Tag Archives: Amateur Sleuth

The Case of the Turning Tide (1941) by Erle Stanley Gardner

Posted on August 15, 2017 by

Regular readers will perhaps know that I am not the world’s greatest fan of Gardner and his famous lawyer/sleuth Perry Mason. However, I decided to return to him when I came across this novel in my local Oxfam for a … Continue reading →

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The Ingenious Mr Stone (1945) by Robert Player

Posted on July 27, 2017 by

This multi-narrator story looks at the events which first lead up to the murder of Philippa Langdon-Miles, headmistress of an all-girl boarding school and then the later death of her sister, Mrs Beatrice Warburton. The task of narrating the story … Continue reading →

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The Murder at Sissingham Hall (2014) by Clara Benson

Posted on July 20, 2017 by

The publication history for this work is a little unusual as Benson, born in 1890, wrote a series of 10 mystery novels featuring Angela Marchmont and 3 mystery novels featuring Freddy Pilkington-Soames, when she was a young woman but never … Continue reading →

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Death From A Top Hat (1938) by Clayton Rawson

Posted on June 29, 2017 by

Rawon is an author I have been aware of for a while but not tried until now, so thank you to the Puzzle Doctor (writer of In Search of the Classic Mystery blog) for the loan of Rawson’s first Merlini … Continue reading →

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The Piccadilly Murder (1929) by Anthony Berkeley

Posted on June 7, 2017 by

Today’s read is a speedy return to the work of Anthony Berkeley, as last week I reviewed another of his works, Mr Priestley’s Problems (1927). The Piccadilly Murder (1929) features Berkeley’s spasmodic and unusual serial character, Ambrose Chitterwick, who first … Continue reading →

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Enter Sir John (1928) by Clemence Dane and Helen Simpson

Posted on June 5, 2017 by

This is a writing duo I have known of for quite a while (think I came across them first in Martin Edwards’ The Golden Age of Murder (2015)), but I haven’t been able to procure any of their work (at … Continue reading →

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Create Your Own Mystery with Crime at Diana’s Pool (1926) by Victor L Whitechurch

Posted on February 13, 2017 by

Vintage Mystery Scavenger Hunt Item: Graveyard Whitechurch is a golden age detective fiction writer I have known about for a while but haven’t tried his work until today. The maxim of write what you know seems to apply in the … Continue reading →

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Was it Murder? (1931) by James Hilton

Posted on February 4, 2017 by

Vintage Mystery Scavenger Hunt Item: Building other than a house James Hilton is one of those writers who frequently ends up only being well known for one thing they did and in his case it is his novel Goodbye Mr … Continue reading →

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No Tears for Hilda (1950) by Andrew Garve

Posted on January 19, 2017 by

Vintage Mystery Scavenger Hunt Item: Magnifying Glass I initially thought this was my first encounter with this author, but a little googling later and I realised I had actually come across him before, writing as Roger Bax. As well as … Continue reading →

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Death Points a Finger (1933) by Will Levinrew

Posted on January 12, 2017 by

Vintage Mystery Scavenger Hunt Item: Skeletal Hand Levinrew was the penname for Will Levine, an author I couldn’t really find much information on. He was born in 1881 and wrote during the 1920s and 1930s. He wrote a few crime … Continue reading →

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