A first novel from Christine Kling. Les Standiford, you should be ashamed of yourself. Mentioning Seychelle Sullivan in the same breath as John D [MacDonald] is a crime. I’ll admit I’m probably not a good judge of potential, and since it’s her first book maybe I should cut her some slack, but if John D […]

Double Sin, published in 1961, is a collection of stories written by Dame Agatha Christie. The publication date puts it toward the end of her “dry period” where her books were more automatic writing than inventiveness, but don’t let the timing put you off. Many of the stories come from the very fertile earlier periods […]

The latest book in my return trip through Agatha Christie’s world is Cat Among the Pigeons. Someone is killing the schoolmistresses of one of the most exclusive girl’s schools in Britain. This one comes from the period where Dame Agatha was truly sick and tired of Hercule Poirot; it’s one of the books where she […]

Maybe I’ve just overdosed on the period lately, but this particular mystery, by Jeanne Dams, left me completely cold. Try as I might, I just could not get interested in any of the characters presented in it. That’s a bit unusual, as I have generally liked her work (enough to locate signed firsts of her […]