to a podcast about the book series with my husband, an Ed McBain superfan. I am going into the Matthew Perry series blind, so I hope I like this more noir style. I like the fairytale-inspired titles for the series. I picked up books 2, 5, 7, 8, and 10. You can read most of the 13-book series for free if you’re a kindle unlimited member.

British Library Crime Classics Series

It was dumb luck that I found another J. Jefferson Farjeon mystery and another John Dickson Carr just after writing reviews of The Crooks Shadow by Farjeon and Till Death Do Us Part by John Dickson Carr, but I’m glad to have them. I have started reading Seven Dead because the cover looks jaunty and inviting. I will hold off reading The Corpse in the Waxworks for a few months because I need a break from John Dickson Carr.

Murder, She Wrote Series

Recently, I’ve seen hardbacks of this Murder, She Wrote books everywhere, but I haven’t wanted to pay full price to check out the series. There seems to be a debate in the Murder, She Wrote fandom as to whether the Jessica Fletcher of the novels is like her television counterpart or more hard drinking and edgy. I am a casual fan of the show and have seen several seasons of it when it was free on Amazon Prime, so I am interested to see how this adaptation is shaped by the beloved series. Unfortunately, I could only find book 25 in a 56-book series, so I am sure there’s lots of character growth even within the book series, and the Jessica Fletcher in book one isn’t going to be the same as the one I read.

Brown’s Requiem by James Ellroy

A private eye solving delusotory crimes in seedy L.A. sounds really great. I am was also happy to find a book that doesn’t seem to be part of a series. I’ve also heard really good things about Ellroy’s books so I am excited to read this relatively recent, 2021, release.

Non Mystery Books

A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK • Ghana, eighteenth century: two half sisters are born into different villages, each unaware of the other. One will marry an Englishman and lead a life of comfort in the palatial rooms of the Cape Coast Castle. The other will be captured in a raid on her village, imprisoned in the very same castle, and sold into slavery.

Amazon

Homegoing is a phenomenal novel and I loved reading it when it first came out. I bought it to put in my Little Free Library so others can enjoy it in my community.

In After the Banquet, Mishima draws a portrait of a marriage in which lofty principles clash fatally with appetite and ambition. For years Kazu has run her fashionable restaurant with a combination of charm and shrewdness. But when the middle-aged entrepreneur falls in love with one of her clients, an aristocratic retired politician, she renounces her business in order to become his wife. In time, however, Kazu decides to resurrect her husband’s political career. She embarks on a series of compromises and evasions that will force her to choose between her marriage and the demands of her irrepressible vitality.

Amazon

The cover art and the back blurb pulled me in, and I can’t wait to read this new to me Japanese author. Yukio Mishima seems to be a prolific writer, and her book covers are gorgeous, so if I like After the Banquet, there will be several other books to read next.

Have you read any of the books I picked up in this book haul? Leave any non-spoiler comments down below.