Golden Age of Detective Fiction

In 2023, I posted a weekly feature called “Stacking the Shelves,” where I reviewed what I bought, borrowed from the library, or was gifted. It often generated an excellent discussion with readers about what everyone was reading and currently adding to their shelves, which I would like to continue. Still, I found buying things weekly and writing a post about it time-consuming and a little stifling. I don’t buy books weekly, and trying to make sure there were new things to post every week was a little overwhelming, especially since the library in my town is only open three days a week and living in a rural area means it takes a long time for books to get to my house. So, in 2024, I’m streamlining the process by posting what I get every month, and hopefully, that will still facilitate a lively discussion on what everyone is buying without so much pressure from me.

Purchases

I purchased quite a lot in January (thank you Amazon gift cards that I got for Christmas), and I really tried to focus on filling in the gaps that I have in the series that I am collecting, notably the Anthony Bathurst series written by Brian Flynn, and the Bobby Owen series, by E. R. Punshon.

I reviewed The Billiard Room Mystery recently and liked it and decided to pick up the next two books, The Case of the Black Twenty-Two and The Peacock’s Eye because I already had the fourth book, The Murder at Mapleton which I am planning to review around Christmas.

I’m reading Information Received by E.R. Punshon and impulsively bought the following several books since they were only $0.99 for Amazon Kindle. Several blogs I follow have recently reviewed E. R. Punshon’s work and have interested me in reading them.

I bought the two Ellery Queen books, The Last Score and The Campus Murders, to help complete my Ellery Queen collection. I couldn’t resist showing my husband, a college professor, The Campus Murders, and he said he hoped I wasn’t getting any ideas (I’m not). I usually like to have a few school/college-related mysteries to read around the end of August or early September, so that will probably sit on my TBR shelf to read later.

As an affirmed John Dickson Carr novice, I picked up The Devil in Velvet and The Witch of the Low Tide on the recommendation of a librarian friend. I’m somewhat lukewarm on Carr, finding his need to concoct the most dazzling puzzle to sometimes come at the expense of logic or storytelling. However, I was told these well-researched historical mysteries might be more up my alley. So, I picked them up while they were on sale.

The Widow of Bath, a part of the British Library Crime Classics series, was an automatic must when it was on sale. I have reviewed many British Library Crime Classics on this blog, and they are well-written and meticulously crafted books. I bought Rim of the Pit because I enjoy collecting and reviewing the American Classic Mysteries. Given it’s about a Seance gone wrong in the dead of winter, I think it will make a perfect read around Halloween.

I have listened to all of Sophie Hannah’s New Hercule Poirot series, and while they aren’t my favorite, I wanted to add them to my collection since I bought the first in the series, The Monogram Murders, several years ago. I was lucky to receive the second, third, and fifth books for Christmas, but not having The Killings at Kingfisher Hill drove me crazy. I haven’t posted any of the Sophie Hannah series on my blog, but I will try to get them up throughout the year.

The last two books: The Murder of Mrs. Davenport and The Dinner Party at Bardolph’s just sounded interesting. Country house mysteries are full of drama and intrigue. The bread and butter of Golden Age mysteries!

Library Loot

Usually most of my reading comes from the public library, and even though I got a huge haul from the library in January, most went unopened. I was really enjoying my collection so I only read four books from the library and I think all of them will be reviewed in February,

I remember renting Girl Waits With Gun soon after it hit the shelves in 2016, disliking it, and abandoning it only partly read. However, I went back to it and really enjoyed it. It’s long and not constructed with the usual conventions of a mystery story, but the writing is so vivid, and the real-life story of the Kopp sisters on which the book is based is fascinating.

Readers of the blog will know that E.C.R. Lorac was one of my favorite authors of 2023, and I reviewed many books, including Fell Murder, These Names Make Clues, Post After Post-Mortem, and others. Unfortunately, I found The Theft of the Iron Dogs rather middling and, dare I say…boring. It’s not a bad book, but it’s just forgettable.

I’m listening to Over My Dead Body, read by Ben Tucker and written by Rex Stout. It’s one of the few Rex Stout books I can access through my library, and it’s been enjoyable. I realized that it also is the plot of one of the handful of Nero Wolfe episodes I’ve seen, so unfortunately, I ruined the plot for myself- but maybe the ending will be different than the TV adaptation? (Please, no spoilers in the comments below.) It’s been interesting to see how Rex Stout has refined his writing style and characterizations since the first Nero Wolfe book, Fer De Lance.

The last book I’ll discuss today is The Cold Dish by Craig Johnson. I became a big fan of the “Longmire” TV show several years ago, and sometime during the show, I picked up The Cold Dish but never finished it because I liked it better. I still agree with my assessment but wanted to get into the books. They are pretty light and easy to read, and I’ll be traveling a lot, so this series is going to be a nice take on those long plane rides.