Reading the Detectives discussion

Golden Age mystery nominations are needed now for our July 2022 group read!

Please only nominate books written and published in the Golden Age period, or a little earlier or later - if in doubt whether a title is eligible, please ask.

As usual, just one nomination per group member, and only one book by any individual writer can be nominated per month. Looking forward to seeing all the suggestions.

I will nominate The Death of Mr. Lomas

When Mr. Lomas visits the Chief Constable of Burnham and describes his symptoms, Sir Wilfred Burrows believes that his visitor suffers from nothing more serious than nerves. Later that day Mr. Lomas's body is recovered from the water at Willow Lock; yet death is not by drowning.

Sir Wilfred recounts the interview to Inspector Knollis, who, realizing the significance of the symptoms, is satisfied that Mr. Lomas is a victim of cocaine poisoning. With characteristic energy he sets about the task of unmasking the murderer.

In this gripping story of a cunning murderer brought to justice by brilliant, logical reasoning, the solution is skilfully yet legitimately concealed to the last.

The Death of Mr. Lomas was first published in 1941. This new edition features an introduction by crime fiction historian Curtis Evans.

I would like to nominate The Middle of Things by J.S. Fletcher. It is free in the UK from Amazon and think is on Gutenberg


On that particular November evening, Viner, a young gentleman of means and leisure, who lived in a comfortable old house in Markendale Square, Bayswater, in company with his maiden aunt Miss Bethia Penkridge, had spent his after-dinner hours in a fashion which had become a habit. Miss Penkridge, a model housekeeper and an essentially worthy woman, whose whole day was given to supervising somebody or something, had an insatiable appetite for fiction, and loved nothing so much as that her nephew should read a novel to her after the two glasses of port which she allowed herself every night had been thoughtfully consumed and he and she had adjourned from the dining-room to the hearthrug in the library. Her tastes, however, in Viner's opinion were some-what, if not decidedly, limited. Brought up in her youth on Miss Braddon, Wilkie Collins and Mrs. Henry Wood, Miss Penkridge had become a confirmed slave to the sensational. She had no taste for the psychological, and nothing but scorn for the erotic. What she loved was a story which began with crime and ended with a detection - a story which kept you wondering who did it, how it was done, and when the doing was going to be laid bare to the light of day. Nothing pleased her better than to go to bed with a brain titivated with the mysteries of the last three chapters; nothing gave her such infinite delight as to find, when the final pages were turned, that all her own theories were wrong, and that the real criminal was somebody quite other than the person she had fancied.

In the US on Amazon, Mr. Lomas is either $3 or $4 (depending on how long the "sale" lasts).
Middle of Things has both a free version and a $3 version.

I nominate The Chianti Flask by Marie Belloc Lowndes. A few Dollars or Euros on Kindle, and also on Kindle Unlimited. Don´t know about the UK, but that seems to be an eternal problem. It has good reviews.

An enigmatic young woman named Laura Dousland stands on trial for murder, accused of poisoning her elderly husband Fordish. It seems clear that the poison was delivered in a flask of Chianti with supper, but according to the couple’s servant in the witness-box, the flask disappeared the night Fordish died and all attempts to trace it have come to nothing. The jury delivers its verdict, but this is just the end of the beginning of Marie Belloc Lowndes’ gripping story.

First published in 1934, this exquisitely crafted novel blends the tenets of a traditional mystery with an exploration of the psychological impact of death, accusation, guilt and justice in the aftermath of murder.

Thank you for the nominations! Michaela, The Chianti Flask is £2.99 on Kindle in the UK and also on Kindle Unlimited here too, so no problems. It sounds good. :)

I'd like to nominate The Rasp by Philip MacDonald

Philip MacDonald introduces one of the most engaging characters among all fictional detectives. Anthony Gethryn is an amateur and, of course, British. The story is set in the bucolic English countryside near London. The case concerns a cabinet minister who has been killed with a most unlikely implement. To discover the murderer, Gethryn must play the role of a villain, an initially effective ploy that becomes complicated when he discovers that the romantic interest may actually be implicated in the crime.

One edition is very expensive on US Amazon, but there are two cheaper editions.

