Christianna Brand: Fog of Doubt
Brand’s fifth Inspector Cockrill mystery, and of all the books by her that I have read (all of them this year), second only to Green for Danger, which remains my favorite among all of her novels. Brand specialized in closed circle mysteries, and apart from the traditional country house settings so prevalent in Golden Age […]
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Halloween Bingo 2020: The Second Week (+1 Day)
Posting this on Monday instead of Sunday again … oh well. I guess after a near-phenomenal first bingo week it was only to be expected that the second week would not be quite as fabulous. Mind you, I’m not complaining — my card is coming together nicely, and none of the books I read this […]
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Margery Allingham: More Work for the Undertaker
The thirteenth book in the Campion series; one of the few I hadn’t read yet and thus, a proximate choice for the “13” bingo square. In tone, I find that the post-WWII stories are markedly darker than the series’s very first entries, which by and large is all to the good, however; even if they […]
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Halloween Bingo 2020: The First Week (+1 Day)
This year’s Halloween Bingo started a lot more promising than last year’s with a strong joint entry in Michael Connelly’s Bosch and Ballard series, and in fact, not one of the books I read earned less than a four-star rating — with the standout being Nicholas Blake’s The Beast Must Die, which turned out to […]
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Pete Brown: Shakespeare’s Local
This is one of those books that I’ve owned way too long before I finally get around to reading them: The discursive — in the best sense –, rollicking tale of one London (or rather, Southwark) pub from its earliest days in the Middle Ages to the 21st century, telling the history of Southwark, London, […]
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2019: The Books I’ve Been Most Thankful For
24 Festive Tasks: Door 11 – Thanksgiving: Task 2 Tell us: Of the books that you read this year, which are you most thankful for, OR was there one that turned out to be full of “stuffing”? Alternatively, which (one) book that you read anytime at all changed your life for the better?”) With another […]
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Bingo call: 9/17/19 – Darkest London
Reblogged from: Moonlight Murder Darkest London: mystery, horror, supernatural, or suspense set in London. Book list linked here. Non-genre-specific square. Original post: ThemisAthena.booklikes.com/post/1953425/bingo-call-9-17-19
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Halloween Bingo 2019 PreParty — Question for 08/14 (Day 14): Halloween Bingo Reading Snacks and Drinks?
I don’t know how much reading I’ll be able to get done at home during this year’s bingo, and doubtlessly part of it will be in bed before going to sleep, where I don’t eat anything (and the only drink allowed is mineral water). That said, as we established last year, tea is kind of […]
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Book Rescue, Book-Related Places of Pilgrimage … and My Personal Literary Canon, Part 1
24 Festive Tasks: Door 7 – Mawlid, Task 2: The Five Pillars of Islam almsgiving and the pilgrimage to Mekka. Tell us: Have you ever donated books or rescued them from (horror of horrors) being trashed? Alternatively: Is there a book-related place that is a place of pilgrimage to you? If I donate books, I […]
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Antonia Hodgson: The Devil in the Marshalsea
Well, if this doesn’t count for “Darkest London,” then I don’t know what will. Our narrator is tossed into the Marshalsea prison for being in debt to the tune of several months’ salary — a bit more than £20.00, which would have been a year’s salary or more to the poorer classes, but our Tom […]
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Halloween Bingo: For Those Looking to Fill Mystery Squares …
… without necessarily going the whole hog of a novel, or who are looking for a taste of several different things: The British Library recently published several Golden Age mystery short story anthologies, all edited by Martin Edwards, four of which exactly match the bingo squares created by Moonlight Reader and Obsidian Blue. They are: […]
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Martin Edwards Haul
I swear, I really only opened my wishlist to order “The Story of Classic Crime in 100 Books” … (sigh). Oh, wait, that would have been last year. Now it’s more like Yey!! Original post: ThemisAthena.booklikes.com/post/1588906/martin-edwards-haul Merken
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Stratford-upon-Avon — Oxford — London: Shakespeare, Hogwarts and Shopping
Stratford A Scene at the RSC Book and Gift Shop The date: June 17, 2017. The time: Approximately 10:00AM. TA and friend enter; TA asks for a shopping basket and makes straight for the shelves and display cases. An indeterminate amount of time is then spent browsing. Whenever her friend points out something and asks […]
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Arthur Conan Doyle: The Valley of Fear
The Twelve Tasks of the Festive Season — Task the Sixth: The Hanukkah Reading: Let the dreidel choose a book for you: נ Nun (miracle): Christopher Paolini – Eldest (audio version read by Kerry Shale) ג Gimel (great): Arthur Conan Doyle – The Valley of Fear (audio version read by Simon Vance) ה He (happened): Ian […]
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Halloween Book Bingo 2016: Eleventh Update and BINGO No. 11
Home stretch – 24 books down, 1 to go! Bingo No. 11 – the Books: Magical Realism – Isabel Allende: La casa de los espíritus (The House of the Spirits) Isabel Allende’s breakout success and still one of my favorite novels by her (surpassed only by Of Love and Shadows): A multigenerational allegory […]
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Halloween Book Bingo 2016: Tenth Update and BINGO No. 10
The Books: Diverse Authors Can Be Spooky Fun – Sherman Alexie: Reservation Blues Well, more angry than spooky, actually, but anyway … Robert Johnson is running from the devil (“the Gentleman” in the book) and ends up on the Spokane reservation. Afraid that “the Gentleman” might hear him if he plays his guitar, he hands […]
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Halloween Book Bingo 2016: Ninth Update – Catch-Up Post and BINGOS No. 6-9
So, after having spent the past weekend and the better part of last night and today tying up half a dozen half-finished bingo reads that, naturally, hadn’t shown any progress whatsoever while I was exiled on planet work overload, for the time being I’m back on track. And thus I am happy to finally be […]
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Arthur Conan Doyle: The Adventure of the Speckled Band
One of my all-time favorite stories by Conan Doyle. Also one of the first-ever locked-room mysteries; if David Pirie (screenwriter of Dr. Bell and Mr. Doyle and the Dark Beginnings of Sherlock Holmes TV series and author of the novels based on that series) is to be believed, based on the solution to the mysterious […]
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Halloween Book Bingo 2016: Eighth Update – TRIPLE BINGO (Nos. 3-5)!
The Books: Bingo No. 3: Witches – Terry Pratchett / Neil Gaiman: Good Omens Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman’s hilarious end-of-the-world spoof: Armageddon as foretold in the nice and accurate predictions of one Agnes Nutter, witch. (Time of Armageddon: Next Saturday. Place: Tadfield, Oxfordshire.) Starring one demon named CrawlyCrowley (who’s got just about enough […]
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Halloween Book Bingo 2016: Seventh Update — BINGO No. 2!
The Books: Vampires vs. Werewolves – Terry Pratchett: Feet of Clay (Discworld #19) Part of the Night Watch subseries and officially now one of my favorite non-Witches Pratchett novels. And I also have a new favorite non-Witches Discworld character: the Night Watch’s resident female werewolf Constable Angua, who seriously kicks a$$ (or, um, prods […]
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