Appointment With Agatha discussion

Since we've got the May side read definitely underway, it's actually time to start nominating for the June side read as well, which demonstrates how behind hand I was for May!

Our theme for June is: British Library Crime Classics mystery. The British Library publishes a line of classic mysteries that have been "rediscovered," and we are going to choose from their editions for June.

Here is a link to their crime classics page.

We've already read two BLCC books as a side-read: November's Thirteen Guests and January's selection of Blood on the Tracks: Railway Mysteries, a short story collection edited by Martin Edwards.

There's no rush for nominations, since this is all the way out to June. Nominations will remain open until we hit eight (8) or it gets to the point that it doesn't look like we'll be getting any more.

THE NOMINATIONS:

1. Calamity in Kent by John Rowland (nominated by Cozy_Pug)
2. Foreign Bodies edited by Martin Edwards (nominated by Tara)
3. substitution: The Division Bell Mystery by Ellen Wilkinson(nominated by Themis-Athena)
4. Settling Scores: Sporting Mysteries edited by Martin Edwards (nominated by BrokenTune
5. Capital Crimes: London Mysteries edited by Martin Edwards (nominated by Michaela)
6. Bats in the Belfry: A London Mystery by E.C.R. Lorac (nominated by Christine PNW)
7. The Sussex Downs Murder by John Bude (nominated by Peregrina)
8. Excellent Intentions by Richard Hull (nominated by Lillelara)

Nominations are closed & the poll is going up!

I nominate Calamity in Kent by John Rowland.

A nice seaside mystery to start off the summer :)

I love the covers for this line of books - they're gorgeous!

I'll nominate Foreign Bodies:

Today, translated crime fiction is in vogue - but this was not always the case. A century before Scandi noir, writers across Europe and beyond were publishing detective stories of high quality. Often these did not appear in English and they have been known only by a small number of experts. This is the first ever collection of classic crime in translation from the golden age of the genre in the 20th century. Many of these stories are exceptionally rare, and several have been translated for the first time to appear in this volume. Martin Edwards has selected gems of classic crime from Denmark to Japan and many points in between. Fascinating stories give an insight into the cosmopolitan cultures (and crime-writing traditions) of diverse places including Mexico, France, Russia, Germany and the Netherlands.

My nomination is Josephine Bell's The Port of London Murders.

I read it last November, shortly after it had been republished as part of the BLCC series, and I was pretty much blown away. It's outside the bounds of the cliché Golden Age setting, in that it features a working class neighborhood (the London docklands) as its setting; the plotting is strong (in fact, a lot more coherent than that of many another recently-republished Golden Age mystery), and in the narration not a word is wasted. The setting even allows the author to address some of the social issues of her day (pre-WWII working class life), and she's remarkably straightforward and unsentimental about it. She also clearly had a very good idea what drug addiction will do to a person. If I didn't know that this really was published prior to WWII, I'd suspect it to be a much more recent book.

Since it's for June (Wimbledon month...as was), I nominate Settling Scores: Sporting Mysteries, a short story collection featuring sports.

I nominate Capital Crimes: London Mysteries, a collection edited by Martin Edwards.

I'm going to nominate Bats in the Belfry: A London Mystery by E.C.R. Lorac, which was identified by Martin Edwards (editor of the anthologies) as his favorite of the E.C.R. Lorac mysteries.

Themis - dang it! Your nomination looks fantastic, but it won't be released in the US until September. We have plenty of non-US readers, & I know that the US isn't the center of the universe, so I'm okay with it staying in the mix, unless you want to hold it in your pocket for a future nomination and pick something else for June.

Christine PNW wrote: "Themis - dang it! Your nomination looks fantastic, but it won't be released in the US until September. We have plenty of non-US readers, & I know that the US isn't the center of the universe, so I'..."

Oh, I'm sorry. Amazon.com lists the Kindle edition of The Port of London Murders as having been released in November 2020, but I see your point (and not everybody has a Kindle, either, of course). Let's keep it for later, then ... wasn't the side read theme for June 2021 originally "Set in London," anyway? Maybe I'll make it my nomination when we actually do get around to that side read topic.

