Vintage Mystery – Page 8 – Carol's Notebook

The Crime at Black Dudley by Margery Allingham

May 2, 2019May 2, 2019 by Carol6 Comments

I knew going in that The Crime at Black Dudley is not the best of Allingham's Albert Campion series, but it's the first even if he is only a minor character, and if you can start a series at the beginning, why not? Allingham, along with Christie, Sayers, and Marsh, is one of the "Queens of Crime," the only one I hadn't read. I love Christie and Marsh, couldn't care less about Sayers, and am undecided on Allingham. We've got a country house party with an odd assortment of guests. And then somebody's killed, but then it kind of runs amok and the younger set of guests, in their 20's give or take, are held hostage by a batch of criminals, and they need to escape before they end up dead. I'm not a big fan of the international gang type of mysteries. I want smaller mysteries if that makes sense, not ones that could have CONSEQUENCES. It all...

Final Curtain by Ngaio Marsh

April 18, 2019April 18, 2019 by CarolNo Comments

The Final Curtain has a lot of similarities to many of Marsh's other mysteries. We've got a country house party. Inspector Alleyn doesn't show up until about halfway through. We've got a young couple who are meant to be together but have difficulties in the way. We've got a tie to both art and the theater. But Marsh winds these bits together with a pretty terrible family and comes up with an enjoyable mystery that had me stumped. WW 2 is over and Agatha Troy is waiting for her husband, Inspector Alleyn to return from New Zealand. To pass the last couple of weeks, she accepts a commission that takes her to Ancreton Manor to paint a portrait of Sir Henry Ancred, a famous Shakespearean actor in his Macbeth costume. The first half-ish of the book shows us the Ancred family from Troy's point of view and they are overall a melodramatic, argumentative bunch, not people to enjoy spending...

Murder by Matchlight by E. C. R. Lorac

March 12, 2019March 12, 2019 by Carol6 Comments

Murder by Matchlight features Scotland Yard's imperturbable Chief Inspector Robert MacDonald, who is tasked with finding the killer of the man on the bridge. His only evidence: a set of bicycle tracks that come to an abrupt end. His suspects: a colorful cast that includes the shy, soft-spoken witness, a respected London physician, a screenwriter, an unemployed laborer, and a vaudevillian specializing in illusions. This is the first of Lorac's MacDonald mysteries I've read. MacDonald is a good character, smart, kind, a gentleman. He's got several cops who work for him who have their own characteristics. But they are all honest and good at their jobs. The job is not easy. The dead man lived in a boarding house along with several "theater" people. The suspects are definitely more interesting than the detective. What makes Murder by Matchlight stand out is the war time London setting. The blackout restrictions and Nazi bombings are integral to the plot. It's neat to see how...

Swing, Brother, Swing by Ngaio Marsh

March 8, 2019March 11, 2019 by Carol4 Comments

Swing, Brother, Swing is fairly typical for Marsh. We have a dysfunctional family, headed by Lord Pastern and Baggott, whose newest obsession is playing the timpani for a swing band. Pastern's step-daughter, Fee, is not quite but almost engaged to Carlos, who plays the accordion. Carlos is sleazy and overly jealous, and Fee is not quite sure what to do about the situation. She's even written to an advice columnist about it. Turns out, she doesn't have to worry. He gets killed during the band's act. Happily, Alleyn was watching the show and loses no time starting the investigation. We also have a young couple, Carlisle and Edward Manx. At the beginning of the book they are friends, but we see the relationship evolving as the night and day unfold. A young couple who should be together and deserve a happy ending often shows up in Marsh's books. The murder weapon is interesting in this one; it's not one of the...

So Pretty a Problem by Francis Duncan

March 5, 2019March 11, 2019 by Carol6 Comments

So Pretty a Problem is the third of the Mordecai Tremaine books. Mordeaci, our amateur sleuth, is a retired tobacconist with a fondness for romance literature. He's mild-mannered but a shrewd observer of people. Tremaine has accompanied his good friend Scotland Yard Inspector Jonathan Boyce to Cornwall for a relaxing holiday, with nothing on the agenda but lazing around and soaking up the summer sun. So, of course, Tremaine gets caught up in the murder of a local celebrity, painter Adreian Carthallo. Tremaine had met the artist and his wife, Helen, several months earlier in London and had continued his acquaintance with them in Cornwall, where their vacation home was. I really liked how So Pretty a Problem was structured. First we jump right into the mystery. Adreian is dead and his wife admits to killing him - although accidentally. Of course, her story has holes galore and the local inspector isn't buying it. Happily, Mordecai is on the spot...

Hercule Poirot’s Christmas by Agatha Christie

January 3, 2019January 3, 2019 by Carol6 Comments

When will these older, wealthy men stop inviting their whole families, most of whom hate them or each other, to Christmas house parties? Simeon Lee is the one who's done it this time. All his children, a grandchild none of the others know, and an old "friend's" son, are at the house for Christmas and of course Simeon Lee ends up dead, killed in a locked room. There are plenty of motives, although how was he killed is a good question. The killer was a surprise to me. I'm not sure we really had enough clues to guess who it was on our own. But it's a good ending. I do love Christie. I also listened to this short story. It's another Christmas only this time, Poirot already knows what the crime was, a stolen gem. It's his job to track it down. But he also learns how enjoyable an English Christmas can be. There's no actual murder in this one, which...