#BookReview Have His Carcase by Dorothy L. Sayers
Read on audio
Narrator: Stephen Jack for RNIB
Pub. 1932, 499pp
Victor Gollancz
I picked up this novel for the continuation of the relationship between private detective Lord Peter and novelist Harriet Vane that started in Strong Poison, and I’m looking forward to going on to her famous novel Gaudy Night after this one as they appear together again there.
This novel has a grisly murder (or was it suicide?) centred around a seaside town that Harriet’s visiting. She discovers the body on the beach and Lord Peter hot foots it down to help her try to figure out the details and ensure she’s not considered a suspect. Throughout the mystery Lord Peter and Harriet seem to have more creative ideas than the local police and Harriet even moves into the victim’s old lodgings!
The victim, Alexis, was a dancer at a large hotel and had been engaged to be married to one of the wealthy guests, and the mystery concerns the question of why would he have contemplated suicide when he had a secure life ahead of him?
There are so many quirky little moments to lighten the mood as things progress, such as this description of a policeman taking notes during an interview:
“The pencil happened to be an indelible one and had left an unpleasant taste in the mouth.he passed a pink tongue along his purple stained lips, looking to Mr Perkins’s goblin-haunted imagination like a very large dog savouring a juicy bone .”
Lord Peter continues to try to romance Harriet and she is still not having any of it, resulting in some amusing exchanges between them and this book is strongest when they’re interacting.
I also enjoyed the description of Harriet reading through the books on the victim’s shelves as she tried to jog her subconscious for her detective novel, then turning to crosswords to try to get her writing going again.
The eventual solution was rather long winded with an overlong description of solving a cipher (which was tedious on audio), but otherwise entertaining. It took me a long time to read and the ending was rather abrupt, with Lord Peter and Harriet solving the mystery then speeding off to London to go out to lunch! A good read but not my favourite of hers so far. #bookstodon#audiobook#AmReading@bookstodon
Olmsted, The Newspaper Axis: Six Press Barons Who Enabled Hitler
“Kathryn Olmsted’s work provides a timely and incisive analysis of four American and two British press lords, united in their isolationism, appeasement towards fascism, and proclivity to use their media apparatus and larger-than-life personalities to forcefully promote their politics.”
Olmsted, The Newspaper Axis: Six Press Barons Who Enabled Hitler
“Kathryn Olmsted’s work provides a timely and incisive analysis of four American and two British press lords, united in their isolationism, appeasement towards fascism, and proclivity to use their media apparatus and larger-than-life personalities to forcefully promote their politics.”
“Where do national myths originate? They do not emerge by happenstance. Rather their creation and spread are an exercise of power. Influential historical actors, from antebellum slaveholders to the moguls of Hollywood and those Slotkin calls the ‘political classes’, have attempted to develop and disseminate broadly acceptable myths to serve their own interests.”
The sense of place is strong, without being overplayed . This is hot, dry, regional Australia, farming country and small towns, people who are interconnected with that place, and each other over many generations.
Just posted a review of Death Holds the Key, the 2nd Itinerant Mendicant novel by Alexander Thorpe:
Slightly on the cosier side, the personalities, and interactions between the two main characters is a big part of the attraction of DEATH HOLDS THE KEY.
My #bookreview is brief/won't spoil, to spread good, great, & spectacular #horror#books far & wide.
TELEPORTASM is the latest (#3) in Shortwave Publishing's Killer VHS series. Joshua Millican contributes a fun tale that pays homage to the gory, glorious films of the 80's/90's with a fresh, modern take on body horror & cursed media- tapes that offer trips that tantalize and torment, with no cure for their lure.
"Filled with suspense and danger, with ghostwriters, authors past and present, love affairs that can’t be revealed, and many surprises... an excellent mystery. I can’t wait for more from Charlie and Declan! Well done."
Book review #38 for 2024 CW Goodyear's President Garfield glad to see new treatments of Presidents during eras that have often been overlooked. This biography does both. Lots of what ifs in this story. It is also a snapshot, in my opinion, of a transitional period in American government as the boss system begins to crumb @histodons@books@bookstodon#books#bookreview#JamesAGarfield#bookstodon #history
I’ll rate Delilah Green Doesn’t Care a solid 4.5 ⭐️
I actually really enjoyed this book and (most of) the characters. Isabel Parker-Green ain’t shit though. Terrible stepmother and even more terrible mother.
Book review #37 for 2024 is Colin Dexter's The Wench is Dead. While recuperating from surgery, Morse finds his mind engaged in a murder that happened 140 years earlier. Morse concludes that the wrong persons were hung for the death of Joanna Franks. This is now at least in my top 10 favorite mysteries. ☕☕☕☕☕ review. @bookstodon@bookstodon@books#ColinDexter#books#bookreview#mystery
Book review #36 for 2024 is Colin Dexter's The Secret of Annexe 3. Another Inspector Morse case to solve. To me, it is one of the more complex plots of the series. And, until the end, if you think you know who did it, you don't! ☕☕☕review @bookstodon@books@bookstodon#ColinDexter#Mystery#books#bookreview
#35 Kelly Oliver's Villainy in Vienna. This is the third and final book in Oliver's inaugural series, the "Fiona Figg Mystery" series. This time Fiona is off behind enemy lines to Vienna (who is on Germany's side in WW1) to catch her nemesis, Fredrick Fredricks, the dashing German spy. The dry humor that comes through the conflict with the various characters is one of the highlights of this series. ☕☕☕☕review @bookstodon@books@bookstodon#books#bookreview#kellyoliver#mystery
LAYERS OF TREACHERY IN PARADISE—or as close to Paradise as the California coast and a whole lot of money can take you—abound in this brilliant and bitingly satirical riff on both The Stepford Wives and Herodotus. B PLUS
My #bookreview is brief/won't spoil, to spread good, great, & spectacular #horror#books far & wide.
THE TRUEST SENSE showcases Laura Keating's unique & deftly scary stories: some sneak up quietly- some gleefully go full-throttle into nightmares- but all 15 tales are atmospheric & vivid, with an aura of permeating horror that provides an imaginative, satisfying journey into the Weird.
Celebrating a paradoxical 11/10 rating of my story The Last Philosopher by Spookyspackles on RoyalRoad 🥳
But who knows what could have been if I had only given 120% instead of the standard 110% 😂
Anyway, the story is free to read, links can be found on my profile, thanks and sorry 😁