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.

Purchased Print Books

Goodreads Blurbs:

Crofts constructs his alibi with immense elaboration…The story is highly successful, and Mr Crofts is to be congratulated upon his experiment’ – Dorothy L. Sayers

We begin with a body. Andrew Crowther, a wealthy retired manufacturer, is found dead in his seat on the 12.30 flight from Croydon to Paris. Rather less orthodox is the ensuing flashback in which we live with the killer at every stage, from the first thoughts of murder to the strains and stresses of living with its execution. Seen from the criminal’s perspective, a mild-mannered Inspector by the name of French is simply another character who needs to be dealt with. This is an unconventional yet gripping story of intrigue, betrayal, obsession, justification and self-delusion. And will the killer get away with it?

The 12:30 from Croydon

Series: Inspector French (#11)

349 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1934. This edition was published February 7, 2017 by Poisoned Pen Press.

Goodreads Blurb:

Richard Temperley arrives at Euston station early on a fogbound London morning. He takes refuge in a nearby hotel, along with a disagreeable fellow passenger, who had snored his way through the train journey. But within minutes the other man has snored for the last time – he has been shot dead while sleeping in an armchair.

Temperley has a brief encounter with a beautiful young woman, but she flees the scene.

When the police arrive, Detective Inspector James discovers a token at the crime scene: a small piece of enamelled metal. Its colour was crimson, and it was in the shape of the letter Z. Temperley sets off in pursuit of the mysterious woman from the hotel, and finds himself embroiled in a cross-country chase – by train and taxi – on the tail of a sinister serial killer.

This classic novel by the author of the best-selling Mystery in White is a gripping thriller by a neglected master of the genre.

The Z Murders

Series: British Library Crime Classics

256 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1932. This edition was published September 1, 2015 by Poisoned Pen Press

Purchased Kindle eBooks

Which Way to Die?

Series: Tim Corrigan

199 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1967.Published September 29, 2015 by MysteriousPress.com/Open Road

Goodreads Blurbs:

“There’s no dirty trick he wouldn’t play—it’s my belief that he wouldn’t even stop at murder!”
Her husband unmasked as a scoundrel, Lady Cynthia Letchingham seeks refuge at her cousin Hannah’s north-country home Greylands. But on Cynthia’s arrival, she finds Hannah an invalid, having recently suffered a mysterious paralysis; the house is devoid of servants, and Hannah’s husband, charming and sinister by turns, keeps watch over everything and everyone. Only the presence of charming Sybil Hammond and a darkly handsome neighbour relieve the atmosphere for Cynthia – but then a dark red stain appears mysteriously on the sleeve of her coat…

What has really happened to Hannah, and the other entangled mysteries along the way, make The Secret of Greylands (1924) an absorbing golden age crime novel matching Wilkie Collins’ high Victorian gothic to the agility of early jazz age fiction. This new edition, the first in over eighty years, features an introduction by crime fiction historian Curtis Evans.

The Secret of Greylands

232 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1924. March 1, 2016 by Dean Street Press

I picked up The Z Murders and The 12:30 From Croydon from a used bookstore in Wisconsin. I probably won’t get to them too soon because I’ve reviewed several Crofts and Farjeon books over the last year, but I’m glad to tohave them!