Vintage Crime by Martin Edwards

Each story is a hidden gem and edited by Martin Edwards.  Some are vintage others are more contemporary but they will stay in your bookshelf because good works of writing always do. I discovered new Authors, and others I had read, but the stories were new to me. I had a hard time putting this down but you will love the variety. Highly recommended...five stars...



Blurb:

Vintage Crime is a CWA anthology with a difference, celebrating members’ work over the years. The book will gather stories from the mid-1950s until the twenty-first century by great names of the past, great names of the present together with a few hidden treasures by less familiar writers. The first CWA anthology, Butcher’s Dozen, appeared in 1956, and was co-edited by Julian Symons, Michael Gilbert, and Josephine Bell. The anthology has been edited by Martin Edwards since 1996, and has yielded many award-winning and nominated stories in the UK and overseas.

This new edition includes an array of incredible and award-winning authors: Robert Barnard, Simon Brett, Liza Cody, Mat Coward, John Dickson Carr, Marjorie Eccles, Martin Edwards, Kate Ellis, Anthea Fraser, Celia Fremlin, Frances Fyfield, Michael Gilbert, Paula Gosling, Lesley Grant-Adamson, HRF Keating, Bill Knox, Peter Lovesey, Mick Herron, Michael Z. Lewin, Susan Moody, Julian Symons and Andrew Taylor.

George Bellairs has quickly become one of my favorite writers. His characters are quirky and not always pleasant but add to the story. Penelope Blow is one of those books that remind me of what a wonderful story teller does for a plot. The gentle, timid Penelope who is quite insistent about seeing Inspector Littlejohn leaves her name but the information is never received. A murder occurs...

This books was first published in 1951. Bellairs is often referred to as having dark humor in his books but it is done with a dry twist. I always enjoy his books and I think you will too...

Blurb:

In the wake of Mr William Blow’s death, his surviving relatives find themselves tangled up in family secrets and financial mystery.

So when Miss Penelope Blow suddenly dies by falling out her bedroom window, suspicions are raised.

With Scotland Yard under pressure to determine the widow’s fall was really accidental, Inspector Littlejohn is called in to get to the bottom of the case.

But the deeper Littlejohn delves into the case, the more secrets he finds.

From malice to madness, there is one possible cause. Can Littlejohn uncover the truth before another tragedy befalls the Blows?

Lowcountry Boondoggle (A Liz Talbot Mystery Book Nine)

Charleston is one of my favorite Cities, so naturally, Stella Mars would be one of my favorite fictional Islands off the Coast of it. This is the ninth book and I highly recommend it. We find out more about the former murder in Book Eight and the relationship between Nick and Liz. This series of Books has won a couple of awards, which shows shows you the high standard of Boyer, and the wonderful way you can walk all the streets and see charming buildings and delicious food. The Mystery is first rate....giving it five stars.

Blurb:

Private investigators Liz Talbot and Nate Andrews thought they’d put Darius Baker’s troubles to rest—then his recently discovered son ropes him into a hemp farm investment with his college buddies. When a beloved Charleston professor—and potential investor—is murdered, Liz and Nate discover Darius keeps the PIs on speed dial.

A shocking number of people had reasons to want the genteel, bowtie wearing, tea-drinking professor dead. Was it one of his many girlfriends or a disgruntled student? Or perhaps Murray was killed because his failure to invest meant the hemp farm trio’s dreams were going up in smoke?

Though Liz’s long-dead best friend, Colleen, warns her the stakes are far higher than Liz imagines, she is hellbent on finding the no-good killer among the bevy of suspects. But will the price of justice be more than Liz can bear?

Take a virtual vacation to Charleston in Susan M. Boyer’s latest Southern charmer, Lowcountry Boondoggle. It’s a trip you don’t want to miss.

Script for Scandal (A Lilian Frost and Edith Head mystery Book 3) by Renee Patrick

Patrick has written all the modern day effects of Film Noir, with its snappy dialogue and hints of Hollywood, in this Mystery. The friendship between Lillian and Edith Head continues in Book Three. However, the story mostly focuses on Lillian's relationship with an LAPD boyfriend, who cannily resembles a character in a Grade B Manuscript, about to be published. That Officer planned a robbery and managed to get his friend killed and then became involved with the friend's wife in the script. This is a real scandal that has hung over Gene Morrow, so did the script fit? I think I could have followed a lot better if I had read Book One and Two which I recommend you do. But the expressions of the time frame are just "swell."

I like film noirs with a lot of mystery and characters. So, the book was right up my alley, with another suspicious death adding to the background. This won't be to everyone's taste but the tidbits fed you of stars and the back production works of movies, will make it palatable. Certainly, the lines fed to Starlets with growing aspirations read well...just like in the Movies.

Blurb:

1939, Los Angeles. Lillian Frost is shocked when her friend, glamorous costume designer Edith Head, hands her the script to a new film that's about to start shooting. Streetlight Story is based on a true crime: the California Republic bank robbery of 1936. Lillian's beau, LAPD detective Gene Morrow, was one of the officers on the case; his partner, Teddy, was tragically shot dead.


It seems the scriptwriter has put Gene at the centre of a scandal, twisting fact with fiction - or has he? With Gene reluctant to talk about the case, the movie quickly becoming the hottest ticket in town, a suspicious death on the Paramount studio lot and the police reopening the investigation into Teddy's death, Lillian is determined to find answers. Can Lillian and Edith uncover the truth of what happened that fateful day and clear Gene's name?

