Genre: Mystery

Review – The Judas Window

Posted August 17, 2025 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments

Review – The Judas Window

The Judas Window

by John Dickson Carr, Carter Dickson

Genres: Crime, Mystery
Pages: 269
Series: British Library Crime Classics
Rating: four-stars
Synopsis:

Avory Hume is found stabbed to death with an arrow - in a study with bolted steel shutters and a heavy door locked from the inside. In the same room James Caplon Answell lies unconscious, his clothes disordered as though from a struggle, his fingerprints on the damning arrow.

Here is the unique Carter Dickson "impossible situation" - yet the great, explosive Sir Henry Merrivale gets down to serious sleuthing and at last startles the crowd in the Old Bailey with a reconstruction of the crime along logical, convincing lines.

H.M. in his most exciting case - an original, unconventional mystery, with a rich story background and a thrilling trial scene.

Every time the British Library Crime Classics series republish one of John Dickson Carr’s mysteries (under that name or as Carter Dickson), the intro hyperbolically refers to it as one of the greatest locked room mysteries ever, etc etc. The Judas Window was a genuinely fun one though, with one of the least goofy explanations of how the locked room wasn’t actually impenetrable, and it’s one of the books in John Dickson Carr’s oeuvre that I got on with best so far (not always having been much of a fan).

It certainly helps that much of it is courtroom drama, with the larger-than-life H.M. defending the prisoner in court, with a few sensations along the way. The character of Mary Hume is pretty amazing, and a rare one in crime fiction: having allowed a lover to take erotic photos of her and then been blackmailed about them, she comes out in court to take all the power out of it by forthrightly admitting the whole thing. I feel like this doesn’t get as much spotlight as it deserves in the story, because it’s a heck of a power play.

The puzzle works out nicely, with my only quibble being that I didn’t think the actual culprit made a lot of sense without some more clues or build-up. But that wasn’t so much the point of the story, I think, so it wasn’t a huge downside. Overall, I really liked this one.

Rating: 4/5 (“really liked it”)

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Review – Serpents in Eden

Posted August 13, 2025 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments

Review – Serpents in Eden

Serpents in Eden: Countryside Crimes

by Martin Edwards (editor)

Genres: Crime, Mystery, Short Stories
Pages: 276
Series: British Library Crime Classics
Rating: four-stars
Synopsis:

'The lowest and vilest alleys in London do not present a more dreadful record of sin than does the smiling and beautiful countryside.... Think of the deeds of hellish cruelty, the hidden wickedness which may go on, year in, year out, in such places, and none the wiser.' - Sherlock Holmes

Many of the greatest British crime writers have explored the possibilities of crime in the countryside in lively and ingenious short stories. Serpents in Eden celebrates the rural British mystery by bringing together an eclectic mix of crime stories written over half a century. From a tale of poison-pen letters tearing apart a village community to a macabre mystery by Arthur Conan Doyle, the stories collected here reveal the dark truths hidden in an assortment of rural paradises. Among the writers included here are such major figures as G. K. Chesterton and Margery Allingham, along with a host of lesser-known discoveries whose best stories are among the unsung riches of the golden age of British crime fiction between the two world wars.

As ever, the British Library Crime Classics series editor, Martin Edwards, put together a spread of stories by different authors and from slightly different periods for Serpents in Eden, themed around mysteries set in the countryside. Some of them are better than others, but overall I thought it was a pretty strong collection.

A highlight for me was the R. Austin Freeman story; he’s always so thorough, and while in this one I had an idea what Thorndyke was looking for, it was interesting to see the process unfold. At least as far as the detecting part goes — the spy stuff was a little less interesting to me, but that just provides the motive, and not much of the actual mystery part.

For some reason this one did take me longer to finish than I’d have guessed, so I guess it was a bit slow/the majority of the stories were quite long, but it’s not like I minded that.

Rating: 4/5 (“really liked it”)

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Review – The Book Forger

Posted August 12, 2025 by Nicky in Reviews / 2 Comments

Review – The Book Forger

The Book Forger: The True Story of a Literary Crime That Fooled The World

by Joseph Hone

Genres: Mystery, Non-fiction
Pages: 336
Rating: three-stars
Synopsis:

London, 1932. Thomas James Wise is the toast of the literary establishment. A prominent collector and businessman, he is renowned on both sides of the Atlantic for unearthing the most stunning first editions and bringing them to market. Pompous and fearsome, with friends in high places, he is one of the most powerful men in the field of rare books.

