Reading the Detectives discussion

Nominations please for our April 2024 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.

If you aren't sure whether we have read something, the group bookshelves may help, or just ask. If it was at least 3 years ago that we read it, it is fine to renominate.

I will nominate a book I acquired a few days ago (cheap, on Amazon) ...

The Mystery of the Kneeling Woman by Moray Dalton. I'm sure we've read others by this author.

"Not another murder!" "You've said it." Kindly Reverend John Clare pays a social call upon the saturnine Simon Killick at his forbidding house, The Grange. Killick is a virtual recluse who relies on three dogs and a parrot for company. Killick is soon found murdered in his home, while in a nearby wood a local schoolboy, Toby, discovers a dying stranger whose last words refer to a "kneeling woman." This kick-starts a complicated case for the local police and it is not long before Scotland Yard, in the form of Inspector Collier, is called in. Yet more murders follow-this time by poisoned chocolates. Are all the deaths connected, and is the "kneeling woman" the link? What might Sir Henry Webber, the new owner of Brock Hall, know about the case, or, for that matter, his snobbish wife Beryl, and their two ghastly sons? Or odd jobs man Tommy Yates, or Florrie Soper, cook at the Hall, who adores Edgar Wallace thrillers and is intent on marrying Tommy. At least Collier has the eager assistance of Toby . . . and his widowed mother Sandra. Has love finally entered the life of Inspector Collier?

I will nominate The Crime Coast by Elizabeth Gill

A tragic discovery was made at Bishop’s Hotel last evening when a maid, on entering the suite of Signora da Costa, a rich Argentine guest at the hotel, found her dead body on the bed wrapped in an eiderdown.

Paul Ashby is excited to be heading off on holiday to the South of France. But on the day before departure he is entrusted with a strange mission – to find a missing young man. When he arrives in St. Antoine, he falls quickly in with the local artistic set, including alluring Adelaide Moon and Argentian playboy Hernandez de Najera. Also present is eccentric painter Benvenuto Brown who suspects de Najera of murder most foul, and a Scotland Yard detective looking for the ‘slosher’, a noted jewel thief. Are thief and killer one and the same, and what is the connection to the missing boy? Bevenuto and Paul will travel from exotic watering spots to the dangerous backstreets of Marseilles in their search for the solution to this clever and elegant whodunit.

Great suggestions. I will nominate:
Death Walks in Eastrepps: Merlin Classic Crime

Francis Beeding’s critically acclaimed serial killer crime novel set in a North Norfolk coastal village
‘A beautifully written tour de force’ NEW YORK TIMES
‘One of the best Golden Age serial killer whodunits’ MARTIN EDWARDS
‘One of the ten greatest detective novels of all time’ VINCENT STARRETT
One murder will bring even the smallest hamlet into the public eye, but when death walks in Eastrepps and five murders are committed in the same brutal way, at the same hour, and on the same day of successive weeks, the little village on the Norfolk coast, becomes notorious and the matter is taken up in the Houses of Parliament…

Susan wrote: "Great suggestions. I will nominate:
Death Walks in Eastrepps: Merlin Classic Crime

Francis Beeding’s criticall..."

I can't find Death Walks on Kindle in the US.

I’ll nominate Calamity at Harwood in the Inspector Littlejohn series:

To solve a murder case, Thomas Littlejohn contends with ghosts, Nazis, and crooked real estate speculators.

Known across London as one of the premier slumlords of the East End, Solomon Burt has never fallen in love with a property the way he has with Harwood, a faded manor house halfway between London and the sea. When the owner refuses to sell, Burt uses every trick he knows to buy the house out from under the man and convert it into apartments. Now Burt owns the property lock, stock, and barrel—but he will have to share it with the ghosts.

When Burt is found murdered, the tenants fear a ghost might be responsible. Detective-Inspector Littlejohn is called down from London to solve the case and restore reason. But what he find lurking in the back corners of Harwood is far more dangerous than a poltergeist.

$7.99 on Kindle US, currently free with Kindle Unlimited; sorry, not sure about current availability in UK and elsewhere.

Calamity at Harwood not available on Amazon.de.

Thanks for checking, I’ll withdraw that nomination then - hard to know what’s available elsewhere.

Susan in NC wrote: "Thanks for checking, I’ll withdraw that nomination then - hard to know what’s available elsewhere."

Yes, that´s my problem too, so I often don´t nominate any more.

But as this book isn´t exactly my taste, sorry, I wouldn´t mind that others read it, if it were available in the UK f.e.

Michaela wrote: "Susan in NC wrote: "Thanks for checking, I’ll withdraw that nomination then - hard to know what’s available elsewhere."

Yes, that´s my problem too, so I often don´t nominate any more.

But as this..."
Do they have any of the George Bellairs Inspector Littlejohn titles? It was a long series (30+ books), so I thought it might be available. Thanks for letting me know, I’ve just about given up on nominating also - or just always nominating Lorac, because she seems available! ;o)

Yes, it is pretty difficult. I am happy to remove my nomination.

