Showing posts with label Ngaio Marsh. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ngaio Marsh. Show all posts

Saturday, April 25, 2026

Penguin Green Tribands -- BOOK LIST

 


BOOK LIST

Penguin Green Tribands

The 400 vintage Penguin crime books in their ionic green triband covers make up my favorite book collection. 

Back in the darkest days of the pandemic lockdown, when bored out of my socks, I did a little bookish retail therapy. Thanks to eBay and Royal Mail, I found myself the new owner of a job lot of over 400 vintage Penguin mystery books. After arranging and rearranging them all over my living room floor for a few weeks, culling duplicates, and generally playing with them for a while, they had to sit in boxes until I could get shelves built for them. Now they are shelved in the little home office I call my growlery, where I go and growl at the world. The next step is to read them!

Early Penguin paperbacks were issued without illustrations on the cover, just a band of color at the top, the title on an off-white band in the middle, then another band of the same color at the bottom. Hence, "triband" editions. They were color coded. Green was for crime fiction – mysteries, thrillers, and, less commonly, true crime. These early Penguins were not sold in the United States (for copyright reasons I don't understand). You can now find them here used, but not often. Also, Penguin has more recently reissued some books with triband covers, along with triband coffee mugs that match the books. Those are cool in themselves, but not what I collect. I go for the vintage editions.

I don’t have nearly all the original green tribands, but I have about 415 of them, including duplicates. A few are first Penguin editions, most are Penguin reprints, all are pretty tattered. There are plenty of my favorites in the collection, like Agatha Christie, Ngaio Marsh, Raymond Chandler, etc. There are others I know of and haven’t read much of, or at all, like Margery Allingham and Simenon. And there are plenty that are brand new to me.

To inspire me to read all of my green tribands, and to keep track as I go, I decided to list them all here. Repeating author names every time seems crazy, so I only listed the name for the first book by the author and put that one in bold. I also tried to list them in publication order for each author, although some authors were so prolific they published more than one book in the same year. I haven't dived deep enough to know the exact date of publication, so if you see more than one book in the same year, I don't know which came first.

All these are on my shelves and most are still TBR for me. I've noted if I've read a book, even if I read it in a different edition. I also noted if the audiobook is available. If so, I may read it with my ears and save the triband further tattering. 

When possible, I've linked to the title (not usually the same Penguin edition) so you can read more about the book. A surprising number are available in a new edition or vintage copy, but several are out of print and hard to find. Some are available online but with no description of the story. I left out those links. Sometimes I had to link to the book under an alternate title. 

The Crime at Black Dudley (1929) by Margery Allingham

Mystery Mile (1930) ON LIBBY 

Look to the Lady (1931)

Police at the Funeral (1931)

Sweet Danger (1933)

Death of a Ghost (1934)

Flowers for the Judge (1936)

The Case of the Late Pig (1937)

Dancers in Mourning (1937)

The Fashion in Shrouds (1938) ON LIBBY

Mr. Campion & Others (short stories) (1939)

Traitor's Purse (1940)

Black Plumes (1940) ON LIBBY

Coroner's Pidgin (1945)

More Work for the Undertaker (1948)

Take Two at Bedtime (1949)

The Tiger in the Smoke (1952)

No Love Lost (short stories) (1954)

The Beckoning Lady (1955)

Hide My Eyes (1958)

Uncommon Danger (1937) by Eric Ambler

Cause for Alarm (1938)

Aphrodite Means Death (1951) by John Appleby

Ten Minute Alibi (1934) by Anthony Armstrong and Herbert Shaw

Mischief (1950) by Charlotte Armstrong

The Suva Harbour Mystery (Who Killed Netta Maul?) (1948) by Frank Arthur

Red is for Killing (1941) by George Bagby

Mr. Fortune, Please (1927) by H.C. Bailey

The Best We Can Do (1958) by Sybille Bedford

The Port of London Murders (1938) by Josephine Bell

Trent's Last Case (1913) by E.C. Bentley ON LIBBY


Trent's Own Case (1936)

Trent Intervenes (1938)

The Tongue-Tied Canary (1948) by Nicolas Bentley

The Floating Dutchman (1950)

Mr. Priestley's Problem (1927) by Anthony Berkeley

The Piccadilly Murder (1929)

Jumping Jenny (1933)

Trial and Error (1937)

Not to be Taken (1938)

My Name is Michael Sibley (1952) by John Bingham

Five Roundabouts to Heaven (1953)

A Scent of New-Mown Hay (1958) by John Blackburn

A Question of Proof (1935) by Nicholas Blake


The Case of the Abominable Snowman (1941)

See You at the Morgue (1941) by Lawrence Goldtree Blochman

Dead Lion (1949) by John Bonett

Dead Reckoning (1943) by Francis Bonnamy

A Rope of Sand (1944)

The King is Dead on Queen Street (1945)

A Bullet in the Ballet (1937) by Caryl Brahms

The Wooden Overcoat (1951) by Pamela Branch

Heads You Lose (1941) by Christianna Brand


Suddenly at His Residence (1946)

London Particular (1952)

Tour de Force (1955)