One night, two young booksellers - one a dishevelled former communist, the other a martini-swilling fan of detective stories - stumble upon a strange discrepancy. It will lead them to suspect Wise and his books are not all they seem. Inspired by the vogue for Hercule Poirot and Sherlock Holmes, the pair harness the latest developments in forensic analysis to crack the case, but find its extent is greater than they ever could have imagined. By the time they are done, their investigation will have rocked the book world to its core.

I have a weird quibble with Joseph Hone’s The Book Forger which is going to sound very, very niche, but took me aback: he talks about Dorothy L. Sayers, and compares the real people about whom he’s writing to her detective, Lord Peter Wimsey. He quotes from The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club, and then… very bizarrely gets everything wrong, claiming that Wimsey has found arsenic on the victim’s shoe (no, he found varnish) and that he died of it (no, he died of digitalin). What actually happens is that Wimsey visits the analyst with the varnish sample, and the analyst is finishing up with a sample that’s full of arsenic unrelated to Wimsey’s case.

It’s just a weird sloppy mistake, and it’s not germane to the overall point he’s making or the real detective work he’s recounting, but at the same time… if he can’t manage to read that scene properly, or research it to check his recollection is correct, how do I trust the rest of the book?

I keep getting stick now and then for noticing and caring about this sort of thing (and counting it into my ratings), but in non-fiction, it does matter. If you get wrong a point I can verify, or interpret a study without noticing it has bias (in the technical sense, e.g. like selection bias), or just make a muck of explaining something I understand well… how can I trust the rest of the work?

Now, that aside I did rather enjoy The Book Forger. I knew little about Thomas J. Wise beforehand, and nothing at all about the two men who unmasked him (Pollard and Carter), so the fact that it’s careful to set the scene is helpful, though there’s a certain amount of imaginative reconstruction (quoting e.g. letters wherever possible).

It’s worth keeping in mind while reading it that a certain amount of it is fiction in a sense, but it does lay out the likely events, grounded in the evidence that’s available (so far as I can tell), and it is quite the story. I’d maybe have liked to see the impacts a bit more: do the fakes still circulate? Might there be more that we haven’t identified and dissected? How has it impacted e.g. scholarship?

Rating: 3/5 (“liked it”)

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Review – Murder at the Dolphin Hotel

Posted August 9, 2025 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments

Review – Murder at the Dolphin Hotel

Murder at the Dolphin Hotel

by Helena Dixon

Genres: Crime, Historical Fiction, Mystery
Pages: 252
Series: Miss Underhay #1
Rating: two-stars
Synopsis:

June 1933. Independent young Kitty Underhay has been left in charge of her family's hotel, The Dolphin, on the tranquil English coast. She's expecting her days at the bustling resort to be filled with comfortable chatter with chambermaids as they polish the mahogany desk and glittering candelabras of the elegant foyer. Everything must be perfect for the arrival of a glamourous jazz singer from Chicago and a masked ball that will be the cultural highlight of the season.

But when several rooms are broken into and searched, including Kitty's own, she quickly realises that something out of the ordinary is afoot at the hotel. Soon rumours are flying in the cozy town that someone is on the hunt for a stolen ruby. A ruby that Kitty's mother may well have possessed when she herself went missing during the Great War. And when the break-ins are followed by a series of attacks and murders, including of the town's former mayoress, it seems the perpetrator will stop at nothing to find it.

Aided by ex-army captain Matthew Bryant, the Dolphin's new security officer, Kitty is determined to decipher this mystery and preserve not only the reputation of her hotel, but also the lives of her guests. Is there a cold-blooded killer under her own roof? And what connects the missing jewel to the mystery from Kitty's own past?

Helena Dixon’s Murder at the Dolphin Hotel is a competent enough mystery that I found mildly entertaining. I think that damns it with faint praise a little, but unfortunately it’s how I feel: I had a good enough time reading it, but it wasn’t compelling enough to stand out or stick in my head, it was just one of those competent pseudo-classic mysteries that are pleasant enough to read once, but not to knock your socks off.

And to be clear, that’s sometimes what I want, and also I know other people are far bigger fans of that than I am. The undemandingness is a feature! I just didn’t latch onto it as much as I hoped, e.g. onto the main characters or their relationship, and I found it maybe a little bit too obvious. I’d probably have rated it a little higher if I’d rated it right away after finishing, but with a day of reflection in between, that feels a tad too generous.

So for me, not a stand-out, though enjoyable enough at the time I was reading it.

