Category: Books

I don't know why it has taken me so long to get around to reading The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett. It's a title I've known for as long as I can remember and the physical book has actually been sitting on my shelf for years, but it's not a book that screams for attention or begs and pleads to be read. It sits there and stares at you, it couldn't care less if you read it or not. It's good, it doesn't need you to validate it, or publicize it, it doesn't care about you. But once you pick it up, it hooks you, with it's grittiness and meanness and attitude. It's the bad guy you always end up falling for, who's going to break your heart or get you killed. The Maltese Falcon is a classic of crime fiction for several reasons. Sam Spade is the hard-boiled, detective, a blonde satan with a chip on his shoulder. He's detached and determined to achieve justice,...

Death at the Bar by Ngaio Marsh is a traditional mystery that features her series detective, Inspector Roderick Alleyn. A prominent lawyer dies in the pub of a small coastal town in southwestern England. Notice the two ways "bar" plays into the story. He seemingly dies after being pricked by a dart, and everyone swears it must have been an accident, but of course we know it was murder. Inspector Alleyn heads down to investigate, thankful to get away from London for a while. The first part of the book is quite clearly setting up the mystery. We meet the local townsfolk and the lawyer, Luke Watchman, who is on vacation with Sebastian Parish, an actor, and Norman Cubitt, a painter. It becomes obvious who the victim will be be as Marsh lays out all the other character's motive for wanting him dead. And there are quite a lot of possiblities. Although the suspect list is limited to the people in the bar that...

It's already July; I can't believe it. Of course, it's been hot enough lately. Thank goodness we got our air conditioner finally fixed. Here are the books that arrived at my house last month. Mailbox Monday is hosted by Jennifer at Mrs. Q: Book Addict this month. Artists and Thieves by Linda Schroeder - from the author and Pump Up Your Book Princess Elizabeth's Spy by Susan Elia MacNeal - from Bantam Dell Tigers in Red Weather by Liza Klaussmann - from Little, Brown and Company Jana Bibi's Excellent Fortunes by Betsy Woodman- from Henry Holt and Company A Little Harmless Fascination by Melissa Schroeder - won at All I Want and More. Thanks Cecile! The Monet Murders by Jean Harrington - from Carina Press Sherlock Holmes Investigates the Pink Jewel Conundrum by Philip van Wulven -  purchased (Review) Whiplash River by Lou Berney - from William Morrow Beach Colors by Shelley Noble - from William Morrow          ...

I adore Sherlock Holmes and when I saw this short story, "Sherlock Holmes Investigates: The Pink Jewel Conundrum" by Philip van Wulven, was currently free for the Kindle, I had to pick it up. I'm glad I didn't pay for it. The story is also available in the collection Sherlock Holmes Investigates: The Hampshire Expedition. The story starts off promising enough. Holmes and Watson are the consistent with Doyles character as is the tone of the story. After a formal royal event, Holmes and Watson are requested to stay in town by the Mayor of Portsmouth to help him with a personal matter. A precious gem has disappeared from chain of office that was left on the desk in the locked library. A perfect mystery for Homes to solve, would you say? And it does give him a chance to show off his knowledge, both of human nature and of the natural world. It's just overall a let down. The story left me feeling like "That's it? That's all you had." It's...

Three Sisters by Helen Smith is ostensibly a mystery, but the mystery aspect was the weak point in my opinion. The story centers on Emily Castles on bonfire night. She has been invited to a party in the big house at the end of her street by the new owners, whom she has never met, and turns out to be a rather grand, and bizarre, party. There are an eccentric group of performers, stilt-walkers, and knife-throwers, and Emily and her "regular" neighbors. Emily is a rather emotional, still grieving over the loss of her dog, who she talks about and thinks a lot, so much so that one of the other characters, Joe, the man she is attracted to, comments on it. During the party one of the knife-throwers seems to be killed by a misthrown kitchen knife but minutes later she reappears, quite alive. Emily is certain she saw the young woman die, but where is the body? In the midst...

Samuel Spade's jaw was long and bony, his chin a jutting v under the more flexible v of his mouth. His nostrils curved back to make another, smaller, v. His yellow-grey eyes were horizontal. The v motif was picked up again by thickish brows rising outward from twin creases above a hooked nose, and his pale brown hair grew down— from high flat temples—in a point on his forehead. He looked rather pleasantly like a blond satan. He said to Effie Perine: "Yes, sweetheart?" She was a lanky sunburned girl whose tan dress of thin woolen stuff clung to her with an effect of dampness. Her eyes were brown and playful in a shiny boyish face. She finished shutting the door behind her, leaned against it, and said: "There's a girl wants to see you. Her name's Wonderly." "A customer?" "I guess so. You'll want to see her anyway: she's a knockout." I think those first couple of paragraphs introduce the characters rather well. First chapter...