Friday's Forgotten (or Overlooked) Books: A Vintage Assortment.

Scottish Painter Fyffe Christie - The Artist's Wife Reading, 1953 - source

I don't know why but lately I am definitely in a vintage sort of mood. I pick up newer books and put them down, then pick them up again and for whatever reason I put them down again and move on to vintage. (I know this too shall pass, but for now, I am indulging my whims.)

Lately read:

WHILE THE PATIENT SLEPT (1930) by Mignon G. Eberhart - a Nurse Sarah Keate book.
CLOUDS OF WITNESS (1926) by Dorothy Sayers - A Lord Peter Wimsey book.
MURDER IS SUGGESTED (1959) by Frances and Richard Lockridge - A Mr and Mrs North book.
MURDER BY THE BOOK (1963)by Frances and Richard Lockridge - A Mr and Mrs. North book.
THE FINAL DEDUCTION (1961) by Rex Stout - A Nero Wolfe book.
FEAR COMES TO CHALFONT (1942) by Freeman Wills Croft - an Inspector French book.

While I enjoyed all these books, I'm only reviewing two - briefly - since I am falling behind while working on another couple of posts to debut next week. Work. Work. Work. This was NOT supposed to be work. I know it doesn't seem like so much, but you know, occasionally it feels like it is. Whine. Whine. Cringe.

1) WHILE THE PATIENT SLEPT (1930) by Migon G. Eberhart 

This is the second novel by Mignon G. Eberhart featuring private nurse and aging spinster (with gumption) Sarah Keate and boy does the book revel in the achy breaky creaking style of its long ago time. But despite that, I liked it very much. Why? Because it has the murder in a dark and spooky house routine down pat. Truth is, after awhile you don't even care who committed the murder, you're just enjoying all that malevolently mysterious and oh-so-sinister ambience. It's all over the top sinister and creepy and ominous and forbidding, the stuff that makes life worthwhile. Ha! Not to mention the cast of unpleasant characters which greet Nurse Sarah Keate on her arrival at out in the middle of nowhere Federie House on a dark and spooky night.

Sarah's patient is a wealthy old man who remains abed, asleep, for the entire book (well, at least until the very last couple of pages) - that's kind of creepy in itself because the murder takes place in the same room - hence the title of the book. So the murder occurs in full view of the nurse who's half asleep at the time. Commotion ensues, half-dressed suspects pour into the room, shadows jump, curtains move of their own volition, disbelief, suspicion, fainting, trembling, noises in the night. Not to mention a disappearing elephant. Well, a jade elephant carving which holds the secret to the entire thing, but an elephant nonetheless.

This book has everything: dark visages, dark doings, dark rooms, dark halls, dark stairs, (no ELECTRIC LIGHTS only candles of course because the owner of the house - the patient - doesn't believe in new-fangle). There is also a dark storm raging outside - needless to say - plus dark and dire circumstances within, all accompanied by requisite alarming noises. Hey, even the nurse heroine inserts a ghastly scream here and there. She's not immune to atmosphere. Neither was I. A very creepily enjoyable book. Oh, and the cop's name is Lance O'Leary. What more could you want?

2) CLOUDS OF WITNESS (1926) by Dorothy L. Sayer

This is the second book by Dorothy L. Sayers featuring her wonderfully irreverent detective, Lord Peter Wimsey. While his elder brother the stuff-necked Duke of Denver is being held for the murder of a n'er-do-well engaged to the Wimseys' young sister Polly, Lord Peter must rush to find the clues (even going so far as to fly across the Atlantic) which will exonerate Denver who has, so far, refused to speak in his own defense. The why and the wherefore of this are evident fairly soon to the reader, but it takes Lord Peter a rather longer time than one would think to figure things out. Perhaps if he hadn't been so emotionally involved?

Speaking of emotionally involved, this is the book in which Wimsey's policeman friend Parker displays his obvious feelings for said younger sister Polly. They will marry later on. As Wimsey insists, after Polly's misadventures with, first, a Bolshevik twerp and second, a card sharp who keeps a French mistress, his exalted family would welcome a policeman swain with open arms.

The Duke of Denver being a peer of the realm, cannot be tried in regular criminal court like everybody else. He must be tried by his peers (fellow titled gentlemen) in the House of Lords and to read about that august if arcane and fussy body coming together to try one of their own is one of the main pleasures of this book. The ensuing trial with Lord Peter bursting in at the last moment with the final clue clutched in his hand is a joy to read about.

There is also a harrowing to read, but brilliantly written life or death struggle in a fog-enshrouded bog which almost has Lord Peter and the faithful Bunter breathing their last gasp.