Rating: 2/5 (“it was okay”)

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Review – A Case of Life and Limb

Posted July 24, 2025 by Nicky in Reviews / 2 Comments

Review – A Case of Life and Limb

A Case of Life and Limb

by Sally Smith

Genres: Crime, Historical Fiction, Mystery
Pages: 336
Series: The Trials of Gabriel Ward #2
Rating: four-stars
Synopsis:

Winter, 1901. The Inner Temple is even quieter than usual under a blanket of snow and Gabriel Ward KC is hard at work on a thorny libel case. All is calm, all is bright - until the mummified hand arrives in the post...

While the hand's recipient, Temple Treasurer Sir William Waring, is rightfully shaken, Gabriel is filled with curiosity. Who would want to send such a thing? And why? But as more parcels arrive - one with fatal consequences - Gabriel realises that it is not Sir William who is the target, but the Temple itself.

Someone is holding a grudge that has already led to at least one death. Now it's up to Gabriel, and Constable Wright of the City of London Police, to find out who, before an old death leads to a new murder.

I received a copy of this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

I loved Sally Smith’s first Gabriel Ward book, so I was very eager to dig into A Case of Life and Limb. I enjoyed it just as much, though the wintery vibes are a bit at odds with the weather, and enjoyed once more the kindness and decency of Gabriel, the way his conscience nags at him so that he seeks out true justice — and the way the real world outside of his work is beginning to tug at his attention, through his friendship with Wright and his unexpected detective work.

I did find that this sequel did have a few surprises: I didn’t expect a particular character to die, I didn’t expect one of Gabriel’s trials to be quite so sad, and I saw a certain issue coming somewhat but I almost expected it to be a red herring — I’m trying not to say too much, in order to avoid spoilers, but suffice it to say that sadness touches the story more than I’d expected. There’s also some period-typical homophobia (not approved of by Gabriel).

I did feel that a particular event didn’t linger quite so much on Gabriel as I’d expected, but then he is a rather dry character and not really moved to great grief.

All in all, I probably prefer the first book as a fun reading experience, but I did really enjoy this too, and in some ways it surprised me, well-versed in reading crime as I am. And you’ve got to love the introduction of Delphinium, and Gabriel’s surprising affection for her.

Rating: 4/5 (“really liked it”)

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Review – Cyanide in the Sun

Posted June 30, 2025 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments

Review – Cyanide in the Sun

Cyanide in the Sun and Other Stories of Summertime Crime

by Martin Edwards (editor)

Genres: Crime, Mystery, Short Stories
Pages: 288
Series: British Library Crime Classics
Rating: three-stars
Synopsis:

“All about them, happy holiday-makers were strolling and laughing, evidently oblivious of the prevailing perils of their chosen resort...”

A cold case of poisonings heats up at a quaint guest house. A string of suspicious murders follows a crime writer’s tour bus. Two seedy stowaways uncover an infamous smuggling ring. Everyone needs a break now and then, but sometimes getting away can be murder.

In this new anthology, Martin Edwards presents a jam-packed travel-case of eighteen classic mysteries, featuring short stories from crime fiction legends such as Christianna Brand, Anthony Berkeley and Celia Fremlin alongside rare finds revived from the British Library archives. Including intriguing notes on the stories and their authors, this volume is your ticket to a thrilling journey from 1920s seaside skulduggery through to calamity in 1980s suburbia – perfect for armchair travelling or your own summer getaway.

Cyanide in the Sun and Other Stories of Summertime Crime is, as usual, edited by Martin Edwards and collects a range of “classic” crime stories (where “classic” means mostly within a certain period of crime fiction, rather than “well known and has stood the test of time”, etc), this time themed around holidays.

There’s a surprising number of short ones in this volume, which makes it speed by quite a bit, and I feel like there was less reliance on the same few obvious names (though of course Christianna Brand, Anthony Berkeley and Julian Symons do appear), maybe. Perhaps the net is being cast a bit wider now, with so many collections already out there.

As usual, there were one or two I didn’t care for, but it’s an interesting collection as a whole.

Rating: 3/5

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Review – A Case of Mice and Murder

Posted June 12, 2025 by Nicky in Reviews / 2 Comments

Review – A Case of Mice and Murder

A Case of Mice and Murder

by Sally Smith

Genres: Crime, Historical Fiction, Mystery
Pages: 352
Series: The Trials of Gabriel Ward #1
Rating: four-stars
Synopsis:

The first in a delightful new mystery series set in the hidden heart of London's legal world, introducing a wonderfully unwilling sleuth, perfect for fans of Richard Osman and Nita Prose.

