Tag Archives: vintage crime

Hickory Dickory Dock by Agatha Christie

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Hickory dickory dock – agatha christie – 1st book club ed. 1956.

Hickory Dickory Dock by Agatha Christie was first published in 1955. It’s a Poirot book.

When Poirot’s normally perfect secretary Miss Lemon makes three mistakes in one letter that she has typed for him he realises that there is something seriously wrong with her. It turns out that Miss Lemon’s sister is having problems at her work. She is a matron at a hostel for students, and things have been disappearing. It seems that there’s a kleptomaniac living within the hostel, a strange conglomeration of items have gone missing. Miss Lemon’s widowed sister is worried, as is Miss Lemon. Obvioulsy Poirot has to investigate, and things take a much more serious turn when one of the students is found dead.

This is a book that I’ve had in the house for years, unread. That is probably because I much prefer the Miss Marple books to Poirot, of course this book is still a good read.

I might be strange but it’s the Art Deco style of the Poirot episodes that I appreciate most about them, although there’s not quite enough of it, in my opinion. What is your preference, Marple or Poirot? If Marple which one? There are quite a few to choose from, all good but Joan Hickson is my favourite.

I’ve just checked and it’s over ten years since I read an Agatha Christie book. How did that happen?

The Spider-Orchid by Celia Fremlin

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The Spider-Orchid by Celia Fremlin was first published in 1977. I suppose that means it’s vintage crime – astonishingly!

This one is I suppose a psychological thriller, that means that for me it was an uncomfortable read, it’s certainly not cosy crime. Also it takes a very long time for an actual crime to take place, despite all that, it’s a very good read – at the end anyway.

Adrian has recently been divorced from his wife Peggy after she declared that she couldn’t stand it any longer. What she couldn’t stand was Adrian’s long term affair with a woman called Rita. Adrian is amazed as he didn’t even realise that Peggy had been aware of his affair, despite him flaunting Rita around the local neighbourhood and even in front of friends and work colleagues.

Living in a rented flat on his own is ideal for Adrian, with just a few visits from Rita a week, he’s happier living on his own, but Sundays are sacrosanct, that’s when his daughter spends the day with him. When Rita decides to move in Adrian is not at all happy, but he only has himself to blame as he has been agreeing with Rita for years that it would be wonderful if they could be together all the time. He’s aghast, especially when it transpires that Rita is very much against the existence of Amelia his daughter.

Ultimately I enjoyed this one because for me the ending went in the right direction, but for a lot of the time the plot was a bit of a worry!

It’s a quick read at just 176 pages.

 

 

Murder Must Advertise by Dorothy L. Sayers

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Book CoverMurder Must Advertise by Dorothy L. Sayers was first published in 1933. My edition is a Hodder reprint from 2016.

The very successful advertising agency Pym’s Publicity has taken on a new copy-writer by the name of Death Bredon, it is of course Lord Peter Wimsey looking exactly like himself but claiming to be his disreputable cousin Bredon when he is recognised.

There had recently been a death within the offices of the company. Victor Dean had fallen down a metal spiral staircase, but was it purely an accident or a dastardly murder? Lord Peter is engaged to go undercover and get to the bottom of the mystery, but the bodies pile up before he cracks the case. In some ways the plot seems quite a modern one involving fast living upper class types and illegal substances, but I suppose there’s nothing new in crime.

There’s an introduction by Peter Robinson.

I read this one about 30 years ago and as I’m quite a fan of Sayers it was about time I had a re-read. It doesn’t feature Harriet Vane, those ones are my favourites, but it’s still really enjoyable, with what I’m sure was a very authentic setting as Sayers got the idea for the book while she was working as a copy-writer in an advertising agency. It’s thought that she came up with the famous Guinness adverts featuring a Toucan. She injects plenty of humour into the tale with quick witted wordplay  as you would expect from such characters.