Shredding The Evidence ( A Cookbook Nook Mystery 9) by Daryl Wood Gerber

Daryl Wood Gerber writes a delicious, food mystery, loaded with fun characters, and with a California Twist.  The Food Bowl is one of the big events of Chrystal Cove, with a lot of exotic, delicious, food and a bevy of Chefs when murder comes calling. A food Critic has been causing problems for Tito, Bailey's Husband and has been found dead. Bailey works for Jenna Hart and once again- Jenna finds herself in the midst of a murder investigation. Gerber provides a list of the characters so you can jump right in to enjoy the mystery without having read previous Books.

This ninth mystery bring us up to date with our group of  book friends. The descriptions of the town along with mouth- watering food and recipes are a huge part of the fun. I enjoy the little tidbits of jogging, tarot reading, and the titles of cook books. I can imagine how fun it would be to live in a town like this with all the little shops and multi-generational friends and relatives. If you enjoy food mysteries then you will certainly like the warmth of Gerber's writing. 


Blurb:

The Agatha Award–winning author of Sifting Through Clues returns to the Cookbook Nook, where a combative food reporter gets her just deserts . . .

The denizens of Crystal Cove are salivating over the upcoming Food Bowl Week, when local chefs offer some of their best and most imaginative creations in bite-size portions all over town. Bookstore proprietor Jenna Hart is hungry to sample as many of the delicacies as she can, but when she stumbles onto the dead body of a local food reporter and learns that her best friend’s husband is the primary suspect, she’ll have to summon the appetite for a side dish of sleuthing to prove his innocence.

Jenna knows the ambitious and aggressive reporter, who was strangled at a fitness center with her shredded restaurant reviews scattered around her, left behind a long list of potential suspects. As she begins piecing together the scant clues, she uncovers illicit ties between the victim and a local newspaper owner, a spurned would-be lover, and a host of disgruntled restaurant owners not a bit torn up by the critical reporter’s demise. And with a solution so close she can almost taste it, Jenna turns up the heat on the culprit, realizing too late that she’s the next course on the murderer’s menu . . .

Includes tasty recipes!

He'd Rather Be Dead (An Inspector Littlejohn Mystery) by George Bellairs

 George Bellairs published,"He'd Rather Be Dead," in 1945. Readers learn more about Inspector Littlejohn's method of tracking down a murderer and his gentle persistence as he checks alibi's and past lives. The holiday town holds many, dark secrets and the Residents would rather Littlejohn not know of the graft and politics that endure. Bellairs always has a dab hand in describing the people and the background in his books. It is one of the things that makes reading him so enjoyable.

WWII in Europe is going on when this Mystery is written, so that makes it particularly interesting to me. I love the Carnival atmosphere and the sidekick the Inspector inherits in Inspector Harvester. The social imbalance is of interest because England was definitely based on a class system much sterner and stricter than ours. Bellairs makes great reading if you are interested in building the background, as well as the characters. I am... so, he has become one of my favorite Authors.  Murder once started is hard to control though... will there be more?

Blurb:

The mayor of Westcome, Sir Gideon Ware, has a speciality for painting a target on his own back. Most recently, he has gained numerous enemies for transforming the quaint harbour town into a sprawling, manmade boardwalk through a series of bribes, blackmail, and backhand deals.

So when Sir Gideon Ware dies at his annual luncheon, it’s no surprise that foul play is suspected.

Inspector Littlejohn is brought in to investigate the murder, but with so many motives to sort through, the suspect list is endless. And with the Chief Constable covering up critical clues at every turn, Littlejohn is left on his own to get to the bottom of Ware’s murder.

But when a second body is found, Littlejohn’s investigation gets put on a fatal timer.

Evil By The Sea (A By the Sea Mystery Book Four) by Kathleen Bridge

Kathleen Bridge writes a Community of People we all would love to know. Liz Holt has moved home to the Indiatlantic Inn, which is a Hotel and Emporium, in Melbourne Beach, Florida that her Family owns. Dorian Starwood, with hair that contains glittery strands of metallic green, pink, and gold has been her Aunt's Psychic for over twenty years and now she is having a second, small, wedding.The Groom is Wiccan Leader, Julian Rhodes. Liz's Aunt is a double for Esmeralda in Bewitched including eye liner and curls. During the Mystical Merafest, tents are set up for Sirens by the Sea, Delicacies By the Sea, and many others but there is Murder afoot. Liz had better get busy before she ends up as the next body.

This is a lovely trip to quirky characters, psychics, incense, and a fabulous cast of characters. If I hadn't run into some of these people in Florida I might think I was in the 1970's. It makes me want to get out my beads, wear patchouli and join them. But with murder, delicious food, beautiful vistas, creative characters, a Parrot and a Ferret - the understated humor is a winner for this Mystery. Five Stars 

Blurb:

Liz Holt is bewitched, bothered, and bewildered when a wicked killer objects to a wiccan wedding . . .   

Island life can get pretty weird. Wiccan weddings, psychic brides, mermaid parades, eccentric parrots . . . Novelist Liz Holt has gotten used to it since moving back to the barrier island of Melbourne Beach, Florida, and once again working in her family's hotel and emporium, the Indialantic by the Sea. But one thing she'll never get used to is murder.

Groom-to-be and leader of the Sunshine Wiccan Society, white warlock Julian Rhodes is poisoned at his rehearsal dinner on the hotel's sightseeing cruiser. His psychic bride, Dorian Starwood, never saw it coming. An old friend of Liz's great-aunt Amelia, the celebrity psychic engages Liz to find out who intended to kill her intended. With her Macaw, Barnacle Bob, squawking "Pop Goes the Weasel" at Dorian's pet ferret, and the streets teeming with mermaids in tails, Liz has got to wade through the weirdness and cast a wide net for the killer—before she's the next one to sleep with the fishes . . .