Case for Sergeant Beef (1947) by Leo Bruce

Three Bad Nights (1956) by Bruce Buckingham

The Case of the Second Chance (1938) by Christopher Bush

The Postman Always Rings Twice (1934) by James M. Cain FINISHED

Spider Web (1938) by Alice Campbell

Murder Included (1950) by Joanna Cannan

It Walks by Night (1930) by John Dickson Carr


The Waxworks Murder (1932)

Poison in Jest (1932)

Hag's Nook (1933)

The Mad Hatter Mystery (1933)

The Blind Barber (1934)

Death Watch (1935)

The Hollow Man (1935)

The Case of the Constant Suicides (1941)

The Emperor's Snuff-Box (1942)

Till Death do Us Part (1944)

He Who Whispers (1946)

Below Suspicion (1946)

Captain Cut-Throat (1955)

Patrick Butler for the Defense (1956)

Murder by Burial (1938) by Stanley Casson

The Big Sleep (1939) by Raymond Chandler 
FINISHED

Trouble is My Business (1939)

Farewell, My Lovely (1940) FINISHED

The High Window (1942) FINISHED

The Lady in the Lake (1943) FINISHED

The Little Sister (1949)

The Long Good-Bye (1953) FINISHED

Playback (1958)

The Innocence of Father Brown (1911) by G.K. Chesterton FINISHED

The Incredulity of Father Brown (1926) FINISHED

Poison Ivy (1937) by Peter Chaney

Can Ladies Kill? (1938)

The Urgent Hangman (1938)

Dark Duet (1942)

The Riddle in the Sands (1903) by Erskine Childers ON LIBBY

The Mysterious Affair at Styles (1920) by Agatha Christie 
FINISHED

The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (1926) FINISHED

The Big Four (1927) FINISHED

The Mystery of the Blue Train (1928) FINISHED

Miss Marple and The Thirteen Problems (1928) FINISHED

The Seven Dials Mystery (1929) FINISHED

The Murder at the Vicarage (1930) FINISHED

Peril at End House (1931) FINISHED

The Sittaford Mystery (1931) FINISHED

Murder on the Orient Express (1933) FINISHED

Lord Edgware Dies (1933)

The Mysterious Mr. Quin (1933)

Parker Pyne Investigates (1934)

Murder in Mesopotamia (1935)

The ABC Murders (1936) FINISHED

Death on the Nile (1937)

Murder in the Mews (1937)

Ten Little N_______ (1939)

Murder Is Easy (1939)

The Labours of Hercules (1939)

The Body in the Library (1942) FINISHED

The Moving Finger (1942)

Death Comes as the End (1945)

Crooked House (1949) FINISHED

The Deadly Reaper (1956) by Clark Smith

Appointment in New Orleans (1950) by Tod Claymore

Reunion in Florida (1952)

Public Enemy (1953) by Hugh Clevely

The Death of a Millionaire (1925) by G.D.H. Cole and Margaret Cole

The Moonstone (1868) by Wilkie Collins 
FINISHED

The Dangerfield Talisman (1926) by J.J. Connington

Death at Swaythling Court (1926)

The Case with Nine Solutions (1928)

The Golden Box (1942) by Frances Crane

The Moving Toyshop (1946) by Edmund Crispin

Swan Song (1947)

Buried for Pleasure (1948)

Love Lies Bleeding (1948)

The Long Divorce (1951)

The Cask (1920) by Freeman Wills Crofts

The Pit-Prop Syndicate (1922)

The Groote Park Murder (1923)

Inspector French’s Greatest Case (1924)

The Cheyne Mystery (1926)

Inspector French and the Starvel Tragedy (1927)

The Sea Mystery (1928)

Sir John Magill’s Last Journey (1930)

Mystery in the Channel (1931)

The 12.30 from Croydon (1934)

Crime at Guildford (1935)

The Loss of the Jane Vosper (1936)

Fatal Venture (1939)

Golden Ashes (1940)

Post Mortem (1953) by Guy Cullingford

Conjurer’s Coffin (1954)

Framed for Hanging (1956)

Dead March in Three Keys (1940) by Peter Curtis (Norah Lofts)

The House without a Door (1942) by Elizabeth Daly


Evidence of Things Seen (1943)

The White Priory Murders (1934) by Carter Dickson (John Dickson Carr)

The Plague Court Murders (1934)

The Red Widow Murders (1935)

The Ten Teacups (1937)

The Judas Window (1938)

The Reader is Warned (1939)

And So to Murder (1940)

She Died a Lady (1943)

He Wouldn't Kill Patience (1944)

Shear the Black Sheep (1942) by David Dodge

Bullets for the Bridegroom (1944)

The Long Escape (1948)

The Lights of Skaro (1954)

To Catch A Thief (1952)

The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes (1894) by Arthur Conan Doyle FINISHED
 
The Hound of the Baskervilles (1902) FINISHED

The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes (1921) FINISHED

The White Cockatoo (1933) by M.G. Eberhart

The Cases of Susan Dare (1934)

Speak No Evil (1941)

Darling Clementine (1955) by Dorothy Eden

The Horizontal Man (1946) by Helen Eustis

The Missing Link (1952) by Katharine Farrer

The Cretan Counterfeit (1954)