Thank you, Carol - Philip MacDonald is an author I've been meaning to try for ages. I've just checked and there are 2 Kindle editions of The Rasp in the UK, for £1.49 and £3.99.

Nominations so far:

Susan: The Death of Mr. Lomas by Francis Vivian

Jill: The Middle of Things by J.S. Fletcher

Michaela: The Chianti Flask by Marie Belloc Lowndes

Carol: The Rasp by Philip MacDonald

There is a free edition of The Middle of Things on US Amazon as well!

On Amazon in the US:

Mr. Lomas is either $3 or $4 (depending on how long the "sale"
lasts).

Middle of Things has both a free version and a $3 version

Chianti Flask: $8 but I find the BLC books are usually available in my library

The Rasp: several versions available, from $1 to $5

I’d like to nominate Murder's a Swine: A Second World War Mystery by Nap Lombard. It’s $7.99 on Kindle, but my library, like Sandy’s, has a lot of the British Library Crime Classics available. Scribd has the audiobook available as well.

“I should imagine this was murder, too, because it would be very difficult to build yourself into a heap of sandbags and then die…”

In the blackout conditions of a wintry London night, amateur sleuth Agnes Kinghof and a young air-raid warden have stumbled upon a corpse stowed in the walls of their street’s bomb shelter. As the police begin their investigation, the night is interrupted once again when Agnes’s upstairs neighbor Mrs Sibley is terrorized by the sight of a grisly pig’s head at her fourth-floor window. With the discovery of more sinister threats mysteriously signed ‘Pig-sticker’, Agnes and her husband Andrew – unable to resist a good mystery – begin their investigation to deduce the identity of a villain living amongst the tenants of their block of flats.

A witty and light-hearted mystery full of intriguing period detail, this rare gem of Golden Age crime returns to print for the first time since its publication in 1943.

Looks good, Susan.

Susan wrote: "Looks good, Susan."

I thought it looked intriguing!

Thank you for nominating Murder's a Swine: A Second World War Mystery, Susan in NC - this recently came up in the Shedunnit podcast's book club and I've been meaning to read it. Sounds intriguing!

I see it is really by well-known novelist Pamela Hansford Johnson and her first husband, Australian author Gordon Neil Stewart (she later married C.P. Snow). I wonder why they picked the strange pseudonym Nap Lombard?! A lot of Pamela Hansford Johnson's non-crime novels have been republished by Hodder & Stoughton and Bello.

Last call for nominations before the poll goes up!

So far we have 5 great books suggested:

Susan: The Death of Mr. Lomas by Francis Vivian

Jill: The Middle of Things by J.S. Fletcher

Michaela: The Chianti Flask by Marie Belloc Lowndes

Carol: The Rasp by Philip MacDonald

Susan in NC: Murder's a Swine: A Second World War Mystery by Nap Lombard

Some great nominations, as always.

Yes, I keep meaning to nominate but then seeing there are so many tempting suggestions already that I decide not to! I haven't read any of these 5 and want to read all of them!

Judy wrote: "Thank you for nominating Murder's a Swine: A Second World War Mystery, Susan in NC - this recently came up in the Shedunnit podcast's book club and I've been meaning to read it. Sou..."

Interesting! Yes, I’ve never come across the name “Nap” before, can’t imagine what it’s short for - maybe an acronym? Anyway, the book summary intrigued me, sounded like maybe a Tommy and Tuppence vibe? I’ve requested it from my library, I’d like to read it.

All the nominations are on my TBR list, I’ve read a lot of great mysteries from our nominations that didn’t win the poll!

Naphtali?

Abigail wrote: "Naphtali?"

Thanks, hadn’t thought of that!

Napoleon?

The poll is now open - a difficult choice awaits!

https://www.goodreads.com/poll/show/2...

Nap Lombard isn't a 'real' name - though I would be happy for it to be short for Napoleon. Or one of those English customs like Tug Wilson, or Dusty Miller.

"Nap Lombard was the joint pseudonym used by the English author and playwright Pamela Hansford Johnson (1912 1981) and Australian writer and journalist Gordon Neil Stewart (1912 1999). The couple married in 1936 and enlisted as air-raid wardens in London at the outbreak of the Second World War. Under the Nap Lombard pseudonym they co-wrote two entertaining mystery novels,Tidy Death (1940) and Murder's a Swine (1943)"

http://shotsmag.co.uk/author_view.asp...

