- Anthony Berkeley"The Poisoned Chocolates Case"
A classic
in the Murder Mystery genre -
perhaps one of the
greatest whodunnits of all time.Set in 1920s London, a group of armchair detectives who have founded their own "Crimes Circle" club, formulate theories on a recent murder case that Scotland Yard has been unable to solve.
Each of the six members, including their president, Berkeley's own regularly featured amateur sleuth Roger Sheringham, arrives at an altogether different solution as to the motive and the identity of the perpetrator, and also applies different methods of detection.By providing examples of each of these varying methods of detection, Berkeley, as the book’s subtitle “An Academic Reader” suggests, is providing readers with a somewhat instructive tome on the writing of crime fiction and categories of (deductive or inductive or a combination of both) investigative procedures most oft employed by the featured detective(s).
Completely devoid of brutality but containing a lot of subtle, tongue-in-cheek humor instead, The Poisoned Chocolates Case is one of the classic whodunnits of the Golden Age of Detective Fiction. As at least six plausible explanations of what really happened are put forward one after the other, the reader—just like the members of the Crimes Circle themselves—is kept guessing right up to the final pages of the book.
"The Piccadilly Murder"
Anthony BerkeleyAnthony Berkeley Cox (pictured at school in 1911) was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the British Army in September 1914. He was promoted to temporary lieutenant in 1915 and he served in the 7th Battalion of the Northamptonshire Regiment during the First World War. He suffered from a gas attack in France, which caused long-term damage to his health.
Following the war, he worked as a journalist for many years, contributing to such magazines as Punch and The Humorist.
His first novel, The Layton Court Mystery, was published anonymously in 1925. It introduced Roger Sheringham, the amateur detective who features in many of the author's novels including the classic Poisoned Chocolates Case.
In 1930, Berkeley founded the Detection Club in London along with Agatha Christie, Dorothy L. Sayers, G. K. Chesterton and other established mystery writers.His 1932 novel (written under the pseudonym "Francis Iles"), Before the Fact was adapted into the 1941 classic film Suspicion, directed by Alfred Hitchcock.
A key figure in the development of crime fiction, he died in 1971 in London.
The Piccadilly Murder Berkeley published in 1929 and it features the character of Chief Inspector Moresby of Scotland Yard who appears several times in Berkeley’s other mysteries. Moresby reappears with the chief protagonist Chitterwick in a sequel Trial and Error in 1937.
In this humorous and delightful work, Ambrose Chitterwick is a witness to the death of a lady in the lounge at the Piccadilly Palace Hotel, shortly after her companion dropped something into her coffee. Chief Inspector Moresby is convinced she was murdered by him her nephew and sole heir, Major Sinclair, using prussic acid. He arrests Sinclair and plans to use Chitterwick as star witness for the prosecution. However, nagging doubts in Chitterwick's mind lead him to turn amateur detective and find the real truth.
“Becoming Sherlock: The Magician”
[Book 3 in Series]
Sarah J. Naughton
This final installment in the trilogy blew me away. I loved the revelations that unfurled one-by-one about Sherlock and his connection to Moriarty, Mycroft, and – my favorite surprise of all – a character named, of all things, Doyle! I highly recommend this wonderfully re-imagined Holmes series, and I definitely recommend enjoying them in the correct order.“Becoming Sherlock: The Irregulars”
[Book 2 in Series]
Anthony Horowitz & Sarah J. Naughton
Excellent follow-up to the first in the series “The Red Circle,” this second installment titled “The Irregulars” provides a great origin story for this motley crew who were regularly featured in Doyle’s original tales of Sherlock Holmes. I loved this one!- "Becoming Sherlock: The Red Circle,"
[Book 1 in Series]
Anthony Horowitz & Sarah J. Naughton
The first book in a new trilogy, set in a dystopian 2065 London where a mysterious, amnesiac man with brilliant deductive skills is discovered by a returning war veteran, John Watson. The story follows this man (Holmes, of course) as he tries to solve the mystery of his own identity and a complex case known as "The Red Circle". The series offers a fresh, futuristic take on the classic Sherlock Holmes characters and setting. I found it to be entertaining – especially the thought-provoking revelations about what has happened to our world's major landmarks and other parts of life in the (not too distant) future. - "The Case of the Gilded Fly,"
Edmund Crispin.Edmund Crispin was the pseudonym of Robert Bruce Montgomery, an English crime writer and composer. Under this pen name (taken from a character in Michael Innes's Hamlet, Revenge!), Montgomery wrote nine detective novels and two collections of short stories. The stories feature Oxford don Gervase Fen, who is a Professor of English at the University and a fellow of St Christopher's College, a fictional institution that Crispin locates next to St John's College.
The whodunit novels have complex plots and fantastic, somewhat unbelievable solutions, including strong examples of the locked room mystery. They are written in a humorous, literary and sometimes farcical style and they are among the few mystery novels to break the fourth wall and occasionally speak directly to the audience.
Crispin is considered by many to be one of the last great exponents of the 'classic' crime mystery. He counted amongst his friends Philip Larkin, Kingsley Amis and Agatha Christie. Crispin was also a composer, writing musical scores for about fifty feature films.
"The Case of the Gilded Fly" was one of his locked-room mysteries written while Crispin was an undergraduate at Oxford and first published in the UK in 1944. The book contains the first appearance of eccentric amateur detective Gervase Fen, Professor of English Language and Literature at the University of Oxford, who went on to appear in all nine of Crispin's novels as well as most of the short stories. The book abounds in literary allusions ranging from classical antiquity to the mid-20th century. - "Death of a Bookseller,"
Bernard J. Farmer.
The 100th installment in the British Library's Crime Classics series is a fantastically fun bookish romp of a mystery! - "Close to Death,"
Anthony Horowitz.