Michaela wrote: "Yes, that´s my problem too, so I often don´t nominate any more.

But as this book isn´t exactly my taste, sorry, I wouldn´t mind that others read it, if it were available in the UK f.e...."

Thank you Susan and Michaela. Calamity at Harwood is available on Kindle in the UK, so would you like to go ahead with that nomination?

Susan and Sandy, there are a couple of editions of Death Walks in Eastrepps available on Kindle in the UK and another edition on Kobo - shame it isn't available in the US. Ironically, one of the Kindle editions is from Spitfire Publishing, who have some other titles available only in the US and not the UK! Anyway, maybe one for a buddy read in future, Susan?

Sure, I’ll keep it in since it’s available for some in the group; I’d like to continue with the Inspector Littlejohn series, this is #7, and is currently free on Kindle unlimited

I got a paperback copy for $5.99 off Amazon US, ordered from an overseas company. We'll see,

I recently got Eastrepps in paperback. Don't recall how much it was but see that it is $6.00.

Not sure if I have nominated The Bellamy Trial by Frances Noyes Hart before or not but I will nominate it now. Also not sure if available elsewhere. It is currently available for $.99 on Kindle US.

Published 2 years after Christie's The Witness for the Prosecution. And I have just been reading about the 1922 murder of the minister and the choir singer in New Jersey.

Here, a man and a woman are accused of stabbing the man's wife in an uninhabited cottage in Long Island (reminiscent of the murder scene in the 1922 case). An 8 day trial produces a variety of witnesses, some reliable and some not so much. And, much like the 1922 case, there is a volatile press at work.

I wasn't going to nominate since I think all of the nominees but if they're not available everywhere, maybe this one is.

The Bellamy trial is on kindle in the UK, Jan.

On the German page too.

I'd like to nominate Josephine Tey's To Love and Be Wise. I don't see it in the group's bookshelf so assume it hasn't been read here.

That's an excellent nomination!

Susan wrote: "Yes, it is pretty difficult. I am happy to remove my nomination."

Found it on kindle (in Canada) for 99 cents

Thanks to everyone for the nominations and for checking availability.

Nominations so far:

Rosina: The Mystery of the Kneeling Woman by Moray Dalton

Jill: The Crime Coast by Elizabeth Gill

Susan in NC: Calamity at Harwood by George Bellairs

Frances: To Love and Be Wise by Josephine Tey

Any more nominations? This is the last call as I'm planning to put the poll up tomorrow.

Judy wrote: "Thanks to everyone for the nominations and for checking availability.

Nominations so far:

Rosina: The Mystery of the Kneeling Woman by Moray Dalton

Jill: The Crime Coast by Elizabeth Gill

Susan..."

Jan C nominated The Bellamy Trial, and I think (based on comments) that it is available on Kindle in the UK and Germany. It is definitely available in the U.S. It was reissued a couple years ago as part of Otto Penzler's American Mystery Classics series. I just didn't want Jan's nomination to be overlooked! :)

Thanks Carissa! I actually thought I'd put The Bellamy Trial in the list, sorry - I will add it in now! :)

Rosina: The Mystery of the Kneeling Woman by Moray Dalton

Jill: The Crime Coast by Elizabeth Gill

Susan in NC: Calamity at Harwood by George Bellairs

Jan: The Bellamy Trial by Frances Noyes Hart

Frances: To Love and Be Wise by Josephine Tey

I read The Bellamy Trial last year, which is available in the US both as a paperback and a Kindle in the American Mystery Classics series. Really enjoyed!

The poll is now open - please vote for your preferred choice for our April group read.

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

Carissa wrote: "Judy wrote: "Thanks to everyone for the nominations and for checking availability.

Nominations so far:

Rosina: The Mystery of the Kneeling Woman by Moray Dalton

Jill: The Crime Coast by Elizabet..."

Thank you. I hadn't been back for a few days and thus would have missed out with Bellamy.

For possibly the first time, I have every book on this list.

Oh, good! I have a couple, but I’m not sure of the others - the ‘Kneeling Woman’ is in a book pool in another group, so I’m going to read that no matter what, I can get it on Everand with my subscription. Thanks for the Tey reminder, I picked up a few of her used paperbacks years ago, I’ll try and remember them to nominate in future, since she should be fairly available for many of us.

And the winner is... The Mystery of the Kneeling Woman by Moray Dalton, which will be our April group read.

Thanks to all who nominated and voted.

Full results:
The Mystery of the Kneeling Woman 7 votes, 36.8%
To Love and Be Wise (Inspector Alan Grant, #4) 4 votes, 21.1%
The Crime Coast 3 votes, 15.8%
The Bellamy Trial 3 votes, 15.8%
Calamity at Harwood (Chief Inspector Littlejohn #7) 2 votes, 10.5%