LOVELY DAY FOR A GUINNESS - Alcohol Advertisement Wall Poster Print - 30cm x 43cm / 12 Inches x 17 Inches

 

Whose Body? by Dorothy L. Sayers

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Whose Body? by Dorothy L. Sayers was first published in 1923. It begins with Lord Peter Wimsey getting a phone call from his mother. She tells him that Mr Thipps the architect who is working on her local church’s roof, has discovered the body of a man in his bath. The body is naked apart from wearing a pair of pince nez.  When Peter goes to investigate he realises that the corpse is supposed to be the wealthy businessman Sir Reuben Levy who has gone missing. It bears a resemblance to Sir Reuben, but Peter isn’t fooled.

Inspector Sugg jumps to conclusions and thinks he has solved the case, of course he is completely wrong, and Lord Peter is going to enjoy proving him to be wrong.

This was a good mystery which kept me guessing. There is some slight discomfort in that Sir Reuben’s Jewish background is mentioned a few times, but nothing really disparaging, considering the times in which the book was written.  He’s portrayed as being a kind and generous husband and Lord Peter is an admirer, despite his father having disliked self-made men like Sir Reuben. Sheer snobbery.

Post After Post-Mortem by E.C.R. Lorac – 20 Books of Summer

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Post After Post-Mortem by E.C.R. Lorac is subtitled An Oxfordshire Mystery. It was first published in 1936 but this edition was published by British Library in 2022. It has an introduction by Martin Edwards.

Mrs Surray and her professor husband have lived in their home for 25 years and she particularly loves the place and its garden. Their five adult children are all arriving for the weekend to celebrate their mother’s birthday, they’re a talented bunch, all successful writers of some sort, they’re all academically high-fliers and writers of various sorts. It should be a perfect weekend of celebration, but shockingly one of the ‘children’  doesn’t survive the night.

It looks like an open and shut case and at the inquest the coroner is happy to come to the obvious conclusion, however, with hindsight the evidence doesn’t really add up, and so begins a search for clues, with CID Robert Macdonald given the job of investigating.

I enjoyed this one – up to a point. I really didn’t like any of the members of the Surray family, they were all too up themselves/self regarding for my liking, Macdonald the detective was the only really likeable character, but the mystery itself was decent.

Someone from the Past by Margot Bennett

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Someone from the Past by Margot Bennett was first published in 1958 but it was reprinted by  British Library in 2023. This book won the Crime Writers’ Association’s Award for the best crime novel of 1958, but it was the last crime novel that the Scottish author Margot Bennett wrote. The setting is mainly London.

Nancy had been enjoying a night out with Donald, it seems to be a special date, they’ve been on the champagne and all seems well, but they are interrupted by Sarah, a one time work colleague of Nancy’s, but Sarah had been somewhat closer to Donald in the past, he’s not enamoured with her at all now.

But Nancy agrees to help Sarah who has been receiving anonymous letters, threatening her death, the threat seems to come from a man in her past – but there have been so many of them. Before Nancy can do anything to help, Sarah is found dead and a bad decision by Nancy means that she is a suspect. It’s all a bit of a nightmare.

The blurb says: As the real killer uses the situation to their advantage, Bennett crafts a nuanced story through flashbacks to Sarah’s life and loves.

This is a good read although my favourite era for crime novels is the 1930s and 40s, don’t ask me why, they just seem more atmospheric.

 

 

 

 

 

Green for Danger by Christianna Brand

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Green for Danger by Christianna Brand was first published in 1944 but it has been reprinted by British Library in their Crime Classics series.

The setting is Kent in 1942/43, at a new military hospital called Heron’s Park. Esther is a young woman who had joined the hospital as a V.A.D. against her widowed mother’s wishes as she was terrified of the bombing and didn’t want to be left on her own. Esther feels she has to do her bit though.

It’s a busy time for the hospital as lots of  bombs have been dropped in the locality. Joseph Higgins is a postman, and he’s also part of a rescue squad, helping to dig people and bodies out of bombed buildings. But he ends up in hospital himself after being caught up in a bombing raid. He’s very worried about having to have an operation and Esther reassures him, but something goes wrong when he’s on the operating table and he doesn’t survive it. When there’s another unexpected incident during an operation it’s obvious that there’s something nefarious going on.

