I feel like March flew by. I spent most of it lying in bed, recovering from foot surgery, and watching Poirot on a loop, so it did for me. I got some good deals this month, and my purchases are eclectic and feature quite a few 2024 re-releases of Golden Age mysteries, so I hope I got some good reads.
Purchases
I recognized the title Death in the Dusk by Virgil Markham from Martin Edwards The Story of Classic Crime and was excited to see it in print after a long hiatus out of print. This 2024 release by Spitfire Publisher LTD is a country house mystery- a classic mystery favorite of mine- set on the wild Welsh countryside during an upcoming wedding an full of gothic flair. I feel like Wales is definetly under represented in the ouevre of classic mystery and I am excited to read Virgil Markham’s debut novel since he is a titan of the age.
Tragedy at the Unicorn is another 2024 Spitfire Publisher LTD release. In this Dr. Priestley mystery, five yachtsmen arrive at the ritzy Unicorn Hotel, and one of them is mysteriously poisoned. There’s a lot of summer, sea, and murder so I am putting this on my potential 20 Books of summer list for 2024.
Underground: A Golden Age Murder Mystery by J. Jefferson Farjeon is a bit of a wildcard purchase. I have read a few Farjeon mysteries: Crook’s Shadow and Seven Dead and I liked them both…but was also spent much of my reading experience totally off kilter. I am hoping this atmospheric country house mystery with a heavy dose of spooks and a kidnapping will be a winner, but even if I hate it, I definely won’t guess what’s coming next.
13 White Tulips and Murder on the Purple Water by Frances Crane were based wholly on how much I loved the mystery and love triangles in Black Cypress. I was a massive fan of the savvy and sassy Jean Abbott and look forward to further cases with the Abbotts. I’ll be honest; the only clue is that the red roses in his room were changed to white. Not exactly a scintillating copy, but hopefully, there’s more to discover in the story.
Murder on the Purple Water sounds like a fun rom. Set in sunny Key West, the Abbotts get more than they bargained for on their vacation when a friend wants them to help dispose of a dead body. Far away from their police friends the Abbotts must solve this case urgently. What a great hook! I can’t wait to read Murder on the Purple Water when I’m sitting on the beach with a cool drink in my hand.
From the cover art, but it is not. However, I was glad to get the first Dr. Gideon Fell mystery to add to my growing collection of John Dickson Carr titles; Hag’s Nook, a tale of generational hanging deaths at a prison, appears to have some aspects in common with his Sir Henry Merrivale mystery The Plague Court Murders which I think will be interesting to explore.
The White Priory Murders, another John Dickson Carr mystery, found its way onto my kindle after going on sale this month. I bought it for two reasons: the first is that my April TBR will be British Library Crime Classics themed, so I want to have as many titles to choose from, and the second is because John Dickson Carr writing a Christmas-themed mystery is baffling to me. He seems to revel in gothic horror, seances, and busting bogus spiritualists, so I am curious if these themes will somehow translate into a festive Christmas mystery or if he’ll go on another tack altogether. If I don’t read it in April, it will be around Christmas.
Weekend at Thrackley is a country house party thrown by an old army colonel who has been holed away in India for decades and has returned to England. Many of his guests don’t remember how they know him but are too polite to turn down a weekend of free food and drink. With hunting, shooting, fishing, and murder, this country house mystery ticks all the golden age mystery boxes.
This relatively late entry into the Inspector Littlejohn series has me very excited. A week after a man has gone missing, he is found only he has a case of amnesia and can’t remember who he is or why he left his post as harbor master. Firstly, my reason for buying this is purely puerile; I think stories featuring amnesia are funny. I don’t know why, but it’s always done to such an over-the-top and ridiculous effect that it makes me laugh, intentionally or not. It was on sale. I like the works I’ve read by Bellairs, so I picked them up for my own amusement.
I quickly snatched this Top of the Heap copy when I saw it on sale in the mystery section of Apple iBooks. My husband is a vast Erle Stanley Gardner fan and has all of the Perry Mason books, but he has never read any of the Cool and Lam series, which are surprisingly difficult to find and are mainly out of print. A few books in the series are available from various publishers, but that’s only been the case for the last few years. You can read my review of Top of the Heap here.
I found these two Inspector French mysteries at a used bookstore this month and was happy to add them to my collection. I’ve enjoyed all of the Inspector French books I’ve read.
Inspector French and the Sea Mystery sounds similar to various actual crime cases: two fishermen haul in a shipping crate, and inside is a dead body. Inspector French is called to investigate the death and to help identify the body. The back blurb is a little barebones in details, but knowing Freeman Wills Crofts, there will be much whizzing around Europe, breaking of alibis, and analyzing timetables.
Inspector French and the Starvel Hollow Mystery has a lot to sink your teeth into. A house burned to the ground, and three dead bodies were found inside. There was a case of body snatching, banking irregularities, and much more. I look forward to this mystery and can’t wait to read all the twists and turns.
Golden Age of Detective Fiction 
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