The trial and the bog incident make this a not to be missed Peter Wimsey book. I've since ordered a couple more titles from the library and they're waiting for me even as we speak. I'll be heading on down there tomorrow. I read these all many eons ago, but since I don't remember, it's like reading them again for the first time. You know how that goes.

******

Additional notes: 

I fully enjoyed the two Mr. and Mrs. North mysteries, MURDER BY THE BOOK and MURDER IS SUGGESTED (perfect warm weather reading) and will be looking for more since I've exhausted my library's pitifully few copies. These are the sorts of books one can read with half an eye on a sandwich and half an eye on the page. I'm also thinking, one of these days, of watching the episodes from the b/w television series starring Richard Denning and Barbara Britton which I think are available on youtube. Watched them when I was a kid and thought them the height of sophistication. Plus I had a crush on Richard Denning.

THE FINAL DEDUCTION was a Nero Wolfe book I'd forgotten completely about. In fact I really thought I hadn't read it until I began reading it. Not my favorite (the murder motive isn't very compelling) and not the best written of the lot. But still, any Nero Wolfe is better than none. I never regret dropping in on Wolfe and Archie, no matter what.

FEAR COMES TO CHALFONT was part of a three novel omnibus (sandwiched between the perfectly awful CASE OF THE DROWNING DUCK by Earl Stanley Gardner and MURDER IN THE WOODSHED, equally awful, by Anthony Gilbert) and because any Freeman Wills Croft is so hard to find these days, I probably enjoyed it more than I would otherwise. The style is pretty ancient and the plot sort of reminded me of Trent's Last Case which had similar characters and a similar kind of crime. I liked it as a curiosity and also because once upon a time my late ex-husband and I had a great deal of fun reading a bunch of Freeman Wills Croft train mysteries. Wouldn't mind getting my hand on some of those again.

Since it's Friday, don't forget to check in at Patti Abbott's blog, Pattinase, to see what other Forgotten (or Overlooked) Books other bloggers are talking about today. Patti has all the links.

Friday Forgotten (or Overlooked) Books: MAIGRET AND THE WINE MERCHANT by Georges Simenon

Friday is half over and I'm just now sitting down to write my Friday Forgotten Book post. The day has gone on without me, or so it seems. Patti Abbott usually hosts our weekly meme, but this week Todd Mason has the links on his blog, Sweet Freedom. Don't forget to drop by.

Last week I talked about a Maigret re-read that I enjoyed and this week I'm doing the same. Apparently I'm having a good time. So all the modern stuff will have to wait.

This week it's MAIGRET AND THE WINE MERCHANT (1970) in which the patient, thoughtful, intuitive and savvy Superintendent Maigret solves the murder of a very nasty man who delighted in taking advantage of those around him.

Monsieur Oscar Chabut, a rich, self-made man - the wine merchant in the title - is found shot to death on the sidewalk in front of a house of ill repute. When Maigret begins his investigation he immediately takes note of the fact that there is little grief displayed by the man's wife or for that matter, by anyone else who knew Chabut. The wine merchant was apparently a belligerent, take-no-prisoners business man who, because of his own insecurities, enjoyed debasing those around him, most especially all the women in his sphere who were subjected to aggressive sexual advances. Not a nice man.

Still, murderers can't be allowed to run amok even if the victim deserved his fate.

So, Superintendent Maigret once again, despite a bad cold, uses his wits, intuition and understanding of human nature to capture a killer, moving in a world where money apparently trumps morals.

'Maigret was never altogether at ease with the aura of opulence that goes with certain reaches of the bourgeoisie. It made him feel awkward and out of place. For instance, all the people on the list that Jeanne Chabut [the murdered man's wife] had provided belonged more or less to the same set, with its own rules, customs, taboos, and private language. They forgathered in restaurants, theaters, and night clubs, spent their weekends together in country houses, and in the summer went off in droves to Cannes or Saint-Tropez.

Oscar Chabut, with his plebian good looks, had elbowed his way ruthlessly into this tight little world, and to prove to himself that he really had arrived he had found it necessary to go to bed with most of the women in it.'

I'm also currently reading a book of Maigret short stories, MAIGRET'S CHRISTMAS, in which all the stories take place in a wintry Paris whose streets are filled with holiday merry-makers. Crime acknowledges no holiday.

To see a complete list of all of Georges Simenon's books, please use this link.

Friday's Forgotten Books: The Joshua Croft books by Walter Satterthwait

I'm not quite sure if this is the last Croft book or not. It may be just a Brit. title change.

