“The Grandest Game in the World”

John Dickson Carr's essay is now up. https://grandestgame.wordpress.com/the-grandest-game-in-the-world/ Thanks to Ronald Smyth for scanning the images.

Stars in my eyes

Over the last week, I’ve started to introduce a new ratings system, as follows: Five starsGreat / amazingFour starsVery good / really liked itThree starsGood / liked itTwo starsOKOne starPoor / didn’t like it This is based on the Goodreads scale, and on Curt Evans’ GADderdämmerung. Traditionally, I’ve given five-star / “A” ratings both to …

À travers les murailles / Through the Walls (Noël Vindry)

The murderer can come and go through the walls; is the devil at work?

2021: A Journal of the Plague Year

A look back at books read in 2021.

The Dead Past (Jean Scholey)

Murder in East Africa!

The Affair at Aliquid (G.D.H. and M. Cole)

One of the funniest books published under the Crime Club banner.

Detective stories to reprint

Some very obscure authors might well merit reprinting…

Squick

I need a breath of fresh air. Any fans of the 'New Weird' writer China Miéville? I'm two-thirds through Perdido Street Station, wondering whether I want to continue. His imagination can't be faulted, but a lot of it is revolting. One critic said it was the Wizard of Oz written by the Marquis de Sade. …

King Jesus (Robert Graves)

"They yield their full sense only in the light of Babylonian astrology, Talmudic speculation, the liturgy of the Ethiopian Church, the homilies of Clement of Alexandria, the religious essays of Plutarch, and recent studies of Bronze Age archaeology."

Published!

À la vie, Halévy!