Inspector Cockrill is called in to investigate.and it transpires that there’s a small number of people who would have had the opportunity to commit murder.

I must admit that I didn’t guess who the culprit was, which is always a plus, but I felt that I should have known. I didn’t really like many of the characters though which is always a problem for me.

Somebody at the Door by Raymond Postgate

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Somebody at the Door by Raymond Postgate was first published in 1943 but British Library has reprinted it in 2017 in their Crime Classics series. He also founded The Good Food Guide.

The setting is the south of England, Winter 1942.

Councillor Grayling gets on the train at Euston, it’s a really busy train and his carriage is full, some of the people he knows, but doesn’t particularly like. He has £120 in his briefcase and he’s a bit worried about carrying so much money. When he gets off the train he walks the short distance from the station to his home, through the snow covered streets, but when he reaches his home he falls through the door as his wife answers it, in no time he’s dead. His briefcase is missing.

Inspector Holly investigates, looking into the backgrounds of all Grayling’s fellow passengers, apart from two young workmen who can’t be traced. It seems a lot of them have good reasons for not liking Grayling.

For this reason the story seems to go off at strange tangents, but it all makes sense eventually and I didn’t guess what was going on.

Raymond Postgate was the father of Oliver Postgate, who created Bagpuss, The Clangers, Noggin the Nog, and Ivor the Engine. Not many people remember Noggin the Nog, it was before my time on children’s TV but it’s a favourite with Jack. Peter Firmin was also involved in making that one. I was more of a Bagpuss fan. Sorry, that’s me going off at a tangent now.

 

 

Suddenly at His Residence by Christianna Brand

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Suddenly at His Residence by Christianna Brand was first published in 1946 but it was reprinted by British Library in 2023. It’s an Inspector Cockrill mystery. It’s subtitled A Mystery in Kent, but really it could have been anywhere in the south of England. In Americal this book is titled The Crooked Wreath.

The setting is Swanswater Manor, a large house owned by Sir Richard March. As World War 2 is still ongoing the manor is fuller than usual, Sir Richard’s family has gathered together, including his grandchildren. After the death of his wife Serafita Sir Richard had married his long-term mistress Bella, who had had a daughter by him, and she had had a son Edward. He’s an attention seeker and has concocted mental health issues which might come back to bite him.

The whole manor house is a shrine to the first wife Serafita, there are portraits of her everywhere, and small tables with her ballet shoes and other personal things on show, it’s a cross that Bella has to bear.  Sir Richard is cantankerous and uses his wealth to manipulate his family, he’s always changing his will, despite the fact that he has a weak heart and could pop off at any time.

This is an enjoyable classic country house mystery, although I did guess who the culprit was, but not too early on.

There’s an interesting introduction by Martin Edwards.

Uncle Paul by Celia Fremlin

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Uncle Paul by Celia Fremlin was first published in 1959 but has just been reprinted by Faber. It’s subtitled Welcome to the Nightmare Summer Holiday.

Meg is the youngest by far of three sisters, but it seems that she is the one who has to come to the rescue of her sisters who are feckless and disorganised (Isabel) and highly strung (Mildred).

Isabel has rented a caravan in an English coastal resort, but she sends Meg a telegram which says that Mildred needs help, please come.

Meg’s newish boyfriend isn’t keen for her to go as he feels that she’s always having to sort out her sisters’ problems, which she is. But Meg can’t ignore the call for help and when she gets to the holiday resort – Southcliffe – she is amazed to discover that Mildred has rented the very cottage which she had spent her honeymoon in years earlier, when Meg was just a little girl of six.  In fact ‘Uncle Paul’ as Meg had called her brother-in-law had been arrested for the murder of his previous wife while they were at that cottage.

This was a really enjoyable read which had for me a couple of surprising twists at the end.