When barrister Gabriel Ward steps out of his rooms at exactly two minutes to seven on a sunny May morning in 1901, his mind is so full of his latest case-the disputed authorship of bestselling children's book Millie the Temple Church Mouse-that he scarcely registers the body of the Lord Chief Justice of England on his doorstep.

But even he cannot fail to notice the judge's dusty bare feet, in shocking contrast to his flawless evening dress, nor the silver carving knife sticking out of his chest. In the shaded courtyards and ancient buildings of the Inner Temple, the hidden heart of London's legal world, murder has spent centuries confined firmly to the casebooks. Until now.

The police can enter the Temple only by consent, so who better to investigate this tragic breach of law and order than a man who prizes both above all things? But murder doesn't answer to logic or reasoned argument, and Gabriel soon discovers that the Temple's heavy oak doors are hiding more surprising secrets than he'd ever imagined...

When I started Sally Smith’s A Case of Mice and Murder, I was not really expecting to like Gabriel Ward. He seems at first blush like he’s going to be a persnickety old guy. But he quickly won me over with his love of routine, his little rituals, his love of books, and most especially, his kind and gentlemanly manner to everyone, of all classes, no matter his opinion of them.

The book is set in 1901, and steeped in the traditions of the Inner Temple (which is, to be clear, one of the four “Inns of Court” in London). Gabriel lives almost entirely within the Inner Temple, works there, and is deeply content and happy — until he’s confronted one day by a dead body lying on the steps of his chambers.

I guessed the resolution of both the murder and the other case Gabriel works on, but in a good way where it all made sense and hung together. There was no “oh it’ll be the most unlikely person, so the murder is XXX”; it all makes a good amount of sense. I missed a couple of minor details along the way, but figured out the main thrust of it. I don’t require a fair play mystery, but I can very much appreciate one, and this was fun.

I felt like knowing a bit about law from the Secret Barrister’s writing, and being primed for a legal mystery by Sarah Caudwell’s work, helped quite a bit with settling into the context of the mystery… But mostly it was a surprisingly warm story, and that captured my interest and my heart. There’s a deep affection for the setting and for the traditions of the Inner Temple, the rituals of lawyers, and for the justice lawyers can stand for. I can’t wait to spend more time with Gabriel, and will be getting the second book posthaste, once it’s out!

[Edited to add: And I’ve been approved for the ARC, in fact, and will be plunging straight in!]

Rating: 4/5

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Review – Cat and Mouse

Posted June 6, 2025 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments

Review – Cat and Mouse

Cat and Mouse

by Christianna Brand

Genres: Crime, Mystery
Pages: 255
Series: British Library Crime Classics
Rating: one-star
Synopsis:

Girls Together magazine agony-aunt 'Mrs Friendly-wise', aka Katinka Jones, finds herself at a loose end in Swansea, and decides to pay a surprise visit to one of the magazine's regular correspondents, 'Amista'. But reaching the address a strange house perched atop a mountain which matches all of the descriptions in the letters nobody has even heard of 'Amista'. As Katinka begins to fall for the dashing master of the house, Carleon, more weird mysteries emerge and the plucky Detective Inspector Chucky joins the search for the truth in this self-consciously lurid mystery-melodrama; a rollicking cavalcade of Brand's signature twists and turns.

The first of Brand’s non-Cockrill stories to join the Crime Classics, and the sixth Brand novel in total, a series bestseller. A playful and experimental novel in which Brand sets out to combine Gothic melodrama with her signature style of mystery complete with astonishing twists and bombshell clues hiding in plain sight.

I’m not a great lover of Christianna Brand’s work, generally, and I’ve liked her books less as I’ve read more of them, somehow. So perhaps it’s not too surprising that I actively loathed the latest reissue of her work by the British Library Crime Classics series, Cat and Mouse.

As far as I can tell, it’s less intended as one of her straight-out mystery novels, and more written as a parody of dramatic gothic mysteries; it reminds me a little of Ethel Lina White’s work. And it’s excruciatingly awful to read. The main character is humiliated at every turn, and makes multiple wild accusations while acting — sorry, but this is the best word I can come up with — hysterically, there’s a romance that makes absolutely no sense… arrghhh, it just drove me nuts. I hated it.

The one good thing I can say for it is that it did genuinely feel like it was set in Wales, and evoked that perfectly.

