Reading the Detectives discussion

It's time to nominate for our February 2020 group read.

Please nominate mystery/detective books written in/set in the GA period, or a little earlier or later.

As usual, just one nomination per group member. Also, only one book by any individual writer can be nominated per month.

I'll nominate The Pit Prop Syndicate by Freeman Wills Crofts. First published in 1922, it doesn't appear to be part of a series, so no one should get in deeper than they already are.

Stranded on a French highway, a wine merchant discovers a conspiracy.

Twenty-six kilometers from Bordeaux, Seymour Merriman’s motorcycle runs low on gas. He is waiting for a passing motorist to come to his rescue when he notices a lorry turn down a nearby country road. Following it leads him to a mill, where an English firm manufactures pit-props for coal mines. They give him two liters of petrol and send him on his way, but not before he sees something odd. The lorry he saw on the road was marked No. 4, but it has been changed to No. 3—a peculiar incident that will lead Merriman into the greatest danger he has ever known.

With the help of a customs officer, Merriman looks into the mill’s business, and discovers that nothing about the little English firm is as it seems. All he wanted was a few liters of petrol, but he has stumbled across the century’s most fiendish crime.

**Added note: A pit prop or mine prop is a length of lumber used to prop up the roofs of tunnels in coal mines. Canada traditionally supplied pit props to the British market. As coal mining declined in importance and metal supports were used, the term became infrequently used. (per wikipedia)

I enjoyed The Warrielaw Jewel, so I would like to nominate Winnifred Peck's other mystery Arrest the Bishop.

Oooo! I want to read both of those.

The Affair of the Bloodstained Egg Cosy

The theft of the diamond necklace and the antique pistols might all be explained, but the body in the lake – that really was a puzzle. ‘Don’t expect me to solve anything,’ Inspector Wilkens announced modestly when he arrived to sort out the unpleasantness. And at a gathering that included English aristocracy, foreign agents in disguise, a ravishing baroness, a daring jewel thief, a Texan millionaire and, of course, the imperturbable butler, it was going to take some intricate sleuthing to uncover who killed whom and why.

I have a vague sense that this book came up once before and perhaps was ruled too hard to get? If that is correct, I just checked on Amazon and there are cheap copies, though no ebook: A Treasury Alarm by Jocelyn Davey.

But my senses are pretty vague these days, so if we read it in some previous year, I will not nominate.

I don't recall it being read before, Abigail. Not on kindle in the UK and cheapest copies around £8. It might be cheaper in the States?

Susan wrote: "I don't recall it being read before, Abigail. Not on kindle in the UK and cheapest copies around £8. It might be cheaper in the States?"

I've looked at all the copies and added covers. No kindle here and only used copies at around $7.00 and up.

Abigail, I think you are right that A Treasury Alarm was nominated before and then withdrawn because it is hard to get. A shame it still hasn't been reprinted.

So far I own two of the nominees, as yet unread, and would be happy to read the third one. Excellent choices.

Oh dear, that's pretty steep, Judy! Yes, much cheaper in the USA. I guess I'll have to table it and hope it gets a reprint someday.

$4 at abebooks and $2+ at alibris

The Three Taps: A Detective Story without a Moral by Ronald Knox. It is available on kindle here and is $2.99. Published in 1927.

The Three Taps is available on kindle in the UK too, Jan.

Abigail wrote: "Oh dear, that's pretty steep, Judy! Yes, much cheaper in the USA. I guess I'll have to table it and hope it gets a reprint someday."

Thanks, Abigail - it does seem to be hard to get at a reasonable price in the UK, sadly.

Thanks for all the nominations. So far, we have:

Elizabeth: The Pit Prop Syndicate by Freeman Wills Crofts

Carol: Arrest the Bishop? by Winifred Peck

Susan: The Affair of the Bloodstained Egg Cosy by James Anderson

Jan: The Three Taps: A Detective Story without a Moral by Ronald Knox

Jan C wrote: "$4 at abebooks and $2+ at alibris"

I always include shipping when looking at price.

Susan wrote: "The Three Taps is available on kindle in the UK too, Jan."
And in Austria (German Amazon) too, so I´m all for that! ;)

I'll add this one to the mix - a British Library Crime Classics reprint which sounds quite intriguing:

Excellent Intentions by Richard Hull

Great Barwick's least popular man is murdered on a train. Twelve jurors sit in court. Four suspects are identified―but which of them is on trial? This novel has all the makings of a classic murder mystery, but with a twist: as Attorney-General Anstruther Blayton leads the court through prosecution and defence, Inspector Fenby carries out his investigation. All this occurs while the identity of the figure in the dock is kept tantalisingly out of reach.

