Category: Novels

• The Cornish Coast Murder

  THE Reverend Dodd, Vicar of St. Michael’s-on-the-Cliff, and his old friend Dr Pendrill are enthusiastic afficionados of detective novels. Each week they order six books from the library, which are delivered in a wooden crate tied with string. I love that detail, but did libraries really do this I wonder? And was it a public…

  chrisharding53

  December 29, 2021

  20thC, British Library Crime Classics, Crime, Novels

  John Bude, The Cornish Coast Mystery

• Torn Loyalties of an Evacuee

  Doreen, by Barbara Noble, tells the story of a nine-year-old girl who is evacuated from a London slum during WW2,  and cared for by a well-to-do couple in the country. In the few short months she is there, she is torn between love of this new life, offering undreamed-of opportunities, and love of her mother…

  chrisharding53

  July 28, 2021

  20thC, Novels, Persephone

  Barbara Noble, Doreen.;, Evacuation, WW2

• Discovering Gladys Mitchell

  “It was Monday. Little requires to be said about such a day. Charles James Sinclair Redsey, who, like Mr Milne’s Master Morrison, was commonly known as Jim, sat on the arm of one of the stout, handsome, leather-covered armchairs in the library of the Manor House at Wandles Parva, and kicked the edge of the…

  chrisharding53

  July 6, 2021

  Crime

  Gladys Mithell, Mrs Bradbury, The Mystery of a Butcher's Shop

• Business As Usual

  As a book lover and Oxfam book shop volunteer, how could I not love Business as Usual, by Jane Oliver and Ann Stafford. Originally published in 1933, it was reissued last year as a Handheld Classic, when a lot of bloggers wrote some very nice things about it, and I can see why. The novel,…

  chrisharding53

  February 23, 2021

  20thC, Novels

  #ReadIndies, Ann Stafford, Business as Usual, Jane Oliver

• The Cheltenham Square Murder

  Sticking with squares, can I recommend The Cheltenham Square Murder, which is one of those lovely ‘forgotten’ books from the British Library Crime Classics. Originally published in 1937, it was written by John Bude, whose work I always enjoy, with a nice introduction by the wonderfully knowledgeable Martin Edwards, and it kept me turning the…

  chrisharding53

  February 2, 2021

  21stC, Crime, Novels

  #ReadIndies, British Library Crime Classics, John Bude, Martin Edwards, Read Independent Publishers Month, The Chelteham Square Murder