Reading the Detectives discussion

Hard to believe, but it's already time for nominations for our July group read! You are welcome to nominate books by Golden Age authors, or titles which were written later but are set during the Golden Age. Happy nominating!

Richardson's First Case: An Inspector Richardson Mystery

The D.D.I. recognized him and smiled. “That was a great case you brought us. You’ll be interested to hear that it is a case of mur-r-der!”

For eight years Basil Thomson headed the famous C.I.D., New Scotland Yard. He knew the Yard inside out. Now in this tale of mystery and detection we are taken behind the scenes. We are shown the greatest detection machine in the world in motion, and see how the Yard tracked down its man.

Stand, then, with young P.C. Richardson on the misty corner of Baker Street, while the traffic of the city swings by, and fate lays at his feet the beginning of his career. Out of the fog brakes shriek, a big car jolts to a stop, and from beneath the wheels the crowd disentangles a bundle of old clothes, within which is a man quite dead; a man who had said to someone, “Very well, then; I’ll call a policeman”—and was killed. Work with him to the ingenious solution, when he takes from his pocket the clue holding the fate of a human life.

Richardson’s First Case was originally published in 1933. This new edition, the first in over seventy years, features an introduction by crime novelist Martin Edwards, author of acclaimed genre history The Golden Age of Murder.

I came across this by chance, but thought it might be a good read for the group and another 'new' author to discover?

Susan, this looks great - fascinating to have an author who had actually run Scotland Yard!

Dean Street Press seems to keep on finding interesting authors to put back into print. I see they have published quite a few books by Basil Thomson in the Inspector Richardson series.

Yes, I thought it looked interesting, but I'm sure we'll have a long list of great nominations to choose from.

I was about to nominate Robin Forsythe's The Spirit Murder Mystery: An Algernon Vereker Mystery when I discovered it was the fifth in the series. So I would like to nominate the first in the series, Missing or Murdered: An Algernon Vereker Mystery. They all run about $1.99 on Kindle.

Lord Bygrave left the Ministry on Friday evening, with plans for a holiday in the country. But the following morning he had seemingly vanished into thin air. Now Scotland Yard are struggling to find evidence of foul play in the absence of tangible clues. A national newspaper is offering a reward for information about the Minister’s disappearance - whether Bygrave be dead or alive. Anthony “Algernon” Vereker, Lord Bygrave’s friend and executor, joins Scotland Yard in their investigation of the mystery.

I will propose again :D

Hilary wrote: "I will propose again :D"

You're going to float that nomination again, eh? [g]

I was wondering if Dead Before Morning by Geraldine Evans qualifies. It was first published in 1993 with a British author & is currently a free Kindle on Amazon.

Hmm, I'm not sure if it qualifies, Carol - do you know when the story is set? If it's present day then I suppose it might be a bit recent, though, having said that, we have had some nominations which fall outside the "Golden Age".

Judy wrote: "Hmm, I'm not sure if it qualifies, Carol - do you know when the story is set? If it's present day then I suppose it might be a bit recent, though, having said that, we have had some nominations whi..."

I've had a look at some reviews & none indicate the time period,so I'm guessing modern? I can withdraw the nomination if you like.

Thanks for checking, Carol. Sounds as if it would be a good fit for the group apart from the time period - I saw one review saying it is like a cross between Ruth Rendell and Elizabeth George, which sounds great. But my feeling is that the 1990s is a bit too recent, so it might be better to nominate something else.

Judy wrote: "Thanks for checking, Carol. Sounds as if it would be a good fit for the group apart from the time period - I saw one review saying it is like a cross between Ruth Rendell and Elizabeth George, whic..."

OK I'll nominate by Christianna Brand again. It's the first in a series.

Thanks Carol, that's great. I keep meaning to read something by her... we're already getting a lot of good nominations again.

I'll put the poll up tomorrow. Any more nominations?

The poll is up! Happy voting.

https://www.goodreads.com/poll/list/1...

All four books look great. We are getting some wonderful nominations.

I've added them all to my TBR list.

An exciting start to the poll - at the moment it's 4 votes each for Richardson's First Case and Missing or Murdered, with Heads You Lose on 3 and The Floating Admiral on 2.

But of course there is a long way to go yet!

https://www.goodreads.com/poll/list/1...

We know have three books on four votes each. It is close this month. I have to say, I will be happy whichever wins and will get to all the ones I haven't read yet at some point.

Yes, they are all great nominations. Still a 3-way tie at the moment, and the 4th book is only one vote behind!

I plan on reading all of them. My library had some and the others I could get for free on my kindle unlimited. Now where will I find the time?

I know, that is always the problem! I have started re-reading P D James too, which seemed an excellent idea at the time, but I have no idea how I will fit all this reading in...

I just had a look to see if anyone had broken the tie yet.

Er, not exactly... in fact, it's now a 4-way tie!!

Judy wrote: "I just had a look to see if anyone had broken the tie yet.

Er, not exactly... in fact, it's now a 4-way tie!!"

Ooops! Err maybe we should have one of these over the next 4 months and then start again then!

I was going to break the tie but somebody beat me to it.

I don't know any of the offerings, so will sit back and watch the fur fly!! Unless somebody wants to bribe me to vote for their favorite? Warm chocolate chip cookies (no nuts) will overcome all my scruples against bribery.

We have a possible winner at the moment, but it's very close...

I think the all sound wonderful

Susan wrote: "We have a possible winner at the moment, but it's very close..."

Unfortunately for me, the book in the lead (Missing or Murdered by Robin Forsythe) is not available in my library even using interlibrary loan. And it is just past the date deadline for public domain in the U.S. so I can't get a free ebook edition...

It's $1,99 on Amazon US.

We have a winner! It's Missing or Murdered by Robin Forsythe.

It was quite a close vote this month.

Full results: Missing or Murdered 7 votes, 36.8%
Richardson's First Case: An Inspector Richardson Mystery 5 votes, 26.3%
The Floating Admiral 4 votes, 21.1%
Heads You Lose 3 votes, 15.8%

The winning book is one of those reprinted by Dean Street Press, and, according to their website, should be available worldwide as an eBook in all the various formats. I love the cover print.



The Kindle book is currently 90p in the UK - I'll pick it up shortly in case the price changes. :)

It looks as if it is currently $1.30 in the US, though I believe the prices may not always show accurately on US Amazon for people visiting the site from other countries.

Looks good - duly downloaded!

Judy wrote: "The winning book is one of those reprinted by Dean Street Press, and, according to their website, should be available worldwide as an eBook in all the various formats. I love the cover print.

[boo..."

$1.99 in the US.

Thanks for checking that, Jan.

Weird that it shows a different price when I look from the UK!

Judy, they're just showing you the currency-converted price that you would pay in USD, not what US customers pay. What with cookies, etc., Amazon knows your geographic region, especially if you have a kindle registered to the account. You'd have to go through a bit of rigmarole to see the US version. (Making sure you're logged out of your amazon account(s), or using private browsing.)

Miss M wrote: "Judy, they're just showing you the currency-converted price that you would pay in USD, not what US customers pay. What with cookies, etc., Amazon knows your geographic region, especially if you hav..."

Probably just easier to ask some/one of us here to look it up.

Aha, I see. Thanks for the explanation, Miss M.

Judy wrote: "The winning book is one of those reprinted by Dean Street Press, and, according to their website, should be available worldwide as an eBook in all the various formats. I love the cover print...."

Thanks Judy; I've grabbed it quickly too in case the price increases.