The Big Clock (1946) by Kenneth Fearing

Stealthy Terror (1918) by John Ferguson

The Man in the Dark (1928)

Death Comes to Perigord (1931)

Night in Glengyle (1933)

Remove the Bodies (1941) by Elizabeth Ferrars

Don't Monkey with Murder (1942)

Murder in Time (1953)

The Bandaged Nude (1950) by Robert Finnegan

Death and Mary Dazill (1941) by Mary Fitt

Requiem for Robert (1942)

Death and the Pleasant Voices (1946)

Payment Deferred (1926) by C.S. Forester

Plain Murder (1930)

Rex v. Anne Bickerton (1930) by Sydney Fowler

Reunion with Murder (1941) by Tomothy Fuller

The Widow LeRouge (1866) by Emile Gaboriau


The Mystery of Orcival (1867)

Murder on Leave (1946) by G.V. Galwey

The Lift and the Drop (1951)

The Case of the Howling Dog (1934) by Erle Stanley Gardner

The Case of the Sleepwalkers Niece (1936)

The Case of the Stuttering Bishop (1936)

The Case of the Lame Canary (1937)

The Case of the Shoplifter's Shoe (1938)

The D.A. Holds a Candle (1938)

The Case of the Substitute Face (1938)

The Case of the Rolling Bones (1939)

The Case of The Perjured Parrot (1939)

The D.A. Draws a Circle (1939)

The Case of the Baited Hook (1940)

The Case of the Haunted Husband (1941)

The Case of the Careless Kitten (1942)

The Case of The Drowsy Mosquito (1943)

The Case of the Buried Clock (1943)

The Case of the Crooked Candle (1944)

The DA Calls A Turn (1944)

The Case of the Golddigger's Purse (1945)

The Case of the Half-Wakened Wife (1945)

The Case of the Borrowed Brunette (1946)

The Velvet Well (1946) by John Gearon

The Black Stage (1945) by Anthony Gilbert

Documents Marked "Secret" (1945) by John Gloag

The Leavenworth Case (1878) by Anna Katharine Green 
ON LIBBY

Reputation for a Song (1952) by Edward Grierson

The Thin Man (1934) by Dashiell Hammett FINISHED

Lady Killer (1957) by William Hardy

Tenant for Death (1937) by Cyril Hare


Death is No Sportsman (1938)

Suicide Excepted (1939)

Tragedy at Law (1942)

With a Bare Bodkin (1946)

An English Murder (1951)

That Yew Tree's Shade (1954)

He Should Have Died Hereafter (1957)

Cork on the Water (1951) by MacDonald Hastings

Cork in Bottle (1953)

Cork and the Serpent (1955)

Cork in the Doghouse (1957)

A Taste For Honey (1941) by Gerald Heard (H.F. Heard)

Fugitive from Murder (1940) by M.V. Heberden

Death in the Stocks (1935) by Georgette Heyer

Famous Trials III (1950) by James H. Hodge, Ed.


Famous Trials 4 (1954)

Night Has a Thousand Eyes (1945) by George Hopley

Raffles (1899) by E.W. Hornung ON LIBBY

Mr. Justice Raffles (1909)

Rogue Male (1939) by Geoffrey Household

The Murder of My Aunt (1936) by Richard Hull


The Ghost It Was (1936)

Excellent Intentions (1938)

Murder on Safari (1938) by Elspeth Huxley

Death at the President’s Lodging (1936) by Michael Innes


Hamlet, Revenge! (1937)

Stop Press (1939)

There Came Both Mist and Snow (1940)

The Secret Vanguard (1941)

Appleby on Ararat (1941)

The Weight of the Evidence (1943)

The Journeying Boy (1949)

A Private View (1952)

Man From the Sea (1955)

Old Hall, New Hall (1956)

Appleby Plays Chicken (1956)

A Pin to See the Peepshow (1934) by F. Tennyson Jesse

Death Takes Small Bites (1948) by George H. Johnston

Prelude to a Certain Midnight (1947) by Gerald Kersh

Carteret's Cure (1926) by Richard Keverne

William Cook Antique Dealer (1928)

The Sanfield Scandal (1929)

The Fleet Hall Inheritance (1931)

Missing From His Home (1932)

At the Blue Gates (1932)

He Laughed at Murder (1935)

The Three Taps (1927) by Ronald Knox

Murder on My Street (1958) by Edwin Lanham

Blood upon the Snow (1944) by Hilda Lawrence


Death of a Doll (1947)

Duet of Death (1949)

Uncle Silas (1864) by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu

A Kiss Before Dying (1953) by Ira Levin ON LIBBY

The Kiss of Death (1947) by Eleazar Lipsky

The Rasp (1924) by Philip MacDonald


X v. Rex (1933)

The Bad Seed (1954) by William March ON LIBBY

Famous Trials of Marshall Hall (1950) by Edward Marjoribanks, Ed.