Today is Forgotten Books day, a weekly meme hosted by Patti Abbot at her blog, PATTINASE. Every Friday we gather round and dish forgotten or overlooked books we've known and loved. Don't forget to check in over there and see today's listing. LINK.

My choice for today is not just one book, but a whole series. Author Walter Satterthwait is a prolific writer of historical mysteries as well as more contemporary fare. His keenly researched and witty historicals include characters such as Arthur Conan Doyle, Harry Houdini, Oscar Wilde and Lizzie Borden - not all in the same book. To get a complete listing of Satterthwait's work please use this link.

My favorite books of his though, are those in the fast-paced, contemporary Joshua Croft series set in modern day Santa Fe, which he wrote in the 1990's. I read them all then and assumed he'd write some more but he never has. Too bad.

Even stranger, the Croft books seem to be out of print most of the time.

Going over the list for today's post I realized that I couldn't remember much except the setting, the two main characters and the fact that I loved the books first time around. So I suppose that's reason enough reason for a complete re-read this summer.

Joshua Croft is a Santa Fe private eye who runs a detective agency with his partner, Rita Mondragon. She is a wheelchair bound widow and the object of the rugged Croft's unrequited love. 


They are an unusual combo in a colorful setting though Croft, very often, must travel around the U.S. or into Mexico when on the hunt for bad guys. He drives a Subaru but is a no-nonsense kind of guy with attitude.

Do what I'm going to do: find these books and read 'em again or for the first time.

Good News: I'm informed by Bill Crider (author and international bon-vivant) that the Joshua Croft books have been released in e-book form by Otto Penzler's Mysterious imprint. Thanks for the tip, Bill.

Friday's Forgotten Book: REED'S PROMISE by John Clarkson

I've written about REED'S PROMISE before and I'll probably write about it again. It's a book that makes other thrillers seem tame by comparison, a fabulous feat of writing by a novelist who I'm still not all that familiar with. (Primarily because he doesn't have a lot of books on the shelves at the library.) He has a spotty publishing history and doesn't turn out books on a regular schedule far as I can tell. There hasn't been a new book from him in several years.

Friday's Forgotten Books is the weekly meme hosted by the oh-so-talented Patti Abbott at her blog, PATTINASE. There are tons of forgotten (or overlooked) books mentioned today so don't forget to go take a looksee. It's John MacDonald day over there as well. Though I never read any MacDonald - of the John variety that is, I've read plenty of Ross MacDonald.

If you have any affinity for thriller writing at all, make note of John Clarkson's REED'S PROMISE and promise yourself you'll read it. This book continues to be one of the best of its kind, though I suspect there aren't really many of 'its kind' around. It surpassed my expectations going in as it was one of those serendipitous reading events.

The book begins at breakneck (almost literally)speed - we're suddenly thrown into the middle of a motorcycle accident in which the rider, Bill Reed will lose a leg and become an embittered amputee lying in a hospital bed feeling sorry for himself. He is a private eye and ex-FBI agent with a talent for forensic accounting - tracking illegal money back to its original source.

In the middle of bemoaning fate, Reed receives a note from his cousin Johnny Boy Reed. Johnny Boy has been institutionalized at the Ullmann Institute since he was a kid. He is severely retarded but able to function enough to put together a note to his private eye cousin asking for help.The note is cryptic enough (a series of numbers and bits of paper glued together), but Bill deduces from it that something is wrong and maybe he should go take a look. If for no other reason then that Johnny Boy is family. Guilt is a great motivator.

With a prosthetic leg in place, and a cane, Bill heads up to the Ullman Istitute.

REED'S PROMISE resonates with a crushing sense of dread from the beginning of Reed's quest to ferret out the truth and perhaps redeem himself in his own eyes.

First of all, Reed is a man minus a leg - can he stand up to physical attack? Can he fight if he has to? Just how strong is he? Can he be undermined by his handicap? All these thoughts ran through my mind as I continued to read.

Also, I didn't want his cousin Johnny Boy - whom we come to know and like - physically harmed in any way. So from the very beginning I was worried and that worry only grew.

When Reed arrives at the upstate New York, Ullman Institute, and realizes almost right away that something bad is going on, you do wonder how he'll be able to 'fix' things?

Matthew Ullmann and his wife Madeleine run the institute like some sort of fiefdom (and have made themselves rich in the process) and they are, no question about it, a fiendish duo. We know they are the enemy Reed will have to vanquish if he wants to save Johnny Boy - yet it doesn't weaken the suspense angle one bit.