Icewineanne wrote: "Napoleon?"

Oh, another good one!

Rosina wrote: "Nap Lombard isn't a 'real' name - though I would be happy for it to be short for Napoleon. Or one of those English customs like Tug Wilson, or Dusty Miller.

"Nap Lombard was the joint pseudonym us..."

Thanks, Rosina, we knew it was a pseudonym, as Judy pointed out above, we just did not know where they came up with it! Napoleon makes sense, I’d only seen Naftali spelled with an F, not ph, like the current Israeli PM, so Abigail’s suggestion works too. I personally think it sounds like a “jolly good old boy” golden age nickname, as you suggest, like “Tug” or “Boy” or “Fruity” (sounds like a member of Bertie Wooster’s Drones Club…)

But they describe the book as entertaining, so that’s promising!

Thank you for the link, Rosina, good to know a bit more about the couple.

We have a winner - it is Murder's a Swine: A Second World War Mystery by Nap Lombard, which will be our July group read.

Full results:
Murder's a Swine: A Second World War Mystery 8 votes, 40.0%
The Middle of Things 5 votes, 25.0%
The Chianti Flask 3 votes, 15.0%
The Rasp (Colonel Gethryn, #1) 3 votes, 15.0%
The Death of Mr. Lomas (The Inspector Knollis Mysteries #1) 1 vote, 5.0%

Thanks to Susan in NC, who nominated the winner, and to all who nominated and voted.

Thanks everyone. Great choices.

Judy wrote: "We have a winner - it is Murder's a Swine: A Second World War Mystery by Nap Lombard, which will be our July group read.

Full results:
Murder's a Swine: A Second ..."

Thanks, Judy, looking forward to it! Every vote we take, I end up with 5 new books added to my TBR pile…

Susan in NC wrote: "Every vote we take, I end up with 5 new books added to my TBR pile… "

Well, that's my earworm for this evening firmly implanted:
Every vote you take
Every note you make...

Hopefully, nobody will be watching you, Sid!

Book list updated and yes, I agree, Susan in NC, the nominations are always excellent and I often read choices that don't win the vote.

Abigail wrote: "Hopefully, nobody will be watching you, Sid!"

Oh, they're welcome. They'll have a mighty dull evening, though, unless they're fascinated by watching me cook the dinner, watching me eat it and then watching me watching Art That Made Us[1]...

[1]A televisual documentary by the British Broadcasting Corporation, m'lud, concerning influential British and Irish works of art, architecture and literature. I find it a mixture of the interesting and informative, and the almost unbearably pompous.

Sid wrote: "Susan in NC wrote: "Every vote we take, I end up with 5 new books added to my TBR pile… "

Well, that's my earworm for this evening firmly implanted:
Every vote you take
Every note you make..."

Sorry! 😂

Sid wrote: "Abigail wrote: "Hopefully, nobody will be watching you, Sid!"

Oh, they're welcome. They'll have a mighty dull evening, though, unless they're fascinated by watching me cook the dinner, watching me..."

Oooh, sounds interesting, though! The “televisual documentary”, not spying on you cooking and eating…

Yay! I started the year with this book and I really enjoyed it and laughed out loud so many times. I look forward to the discussion

Susan in NC wrote: "Judy wrote: "We have a winner - it is Murder's a Swine: A Second World War Mystery by Nap Lombard, which will be our July group read.

Full results:
Murder's a Swi..."
This is available on Scribd starting 5/20/22

Great! I’ve got the audiobook on Scribd, nice to have the book, too.

I just finished it and I hope we will begin on July 1? because I see July 22 on the (frozen) threads. whenever we start, I am looking forward to the discussion!

Jackie wrote: "I just finished it and I hope we will begin on July 1? because I see July 22 on the (frozen) threads. whenever we start, I am looking forward to the discussion!"

In 'British' terms, July 22 means the month of July in the year 22 (this year). The 22nd day of July would be 22(nd) July.

So presumably starting at the beginning of July, this year.

oh, good, thank you, Rosina!