NetGalley – Page 19 – Carol's Notebook

Till Death Do Us Part by John Dickson Carr

August 11, 2022August 11, 2022 by Carol1 Comment

John Dickson Carr is considered a master of the locked room mystery and Till Death Do Us Part is a good example of that. This is the first Gideon Fell book I think I've read, but it worked fine as a standalone. Dick Markham with his fiancee, Lesley Grant, arrive late to the village fair. Events lead to Lesley accidentally shooting the fortune teller, renowned criminologist Sir Harvey Gilman. Later Markham hears from Gilman the story of Lesley's life as a serial poisoner. Soon Superintendent Hadley and Dr. Gideon Fell become involved when a murder occurs in the village. It's an enjoyable mystery. The characters are the usual odd lot that lives in fictional small towns, with assorted secrets and jealousies. There is plenty of misdirection, lots of red herrings, and several people who aren't who we think. I did not guess who the killer was or how they managed to pull it off. It's a quick read, but I think...

Last Call at the Nightingale by Katharine Schellman

August 2, 2022August 2, 2022 by CarolNo Comments

For Vivian, dancing at the Nightingale, and the occasional free drink, is a way to escape the dullness and monotony of her life. She and her sister, Florence, barely make enough to live on as seamstresses. They live in a crowded tenement building and life is tough. This is not a glitzy, sparkling 1920s setting. The bobbed hair, bootleg liquor, and dance halls are there, but so are the poverty, racial oppression, and police raids. We see Vivian's squalid building, but also the opulent homes of the rich. Vivian and her best friend, Bea, a waitress at the club, find a dead man in the alley outside the back door. Vivian becomes our amateur sleuth, with a gentle nudge from Honor Huxley, the club's owner. Honor knows how important, and deadly, information can be. The mystery has several twists and turns and the ending surprised me. I liked the diversity in the characters and that the Nightingale was a place that allowed...

Golden Age Locked Room Mysteries edited by Otto Penzler

July 27, 2022July 26, 2022 by Carol1 Comment

I love collections like this. These stories are all "locked room" mysteries, where a murder is committed in circumstances under which it was seemingly impossible either for someone to commit the crime or to evade detection. The list is a who's who of Amerian mystery authors from the era. Anthony Boucher — ElsewhereFrederic Brown — Whistler’s MurderJohn Dickson Carr — The Third BulletJoseph Cummings — Fingerprint GhostMignon G. Eberhart — The Calico DogErle Stanley Gardner — The Exact OppositeMacKinlay Kantor — The Light at Three O’ClockC. Daly King — The Episode of the Nail and the RequiemStuart Palmer — The Riddle of the Yellow CanaryEllery Queen — The House of HauntsClayton Rawson — From Another WorldCraig Rice — His Heart Could BreakManly Wade Wellman — Murder Among MagiciansCornell Woolrich — Murder at the Automat Some I enjoyed more than others. Surprisingly, Carr's The Third Bullet was my least favorite - too long, and rather boring compared to the others. My favorites might...

Peril at the Exposition by Nev March

July 26, 2022July 26, 2022 by CarolNo Comments

One of the strengths of Murder in Old Bombay, the first in the series, was the setting, 1890s India. In Peril at the Exposition, Chicago and the World's Fair are richly drawn and vividly described, but didn't have quite the same draw for me. It made sense for Diana and Jim to emigrate to America, but it lost some of the charm of the first. This book, told mostly from Diana's point of view, does give us her memories of places and people in India, but at times they feel forced. Jim, now working as a private investigator, is missing in Chicago. Diana heads off to find him. Diana is determined and strong in her own way, but definitely in over her head. She can be melodramatic and puts herself and others in dangerous situations. As Diana digs deeper into the case Jim was working on, she realizes there's a plot involving anarchists, labor union disputes, and maybe a bomb. There...

The Paper Caper by Kate Carlisle

July 19, 2022July 22, 2022 by Carol2 Comments

I assumed I would enjoy The Paper Caper. The main character, Brooklyn, restores books and does paper art and the story is set during a Mark Twain festival. This is the first I've read in the series and maybe that's the problem, maybe I would have enjoyed it more if I knew the characters better. I love that Brooklyn restores books but I couldn't quite get a hold of her character. This is #16, so presumably she's helped solve at least sixteen murders. But she seems really young and her husband seems to humor her more than take her thoughts on the case seriously. I'm assuming she's seen several dead bodies, but watching a video of a car crash is almost too much for her to handle? The whodunnit was a bit obvious and therefore disappointing. The twist I was assuming there would be regarding who the killer was just never happened. Overall, it was just a little too silly. Some...

The Woman in the Library by Sulari Gentill

July 13, 2022July 13, 2022 by Carol6 Comments

For me, The Woman in the Library cared a bit too much about its concept than its characters or plot. I'm not a giant fan of metafiction and didn't realize from the blurb what I was getting into. That being said, even though it's not exactly up my aisle, I do think the author did a decent job with it. I guess there are three stories here. Australian author Hannah is writing a murder mystery feature Winifred, the woman in the library from the blurb who becomes embroiled in a murder mystery. Winifred is also writing a book inspired by the three people she meets in the library. Hannah's beta reader is Leo and most of the book alternates between Hannah's chapters featuring Winifred and Leo's e-mail responses. Once you get into the rhythm, it works well, but the structure did keep me off balance and at a distance from any of the characters. We've got two plots here. (Winifred's...