While reading REED'S PROMISE I remember having to stop and take breathing breaks, tension breaks, while I acclimated my emotions and took deep breaths to calm myself. That's how overwhelmed I was by the increasing fear of what would happen to the two main characters. Up until that moment (a few years ago) I'd never read a book in which the 'hero' was an amputee taking on evil all by himself - using his wits, his smarts and yes, his physical abilities to thwart some especially nasty characters.

I don't know how else to say this except that it's own unique way, this is a brilliant book. Clarkson, who is also a screenwriter, has a knack for visual scene creation which adds immeasurably to the suspense. If your library doesn't have REED'S PROMISE, booksellers online do. Get a copy, read it and see if I'm exaggerating.

Unfortunately, the book has two major strikes against it: One: no one ever heard of it. (The publishers were obviously asleep at the switch.) Two: It has a horrible cover. I say: IGNORE the cover! Read the book.

Friday's Forgotten Book: SHE SHALL HAVE MURDER (1949) by Delano Ames

Kind of a beat-up old cover, but best I could find online of the cover I actually have.

Today it's a combo: SHE SHALL HAVE MURDER is my Friday Forgotten post as well as my entry in Bev's VINTAGE MYSTERY READING CHALLENGE.

Don't forget to check in at Patti Abbot's website, PATTINASE, to see what other forgotten books other bloggers are talking about today.

I was not familiar with this author, though his name rings some sort of bell - maybe it's just that the Delano part reminds me of Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Anyway, I read a review of this book on one of the blogs (can't remember which one) and decided to take a look. I mean, how could I resist reading a book in which the hero's first name is Dagobert? And what's more, no one in the cast of characters seems to think this is a odd name. So maybe it wasn't - way back when.

I wonder how it's pronounced? I'm assuming - Dago-Bear. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

Dagobert Brown is a guy who avoids work as best he can (one wonders how he pays his rent) and is currently determined to have his girlfriend Jane write a mystery set in her office, featuring characters similar to her work-mates. He would write the book himself but he's too busy (doing what - who knows?) and besides, someone has to think up the plot.

Jane Hamish is a very tolerant working girl - a law clerk in an office run by an elderly type named Playfair, an attorney who thinks nothing of postponing work in favor of crossword puzzles. In fact, he prefers to treat his employees as members of one happy family. He's kind of engaging, really. I have to say that of all the characters, Mr. Playfair won me over immediately.

Jane narrates the story and turns an almost blind eye to Dagobert's wilder inclinations and mental leaps of fancy.

Anyway, the law-office has its fair share of typicals with typical problems, including a Lothario named (for reasons I can't figure) Major Jimmy Stewart (no one appears to notice that the name is the same as a famous movie star, but perhaps it's  old news ) who's dated every woman on staff. Besides Jane there's Sarah, the young typist and Rosemary, the older chief clerk who has delusions of romance. There's also a six foot tall weisenheimer office boy who's not above chicanery and a spot of blackmail.

When Mr. Playfair's elderly client, Mrs. Robjohn - a muddle-headed eccentric - dies suddenly of natural causes after first having declared over and over that she was being stalked by killers, Dagobert Brown suspects murder. Though only the day before he'd stated that Mrs. Robjohn was hardly the type to get murdered, it would just be too obvious.

No one else suspects the old lady was done in, but Dagobert will have his way.

Working independently of the cops and with the not-so-willing Jane as his sleuthing partner, Dagobert begins the search for clues - anything that will involve anyone and everyone at the office. He also advises Jane to write every thing down as it happens - for their manuscript's sake.

That's the gist of the plot and the fun, I think, of this mystery is in the personalities of the various characters, as well as the often snappy dialogue. There's also the fun, I think, that Ames obviously had in writing this story.

I'm going to try and locate a couple more Delano Ames books just to see what's what with Dagobert and Jane.

To get a list of all Delano Ames titles, please use this link.

Friday's Forgotten (or Overlooked) Books:THE ROBOT BOOK by Robert Malone

THE ROBOT BOOK by Robert Malone was published in 1978, created and produced by PUSH PIN PRESS under the design direction of famed design maven, illustrator and co-founder of Push Pin Studios, Seymour Chwast. The book's designer was Richard Mantel, but the Chwast imprint is self-evident.

I've owned this wonderfully designed thing for years, it's part of my research library. The robot image on the cover has dye-cut eyes and when you flip the cover open, you get a whole page (in simple colors against black) of computer guts. Well, that's what I call the circuit boards for want of a better description.

Inside THE ROBOT BOOK are many robot-related figures, drawings, photos of actual robots - some very primitive, scenes from films, sci-fi magazine covers, assorted artwork and interesting bits of robotics history.

The following three spreads from the book were photographed and first appeared on the Arquelogia del Futuro blog.