A Man Lay Dead (1934) by Ngaio Marsh 
FINISHED

Enter a Murderer (1935)

The Nursing Home Murder (1935)

Death in Ecstasy (1936)

Vintage Murder (1937)

Death in a White Tie (1938) FINISHED

Artists in Crime (1938) FINISHED

Overture to Death (1939) FINISHED

Surfeit of Lampreys (1940)

Death at the Bar (1940) FINISHED

Death and the Dancing Footman (1941)

The House of the Arrow (1924) by A.E.W. Mason

An Oxford Tragedy (1933) by J.C. Masterman


The Case of the Four Friends (1956)

He Never Came Back (1954) by Helen McCloy

Deadly Weapon (1946) by Wade Miller

The Red House Mystery (1922) by A.A. Milne ON LIBBY

The Mystery of a Butcher's Shop (1929) by Gladys Mitchell

The Longer Bodies (1930)

Death at the Opera (1934)

Come Away, Death (1937)

Laurels are Poison (1942)

Tom Brown's Body (1949)

Faintley Speaking (1954)

Watson's Choice (1955)

Twelve Horses and the Hangman's Noose (1956)

The Twenty-Third Man (1957)

Spotted Hemlock (1958)

The King and the Corpse (1948) by Max Murray

The Right Honourable Corpse (1952)

The Doctor and the Corpse (1953)

Royal Bed for a Corpse (1955)

The Rod of Anger (1953) by Derrick Nabarro

The Nightwalkers (1947) by James Norman

The Mysterious Mickey Finn (1939) by Elliot Paul

Verdict of Twelve (1940) by Raymond Postgate


The Ledger is Kept (1953)

The Diehard (1956) by Jean Potts

Information Received (1933) by E.R. Punshon

Crossword Mystery (1934)

Mystery Villa (1934)

The Roman Hat Mystery (1929) by Ellery Queen ON LIBBY

The French Powder Mystery (1930) ON LIBBY

The Dutch Shoe Mystery (1931) ON LIBBY

The Greek Coffin Mystery (1932) ON LIBBY

The Siamese Twin Mystery (1933) ON LIBBY

The American Gun Mystery (1933) ON LIBBY

The Chinese Orange Mystery (1934) ON LIBBY

The Spanish Cape Mystery (1935) ON LIBBY

The Door Between (1937) ON LIBBY

The Four of Hearts (1938) ON LIBBY

The King is Dead (1952) ON LIBBY

Puzzle for Fiends (1946) by Patrick Quentin

The Follower (1950)

The Man in the Net (1956)

The Cambridge Murders (1945) by Dilwyn Rees (Glyn Daniel)

The House on Tollard Ridge (1929) by John Rhode

Trial by Fury (1941) by Craig Rice

The Circular Staircase (1908) by Mary Roberts Rinehart


The Yellow Room (1945)

The Mystery of Dr. Fu-Manchu (1913) by Sax Rohmer

The Content Assignment (1954) by Holly Roth


The Sleeper (1955)

The Mask of Glass (1955)

Shadow of a Lady (1957)

Telling of Murder (1952) by Douglas Rutherford

Comes the Blind Fury (1953)

Night of the Horns (1961) by Douglas Sanderson

The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club (1928) by Dorothy L. Sayers FINISHED

Documents in the Case (1930) 

A Crime in Holland and A Face for a Clue (1931) by Simenon

A Battle of Nerves and At the 'Gai-Moulin' (1931)

The Man from Everywhere and Newhaven-Dieppe (1931/1934)

In Two Latitudes (1932)

Maigret and the Burglar's Wife (1934)

The Murderer (1937)

Poisoned Relations (1938)

Havoc by Accident (1943)

Escape in Vain (1943)

To Any Lengths (1944)

On the Danger Line (1944)

Lost Moorings (1946)

The Hatter's Ghosts (1947)

Maigret's First Case (1949)

My Friend Maigret (1949)

Maigret in Montmartre (1951)

Maigret's Revolver (1952)

Maigret Sits it Out (1952)

Maigret's Mistake (1953)

The Speaking Eye (1955) by Clark Smith

Not Wanted on Voyage (1951)

The Evil of the Day (1955) by Thomas Sterling

Fer-de-Lance (1934) by Rex Stout FINISHED

The League of Frightened Men (1935) FINISHED

Red Threads (1939)

The Short Weekend (1953) by T.S. Strachan

The Missing Moneylender (1931) by W. Stanley Sykes

The Immaterial Murder Case (1945) by Julian Symons

The Man With My Face (1948) by Samuel W. Taylor

The Franchise Affair (1948) by Josephine Tey ON LIBBY


The Daughter of Time (1951) FINISHED

Docken Dead (1953) by John Trench

Dishonoured Bones (1954)

Man of Two Tribes (1956) by Arthur W. Upfield

The Battling Prophet (1956)

Department of Dead Ends (1949) by Roy Vickers

Murdering Mr. Velfrage (1950)

Don Among the Dead Men (1952) by C.E. Vulliamy

The Verdict of You All (1926) by Henry Wade

Policeman's Lot (1933)

Here Comes the Copper (1938)

Diamonds For Moscow (1953) by David Walker

The Four Just Men (1905) by Edgar Wallace

The Doors of Sleep (1955) by Thurman Warriner

The Invisible Man (1897) by H.G. Wells 
ON LIBBY

The Watersplash (1953) by Patricia Wentworth

The Wheel Spins (1933) by Ethel Lina White

Many Dimensions (1930) by Charles Williams





Tuesday, October 22, 2024

Possible Reading Challenge -- BOOK THOUGHTS


BOOK THOUGHTS

Possible Reading Challenge

How do you pick the books you are going to read?

