Category Archives: Amnesia

THE HORIZONTAL MAN (1946) by Helen Eustis

Posted on 31 December 2012 by

Phew! By the skin of my teeth I’ve managed to complete the 2012 Vintage Mystery Readers Challenge. To celebrate, and as my last blog post until late January, here is my (short) review of Helen Eustis’ influential Edgar-winning debut. Set … Continue reading →

Posted in 2012 Vintage Mystery Reading Challenge, Amnesia, Campus Crime, Five Star review, Golden Age Girls, Margaret Millar, New York, Robert Bloch, Scene of the crime | 22 Comments

NIGHT WALKER (1954) by Donald Hamilton

Posted on 28 December 2012 by

Donald Hamilton (1916-2006) produced many different types of adventure books including Westerns such as The Big Country (filmed in 1958 with Gregory Peck). He is best known for his series of 27 Matt Helm novels, four of which were adapted … Continue reading →

Posted in 2012 Vintage Mystery Reading Challenge, Amnesia, Donald Hamilton, Friday's Forgotten Book, Hard Case Crime, Scene of the crime, Virginia | 51 Comments

Top 20 Spy movies

Posted on 27 November 2012 by

The release of Ben Affleck’s smart historical satire Argo, based loosely on the true extraction by the CIA and Canadian officials of six American Embassy staff members out of Tehran in 1980, made me reflect on the spy genre as … Continue reading →

Posted in 'Best of' lists, Adam Hall, Alfred Hitchcock, Amnesia, Billy Wilder, Brian de Palma, Cold War, Elleston Trevor, Eric Ambler, Espionage, Film Noir, George Smiley, Ian Fleming, James Bond, John Frankenheimer, John le Carre, Len Deighton, London, Michael Powell, New York, Paris, Quiller, San Francisco, Scene of the crime, Spy movies | 69 Comments

NIGHTMARE (1941) by Cornell Woolrich

Posted on 23 November 2012 by

During the 1940s Cornell Woolrich was one of the true masters of the psychological suspense yarn, as adept at creating ingenious and outlandish plots as painting an atmosphere of universal dread and irrationality. This is a case in point with … Continue reading →

Posted in 2012 Vintage Mystery Reading Challenge, Amnesia, Cornell Woolrich, Film Noir, Friday's Forgotten Book, New York, Noir, Scene of the crime | 20 Comments

Telefon (1977)

Posted on 20 November 2012 by

This adaptation of the 1975 spy novel by Walter Wager has a great central gimmick and features the unlikely pairing of granite-faced action hero Charles Bronson and high-class beauty Lee Remick under the take-no-prisoners direction of Don Siegel. It often … Continue reading →

Posted in Amnesia, Cold War, Espionage, Los Angeles, Moscow, Scene of the crime, Spy movies, Tuesday's Forgotten Film | Tagged | 35 Comments

THE WENCH IS DEAD (1955) by Fredric Brown

Posted on 26 October 2012 by

This unconventional mystery by cult author Fredric Brown has unfortunately become a little bit scarce, its absentee status probably not helped by the fact that the title, taken from Christopher Marlowe, has been used for several other novels too. The … Continue reading →

Posted in 2012 Alphabet of Crime, 2012 Vintage Mystery Reading Challenge, Amnesia, Campus Crime, Crime Fiction Alphabet, Fredric Brown, Friday's Forgotten Book, Los Angeles, Scene of the crime | 37 Comments

TRAITOR’S PURSE (1941) by Margery Allingham

Posted on 5 October 2012 by

This is an Albert Campion novel like no other. Margery Allingham had introduced the character in the late 1920s and deployed him in a broad range of books, alternating between whodunits like Police at the Funeral (1931), Death of a … Continue reading →

Posted in Crime Fiction Alphabet, Film Noir, Scene of the crime, 2012 Vintage Mystery Reading Challenge, Amnesia, Friday's Forgotten Book, 2012 Alphabet of Crime, Margery Allingham, Albert Campion | Tagged , | 45 Comments

QUEEN IN DANGER (1952) by Adam Hall

Posted on 14 September 2012 by

Elleston Trevor doesn’t rate a single mention in The Oxford Companion to Crime & Mystery Writing (1999), and that’s a real shame. The author of some 100 novels, as Trevor he published exciting war and adventure stories that easily stand … Continue reading →

Posted in 2012 Alphabet of Crime, 2012 Vintage Mystery Reading Challenge, Adam Hall, Amnesia, Crime Fiction Alphabet, Film Noir, Hammer Studios, London, Scene of the crime, Terence Fisher | 30 Comments

THE EMPEROR’S SNUFFBOX (1942) by John Dickson Carr

Posted on 2 September 2012 by

Singled out by Carr himself as one of his best efforts, this is quite an anomalous title from the great writer’s oeuvre, though it displays many of his greatest virtues. Constructed with his trademark cunning, the story does not feature … Continue reading →

Posted in 2012 Vintage Mystery Reading Challenge, Agatha Christie, Amnesia, France, John Dickson Carr, Scene of the crime | 25 Comments

THE LONG WAIT (1951) by Mickey Spillane

Posted on 10 August 2012 by

Well, I suppose it had to happen sooner or later at Fedora! After a year and a half of blogging it is time to confront some potentially ingrained snobbery and decided if we have descended to the level of Mickey … Continue reading →

Posted in 2012 Alphabet of Crime, 2012 Vintage Mystery Reading Challenge, Amnesia, Crime Fiction Alphabet, Dashiell Hammett, Friday's Forgotten Book, Mickey Spillane, Raymond Chandler | 57 Comments

A is for … Amnesia

Posted on 21 May 2012 by

Kerrie’s Alphabet of Crime community meme over at the Mysteries in Paradise blog has returned for 2012. Each week those participating will post a review, author biog or a thematic item in which either the first letter of the title … Continue reading →

Posted in 2012 Alphabet of Crime, Agatha Christie, Amnesia, Cornell Woolrich, Crime Fiction Alphabet, Ed McBain, Ellery Queen, Espionage, Film Noir, James Bond, LP Davies, Margaret Millar, Patrick Quentin | 29 Comments

THE SCARF (1947 / 1966) by Robert Bloch

Posted on 20 April 2012 by

“I have the heart of a young boy. I keep it in a jar on my desk” Robert Bloch was the prolific author of novels, short stories and screenplays in the horror, science fiction and mystery genres. He also possessed … Continue reading →

Posted in 2012 Vintage Mystery Reading Challenge, Amnesia, Chicago, Friday's Forgotten Book, Los Angeles, New York, Psycho, Robert Bloch, Scene of the crime | 37 Comments

FALLEN ANGEL / MIRAGE (1952) by Howard Fast

Posted on 20 January 2012 by

I begin the second stage of Bev’s 2012 Vintage Mystery Readers Challenge with an early mystery from the pen of Howard Fast, probably still best known as the author of Spartacus, his epic tale of revolution in ancient Rome. Like … Continue reading →

Posted in 2012 Vintage Mystery Reading Challenge, Amnesia, Film Noir, New York, Scene of the crime | 20 Comments

Hysteria (1965) – Tuesday’s Forgotten Film

Posted on 17 January 2012 by

The Hammer company stopped acting as its own distributor from the late 1950s, instead making deals with virtually all the Hollywood majors to handle (and bankroll) their output. This film is one of the few made for distribution by that … Continue reading →

Posted in Amnesia, Hammer Studios, Jimmy Sangster, Tuesday's Forgotten Film | 9 Comments