Firstly there was 'Adele And Co.' from 1931 by Dornford Yates. Dornford Yates has become a favourite author of mine within the last two years, and this was his fourth book I've read, I'm collecting them. He was very popular in his time, but is not too well known these days. "Here is a superior blend of excitement, drama, danger, intrigue and nostalgia... When Jill, Duchess of Padua, had her priceless pearls stolen, along with Adele and Daphne's jewels (and Berry's cufflinks), Berry and Co. face an impossible task in their attempt to recover them-particularly when they discover that Auntie Emma, a ruthless professional criminal, hopes to beat them to it. Throwing caution to the wind, Berry, Jonah and Boy embark on a thrilling chase which takes them from Paris to the Pyrenees..." This is an amazing book with lots of humour (Berry is so very funny), following on from 'Berry and Co.' and 'Jonah and Co.'
After that incredible adventure, the next choice was 'The Club of Queer Trades' from 1905 by the great G.K. Chesterton, an incredibly entertaining and eccentric little book consisting of six short stories filled with mystery, humour, and intrigue. "Eccentric sleuth, Basil Grant is deftly portrayed by Chesterton: mystic, enigmatic and often considered mad by his brother Rupert-the over-zealous private-eye- and by Charles Swinburne, gullible narrator of the six tales... Like Chesterton's more famous hero, Father Brown, Basil Grant detects crime by intuitive rather than conventional means." I enjoyed this one tremendously and some bits were very funny, and I need to get many more G.K. Chesterton books; he was a writer of great wit and wisdom.
The third book of that particular week that I found hard to put down, was 'The Crime At Black Dudley' from 1929 by Margery Allingham, her first mystery to feature Albert Campion. This one concerns a house party of bright young things gathered in a remote, ancient house full of secret passages, who become trapped in the house by a gang of ruthless criminals. Try this if you are in the mood for a great vintage Golden Age crime classic. Vintage Books has republished Margery Allingham's books in an attractive softcover edition and, after buying three of them, I'd like to get them all in that edition.
It had been years since I'd read one of her books, and I enjoyed 'The Crime At Black Dudley so much that it was followed by another Margery Allingham one, 'Look To The Lady', which I'll finish reading in a day or so, another great one from a great mystery writer; and they are best read in order to get the most out of them.
Lots of interesting sounding reads in this post Lori. Have read some Chesterton and enjoyed what I have read but this particular one sounds very good . I must look for it. I used to go to auctions quite a bit when ever I visited a friend in Ludlow, Shropshire, and often came across Dornford Yates books there but knew nothing about his style ect , only that he was once quite popular.~ You have made me want to find some of his books now with your very appealing descriptions! I really love Margery Allingham's Campion series ~ Did you by any chance ever see the tv series with Peter Davison as Campion? One of my most favorites of her books as well as the tv version was "Sweet Danger"~ it contained all my favorite elements in a mystery or novel ~ an ancient mystery/ riddle , an old atmospheric house filled with eccentric characters , strange goings on in the wood late at night, ghostly sightings,odd locals and plenty of nail biting adventure at various points~ If you have not seen the series I highly recommend it (two seasons) I know some people prefer to only read the original books or read the books first , as film versions and series can be so vastly different and disappointing but I think the Campion series very well done and acting excellent ~ a bit camp perhaps, but think she wrote her characters to be a bit larger than life and unique ~ scenery always excellent and full of atmosphere or at least I find it so. I think my favorite detective stories or mysteries are almost always from the Golden Age of mystery writing. Have you ever read any of the rather eccentric books by Gladys Mitchell? (her main character Beatrice LaStrange Bradley)
ReplyDeleteI think you would enjoy Dornford Yates. Some of the stories are more serious adventures, but the Berry ones have a lot of humour mixed in so they are particularly enjoyable.
DeleteAnd again, another common like: I love the Campion series with Peter Davison! One of my favourites, and Sweet Danger is my favourite story in the set!! I've watched that so many times. I wish they'd filmed all the Campion stories instead of doing only eight, that was such an excellent series.
No, though I've heard of them, I've not yet read a Gladys Mitchell book; heard an audio book once and saw the series with Diana Rigg and Peter Davison.