Hmmm. One of my favorites among the BLCC anthologies so far was Deep Waters: Mysteries on the Waves, but since we already have a number of these anthologies on the list, I think for the moment I'm going to fall back on an earlier nomination, Ellen Wilkinson's The Division Bell Mystery as my replacement nomination -- definitely another favorite BLCC republication.

Themis-Athena (Lioness at Large) wrote: "Christine PNW wrote: "Themis - dang it! Your nomination looks fantastic, but it won't be released in the US until September. We have plenty of non-US readers, & I know that the US isn't the center ..."

Very nice - I have made note of the substitution!

I just bought a copy of Deep Waters, btw. Not sure when I will get to it, but I'm glad to hear it's a good one!

I would like to nominate Excellent Intentions by Richard Hull. I don´t know anything about this book, but the cover is pretty and by just glancing at the blurb, there seems to be a court room drama aspect to it.

Christine PNW wrote: "Very nice - I have made note of the substitution!

I just bought a copy of Deep Waters, btw. Not sure when I will get to it, but I'm glad to hear it's a good one!"

Enjoy! :)

And thanks for noting the substitution.

My nomination comes from left field and I say left field because I am suggesting a book that I have never read and didn't even know the title of until five minutes ago. I offer this title simply because it is the first title in the series and I am curious as to why Martin Edwards chose this title to be the first in the series (maybe he answers that question in the intro) and if we agree with his choice for the book that should carry the number 1 position. As far as I can tell, because I can't find a numerical list of the books, this is book number one: The Sussex Downs Murder

Christine, have you seen my nomination?

Lillelara wrote: "Christine, have you seen my nomination?"

Oops- somehow missed it. Thanks for pointing me to it!

The poll is up!

June poll

Ah i never saw this thread!

Jazzy, the notifciations from goodreads have been sporadic at best, so it was easy to miss.
I've read 3 of the selections and they were good, as do the others on the list.

We have a winner!

The Division Bell Mystery by Ellen Wilkinson will be our June BLCC side-read!

Christine PNW wrote: "We have a winner!

The Division Bell Mystery by Ellen Wilkinson will be our June BLCC side-read!"

I'm just catching up with this. I love the idea of reading a mystery set in the House of Commons and written by one of the first women MPs.

I was a bit taken aback by the opening sentence of the publisher's summary:

"A financier is found shot in the House of Commons. Suspecting foul play, Robert West, a parliamentary private secretary, takes on the role of amateur sleuth."

I mean, how sharp do you have to be to suspect foul play when some one is shot in the House of Commons? Then I remembered that the House of Commons, then as now, had a shooting range. I only know this because it was raised in the (very long) campaign to get a creche in the House of Commons. It still does'n have one but they did open a nursery in 2009 after fifty years of campaigning.

Christine PNW wrote: "We have a winner!

The Division Bell Mystery by Ellen Wilkinson will be our June BLCC side-read!"

I'm really looking forward to re-reading this one.

Cphe wrote: "Just downloaded The Port of London Murders

It looks a good one - wouldn't have come across it except for the group."

Oooh, I hope you're going to enjoy it!

Christine PNW wrote: "We have a winner!

The Division Bell Mystery by Ellen Wilkinson will be our June BLCC side-read!""

BrokenTune wrote: "I'm really looking forward to re-reading this one."

Hooray! I'm truly looking forward to this reread, too.

Mike wrote: "... campaign to get a creche in the House of Commons. It still does'n have one but they did open a nursery in 2009 after fifty years of campaigning."

Yes, John Bercow mentions that in his memoirs (as one of the things he found overdue to be put in place).

Themis-Athena (Lioness at Large) wrote: "Mike wrote: "... campaign to get a creche in the House of Commons. It still does'n have one but they did open a nursery in 2009 after fifty years of campaigning."

Yes, John Bercow mentions that in..."

Rachel Reeves in Women of Westminster: The MPs who Changed Politics also notes several areas of modernisation to the building that needed to be done and still need to be done.