E.C. Bentley wrote Trent’s Last Case as a reaction against the artificial type of detective stories popular in the early 1900’s which portrayed detectives as almost superhuman. He believed it was possible to have a detective who was recognisable as a human being with human emotions and not someone who was a perfect reasoning machine, … Continue reading Trent’s Last Case by E.C. Bentley (1913)
Crime Fiction
Keeping Notebooks & a Bookish Update
I started a monthly or thereabouts Charlotte Mason newsletter about 18 months ago. Since moving to WordPress the link to request the newsletter doesn't work. I've had a few queries about Notebooks recently but it's a topic that comes up quite often so I've started writing about Notebooks in a Charlotte Mason education and sending … Continue reading Keeping Notebooks & a Bookish Update
A Bookish Catch-up
Our recent overseas trip afforded me some good opportunities for lighter reading. With very long flights from here to the U.K and back and a about six hours of train travel in between I managed to get through a few books that I took with me plus some others I picked up on our travels. … Continue reading A Bookish Catch-up
Have His Carcase by Dorothy L. Sayers (1932)
Have His Carcase is the second book by D. L. Sayers to feature Harriet Vane who was first introduced in Strong Poison (1930) when Lord Peter Wimsey decides she is not guilty of a murder charge and sets out to prove it.I’ve been filling in the gaps of my Sayers’ reading lately and … Continue reading Have His Carcase by Dorothy L. Sayers (1932)
Colour Scheme by Ngaio Marsh (1943)
Colour Scheme by Ngaio Marsh (1895-1982) is a WWII crime mystery set in a fictional spot on the North Island of New Zealand similar to the geothermal area of Rotorua with its distinctive sulphurous odour.Colonel Edward Claire, his wife, and their two adult children, are incompetently running the mud bath resort. Mrs Claire’s brother, … Continue reading Colour Scheme by Ngaio Marsh (1943)
Reading, Thinking, & Domesticity #5
Sometimes it's helpful having your birthday at the end of the year. It acts like a 'pause and reflect' moment before heading into a new year. On my birthday in December, my husband gave me a card with a list of things that happened in 2018: * Our third child got … Continue reading Reading, Thinking, & Domesticity #5
The Franchise Affair by Josephine Tey (1948)
Josephine Tey has just shot to the top of the list of my favourite authors. Inspector Alan Grant of Scotland Yard was already up there as the most humane and likeable literary detective of my reading to date, but although he does play a (very minor) role in this novel, it is an unqualified, unlikely, … Continue reading The Franchise Affair by Josephine Tey (1948)
The Singing Sands by Josephine Tey
Josephine Tey is the pseudonym of Elizabeth MacKintosh, a Scottish author, who also wrote numerous plays under the name of Gordon Daviot. She was one of the great British writers who wrote during the Golden Age of Crime and is best known for her mystery novels.The Singing Sands was published after Tey's death in 1952, … Continue reading The Singing Sands by Josephine Tey
journey & destination 