Masters of the "Humdrum" Mystery

Masters of the Author: Curtis Evans
Publisher: McFarland
ISBN: 0786490896
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 310

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Book Description
In 1972, in an attempt to elevate the stature of the "crime novel," influential crime writer and critic Julian Symons cast numerous Golden Age detective fiction writers into literary perdition as "Humdrums," condemning their focus on puzzle plots over stylish writing and explorations of character, setting and theme. This volume explores the works of three prominent British "Humdrums"--Cecil John Charles Street, Freeman Wills Crofts, and Alfred Walter Stewart--revealing their work to be more complex, as puzzles and as social documents, than Symons allowed. By championing the intrinsic merit of these mystery writers, the study demonstrates that reintegrating the "Humdrums" into mystery genre studies provides a fuller understanding of the Golden Age of detective fiction and its aftermath.

Masters of the "Humdrum" Mystery

Masters of the Author: Curtis Evans
Publisher: McFarland
ISBN: 0786490896
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 310

Get Book Here

Book Description
In 1972, in an attempt to elevate the stature of the "crime novel," influential crime writer and critic Julian Symons cast numerous Golden Age detective fiction writers into literary perdition as "Humdrums," condemning their focus on puzzle plots over stylish writing and explorations of character, setting and theme. This volume explores the works of three prominent British "Humdrums"--Cecil John Charles Street, Freeman Wills Crofts, and Alfred Walter Stewart--revealing their work to be more complex, as puzzles and as social documents, than Symons allowed. By championing the intrinsic merit of these mystery writers, the study demonstrates that reintegrating the "Humdrums" into mystery genre studies provides a fuller understanding of the Golden Age of detective fiction and its aftermath.

The Hog's Back Mystery

The Hog's Back Mystery PDF Author: Freeman Wills Crofts
Publisher: Sourcebooks, Inc.
ISBN: 1464203822
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 326

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Book Description
Mystery crime fiction written in the Golden Age of Murder 'As pretty a piece of work as Inspector French has done... On the level of Mr Crofts' very best; which is saying something.' —Daily Telegraph Dr James Earle and his wife live in comfortable seclusion near the Hog's Back, a ridge in the North Downs in the beautiful Surrey countryside. When Dr Earle disappears from his cottage, Inspector French is called in to investigate. At first he suspects a simple domestic intrigue—and begins to uncover a web of romantic entanglements beneath the couple's peaceful rural life. The case soon takes a more complex turn. Other people vanish mysteriously, one of Dr Earle's house guests among them. What is the explanation for the disappearances? If the missing people have been murdered, what can be the motive? This fiendishly complicated puzzle is one that only Inspector French can solve. Freeman Wills Crofts was a master of the intricately and ingeniously plotted detective novel, and The Hog's Back Mystery shows him at the height of his powers. This new edition of a classic mystery is introduced by the crime fiction expert Martin Edwards.

Miss Silver Comes to Stay

Miss Silver Comes to Stay PDF Author: Patricia Wentworth
Publisher: Open Road Media
ISBN: 1453223770
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 361

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Book Description
Governess-turned-sleuth Miss Silver, who “has her place in detective fiction as surely as Lord Peter Wimsey or Hercule Poirot,” visits a small village hiding big secrets (Manchester Evening News). The citizens of Melling are perfectly ordinary. Some might even consider them boring, but not Miss Maud Silver. It’s been some years since she gave up work as a governess to become a detective, and her fascination with people has served her well during that time. Now, she’s come to Melling to pay a long-postponed visit to an old school chum—but Miss Silver’s vacations never last long. The town’s prodigal son has returned, wealthy and not exactly nostalgic for his hometown. He intends to sell his manor house and be done with Melling forever. But this cozy English hamlet hasn’t finished with him yet . . .

Crook o' Lune

Crook o' Lune PDF Author: E.C.R. Lorac
Publisher: Sourcebooks, Inc.
ISBN: 1728278546
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 265

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Book Description
"Effortlessly atmospheric [with] a killer likely to take most readers by surprise." — Kirkus Reviews Renowned for its authentic characters and settings based partly on the author's own experiences of life in the Lune Valley, E. C. R. Lorac's classic rural mystery returns to print for the first time since 1953. This edition includes an introduction by award-winning author Martin Edwards. "I'm minded of the way a fire spreads in dry bracken when we burn it off the fellside: tongues of flame this way and that—tis human tongues and words that's creeping like flames in brushwood." It all began up at High Gimmerdale with the sheep-stealing, a hateful act in the shepherding fells above the bend in the Lune River—the Crook o' Lune. Then came the fire at Aikengill house and with the leaping of the flames, death, disorder, and dangerous gossip came to the quiet moorlands. Visiting his friends, the Hoggetts, while searching for some farmland to buy up ahead of his retirement, Chief Inspector Robert Macdonald's trip becomes a busman's holiday when he is drawn to investigate the deadly blaze and the deep-rooted motives behind the rising spate of crimes.

