There is nothing more satisfying than reading a book while sipping a hot cup of tea.
Stephen Munro, a demobbed army officer, runs through his inheritance in the years following the war and then takes up the job of a footman in the country-house of Lady Susan. Though he learns the ropes quickly from the butler Martin, he is non-plussed when Lady Susan throws a party and among the guests are … Continue reading Three Mysteries by Anthony Berkeley
Neerja and Aditya are a happily married couple who run a small floriculture business. Both of them are passionately fond of their gardens and spend many happy hours with their flowers and plants. Though married for a decade, they have not been blessed with a child. Besides the flowers, Neerja pours her maternal affection on … Continue reading #Classic Club: Neerja by Rabindranath Tagore (1934)
Thomas Rostetter finds himself attending a party thrown by enfant terrible Dodo . The party consists of painters and writers and spiritual gurus and their disciples, all of whom are painted in mostly negative terms except for the American girl, Dinah Blake, a budding painter. The 'saintly' Dinah has been badly hurt by Dodo who … Continue reading Friday’s Forgotten Book: Desire to Kill by Alice Campbell (1934)
I have been facing a major blogging block but now the review pile has grown so big that I must really start writing or else... Val Gielgud and Holt Marvell are new authors for me. Little information is available on the duo except that both worked at the BBC, Marvell's real name was Eric Mashwitz, … Continue reading Friday’s Forgotten Books: Two Books by Val Gielgud and Holt Marvell
I enjoyed Alan Melville's Death of Anton so much that I was keen to read more of him and decided on this because I really need a weekend away from the nightmare that we are living right now. Jim Henderson has been trying to survive in the Post WWI years. Without any stable job and … Continue reading Friday’s Forgotten Book: Weekend at Thrackley by Alan Melville (1934)
I am very fond of mysteries set in hotels. A group of disparate people, strangers to each other, staying under the same roof and interacting with each other makes for some lively reading as most of them they are pretending to be what they are not. The travelling salesman turns out to be a spy; … Continue reading The Strange Boarders of Palace Crescent by E.P. Oppenheim (1934)
The stock-market crash of October 1929 destroyed economies all over the world. Hunger, poverty, and unemployment rose and heralded in what is called The Great Depression. I recently read two mysteries written by American authors in the thirties and it was interesting to see how they reflected the tenor of the times.Cover Image: Photo of … Continue reading The US in the Thirties: The Thin Man, and The Devil To Pay
a hot cup of pleasure 