In Search of the Classic Mystery Novel

It’s not easy going on holiday when you’re a detective, even if that detective is basically a not-very-convincing but surprisingly effective disguise that lives in the backpack of young Bonnie Montgomery. Last time she went with Grandpa Banks to...

Caroline Crowley died when falling down some stairs in a mall. She tripped on a broken step, fell down and impaled herself on some rebar. An accident, but Edison Bixby is hired to establish if the mall owners were responsible.

But Edison B...

Dear Agatha

Wow. I’ve just read Hallowe’en Party and it blew me away. The intricate way it linked the twin themes of apple bobbing and child murder was so exciting that I wanted to get in touch with you to offer our services. As that book is the thirty-first book featuring M. Poirot, people might not read it, given they haven’t read all of the books in ...

“All emotions, and that one particularly, were abhorrent to his cold, precise but admirably balanced mind… Grit in a sensitive instrument, or a crack in one of his own high-power lenses, would not be more disturbing than a strong emotion in a nat...

Ah, April. Off it goes, disappearing into the past, taking with it a school inspection, another notch on my “Years Spent On This Planet” chart, and nine books, all read for your delectation, dear reader. I know, it’s an absolute chore reading books in order to tell other people whether they should read them, but someone’s got to do it…

And another nine book month. A...