I am not a “mood” reader. I don’t pick my next read on whim. If I did, I’d read mostly mysteries, with a few ex-pat memoirs and novels "by women, for women" thrown in. Classics, heavy fiction, history, chunky biographies, and short stories don't jump out at me. I love reading long books, serious books, genres outside my comfort zone, and even short stories when I read them. But I'm not typically in the mood to read them. I need some kind of structure to my reading plan to tackle those books. My two IRL book clubs, Instagram buddy reads, and blog challenges give me that kind of structure.

Today I had a crazy idea of organizing my reading based on the names of each month. (I didn’t say I need formality to find structure!) I occasionally see Instagram posts of stacks of books that spell the name of the month with the first letters of each title. Clever. Now I’m obsessed with the idea of reading a spelling stack of books each month for a year. 

There are a total of 74 letters in the names of the twelve months. May is the shortest, with three letters.  September and December are the longest, with nine letters each. A total of 74 books in a year is doable. I usually read close to twice that many, so I would have plenty of flexibility to work in other books.

I could come up with a whole new challenge based on this wild hare. It would need a clever name and I'm not good at that. I'd probably end up calling it the Spell the Month Challenge. Not very catchy. On the other hand, instead of a new challenge, I could use the idea as a theme for my TBR 25 in '25 Challenge and the Mt. TBR Challenge hosted each year by Bev at My Reader's Block. I signed up with Bev this year to read a total of 60 books off my TBR shelves. I could probably stretch it to 74. 

Or the whole idea could fade away. But for now, here’s a stack of books spelling October. I picked mysteries because I’m already looking to game my own system and bring in the mystery books.

Overture to Death by Ngaio Marsh
Come Away Death by Gladys Mitchell
Telling of Murder by Douglas Rutherford
Excellent Intentions by Richard Hull
Red Threads by Rex Stout

Happy reading, however you pick your next book!



Thursday, December 30, 2021

2021 Vintage Mystery Challenge - My Wrap Up Post


VINTAGE MYSTERY CHALLENGE 2021

VINTAGE SCATTEGORIES

MY WRAP UP POST

COMPLETED


The Vintage Mystery Challenge on My Reader's Block is one of my favorite challenges. The idea is to read at least eight vintage mysteries, either from the Golden Age of mysteries (those published prior to 1960) or the Silver Age of mysteries (those published from 1960 to 1989). 

Each year, Bev makes some kind of game out of it. This year the game is Vintage Scattegories. Participants are to read one book from at least eight of various categories. I signed up for both the Golden Age and Silver Age to try to read 16 books. 


MY VINTAGE MYSTERY CHALLENGE BOOKS - GOLD

In 2021, I read 13 vintage mysteries published before 1960. I was on a mission to read all the Father Brown books, having read the first one in December 2020 and wanting to go straight through, so Fr. Brown shows up a lot in this list. 

  • A Mystery by Any Other Name: Funerals are Fatal by Agatha Christie (aka After the Funeral and Murder at the Gallop)


MY VINTAGE MYSTERY CHALLENGE BOOKS - SILVER

I read 11 vintage mysteries in 2021 that were published between 1960 and 1989. Most of them were by Dick Francis because he's my favorite. 

  • Murder by the Numbers: Twice Shy by Dick Francis 
  • Malicious Men: LaBrava by Elmore Leonard
  • Repeat Offenders: Whip Hand by Dick Francis 
  • Hobbies Can be Murder: Reflex by Dick Francis 
I didn't review any of these books, so my challenge participation was minimal. But I had a terrific time reading them. I look forward to joining the 2022 version of the Vintage Mystery Challenge and will sign up soon!



Saturday, January 2, 2021

2021 CHALLENGE: Vintage Scattergories - Vintage Mystery Challenge 2021


VINTAGE MYSTERY CHALLENGE 2021

VINTAGE SCATTEGORIES


The Vintage Mystery Challenge on My Reader's Block has always been one of my very favorite challenges. Bev has hosted it since 2011, which is the first year I joined the challenge and I've done it most years since then. I love it. 

Read all the detail of the Vintage Mystery Challenge on the main challenge page. The idea is to read at least eight vintage mysteries, either from the Golden Age of mysteries (those published prior to 1960) or the Silver Age of mysteries (those published from 1960 to 1989). Yes, Bev recognizes that the dates are somewhat arbitrary. Yes, you can sign up to do both the Golden and Silver Ages. 

Each year, Bev makes some kind of game out of it. This year the game is Vintage Scattegories. Participants are to read one book from at least eight of the following categories. I'm signing up for both the Golden Age and Silver Age to try to read 16 books. It's a big motivator for me that Bev also hosts the Mt. TBR Challenge and my plan is to read 16 vintage mysteries already on my shelves!

