The Queens of Crime by Marie Benedict

 

Who:  Dorothy Sayers, Agatha Christie, Ngaio Marsh, Baroness Emma Orczy and Margery Allingham.

When:  1931

Where:  London, England and Boulogne-Sur-Mer, France

What: These five mystery writers, otherwise known as the Queens of Crime, are determined to solve the very real murder of a young English nurse named May Daniels.

Why read it: This book is a fun combination of historical fiction and mystery. And it's so well written. Dorothy Sayers is the main narrator and the main driver of the plot. I thought the author did a good job of depicting her and the other four women authors. I really enjoyed their interactions. And the mystery was interesting, too. I liked how these five women call on their unique writerly skills to aid in their investigation. It's an interesting time period to read about, too. All in all, an entertaining and satisfying novel. 

My rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Happy Reading!

The Labyrinth House Murders by Yukito Ayatsuji

Honkaku mystery:  A Japanese subgenre focusing on intricate "fair play" puzzle-solving designed to challenge readers with logical deduction, locked-room scenarios, and complex mechanical tricks. Inspired by Western Golden Age authors like Agatha Christie, these novels typically provide all necessary clues, diagrams, and maps prioritizing the puzzle over literary prose.

Four mystery authors, a critic, an editor and his pregnant wife, and an amateur sleuth have all been invited to a famed mystery writer's isolated home to celebrate his 60th birthday. But when their weekend begins with a shocking death, they find themselves locked inside the Labyrinth House with a murderer. 

This was an entertaining 'locked-room' mystery. It was a little hard at first to keep all the characters straight, but I soon got them figured out. And I really liked Utayama Hideyuki, the editor, and Shimada Kiyoshi, a fan of mystery novels and amateur sleuth. They worked together on solving the puzzles within the Labyrinth House. I guessed one of the twists early on, but there was another twist at the very end I was not expecting. Which added a layer of fun. As did the map of the Labyrinth House included at the beginning of the book and all the allusions to the Greek myth about Minos and the minotaur. I did think the dialogue felt a little stilted at times, but that might have been because of the translation, or just a difference between Japanese and American fiction. Overall, though, I really liked this one. It's definitely made me a fan of Honkaku mysteries. 

Happy Reading!

Why Didn't They Ask Evans? by Agatha Christie

 

The plot:  A man falls from the top of a cliff in Wales. His last words: Why didn't they ask Evans? Bobby Jones is the only one to hear him. In the dead man's pocket is the photograph of a hauntingly lovely young woman. But at the inquest, the dead man's sister looks nothing like the photograph. And then an attempt is made on Bobby's life. And he and his childhood friend, Lady Frances "Frankie" Derwent, start to think that the dead man might have been murdered. So they come up with a scheme to look into the matter themselves.

My thoughts:  I never know how much to say about a mystery like this. But I do think that the less you know going in the better. And Agatha Christie's mysteries are always full of hidden clues and unexpected surprises. I've been working my way through her books and quite enjoy them. There's no Hercule Poirot or Miss Marple to solve the murder in this one, but Bobby and Frankie make for two delightful amateur sleuths. They get into several entertaining escapades along the way, and their interactions are pretty funny. I liked them. And the mystery itself kept me guessing. Though I thought it got a little too convoluted. And I didn't love the long letter at the end explaining all the reasons and details of the crime. But it was still a fun read.  3.5/5 stars.

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The Mystery Guest by Nita Prose

 

The plot:  Molly Gray is now the Head Maid at the Regency Grand Hotel. Her private life is going well, and she's taken the new maid, Lily under her wing. But then there's another murder at the hotel. The famous and reclusive mystery author J.D. Grimthorpe is about to make an important announcement when he drops dead on the hotel's tearoom floor. Poisoned. And of course, Lily, the maid who served him his tea quickly becomes a suspect. Molly herself is keeping a secret--she knew J.D. Grimthorpe from when she was a child and her grandmother worked as his maid. Many more secrets are going to come out before the investigation into Grimthorpe's death is through.

My thoughts:  I loved The Maid, Nita Prose's first mystery, and this sequel is almost as good. Molly is neurodivergent; she's organized and has a true eye for detail, but she often misses social cues and struggles with normal interactions with other people. I loved how we get to see moments from her childhood in this one, especially all her interactions with her grandmother. She is truly a unique character. The mystery involving Grimthorpe had some nice twists. I enjoyed following Detective Stark's and Molly's investigation, especially how at odds they are in the beginning, but how well they work together at the end. This is another well-plotted, character-driven, page-turning mystery. ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Happy Reading!

A fun cozy mystery...

 

Title & Author:  Mayhem at the Orient Express by Kylie Logan

Setting: South Bass Island (a small island twelve miles off the southern shore of Lake Erie)

First lines: If it weren't for Jerry Garcia peeing on my pansies, I never would have joined the League of Literary Ladies. No, not that Jerry Garcia! Jerry Garcia, Chandra Morrisey's cat.

The plot in brief:  Bea Cartwright and her two bickering neighbors, Kate and Chandra, can't seem to get along. Fed up with their arguing, the island's court magistrate sentences all three of them to join the library's book discussion group for one year. They reluctantly choose Murder on the Orient Express as their first book. When the owner of Orient Express, their favorite restaurant on the island, is murdered, they decide to emulate Hercule Poirot and investigate. Before they get very far, a sudden snowstorm knocks out power across the island, stranding everyone on the island, including the murderer. And all the main suspects are staying right there at Bea's bed and breakfast. 

My thoughts:  The humor, the combination of quirky island characters, and that snowy island setting are what I enjoyed most about this cozy mystery. Bea, Kate, Chandra, and Luella, the fourth member of their book club, aren't the best of investigators, but they did make me smile. And I liked the references to Agatha Christie's Murder on the Orient Express and the unexpected twist at the end of the book. I actually don't read a lot of cozies, but I thought this one was a lot of fun.

Happy Reading!

A Classic British Mystery...

"Publicity was Miss Cordell's bugbear. Respectable publicity was bad enough.... but shameful publicity! A death mystery! This was terrible!

Four Freshman at Persephone College--Sally Watson, Daphne Loveridge, Gwyneth Pane and Nina Harson--are intent upon forming their own secret society when they spot a canoe floating past them on the Cherwell with a dead body lying inside. It's their college bursar, Myra Denning. Now Sally and her friends are intent on protecting their college and figuring out how and why Myra Denning died. Of course, the local police and Scotland Yard have their own ideas.

"Undergraduates, especially those in their first year, are not, of course, quite sane or quite adult."

A British Library Crime Classic, Death on the Cherwell by Mavis Doriel Hay was first published in 1935 and recently reprinted in 2016. And I'm glad it was because it's an entertaining mystery. The four amateur sleuths reminded me a little of Nancy Drew and her friends. And I liked the 1930s references and the college setting a lot. And it's funny, too. The actual police, though, do the bulk of the mystery solving ... with a little help from the four girls.

While Death on the Cherwell isn't quite as good as an Agatha Christie, this lighthearted mystery is a lot of fun. I, for one, would love to read Hay's other two detective novels, especially if they're as enjoyable as this one.

Happy Reading!