Prime Suspect

Crispin, Edmund (Author)

Edmund Crispin was the nom de plume of the composer Robert Bruce Montgomery (10/2/1921-9/15/1978). As an organist and choirmaster at St John’s Oxford, Crispin used the university and the town as the setting for his mystery novels.

Crispin’s first mystery, The Case of the Gilded Fly introduces Oxford Don Gervase Fen. He’s a professor of English Language and Literature who would rather solve crime than write about literature. He’s eccentric, loves obscure references quoted at inappropriate times, and is quite good at the detecting thing.

The mystery revolves around a repertory theatre company. The nastiest and not very talented actress (and also the wealthiest of the bunch) is murdered and the list is long with suspects. It is an interesting, if a little unbelievable, locked room mystery. But the joy of the story with all its wit, its interesting characters and settings make the novel worth reading.

The Moving Toyshop (one of PD James’ Top 5 Fave Mysteries) is considered Crispin’s best. Again taking place in Oxford, it deals with a visiting poet Richard Cadogan stumbling over a dead body. But when Cadogan brings the police to the body, the entire toyshop has disappeared! Of course, it hasn’t really disappeared so Cadogan has to search for the toyshop with the help of his nutty professor friend (Fen, again). After uncovering a cunning scheme to defraud an heiress out of her fortune, Fen and Cadogan discover the murderer.

There are many more Gervase Fen Mysteries. Many of which have been lovingly reissued by Felony & Mayhem Press, New York.

   
 
Gervase Fen Mysteries

1. The Case of the Gilded Fly (1944)
2. Holy Disorders (1945)
3. The Moving Toyshop (1946)
4. Swan Song (1947)
5. Love Lies Bleeding (1948)
6. Buried for Pleasure (1948)
7. Frequent Hearses (1950)
8. The Long Divorce (1952)
9. Beware of the Trains (1953) (short story collection)
10. The Glimpses of the Moon (1977)
11. Fen Country (1979) (short story collection, published posthumously)

Publishers:

• Felony & Mayhem, New York. (Reissues in Trade Paperback)

Christie, Agatha (Author)

 

Dame Agatha Mary Clarissa Miller, Lady Mallowan, DBE (15 September 1890 – 12 January 1976), more commonly known as Agatha Christie is the Grand Dame of the Mystery Novel. With over 4 billion (!) copies of her novels sold, Agatha along with Shakespeare are the 2 most recognized English writers in human history.

Agatha is widely credited with creating the mystery novel we know today. She mastered plotting, suspense, and characterization (giving us character psychologies that would credibly explain motivations for murder).

Agatha Christie's Sleuths:

(David Suchet as "Hercule Poirot")

Hercule Poirot. The Belgian private detective that used his little grey cells to solve complex mysteries. Agatha grew to hate Poirot. She said, ‘[Poirot is a] detestable, bombastic, tiresome, ego-centric little creep’. But the public disagreed and she continued to write Poirot novels until the end of her (and his) life.