CATEGORIES

1. Colorful Crime: A book with a color or reference to color in the title
2. Murder by the Numbers: A book with a number or quantity in the title
3. Amateur Night: A book with a detective who is not a P.I.; Police Officer; or other official investigator (Nurse Keate, Father Brown, Miss Marple, etc.)
4. Leave It to the Professionals: A book featuring cops, private eyes, secret service, professional spies, etc.
5. Jolly Old England: A mystery set in the United Kingdom
6. Yankee Doodle Dandy: A mystery set in the United States
7. World Traveler: A mystery set in any country except the U.S. or U.K.
8. Dangerous Beasts: A book with an animal in the title
9. A Calendar of Crime: A mystery with a date/holiday/year/month/etc. in the title
10. Wicked Women: A book with a woman in the title--either by name (Mrs. McGinty's Dead) or by reference (The Case of the Vagabond Virgin)
11. Malicious Men: A book with a man in the title--either by name (Maigret & the Yellow Dog) or by reference (The Case of the Haunted Husband)
12. Murderous Methods: A book with a means of death in the title (The Noose, 5 Bullets, Deadly Nightshade, etc.)
13. Staging the Crime: A mystery set in the entertainment world (theatre, musical event, pageant, Hollywood, etc.)
14. Scene of the Crime: A book with the location of the crime in the title (The Body in the Library, Murder at the Vicarage, etc.)
15. Cops & Robbers: A book that features a theft rather than murder
16. Locked Rooms: A locked-room mystery
17. Impossible Crimes: Any other impossible crime (locks not necessary)
18. Country House Criminals: A standard (or not-so-standard) Golden Age-style country house murder
19. Murder on the High Seas: A mystery involving water
20. Planes, Trains, & Automobiles: A book with a mode of transportation in the title
21. Murder is Academic: A mystery involving a scholar, teacher, librarian, etc. OR set at a school, university, library, etc.
22. Things That Go Bump in the Night: A book with something spooky, creepy, gothic in the title (The Skeleton in the Clock; Haunted Lady; The Bat; etc.)
23. Repeat Offenders: A mystery featuring your favorite series detective or by your favorite author or reread an old favorite
24. The Butler Did It...Or Not: A mystery where the butler is the victim, the sleuth...(gasp) the criminal...or is just downright memorable for whatever reason.
25. A Mystery by Any Other Name: Any book that has been published under more than one title (Murder Is Easy--aka Easy to Kill [Christie]; Fog of Doubt--aka London Particular [Christianna Brand], etc.)
26. Dynamic Duos: A mystery featuring a detective team (Holmes & Watson; Pam & Jerry North; Nero Wolfe & Archie Goodwin, or a little-known team that you introduce to us)
27. Size Matters: A book with a size or measurement in the title (Death Has a Small Voice; The Big Four; The Weight of the Evidence; etc.)
28. Psychic Phenomena: A mystery featuring a seance, medium, hypnotism, or other psychic or "supernatural" characters/events
29. Book to Movie: A book that has appeared on screen (feature film or TV)
30. The Old Bailey: A courtroom drama mystery OR a mystery featuring a judge, lawyer, barrister, district attorney
31. Serial Killers: Books that were originally published in serial format (from the pulp era) OR a book that includes three or more deaths--all committed by the same person.
32. Killed in Translation: A work that originally appeared in another language and has been made available in English--original publication date determines Gold or Silver Age--OR if your native language is not English, then a work that originally appeared in English which you read in your native language.
33. Blondes in Danger: A variation on "Colorful Crime." A book that features a blonde in the title (The Blonde Died First; The Case of the Black-Eyed Blonde) or another shade of hair color (The Case of the Substitute Brunette)
34. International Detectives: A variation on "World Traveler"--but instead of the crime being set in another country, the detective is not from the U.S. or U.K.
35. Somebody Else's Crime: Read a book that someone else has already read for the challenge.
36. Genuine Fakes: Read a book by an author who wrote under a pseudonym (Josephine Tey [Elizabeth Mackintosh]; Nicholas Blake [Cecil Day Lewis]; etc.)
37. Hobbies Can Be Murder: A mystery that involves a hobby in some way: stamp, coin, book collecting, etc; knitting; birdwatching; hunting; etc.
38. Snatch & Grab: Read the first book you pick up off your shelf or TBR stack/s
39. I've Got You Covered: Pick a book to read based on the cover
40. Get Out of Jail Free: One per customer. You decide what special category the book fits and it counts--the only thing not accepted is "It's a vintage mystery!" The genre/time period is a given.

