Reading the Detectives discussion

It's time to nominate for our February 2026 group read. Please nominate books which were either written in the Golden Age, or a little earlier or later, or are set in that period. If in doubt whether a title is eligible, just ask.

Usual rules apply. Only one nomination per group member. Only one book by any individual writer can be nominated per month, and authors can't nominate their own books. If you aren't sure whether we have read something, the group bookshelves may help, or just ask. If it was at least 3 years ago that we read it, it's fine to re-nominate.

Don't know if this is available everywhere but I'll nominate J.J. Connington's The Two Tickets Puzzle, published in 1930. It is 99 cents in the US.

Oswald Preston is found shot dead under the seat in an empty carriage of a railway carriage. Plenty of suspects. Wife, ward, former employee, wife's alleged lover. But how could this have taken place while the train was in motion between two stations. Superintendent Ross is on the case.

Thank you for the nomination, Jan. I've just checked and there are at least 3 Kindle editions in the UK, priced from 99p to £2.99, with some having a slightly different title, The Two Ticket Puzzle. The Murder Room edition is called The Two Tickets Puzzle - I think that looks like the best one as it has an introduction by Curtis Evans and a map at the start.

I'll try Death Walks in Eastrepps: Merlin Classic Crime

Francis Beeding’s critically acclaimed serial killer crime novel set in a North Norfolk coastal village
‘A beautifully written tour de force’ NEW YORK TIMES
‘One of the best Golden Age serial killer whodunits’ MARTIN EDWARDS
‘One of the ten greatest detective novels of all time’ VINCENT STARRETT
One murder will bring even the smallest hamlet into the public eye, but when death walks in Eastrepps and five murders are committed in the same brutal way, at the same hour, and on the same day of successive weeks, the little village on the Norfolk coast, becomes notorious and the matter is taken up in the Houses of Parliament…

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Francis Beeding is the pseudonym used by two British writers, John Leslie Palmer and Hilary St George Saunders. The pair met while students at Oxford University and remained friends when they both worked at the League of Nations in Geneva, where they decided to collaborate on writing detective novels. Between 1925 and 1946 they wrote 32 crime and mystery novels together as Francis Beeding, most notably Death Walks in Eastrepps (‘A beautifully written tour de force’ New York Times) The Norwich Victims (‘First rate’ The Sunday Times), and The House of Dr Edwardes, which was filmed by Alfred Hitchcock as Spellbound, starring Gregory Peck and Ingrid Bergman. John Palmer died in 1944, and Hilary Saunders in 1951.

Susan wrote: "I'll try Death Walks in Eastrepps: Merlin Classic Crime

Francis Beeding’s critically acclaimed serial killer c..."

This title is on Faded Pages

Susan wrote: "I'll try Death Walks in Eastrepps: Merlin Classic Crime

Francis Beeding’s critically acclaimed serial killer c..."

In US: $1 on kindle

Susan wrote: "I'll try Death Walks in Eastrepps: Merlin Classic Crime

Francis Beeding’s critically acclaimed serial killer c..."

I bought this in paperback a while ago. Started the book. I'm hoping it picks up because it didn't start out great for me. Not sure if I located this one or it is still in a box in the garage.

I’ll nominate The Chinese Shawl byPatricia Wentworth. It’s #5 in the Miss Silver series, published in 1943, free on Kindle Unlimited, hopefully widely available.

In this classic British mystery starring a sleuth “who has her place in detective fiction as surely as Lord Peter Wimsey or Hercule Poirot,” Miss Silver investigates a murder that may have its roots in a new romance—or an old family feud (Manchester Evening News).

An amateur who happened on a career in theater, Tanis Lyle has just finished filming her first motion picture. The young woman has electric charm, and seems to hypnotize all who meet her—including Laura Fane, a distant cousin who, because of a long-standing family feud, has never been allowed to meet her glamorous relative.

But while all of London seems to love Tanis, her powerful effect on men causes some to despise her. And when the actress’s life is cut short by an unknown hand, investigator Miss Maud Silver will have to hunt for a killer.

Susan in NC wrote: "I’ll nominate The Chinese Shawl byPatricia Wentworth. It’s #5 in the Miss Silver series, published in 1943, free on Kindle Unlim..."

& this one is also on Faded Page.
https://www.fadedpage.com/csearch.php...

My library has the ebook!

I've read Death Walks in Eastrepps and thought it was excellent. :)

The Chinese Shawl is £2.99 on Kindle in the UK so that's fine - all 3 nominations so far looking good for availability.

Thanks!

Last call for nominations!
We have:

Jan: The Two Tickets Puzzle by JJ Conington

Susan: Death Walks in Eastrepps by Francis Beeding

Susan in NC: The Chinese Shawl by Patricia Wentworth

The poll will go up tomorrow