1. The Mysterious Affair at Styles (1920)
2. Murder on the Links (1923)
3. Poirot Investigates (1924, short stories ’ss’)
4. The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (1926)
5. The Big Four (1927)
6. The Mystery of the Blue Train (1928)
7. Black Coffee (1930 play – novel adapted from play published in 1998)
8. Peril at End House (1932)
9. Thirteen at Dinner (1933) also published as Lord Edgware Dies
10. Murder on the Orient Express (1934) also published as Murder in the Calais Coach
11. Murder in Three Acts (1935) also published as Three Act Tragedy
12. Death in Air (1935) also published as Death in the Clouds
13. The A.B.C. Murders (1936) also published as Alphabet murders
14. Murder in Mesopotamia (1936)
15. Cards on the Table (1936)
16. Death on the Nile (1937)
17. Poirot Loses a Client (1937) also published as Dumb Witness
18. Murder in the Mews (1937, ss) also published as Dead Man’s Mirror
19. Appointment with Death (1938)
20. Murder for Christmas (1939) also published as Hercule Poirot’s Christmas and A Holiday for Murder
21. The Regatta Mystery (1939)
22. Sad Cypress (1940)
23. Patriotic Murders (1940) also published as One, Two, Buckle My Shoe and Overdose of Death
24. Evil Under the Sun (1941)
25. Murder in Retrospect (1942) also published as Five Little Pigs
26. Poirot Knows the Murderer (1946, ss)
27. Poirot Lends a Hand (1946, ss)
28. Murder after hours (1946) also published as The Hollow
29. The Labours of Hercules (1947, ss)
30. Taken at the Flood (1948) also published as There Is a Tide
31. Witness for the Prosecution (1948, ss)
32. Three Blind Mice (1950, ss)
33. The Under Dog and Other Stories (1951, ss)
34. Mrs McGinty’s Dead (1952) also published as Blood with tell
35. After the Funeral (1953) also published as Funerals are Fatal
36. Hickory Dickory Dock (1955) also published as Hickory Dickory death
37. Dead Man’s Folly (1956)
38. Cat Among the Pigeons (1959)
39. The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding (1960, ss)
40. Double Sin and Other Stories (1961, ss)
41. 13 For Luck! (1924, ss)
42. The Clocks (1963)
43. Third Girl (1966)
44. Hallowe’en Party (1969)
45. Elephants Can Remember (1972)
46. Poirot’s Early Cases (1974, ss)
47. Curtain (written about 1940, published 1975)

 
(Joan Hickson as "Miss Jane Marple")

Miss Jane Marple. Miss Marple lives in the picturesque village of St. Mary Mead. It would be a nice place to live, but the murder rate is crazily high. Luckily, Miss Marple is able to put the pieces together to solve the puzzles, and put the killers behind bars.

1. The Murder at the Vicarage (1930)
2. The Body in the Library (1942)
3. The Moving Finger (1943)
4. A Murder is Announced (1950)
5. They Do It with Mirrors, or Murder With Mirrors (1952)
6. A Pocket Full of Rye (1953)
7. 4.50 from Paddington, or What Mrs. McGillicuddy Saw (1957)
8. The Mirror Crack’d from Side to Side, or The Mirror Crack’d (1962)
9. A Caribbean Mystery (1964)
10. At Bertram’s Hotel (1965)
11. Nemesis (1971)
12. Sleeping Murder (written around 1940, published 1976)

 
(Francesca Annis & James Warwick as "Tuppence Cowley" & "Tommy Beresford")
 
Tommy & Tuppence. Husband & wife sleuthing team. Unlike Miss Marple and Poirot who never seemed to age, Tommy & Tuppence aged in “real time” over the five novels and short story collections that featured them.

1. The Secret Adversary (1922)
2. Partners in Crime (1929)
3. N or M? (1941)
4. By the Pricking of My Thumbs (1968)
5. Postern of Fate (1973)

Other Mysteries & Sleuths

∙ The Man in the Brown Suit (1924) Colonel Johnny Race
∙ The Secret of Chimneys (1925) Battle
∙ The Seven Dials Mystery (1929) Battle
∙ The Sittaford Mystery (1931)
∙ Why Didn’t They Ask Evans? (1934) Bobby Jones and Frances Derwent
∙ Murder Is Easy (1939) Battle
∙ Ten Little Indians or Then There Were None (1939)
∙ Towards Zero (1944) Battle
∙ Death Comes as the End (1945)
∙ Sparkling Cyanide (1945) Johnny Race
∙ Crooked House (1949)
∙ They Came to Baghdad (1951)
∙ Ordeal by Innocence (1958) Arthur Calgary
∙ The Pale Horse (1961) Ariadne Oliver
∙ Passenger to Frankfurt (1970)

Steve Cline (Sleuth)

       

If you are as sad as I am about the death of Dick Francis and wonder what we will read now that he has passed, I would like to introduce you to Kit Ehrman's Steve Cline Mysteries.

Steve comes from a prominent Baltimore family who drops out of John Hopkins to find himself. And he finds himself by working with horses and solving crimes, much to his parents’ and brother’s chagrin.