Rating: 1/5

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Review – Unravelled Knots

Posted May 30, 2025 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments

Review – Unravelled Knots

Unravelled Knots

by Emmuska Orczy

Genres: Crime, Mystery
Pages: 288
Series: The Old Man in the Corner #3
Rating: two-stars
Synopsis:

Unravelled Knots, created by Baroness Orczy, author of the famous Scarlet Pimpernel series, contains thirteen short stories about Bill Owen, aka The Old Man in the Corner, Orzy's armchair detective who solves crimes for his own entertainment.

His listener and protégé is the attractive young journalist Polly Burton. Polly brings him details of obscure crimes baffling the police, which he helps her to solve. She is fascinated by the unlikely unravelings she hears, but despite her sarcasm and pride in her own investigative talents she remains the learner, impressed in spite of herself.

This is the last of three books of short stories featuring the detective and follows on from those in The Old Man In the Corner and The Case of Miss Elliot.

Emmuska Orczy’s “Old Man in the Corner” stories have an interesting format, whereby the Old Man sits in a teashop and explains various criminal cases that have puzzled the police to a young female journalist. Unravelled Knots contains the last of the stories, with the final one ending on a curious note — it’s not common for the detective in mysteries of this period to be potentially the actual criminal, though there are other examples (Agatha Christie having famously done it, too).

I’m not a huge fan of the Old Man in the Corner and the “solving cases by logic” method he uses, which I’d encountered several times before in various anthologies in the British Library Crime Classics series. There’s not much of a continuous story, and the narrator is mostly a non-entity, so it’s probably better encountered in that bitesize way if you’re not really a fan of that format.

The most interesting thing about reading it like this for me was that ending and the note of ambiguity there. Definitely an interesting way to end things.

Rating: 2/5

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Review – Advocate

Posted May 29, 2025 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments

Review – Advocate

Advocate

by Daniel M. Ford

Genres: Fantasy, Mystery
Pages: 496
Series: The Warden #3
Rating: three-stars
Synopsis:

Aelis de Lenti is back on her home turf, but it's not quite as welcoming as she remembered....

Recalled from Lone Pine to investigate claims of murder by magic against her mentor—legendary Warden Bardun Jacques—Aelis takes to the streets of the grand city of Lascenise, and plumbs the deepest secrets of the Lyceum to clear his name. Certain of her success, she doesn't count on thieves, subterranean labyrinths, or the assassins that dog her steps from the moment she leaves her tower.

Behind all of it lurks a ring of unknown wizards who can seemingly reach anyone with their magic. Without knowing who she can trust, Aelis must gather what allies she can to unravel the web of intrigue, murder, smuggling, and theft originating in the halls of magic power. With an old friend from her college days, a war-haunted gnome thief-catcher, and the advice of her imprisoned advisor, Aelis races to save lives and expose a conspiracy that seeks to change the face of the world.

I received a copy of this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

In some ways, Daniel M. Ford’s Advocate was enfuriating. Don’t get me wrong, I’m still enjoying the story and the world, but everything Aelis’ friends and allies point out to her about not planning ahead, being a bull in a china shop, trampling on other people on her way up — it’s all true, and Aelis hears it and is hurt by it and claims to take it on board… and then keeps doing it!

If she could plan ahead just a little, use her allegedly amazing brain just a bit, she could see so much of this coming, including each of the obvious-as-heck twists at the end.

I want Aelis to be brilliant, once-in-a-generation, able to kick anyone’s ass, but I do want her to earn it. She keeps saying that she has, but then she gets by on vibes, large amounts of money spread around, and what seems like frankly unearned loyalty from her friends and family. She is a good healer, and I mean both technically skilled and driven to help people regardless of their status, station or feelings toward her — even when they’ve wronged her. She’s also loyal to Bardun Jacques, her teacher, but unfortunately to the point of stepping on everyone else’s faces to help him (including people she also owes loyalty). She doesn’t deserve Miralla’s friendship, in particular. And she sees literally nothing coming until way too late.

Sometimes Ford does lampshade this by having her friends say so, but they remain her friends and support her cause and forgive her, no matter what happens, so it doesn’t have much bite.

The more I think about it, the more annoying I found this in Advocate. Aelis just isn’t learning, and we’re three books in. I’d read the next book, because the magic systems of this world are cool, and Aelis’ passion for being a warden and serving people is enjoyable to read about… but in the next book I need to see Aelis face some actual consequences or grow up, or I might have to be done with the series.

It was cool to see the Lyceum, learn more about some of the Archmagisters, and see a bit of the world outside of Lone Pine, though.

Rating: 3/5

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