MY VINTAGE MYSTERY CHALLENGE BOOKS - GOLD

I'm not sure yet which Golden Age vintage mysteries I will read, but some possibilities lurking on my shelves include:

  • Murder by the Numbers: Nine Tailors by Dorothy L. Sayers FINISHED
  • Amateur Night: The Wisdom of Father Brown  By G. K. Chesterton FINISHED
  • Jolly Old England: 
  • Yankee Doodle Dandy: Farewell, My Lovely by Raymond Chandler*
  • Dangerous Beasts: Cat Among the Pigeons by Agatha Christie FINISHED
  • Staging the Crime: Final Curtain by Ngaio Marsh
  • Cops & Robbers: The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins FINISHED
  • Locked Room: The Incredulity of Father Brown by G. K. Chesterton FINISHED
  • Murder is Academic: Gaudy Night  by Dorothy L. Sayers FINISHED
  • Repeat Offenders: Busman's Honeymoon by Dorothy L. Sayers FINISHED
  • A Mystery by Any Other Name: Funerals are Fatal by Agatha Christie (aka After the Funeral and Murder at the GallopFINISHED
  • Country House Criminals: Peril at End House by Agatha Christie FINISHED
  • Dynamic Duos: The Valley of Fear by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle FINISHED

MY VINTAGE MYSTERY CHALLENGE BOOKS - SILVER

Likewise, I don't know for sure which Silver Age vintage mysteries I'll pick and my choices are fewer, but I could round up these suspects:

  • Murder by the Numbers: Twice Shy by Dick Francis FINISHED
  • Amateur Night: Dead Cert by Dick Francis FINISHED
  • Jolly Old England: At Bertram's Hotel by Agatha Christie
  • Yankee Doodle Dandy: Split Images by Elmore Leonard FINISHED
  • World Traveler: Passenger to Frankfurt by Agatha Christie FINISHED
  • A Calendar of Crime: March Violets by Philip Kerr FINISHED
  • Wicked Women: Little Drummer Girl by John Le Carre
  • Murder is Academic: The Theban Mysteries by Amanda Cross FINISHED
  • Repeat Offenders: Whip Hand by Dick Francis FINISHED
  • Killed in Translation: The Laughing Policeman by Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö FINISHED
  • Hobbies Can be Murder: Reflex by Dick Francis FINISHED

NOTES

Updated November 29, 2021. 

* SCRATCH:

Farewell, My Lovely as an option. I realize I read it fairly recently. The Long Goodbye is the Chandler book I want to read, but I don't know if I will get to it for this year's challenge.

Touch by Elmore Leonard as a Yankee Doodle Dandy "Silver" option because I read Split Images instead.

The Amateur by Robert Little as a World Traveler "Silver" option because I read Passenger to Frankfurt instead.

Innocent Blood by P. D. James because I replaced it with Whip Hand by Dick Francis. 





Monday, May 29, 2017

Mailbox Memorial Day

Last week, I got a big stack of books from Booktique, the Friends of the Library used book store in Lake Oswego. What books came into your house last week?



The Light of Day by Graham Swift

The Bowl Is Already Broken by Mary Kay Zuravleff

Murther and Walking Spirits by Robertson Davies

A Ngaio Marsh Omnibus: Grave Mistake, Spinsters in Jeopardy, and Overture to Death

The Colette Omnibus: Cheri, The Last of Cheri, Gigi, The Vagabonds, and The Shackle

The Middle Ground by Margaret Drabble

How it All Began by Penelope Lively

A Long Finish by Michael Dibdin

The Copper Beech by Maeve Binchy

A Woman of Means by Peter Taylor

A Book of Common Prayer by Joan Didion

The Ponder Heart by Eudora Welty

We Didn't Mean to Go to Sea by Arthur Ransome

Esprit De Corps Stiff Upper Lip by Lawrence Durrell

The Ordeal of Gilbert Pinfold by Evelyn Waugh

Murder in the Rue Dumas by M. L. Longworth

Lucky Jim by Kingsley Amis

What looks good?


Thanks for joining me for Mailbox Monday, a weekly "show & tell" blog event where participants share the books they acquired the week before. Visit the Mailbox Monday website to find links to all the participants' posts and read more about Books that Caught our Eye.

Mailbox Monday is graciously hosted by Leslie of Under My Apple Tree, Serena of Savvy Verse & Wit, and Vicki of I'd Rather Be at the Beach.




Sunday, May 28, 2017

Favorite Author: Ngaio Marsh


Ngaio Marsh was a New Zealand-born author, famous for her mystery series featuring British CID detective Roderick Alleyn. She wrote 32 Alleyn mysteries between 1934 and 1982.

Marsh is considered one of the four original "Queens of Crime" of the Golden Age of mystery writing of the 1920s and 1930s, along with Dorothy L. Sayers, Margery Allingham, and Agatha Christie.

Marsh's Roderick Alleyn mysteries are listed below in chronological order. Those I've read are in red; those on my TBR shelf are in blue. Anyone reading Marsh's books are welcome to include related links in comments and I will list your posts below.


A Man Lay Dead (1934)

Enter a Murderer (1935)

The Nursing Home Murder (1935)

Death in Ecstasy (1936)

Vintage Murder (1937)

Artists in Crime (1938)

Death in a White Tie (1938)

Overture to Death (1939)

Death at the Bar (1940)

Surfeit of Lampreys (1941); originally called Death of a Peer in the U.S.

Death and the Dancing Footman (1942)

Colour Scheme (1943)

Died in the Wool (1945)

Final Curtain (1947)

Swing Brother Swing (1949); originally called A Wreath for Rivera in the U.S.

Opening Night (1951); still called Night at the Vulcan in the U.S.

