Mystery – Page 99 – Carol's Notebook

Cherringham #1-3 by Matthew Costello and Neil Richards

October 17, 2018November 1, 2018 by Carol2 Comments

I was looking for a short, light read and remembered Scared to Death, #27 in this series, which I read around this time last year. I remembered enjoying it and thinking I should read more in the series, so I picked up this first compilation. It was a good choice. Each of the episodes is self-contained, although they all star Jack and Sarah. They work well together and I like that, at least so far, they're friends, nothing more. We also get to meet Sarah's family and of course each episode introduces more of the townspeople. "Murder on the Thames" is our introduction to the pair. How they meet and end up working together actually makes sense. Sarah's old friend is found dead on the edge of the river just downstream from Jack's barge. When she stops by to ask him a couple of questions, she mentions that the police are considering it a suicide. Jack, former NYPD, knows that it can't...

Peril at End House by Agatha Christie

October 9, 2018October 8, 2018 by Carol9 Comments

Peril at End House is classic Poirot. Lovely Nick doesn't know her life is in danger until Poirot helpfully points out that her near-accidents were probably not coincidence. But why would any of her friends want her dead? She's not rich, she's not mean. Poirot is determined to keep her safe, but that's easier said than done, especially when another woman is killed, mistaken for Nick. This was a fun little mystery. The denouement was a good one, a bit unusual for a Poirot mystery. I mean, there was the typical gathering of all the players, but the excuse he uses to bring them together is a good one. The killer doesn't see the trap he has set at all. (S)he thinks (s)he has everyone fooled. (S)he doesn't, of course, and there are plenty of clues sprinkled through the book - I just missed them....

Lethal White by Robert Galbraith

October 2, 2018 by Carol5 Comments

It's funny, when I saw Lethal White was out, I had to pick it up. I remember loving Cormoran Strike, the detective, and really enjoying the novels. I apparently had absolutely erased Career of Evil (#3) from my mind. Looking back at my review for that one, I almost DNF'ed it, but finished only because, well, I love Cormoran Strike. That's fine, because Lethal White was a return to the series I enjoy. The mystery begins, as the blurb states, with a young man's visit to Strike's office. The young man, Billy, clearly has mental health issues, but he also clearly believes he saw a child strangled years earlier. Separately, Strike is hired by Jasper Chiswell, the Minister of Culture, who is being blackmailed by Jimmy Knight, Billy's older brother, and Geraint Winn, the husband of the Minister for Sport. Chiswell wants Strike to get dirt on Winn and Knight that he can use against them, but won't tell Strike what information...

In at the Death by Francis Duncan

September 28, 2018September 14, 2018 by Carol4 Comments

I've been reading a lot of vintage mysteries lately, Hercule Poirot, Roderick Alleyn, Sherlock Holmes. Mordecai Tremaine is one of the lesser-known detectives of the era, at least now, I'm not sure about when the stories were originally published. I like him though; I'm glad the books are being reissued. Mordecai is a retired tobacconist, a bachelor, and a bit of a romantic. He's an amateur detective who solves mysteries by observing, by understanding people. He also blends in well, he's unobtrusive and people tend not to notice him or not be threatened by him, which allows him to sometimes learn things quicker and easier than the police. In In at the Death, Mordecai is actually invited by his friend Chief Inspector Jonathan Boyce to tag along on an investigation, beginning to end. Mordecai can be rather introspective too. "It was when you came up against the thing in its actuality that its atmosphere changed; from being a fascinating problem to intrigue the brain,...

The Circular Staircase by Mary Roberts Rinehart

September 26, 2018September 27, 2018 by Carol6 Comments

The Circular Staircase is the first of Mary Roberts Rinehart's novels I've read. I don't know why it has taken me so long to get around to reading her. The Circular Staircase is apparently the first example of the "Had-I-But-Known" school of mystery writing. The Had-I-But-Known mystery novel is one where the principal character (frequently female, in this case Rachel Innes) does things in connection with a crime that have the effect of prolonging the action of the novel. Ms. Innes keeps information from the police, does her own investigation, actively hides things the police should know - basically she's a standard amateur detective. I take that back, she literally hides people, which is taking the whole thing a little far. Of course, she's surrounded by people who are keeping secrets too, but they are suspects, so that's expected. So, Ms. Innes, her niece and nephew, and her maid move into a rented country house for the summer. The owners, a rich...

The Mystery of the Blue Train by Agatha Christie

September 21, 2018November 30, 2021 by Carol5 Comments

Yes, Poirot again. I've been on a bit of a kick lately, I know. I'm almost reading/re-reading the series in order. I #4 earlier this year and obviously still remember it well. I skipped #5 because I don't like it. So now we're at #6, The Mystery of the Blue Train. There's a lot of lead up before the murder. We meet an heiress whose millionaire father gives her a fabulous ruby to cheer her up a little. She and her husband are having problems and, as the father sees it, her only real option is to divorce him. We meet the husband and his mistress, a dancer who is only interested in rich men, which he won't be if his wife divorces him. We meet a not necessarily above-board jewelry merchant and his daughter. Finally, I think, we meet a lovely young woman, Katherine Grey, who has recently become rich herself, after the elderly woman she was a companion to...