Judy wrote: "I'll add this one to the mix - a British Library Crime Classics reprint which sounds quite intriguing:

Excellent Intentions by Richard Hull [bookcover:Excellent Int..."

Yay, already on my TBR list - we’ve got some great choices here!

Judy wrote: "I'll add this one to the mix - a British Library Crime Classics reprint which sounds quite intriguing:

Excellent Intentions by Richard Hull [bookcover:Excellent Int..."

Sounds interesting.

The poll will go up this weekend, a bit earlier than usual because of Christmas - so please get any more nominations in by Friday.

Some fun selections! I really enjoyed Hull's Excellent Intentions, one of his better books (and, atypical for him, a bit toned down from his customarily humorous approach).

I'm especially intrigued with the Ronald Knox nomination, The Three Taps. I haven't read any work from this author beyond a solid short story, and Martin Edwards sketches Knox as a very interesting character indeed in his history of the Detection Club, The Golden Age of Murder .

Last chance to nominate! Nominations so far:

Elizabeth: The Pit Prop Syndicate by Freeman Wills Crofts

Carol: Arrest the Bishop? by Winifred Peck

Susan: The Affair of the Bloodstained Egg Cosy by James Anderson

Jan: The Three Taps: A Detective Story without a Moral by Ronald Knox

Judy: Excellent Intentions by Richard Hull

The poll is open - please cast your votes now.

https://www.goodreads.com/poll/show/1...

Voting is very close so far, so, if you haven't voted yet, please do! Just one vote dividing the front-runner, Arrest the Bishop?, from the next two, The Pit Prop Syndicate and The Three Taps, at the moment.

https://www.goodreads.com/poll/show/1...

We have a winner! It is Arrest the Bishop? by Winifred Peck, one of the authors rediscovered by Dean Street Press.

This means she beat her brother, Ronald Knox, whose book The Three Taps was also in the poll.

Full results:

Arrest the Bishop? 8 votes, 36.4%
The Pit Prop Syndicate 5 votes, 22.7%
The Three Taps: A Detective Story without a Moral 4 votes, 18.2%
Excellent Intentions 4 votes, 18.2%
The Affair of the Bloodstained Egg Cosy 1 vote, 4.5%

Didn´t know they were siblings! I voted for The Three Taps, but hope to get Arrest the Bishop? too. Obviously it´s available on Kindle, but not otherwise.

Great! I was able to find a few on Scribd, but no luck on the Peck, except on Kindle. If I can get it, I’ll take part! Good thing is, I checked my Kindle version of Warrielaw Jewel, and at the end they have added the first chapter of Arrest the Bishop, so I can at least get a hint of the second book, see if I’m interested.

Excellent. Its one of the books I own and the other never had a chance. I get a feeling of accomplishment if I work thru the backlog. Need to set up my GR list of 'owned books read' for 2020. I aim for 24.

Cool. I haven't read this one. I can read it free on Kindle Unlimited. Yay!

I'll definitely be joining in on this one.

Arrest the Bishop? is currently £1.99 on Kindle in the UK/free on Kindle Unlimited. It's also one of the Dean Street Press titles which is regularly given away free on Kindle.

I'll keep an eye on it to see if it turns up as a freebie again before February - looks to me as if it may come round again in mid/late January, fingers crossed. There is a paperback edition but it is £9.99.

Judy wrote: "Arrest the Bishop? is currently £1.99 on Kindle in the UK/free on Kindle Unlimited. It's also one of the Dean Street Press titles which is regularly given away free on Kindle.

I'll keep an eye on..."

$2.99 in the US.

I forgot to say, the DSP freebies usually apply in most countries.

When I saw this was the choice I looked on Amazon and was able to get it for .99 Canadian.

Valerie wrote: "When I saw this was the choice I looked on Amazon and was able to get it for .99 Canadian."

Well done!

I'll wait around to see if it comes down from $2.99, which is cheap enough, but I'll choose to be thrifty anyway.

Thanks, everyone -and don’t forget, if you’re on the fence about it and have the Kindle of Warrielaw Jewel, the first chapter of Arrest the Bishop is included at the end of that book!

Jan C wrote: "Judy wrote: "Arrest the Bishop? is currently £1.99 on Kindle in the UK/free on Kindle Unlimited. It's also one of the Dean Street Press titles which is regularly given away free on Kindle.

I'll k..."

2.99 € here.