The first book, At Risk, takes place at a horse stable where Cline is the barn manager. In the first paragraph, Cline gets into some very serious trouble that almost costs him his life. And as the story progresses and he gets closer to solving the mystery, he puts more than himself in danger. The second book, Dead Man’s Touch, takes place at a race track and involves race fixing. The third book, Cold Burn, has Cline working at a breeding ranch and searching for a friend’s missing brother. The forth book, Triple Cross, sends Cline back to the world of horse racing.

Steve is a great sleuth. He’s young, volatile, smart, and desperately wanting to do the right thing. But he isn’t always able to do the right thing and that’s when everything starts to go haywire and often puts Steve in life or death situations.

Ehrman’s details about horses, horse racing, breeding, etc. are fascinating. We learn so much about what it’s like to work with horses that you can almost smell the stables and feel the power of these wonderful animals.

To read more about the books or Kit (like how she quit her government job after reading Dick Francis's books to work on a horse farm!), click here.

Steve Cline Mysteries

1. At Risk (2002)
2. Dead Man’s Touch (2003)
3. Cold Burn (2005)
4. Triple Cross (2006)

Publisher:

• Poisoned Pen Press, Scottsdale.

Being a Jane Austen Mystery

 

Being that PBS / Masterpiece Theatre has been running the latest film versions of Jane Austen's novels, I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to introduce you to the darker side of Miss Jane Austen.

Francine Mathews writing as Stephanie Barron (pictured above) has written 9 Jane Austen Mysteries. In them, Jane finds herself in the midst of murder and mayhem. She uses her uncanny skills of reading people to search for murderers, traitors, and rakes in Bath, Southampton, London, and other environs that Jane and her family visited and lived in during her short life.

Barron captures Jane's wit and language marvelously such as "I would rather spend an hour among the notorious than two minutes with the dull." Barron also seamlessly weaves actual events and people from Jane's life with diverting suspects as well as the scoundrel that both captivates and infuriates Jane, Lord Harold Trowbridge.

Many authors have tried this gimmick (i.e. making a well known historical person an amateur sleuth) before with and without success. Stephanie Barron, in my view, is the author that they are all trying to emulate in this subcategory of the historical mystery genre.

To read more about Stephanie Barron and the Jane Austen Mysteries, click here. To read more about Francine Mathews and her thrillers that reveal parts of her life while working as a CIA analyst, click here.

  

Jane Austen Mysteries

1. Jane and the Unpleasantness at Scargrave Manor (1996)
2. Jane and the Man of the Cloth (1997)
3. Jane and the Wandering Eye (1998)
4. Jane and the Genius of the Place (1999)
5. Jane and the Stillroom Maid (2000)
6. Jane and the Prisoner of Wool House (2001)
7. Jane and the Ghosts of Netley (2003)
8. Jane and his Lordship's Legacy (2005)
9. Jane and the Barque of Frailty (2006)

Non-Series Novels

• A Flaw in the Blood
• The White Garden

 

 

Dick Francis Books

• The Sport of Queens 1957 - Autobiography
• Dead Cert 1962
• Nerve 1964
• For Kicks 1965
• Odds Against 1965 - Sid Halley
• Flying Finish 1966
• Blood Sport 1967
• Forfeit 1968
• Enquiry 1969
• Rat Race 1970
• Bonecrack 1971
• Smokescreen 1972
• Slayride 1973
• Knockdown 1974
• High Stakes 1975
• In the Frame 1976
• Risk 1977
• Trial Run 1978
• Whip Hand 1979 - Sid Halley
• Reflex 1980
• Twice Shy 1981
• Banker 1982
• The Danger 1983
• Proof 1984
• Break In 1985 - Kit Fielding
• Bolt 1986 - Kit Fielding
• Hot Money 1987
• The Edge 1988
• Straight 1989
• Longshot 1990
• Comeback 1991
• Driving Force 1992
• Decider 1993
• Wild Horses 1994
• Come to Grief 1995 - Sid Halley
• To the Hilt 1996
• 10 LB. Penalty 1997
• Field of Thirteen 1998 - Short Stories
• Second Wind 1999
• Shattered 2000
• Under Orders 2006 - Sid Halley
• Dead Heat 2007 - With Felix Francis
• Silks 2008 - With Felix Francis
• Even Money 2009 - With Felix Francis