The Riddle of the Third Mile

The Riddle of the Third Mile PDF Author: Colin Dexter
Publisher: Pan Macmillan
ISBN: 0330504142
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 237

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Book Description
The Riddle of the Third Mile is the sixth novel in Colin Dexter's Oxford-set detective series. As portrayed by John Thaw in ITV's Inspector Morse. The thought suddenly occurred to Morse that this would be a marvellous time to murder a few of the doddery old bachelor dons. No wives to worry about their whereabouts; no landladies to whine about the unpaid rents. In fact, nobody would miss most of them at all. . . Dr Browne-Smith passed through the porter's lodge at approximately 8.15 a.m. on the morning of Friday, 11th July. And nobody has heard from him since. By the 16th of July the Master of Lonsdale is concerned, but not yet worried. Plenty of time to disappear, think Chief Inspector Morse. And plenty of time, too, for someone to commit murder . . . As bodies begin to pile, Morse sets out on a journey through intricate and complicated history, from World War Two Egypt to present-day London, in search of answers. The Riddle of the Third Mile is followed by the seventh Inspector Morse book, The Secret of Annexe 3.

Mystery in the Channel

Mystery in the Channel PDF Author: Freeman Wills Crofts
Publisher: Sourcebooks, Inc.
ISBN: 1464206724
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 634

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Book Description
Mystery crime fiction written in the Golden Age of Murder "Not only is this a first-rate puzzler, but Crofts' outrage over the financial firm's betrayal of the public trust should resonate with today's readers." —Booklist STARRED review The Chichester is making a routine journey across the English Channel on a pleasant afternoon in June, when the steamer's crew notice something strange. A yacht, bobbing about in the water ahead of them, appears to have been abandoned, and there is a dark red stain on the deck... Two bodies later, with no sign of a gun, there certainly is a mystery in the channel. Inspector French soon discovers a world of high-powered banking, luxury yachts and international double-dealing. British and French coastal towns, harbours—and of course the Channel itself—provide an alluring backdrop to this nautical adventure, along with a cast of shady characters.

Jane and the Twelve Days of Christmas

Jane and the Twelve Days of Christmas PDF Author: Stephanie Barron
Publisher: Soho Press
ISBN: 1616954248
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 299

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Book Description
Jane Austen turns sleuth in this delightful murder mystery set over the twelve days of a Regency-Era Christmas party. Christmas Eve, 1814: Jane Austen has been invited to spend the holiday with family and friends at The Vyne, the gorgeous ancestral home of the wealthy and politically prominent Chute family. As the year fades and friends begin to gather beneath the mistletoe for the twelve days of Christmas festivities, Jane and her circle are in a celebratory mood: Mansfield Park is selling nicely; Napoleon has been banished to Elba; British forces have seized Washington, DC; and on Christmas Eve, John Quincy Adams signs the Treaty of Ghent, which will end a war nobody in England really wanted. Jane, however, discovers holiday cheer is fleeting. One of the Yuletide revelers dies in a tragic accident, which Jane immediately views with suspicion. If the accident was in fact murder, the killer is one of Jane’s fellow snow-bound guests. With clues scattered amidst cleverly crafted charades, dark secrets coming to light during parlor games, and old friendships returning to haunt the Christmas parties, whom can Jane trust to help her discover the truth and stop the killer from striking again?

A Catalogue of Crime

A Catalogue of Crime PDF Author: Jacques Barzun
Publisher: New York : Harper & Row
ISBN:
Category : Reference
Languages : en
Pages : 874

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Book Description
"This work includes over 5,000 mystery titles briefly noted, each in about one paragraph. Alphabetically arranged by author and title, each entry has a short comment offering a description of the work." --From online review.

The Bank Vault Mystery / Broker's End

The Bank Vault Mystery / Broker's End PDF Author: Louis F. Booth
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781616463267
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 458

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Book Description
On the morning of the thirty-first three engineers accompanied by the manager visited the vault of the Consolidated Bank. Shortly after they left, it was discovered that a bag containing $180,000 in cash had disappeared. And so commenced the famous bank vault case in which Maxwell Fenner, the casual, dapper detective, made a list of six suspects and in tracking them through a maze of motives and two murders found a criminal genius. The Bank Vault Mystery is remarkable for the originality and logic of its complex plot. The setting, too, in and about Wall Street, Fulton Street, and the financial district is full of local color. Its finished, careful style makes it particularly enjoyable whether you read many or few detective stories. Brokers' End: It was a clever set up. The Treasurer of the great bond concern of F. W. Strong lay across his elaborate mahogany desk with a bullet hole in his forehead. His revolver was at hand, the ejected shell gleamed from the carpet nearby. Motive? The House of Strong after forty years of business "without loss to any investor" had, a few days previous, been declared insolvent by the Court and there were rumors in the air of "irregularities" in the books. It was a clever set up, but after Maxwell Fenner had looked it over and glanced significantly at Inspector Bryce, the latter expressed the thoughts of both when he remarked, "I smell something fishy-it's too damned neat." And then commenced the pursuit and detection of what was to become a string of the most diabolically ingenious murders in the experience of the dapper, casual, and disconcertingly naive Maxwell Fenner.

Thirteen Men

Thirteen Men PDF Author: Tiffany Thayer
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781494084004
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 318

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Book Description
This is a new release of the original 1946 edition.