Category Archives: 2013 Book to Movie Challenge

MEMOS FROM PURGATORY (1961) by Harlan Ellison

Posted on 26 April 2013 by

Harlan Ellison is a writer with a unique voice, paddling his own caustic canoe (sic), defying all those who would pigeon-hole his talent. His resistance to easy categorisation remains ever more laudable in an age of cookie counter consumerism and … Continue reading →

Posted in 2013 Book to Movie Challenge, Alfred Hitchcock, Friday's Forgotten Book, Harlan Ellison, New York, Scene of the crime | 19 Comments

PROOF OF GUILT (1973) by Bill Pronzini

Posted on 12 April 2013 by

Buon compleanno Bill! Tomorrow is the 70th birthday of  William John Pronzini, now into his sixth decade of activity as a mystery author and still one of the best on the scene – and thankfully, one of the most prolific too. … Continue reading →

Posted in 'In praise of ...', 2013 Book to Movie Challenge, Bill Pronzini, Locked Room Mystery | 36 Comments

Les Seins de glace (1974) – Tuesday’s Forgotten Film

Posted on 9 April 2013 by

On Friday I reviewed Richard Matheson’s debut novel Someone is Bleeding (click here to read it), a pretty decent whodunit spiced up with some less convincing post-war cod Freudian psychologising. The novel was filmed in France and released there in … Continue reading →

Posted in 2013 Book to Movie Challenge, France, Richard Matheson, Tuesday's Forgotten Film | 12 Comments

SOMEONE IS BLEEDING (1953) by Richard Matheson

Posted on 5 April 2013 by

Like so many writers of his generation, Richard Matheson – who turned 87 last month – was shaped by his experiences in World War Two. Though this produced only one directly autobiographical book, The Beardless Warriors, postwar malaise and unease … Continue reading →

Posted in 2013 Book to Movie Challenge, 2013 Vintage Mystery Challenge, Friday's Forgotten Book, Los Angeles, Richard Matheson, Scene of the crime | 41 Comments

THE CASE OF THE LATE PIG (1937) by Margery Allingham

Posted on 22 March 2013 by

This is Margery Allingham’s shortest Albert Campion novel (my Penguin TV tie-in edition, featured on the right, runs to 138 pages) but it certainly packs in plenty of incident with the sleuth battling problems on the domestic and romantic front … Continue reading →

Posted in 2013 Book to Movie Challenge, 2013 Vintage Mystery Challenge, Albert Campion, East Anglia, Friday's Forgotten Book, Margery Allingham, Scene of the crime | 35 Comments

Garde à vue (1981) – Tuesday’s Forgotten Film

Posted on 19 March 2013 by

Also released in some English-speaking territories as either The Inquisitor or The Grilling, this was the first cinema adaptation of John Wainwright’s 1979 novel Brainwash (click here to read my review). The second, Under Suspicion (2000), was in effect a … Continue reading →

Posted in 2013 Book to Movie Challenge, John Wainwright, Normandy, Police procedural, Scene of the crime, Tuesday's Forgotten Film | 28 Comments

DREADFUL SUMMIT (1948) by Stanley Ellin

Posted on 1 March 2013 by

Stanley Ellin burst on the literary scene in Spring 1948 with a one-two punch with the twin successes of his first short story, ‘The Specialty of the House’, the classic tale of the macabre for Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine and … Continue reading →

Posted in 2013 Book to Movie Challenge, 2013 Vintage Mystery Challenge, Friday's Forgotten Book, Joseph Losey, New York, Scene of the crime, Stanley Ellin | 19 Comments

BRAINWASH (1979) by John Wainwright

Posted on 22 February 2013 by

This claustrophobic psychological whodunit was one of over 80 books by John William Wainwright (1921-1995), a crime writer from Leeds who despite his prolific output seems in danger of being forgotten  – at present in fact none of his books … Continue reading →

Posted in 2013 Book to Movie Challenge, 87th Precinct, Ed McBain, Friday's Forgotten Book, Georges Simenon, John Wainwright, Police procedural | 27 Comments

The Big Sleep (1978)

Posted on 19 February 2013 by

Michael Winner, the pugnacious British filmmaker (and restaurant critic), died in January at age 77. He dabbled in almost every genre (Westerns, musicals, horror, costume melodrama, war movies etc.) though was most at home with ironic comedies during the 1960s … Continue reading →

Posted in 2013 Book to Movie Challenge, Film Noir, London, Noir on Tuesday, Philip Marlowe, Private Eye, Raymond Chandler, Scene of the crime, Tuesday's Forgotten Film | 50 Comments

2013 Book to Movie Challenge

Posted on 30 December 2012 by

I had promised myself that in 2013 I would not undertake any new Challenges … but this one created over at the Doing Dewey blog was just too tempting – and besides, it’s not New Year yet so if as … Continue reading →

Posted in 2013 Book to Movie Challenge, Clive Egleton, Elleston Trevor, Francis Beeding, Harlan Ellison, Michael Crichton, Parker, Philip Marlowe, Raymond Chandler, Richard Matheson, Richard Stark, Ross Thomas, Stanley Ellin | Tagged , , | 22 Comments

Buon Natale 2012

Posted on 25 December 2012 by

This site began back in January 2011 and here we are, two years and 270 posts later and the year is almost up. What have we learned from the Blogosphere? Well, for one thing, WordPress and Google’s blogger software like each … Continue reading →

Posted in 'Best of' lists, 'In praise of ...', 2012 Alphabet of Crime, 2012 Vintage Mystery Reading Challenge, 2013 Book to Movie Challenge, 2013 Vintage Mystery Challenge, Doctor Who, James Bond | 24 Comments