The following magazine covers (among several others) are also featured in THE ROBOT BOOK:

Not a comprehensive look at the science - real or imagined - of robotics by any means, but still a welcome addition to a library. It has just enough information to intrigue, but not to overwhelm with esoteric scientific jargon. In other words: a fun book..

Forgotten Book Friday, is a weekly meme hosted by Patti Abbott at her blog, PATTINASE, but Patti is traveling, so Todd Mason at SWEET FREEDOM has taken over Link Central this week. Please check his site to see what other 'forgotten or overlooked' books other bloggers are talking about today. There is an especially good list this week.

Forgotten Book Friday: HE DONE HER WRONG (1983) by Stuart Kaminsky

Friday is Forgotten Book Day and here's my offering. Today the posts are being collected by Todd Mason at his blog, SWEET FREEDOM. Next week, we return to Patti Abbott's blog, PATTNASE for the usual listing of Friday's Forgotten or Overlooked Books. Here's the link to Todd's Blog.

Something you might know about me if you're a regular reader of this blog is that I'm a major fan of the late Stuart Kaminsky's books. Most especially his very entertaining series featuring 1940's L.A. detective, Toby Peters - aka Tobias Pevsner. (I've talked about one of his other books before on Friday's Forgotten Books: THE DEVIL MET A LADY in which Toby gets mixed up with Bette Davis.) Kaminsky captured that long-ago era; Los Angeles and its environs during WWII - the home front, and made it his own.

Over time, Toby interacted and solved cases for some of the biggest movie stars and personalities in the biz. Though he remained nothing but a down on his luck, sartorially challenged, good-for-not-much private eye with a yen for his ex-wife, he still, somehow, was the one called upon when a move star needed a p.i. do some undercover work. (I almost said 'when a movie star needed a dick...' But that wouldn't have been nice and in keeping with the wholesome flavor of this blog.)

"I was not like the Dalai Lama, born into my profession," I said politely. "First I was a kid, little and then bigger, followed by a few years as a Glendale cop, followed by a few years as a studio security guard at Warner Brothers, followed by a few years of poverty and creditors..."

People a lot sharper than the Aardvark had tried to read my kisser and got nowhere. Mine is a dark face with a flat nose topped with a full head of dark hair generously sprinkled with gray. I stand about five nine and do my best to give the impression that I can take on tigers. It's part of the job. The truth is that my nose has been smashed three times in losing causes. Once by my brother Phil's fist, once by a flight through the windshield of a 1931 Oldsmobile, and once by a baseball thrown by my brother. I sweat too easily, dress too shabbily, and usually can't resist the urge to open my mouth when I should keep it shut.

I smiled at an old lady in a little black hat who had looked my way. My smile scared her...

HE DONE HER WRONG is the eighth book in the Toby Peters series (beginning with MURDER ON THE YELLOW BRICK ROAD in which, you guessed it, Judy Garland gets involved when a murder - the death of a munchkin - occurs on the set of 'you know what' film). This time though, it's Mae West's turn to seek Toby's help when her memoirs are stolen.

...out stepped Mae West, but it took me a blink to recognize her. Her voice was the surest touchstone. The woman before me wearing a frilly purple dress had neck-length brown hair, not blond, and was barely on the good side of plump. She gave off a heavy perfume that smelled like a flower I couldn't place and looked at me with amused violet eyes and her hand on her hips.

"Welcome to Paradise," she said, stepping back. "It's a little gaudy and overstocked, but we call it home."

The usual suspects are on board to help or hinder Toby's quest for West's sizzling autobiography which someone is afraid may contain some unpalatable truths. Toby is right at home trading bon mots with West and later dealing with a crazed West fan, a roomful of Sherlock Holmes aficionados, Cecil B. DeMille, the inmates of a loony bin...uh, sanatorium from whose clutches Toby must make a daring escape, assorted family secrets and murder most egregious.

Along for the ride are Toby's best friend the Swiss midget and translator, Gunther Werthman, the wrestler and poet, Jeremy Butler and the unhealthy, cigar chomping dentist from hell, Shelly Minck - not to mention Toby's ancient landlady Mrs. Plaut who can never seem to get Toby's name right and thinks Toby is a combo book editor and bug exterminator. Throw them all into the mix and you get another hilarious Toby fun noir detective yarn which culminates at a banquet thrown by Cecil B. DeMille with a  guest list including, Chester Morris, Madeleine Carroll, C. Aubrey Smith and D.W. Griffith, among others. As Toby says, "It was going to be some party."

For a complete list of titles in the Toby Peters series and all the rest of Stuart Kaminsky's books, please use this link to Kaminksy's Fantastic Fiction page.