Golden Age of Detective Fiction

Welcome to WWW Wednesday! This meme was formerly hosted by MizB at A Daily Rhythm and is currently revived by Taking on a World of Words. You can participate by answering the three questions below and leaving a link to your post in the comments for others to look at. No blog? No problem! Just leave a comment with your responses. Please, take some time to visit the other participants and see what others are reading. So, let’s get to it!

What are you currently reading?

Goodreads Blurb:

A train speeding through the Mexican desert pulls out of a tunnel, and the passengers discover that murder was committed in the tunnel. It’s a classic situation: a closed carload of people, one of whom must be the killer, but all have something to hide.

I started reading Vultures in the Sky last week but have made little headway due to my dog being ill and a scheduled hospital procedure on myself. I have loved the claustrophobic train atmosphere and southwestern setting so I am itching to finish it soon.

Goodreads Blurb:

C. Daly King’s debut mystery is a tale of murder, travel, and psychiatry set aboard a luxury transatlantic liner The smoking room on a transatlantic cruise ship is bound to be a hotbed of activity ― but it’s less common for it to be the site of a murder. Yet, when the lights flicker aboard the luxury Meganaut, making its way from New York to Paris, this is precisely what happens; in the darkness, a gunshot rings out, and when the light is restored, a man is found dead. The situation becomes all the more curious when it’s discovered that the deceased had apparently ingested cyanide just seconds before being penetrated by the bullet.  Luckily, for the other passengers, there are two detectives aboard the Meganaut, ready to leap into action. There are also four psychiatrists, and those psychiatrists convince the captain to let them take a stab at solving the crime, using their professional understanding of the human psyche to determine who could have been capable of such a crime ― and why. But will they be able to deduce the puzzle’s solution before the killer strikes again? The first of seven novels by psychologist C. Daly King, Obelists at Sea is intelligent and enjoyable Golden Age mystery fare, featuring an atmospheric setting, carefully placed clues, and a complex whodunnit plot explained with sharp-witted ratiocination.

I don’t know if I will finish this #20booksofsummer23 pick. I’ve been reading it for several weeks, and it’s so dull. I have had a lot of DNFs lately, so I am loathe to give it up, but it’s been a struggle.

What did you recently finish reading?

Goodreads Blurb:

Inspector Alan Grant searches for the identity of a man killed in the line at a theater and for the identity of the killer—whom no one saw.

A long line had formed for the standing-room-only section of the Woffington Theatre. London’s favorite musical comedy of the past two years was finishing its run at the end of the week. Suddenly, the line began to move, forming a wedge before the open doors as hopeful theatergoers nudged their way forward. But one man, his head sunk down upon his chest, slowly sank to his knees and then, still more slowly, keeled over on his face. Thinking he had fainted, a spectator moved to help, but recoiled in horror from what lay before him: the man in the queue had a small silver dagger neatly plunged into his back. With the wit and guile that have made Inspector Grant a favorite of mystery fans, the inspector sets about discovering just how a murder occurred among so many witnesses, none of whom saw a thing.

I have several Inspector Grant mysteries on my shelves that I haven’t reviewed for my blog so I thought I would re-read his first adventure: The Man in the Queue. Josephine Tey’s debut detective novel is a little uneven, but the inciting incident of a man mysteriously being stabbed in a crowded queue is a favorite of mine. I will post a review soon.

Goodreads Blurb:

Althea Graham might have had a life of her own, had it not been for her mother. But when her father died she inherited her bitter, temperamental parent along with the house, and she has borne that burden ever since. She nearly escaped once, but her engagement to Nicholas Carey caused her mother to fall into illness, convincing Althea to keep living with her until the sickness claimed her life. That was five years ago, and Mrs. Graham is as fit as ever. Althea’s gloom lifts when Nicholas returns, and it appears that love may bloom again. Mother clings as tightly as ever, of course, but Althea has hope once more. Then murder comes to their household, and the young woman’s last chance at happiness is dashed forever—unless Maud Silver, the gentlewoman detective, can save the day.

This is another #20booksofsummer23 reads and you can read my review here.

Goodreads Blurb:

Desperately afraid, Judith Chandler barricades herself in her bedroom. Her sister, detective novelist Lois, has no patience for Judith’s bizarre behavior. However, a real-life mystery unfolds when Judith disappears from her locked room without a trace.

You can read my review here.

What will you read next?

Goodreads Blurb:

An isolated country house sets the scene for a wartime mystery from the #1 New York Times –bestselling author known as the American Agatha Christie.
  As far as Carol Spencer is concerned, the war has spoiled everything. She and Don had been engaged for years and were on the verge of marriage when he was shot down in the South Pacific, leaving Carol on the verge of spinsterhood at twenty-four. She wants to take some kind of job in the war effort, but her invalid mother demands that Carol accompany her to the family’s summer home in Maine. But when they arrive at the faded mansion, they find it completely locked up. The servants are gone, the lights are dark—and there is a body in the closet.
There is a killer on the grounds of the abandoned Spencer estate, and the police believe it is Carol. As war rages across the seas, Carol Spencer fights a private battle of her own—to prove her own innocence, and to save her mother’s life. 

One of my final #20booksofsummer23 reads and another Mary Roberts Rinehart mystery. I keep telling myself I should give her books a break, but I love them, and the covers are so jaunty- in great contrast to the content I find.