Spinsters in Jeopardy (1954)

Scales of Justice (1955)

Off With His Head (1957); still called Death of a Fool in the U.S.

Singing in the Shrouds (1959)

False Scent (1960)

Hand in Glove (1962)

Dead Water (1964)

Death at the Dolphin (1967); still called Killer Dolphin in the U.S.

Clutch of Constables (1968)

When in Rome (1970)

Tied Up in Tinsel (1972)

Black As He's Painted (1974)

Last Ditch (1977)

A Grave Mistake (1978)

Photo Finish (1980)

Light Thickens (1982)


NOTES

If you are reading Ngaio Marsh's books and would like related posts listed here, please leave a comment with a link to your post and I will add it.

Sunday, December 1, 2013

Mailbox Monday


Thanks for joining me for Mailbox Monday!  I am so pleased to host in December because it just adds to my general giddiness this festive time of year.

MM was created by Marcia, who graciously hosted it for a long, long time, before turning it into a touring event (details here).  Marcia is looking for someone to take over tour organizing duties.  Many people have volunteered, but I don't know that there is a final plan for 2014.

MY THEME THIS WEEK: HOLIDAY BOOK TRADITIONS

Do you have any book-related holiday traditions? Please share!

MY TRADITION: Everyone in my immediate family loves to read, so I've developed a little Christmas tradition of filling a gift bag with books for each of them.  It is so fun to have a big stack of books to play with on Christmas day and to anticipate a new year of reading enjoyment. 

With that tradition in mind, I went to my two favorite Friends of the Library used book stores in Oregon: Booktique in Lake Oswego and Second Hand Prose in Oregon City.  My family members don't mind that the books are used and getting them from the library stores means they cost so little everyone gets a BIG bag.

MY BOOKS: I can never hit those stores without finding something for myself.  Many somethings.  Including these:



Amarcord: Marcella Remembers by Marcella Hazan. I have several of her cookbooks and her life story of growing up in Italy during WWII sounds fascinating.



The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón. I know this was hugely popular, but I somehow missed it.



Lulu in Marrakech
by Diane Johnson. I like her books and am in the mood to read fun stuff.



Vintage Murder by Ngaio Marsh. I am always in the mood for a vintage mystery and adore her Inspector Roderick Allyn series.

YOUR BOOKS

What books came into your house last week?  Leave your link below or in a comment.  If you don't have a blog but want to play along, leave a comment listing your new books.





Sunday, September 29, 2013

Kitchen Remodel, Week Thirty-One: Bella Cucina!


The kitchen is finally done! I haven't posted about this remodel for a couple of weeks because the final process slowed to a crawl waiting on a few punch list items and landscaping. Also, we were on vacation, so the kitchen was out of sight out of mind for me.

But now we are finally finished! Right down to the (removable) Italian tile backsplash that my sister designed and had made in Italy from her drawing. "Bella Cucina" translates to either Beautiful Kitchen or Beautiful Cooking.  I hope to do some beautiful cooking in this beautiful kitchen for years to come.

Since our summer weather has disappeared and we are in the midst of one heck of a rainstorm, all my nesting instincts are raging. I just want to light a fire in the fireplace and curl up with the Ngaio Marsh mystery I am close to finishing.  And I've been trying to add all seven of my winter pounds in one weekend, craving nothing but casserole and cookies.





I've got some kind of chuck roast in the oven I plan to serve with roasted potatoes and a salad tonight.  I say "some kind of" because it is part of the grass fed cow from my freezer and all the package said was "beef roast" with no information about the particular cut.  Until I unwrapped it, I didn't know if I would be cooking it in a hot oven for a short time, like an old fashioned roast beef,  of in a warm oven for a long time, like a pot roast.

I still can't really tell what cut it is -- maybe shank? But it looks like the low-and-slow kind.  I turned to Lynn Curry's Pure Beef: An Essential Guide to Artisan Meat with Recipes for Every Cut, which I reviewed here, and followed some of her basic suggestions.

Most important according to Curry, is to rub grass fed beef with salt and let it sit for a while before cooking, to improve the flavor and make it more tender.  The idea is that the salt pulls the moisture from the meat, but then the meat reabsorbs the moisture, drawing the salt back in with it to flavor the meat all the way through.

We'll see if it works.  In the meantime, maybe I have time to make a pan of bar cookies. Right after I find out who killed Lord Robert Gospell on the night of Lady Carrados' ball.




WEEKEND COOKING



Tuesday, September 24, 2013

Teaser Tuesday: Death in a White Tie



He had placed his chair carefully, leaving a space between himself and the left-hand arm of the sofa. Into this space the shadowy figure now moved.

-- Death in a White Tie by Ngaio Marsh, one of the Queens of Crime from the Golden Age of mysteries. I need to get a list of her novels posted because she is a new favorite of mine.

This is the seventh book in Marsh's Inspector Roderick Alleyn series. It was first published in 1938. I've only read one other book in the series, Death at the Bar, which I thought was terrific. Normally, I read a series in order, but there are so many in this one and I do not have them all, so I am reading them as I come across them.


Teaser Tuesdays is hosted by Should Be Reading, where you can find the official rules for this weekly event. 

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