Horowitz has never disappointed me, and his catty humor when describing this story's colorful characters has never been more delightful! Get ready to learn even more secrets about Detective Hawthorne in this edition of the Hawthorne and Horowitz series, and prepare as well for one surprise after another in this book's concluding pages. - "The Twist of a Knife,"
Anthony Horowitz.
After his new play receives a scathing review from a critic who is then found murdered with Horowitz's fingerprints on the weapon, Horowitz must rely on his estranged former partner, Detective Hawthorne, to prove his innocence. - "A Line to Kill,"
Anthony Horowitz.
Oh, how we Cozy Mystery lovers relish a locked-room whodunnit. Anthony gives us a good one. Featuring the fictionalized author Anthony Horowitz as the narrator and sidekick to the ex-detective Daniel Hawthorne, this story follows the duo to a literary festival on the island of Alderney, where a murder occurs, trapping the guests and forcing Hawthorne to investigate the killer among them.
- SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome
Mary Beard.
The English Classicist Mary Beard tells history like no other contemporary historian. So I was thrilled when a hardcover birthday gift arrived from my friend Joe. Joe knows better than anyone my love of Greco-Roman history. The year before, he gave me Beard's "Emperor of Rome" and, like it, "SPQR" enthralled me from beginning to end because Beard's history writing is not dry details but a captivating narrative. - "The Puzzle of Blackstone Lodge:
a Rachel Savernake Mystery" [Book 3]
Martin Edwards.
I love Martin Edwards - as the host and sometimes narrator of the British Library Crime Classics. As an author himself, particularly the Savernake mysteries, I remain unimpressed. - "Two-Way Murder,"
E.C.R. Lorac.
All the hallmarks of the Golden Age mystery are here in this previously unpublished novel by E.C.R. Lorac, boasting the author's characteristically detailed sense of setting and gripping police work. - "Murder by Matchlight,"
E.C.R. Lorac.
London, 1945. The capital is shrouded in the darkness of the blackout, and mystery abounds in the parks after dusk. This wonderful selection in the Lorac collection provides a great description of what that historic period was like for Londoners. Our ever-brilliant C.I.D. man, MacDonald, must set to work once again to unravel this near-impossible mystery. - "Murder in Vienna,"
E.C.R. Lorac.
Set against the enchanting background of post war Vienna, with its beautiful palaces and gardens, its disenchanted residents and scars of war, E.C.R. Lorac constructs a characteristic detective story featuring Inspector MacDonald. This exceedingly rare mystery, first published in 1956, makes its triumphant return for the first time since its original appearance. - "Death of an Author,"
E.C.R. Lorac.
Bond and Warner of Scotland Yard set to work to investigate a murder with no body and a potentially fictional victim, as E. C. R. Lorac spins a twisting tale full of wry humour and red herrings, poking some fun at her contemporary reviewers who long suspected the Lorac pseudonym to belong to a man (since a woman could apparently not have written mysteries the way that she did). - "Smallbone Deceased,"
E.C.R. Lorac.
Written with style, pace and wit, this is a masterpiece by one of the finest writers of traditional British crime novels since the Second World War. - "Marble Hall Murders,"
Anthony Horowitz.
Horowitz dazzles with the brilliant third entry in his Susan Ryeland series. Once again, the real and the fictional worlds have become dangerously entangled. And if Susan doesn't solve the mystery of Pünd’s Last Case, she could well be its next victim. - "The Man Who Didn't Fly,"
Margot Bennett.
Who was the man who didn’t fly? What did he have to gain? And would he commit such an explosive murder to get it? First published in 1955, Margot Bennett’s ingenious mystery remains an innovative and thoroughly entertaining inversion of the classic whodunit. - "The Widow of Bath,"
Margot Bennett.
First published in 1952, The Widow of Bath offers intricate puzzles, international intrigue and a richly evoked portrait of post-war Britain, all delivered with Bennett's signature brand of witty and elegant prose. - "Crook o' Lune"
E.C.R. Lorac.
Lorac spins a tale portraying the natural beauty, cosy quiet and more brutal elements of country living in this classic rural mystery first published in 1953. Holidaying with his friends the Hoggetts in High Gimmerdale while on a trip to find some farmland for his retirement, Robert Macdonald agrees to help in investigating the identity of sheep-stealers, before being dragged into a case requiring his full experience as Chief Inspector of Scotland Yard. - "Murder in the Mill-Race"
E.C.R. Lorac.
Everyone says that Sister Monica, warden of a children's home, is a saint - but is she? When her body is found drowned in the mill-race. Chief Inspector Macdonald faces one of his most difficult cases in a village determined not to betray its dark secrets to a stranger. - "Death Under a Little Sky"
Stig Abell.
When Jake Jackson inherits his reclusive uncle’s property in the country, the detective seizes the opportunity for a new life away from the hustle of London. But when a young woman’s bones are discovered, Jake finds himself pulled back into the role of detective, and on the trail of a dangerous killer hiding within this most unlikely of settings.
Family History,
Book Reviews, and Articles of Interest
can be found in the
Terry's Library
Meditations!
Enjoy looking through my Library
Avoid the 3 PsBsSs
Processed Foods, Phthalates, Plastics;
Beef, Butter, Breads;
you’ll be feeling better in no time!
Avoid the 3 F’s
misinformation, fear, anger and hate!
JOIN ME IN ENSURING AN EDUCATED CITIZENRY!
JOIN ME IN ENSURING AN EDUCATED CITIZENRY!
I drink it morning through late afternoon.
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| Best Bean Ever! |
While on vacation in Oregon I fell in love with the many varieties I discovered at Portland Coffee Roasters.
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