How wonderful re: your favorite episode of Campion being exactly the same as mine! It was instantly smitten. so that I had to watch it again to savour all the delicious detail ~ I returned to record it from YouTube but unfortunately the person who had kindly uploaded was made to remove them once YouTube changed their policy . I finally located a copy on eBay of that one episode ~ It made me smile to know your favorite was exactly the same one. Should not have been a bit surprised
Deletereally, only delighted to know yet again how very similar our our tastes and perspectives mirror one another! I have wished the same re: wishing they had filmed all her Campion stories and made a third series! Gladys Mitchell's style can take a bit of accustoming oneself to and would say although prolific her work in my opinion is a bit uneven~ the basic premise of many of her stories is interesting, but then sometimes seems to me over written and at times difficult to follow as they are so
labyrinth like and therefore complicated in keeping track of who is who or what is going on.~ having said that, I do love her eccentricity and she created some interesting characters
and excelent atmosphere~she was quite fond of occult related mysteries~ incorporating ancient English legends,myths, ghosts and witchcraft etc into her stories. Some books far better than
others though . Many thanks. for telling me a bit more about the Yates books~ I will try to find a few of his books now.
Just had a sudden additional thought and nothing at all to do with mystery books, but just thought perhaps you might just love this particular book as much as I do ~ although it has been some years since I first discovered it, was one of those rare books I truly fell inside of and did not want to emerge from. Difficult to explain as it is understated but profound too~ a quiet portrait of a place and a woman reuniting with her husband and startiung life over agin after WW2 in Sussex ~ it covers many things , too many to list here but will include this snippet review by one person which might give a bit more insight into it~ I loved it for many reasons and suppose a great deal of it due to her wonderful sensitive portray of nature and place and the awareness of small details of everyday life ~ here is one man's condensed take on it"Splendid. Compact and precisely delineated. The pages echo with sadness and loss, with hesitation, with that disoriented post-war moment where a whole social structure felt itself tremble and tumble and turn. The prose is beautiful too - not flashy, just calmly crafted and sighing melodically in that particularly southern English way.
ReplyDeleteAs I grew up in that landscape of hedgerows and fields and low hills, of old thatched cottages and "lost lanes of Queen Anne's lace", it successfully summoned up in me a nostalgia for all that particular Englishness. The melancholy she explores, at its strongest in the post war decade, still lingered in those communities even by the time I came along, so my response to this work is conceivably at least partly shaped by that.'
That sounds like a very touching book indeed.
DeleteForgive all my many typos I just realise I made!
ReplyDeleteOf course, I didn't notice them. :)
DeleteThank you. I must do more careful proofreading in future.
DeleteWell, typos or not, I appreciate all your excellent comments!
DeleteThank you Lori, I am so pleased I came across your wonderful blog, as it is by far one of my most favorites ~ I try to check periodically more often now, to see if you have posted as I always invariably enjoy all your posts, find so much that I can either relate to or know well, which often sparks off memories and or thoughts of other books and films ect that I want to talk to you about and share. Lovely meeting someone who shares so much of the same / similar tastes in books , film , music as well as nature and no doubt many other subjects you have yet to cover and discuss.
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DeleteA wee P.S. I meant to comment on the other book you mentioned reading by Michael Innes~ I only just discovered the Appleby series last year and by accident really , but not 'Appleby's Answer' which sounds interesting, especially if it is anything like the rather bizarre and strange book I listened to as a BBC drama~ Appleby's End ~ have you read this one? A bit like an even more bizarre Cold Comfort Farm , with truly over the top almost tongue in cheek and darkly comic overtones. I would recommend the audio one on YouTube as it is very well done and is very close to the book. It can be a bit difficult to keep track of the large extended Raven family members and all their history and goings on~ it is surreal in parts but thoroughly enjoyable , or I thought so, anyway. It's madness was appealing in an Alice in Wonderland sort of way.
DeleteI'm fairly positive that I've not read Appleby's End; thanks so much for telling me about the audio adaptation, it sounds very good! Michael Innes seems to have become a bit forgotten, which is a shame as his mysteries are unusual and witty.
DeleteI found one more short review which reminded me something I had forgotten, that the novel all takes place in a single hot summers day and has a very dream like quality to it the way some day's in summer feel.. "In this beautifully written novel, we follow a day in the life of the Marshalls, an upper-middle-class family struggling to find a new way to live in an England irrevocably altered by the Second World War. While Britain has emerged victorious from the conflict, life in the country has not returned to ‘normal’, to the way things were before – and for many people, it never will. Set on a blisteringly hot day in the summer of 1946, the novel captures a moment of great social change as thousands of families find themselves having to adapt to significant shifts in circumstances. For some inhabitants of Wealding, a picturesque village in the home counties, the war has opened up fresh opportunities and pastures new; but for others like Laura Marshall and her husband Stephen, it has led to a marked decline in living standards compared to the glory days of the late 1930s."
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