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Author Archives: Cavershamragu
Arrivederci
Hope you all have a restful and loving Holiday Season and a great New Year. As I won’t be blogging again any time soon, this is something of a farewell. Perhaps only temporary but probably not. Thank you all so very … Continue reading
Posted in 'In praise of ...'
64 Comments
2017 Vintage Mystery Scavenger Hunt Wrap-up
Bev over at My Reader’s Block has been hosting her vintage mystery reading challenges for much longer than I’ve been blogging and it’s been a pleasure to take part all these years. So how did I do this year? Well … Continue reading
Posted in 2017 Golden Age Vintage Mystery Scavenger Hunt, 2017 Silver Age Vintage Mystery Scavenger Hunt, Agatha Christie, Anthony Berkeley, Carter Brown, Carter Dickson, Colin Dexter, Gideon Fell, Graham Greene, Helen Nielsen, Henry Merrivale, Inspector Morse, Jim Thompson, John Dickson Carr, John Lange, Michael Crichton, Poirot, Stark House Press
18 Comments
Buon Natale 2017
So, what’s 2017 been like? Well, about this big as James Stewart might have said in that dark example of Film Noir that bizarrely seems to everyone’s favourite feel good Christmas movie … And on the mystery front? Well … … Continue reading
Crime at Christmas
As Britain gets ready for a very chilly yule indeed (and no, I don’t just mean the weather), my mind inevitably turns to the comforts of fictional crime! There are some splendid books being made available for crime aficionados this … Continue reading
Callan is back … on audio
Callan, the classic spy drama television series from the Sixties, returns with a star-studded cast in brand new audio adaptations from Big Finish Productions. Ben Miles stars as the titular Callan, with Frank Skinner joining him as small-time thief Lonely.
SHOTGUN SATURDAY NIGHT (1987) by Bill Crider
Today Patti Abbott is hosting Bill Crider Day over at her fab Pattinase blog. Crider has been remarkably prolific over the decades, managing to publish an average of two books a year while also working full-time as an academic until … Continue reading
The Prisoner – volume 2
Following the deserved success of the first volume of this intelligent re-imagening for audio of the classic TV show of the 1960s, now comes its sequel – and it is even better than the first. Mark Elstob is our hero, … Continue reading
Ranking the 87th Precinct Mysteries
Six years ago I set myself a challenge: to read (or, in most cases, re-read) all 55 of Ed McBain’s books in his 87th Precinct series of police procedurals, and then review and rate them here at Fedora. It took … Continue reading
Dressed to Kill (1946)
The Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce series of Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson mysteries came to an end with this, their 14th entry, in which the Baker Street duo battle suave criminals searching London for the secret hidden within three … Continue reading
Posted in Arthur Conan Doyle, London, Scotland, Sherlock Holmes, Tuesday's Overlooked Film
Tagged Basil Rathbone, Nigel Bruce
32 Comments
FIDDLERS (2005) by Ed McBain
So six years and 55 books later, we come to the end of the road. This would prove to be the final 87th Precinct mystery by Ed McBain and was released posthumously. It was rumoured that he had, in advance, … Continue reading
Torture Garden (1967)
The great Robert Bloch (1917-1994) supplied stories and screenplays for six films made by Amicus Film, the only serious rival to Hammer in the 1960s and 70s when it came to horror cinema. The first three – The Skull (1965), … Continue reading
Posted in Amicus, England, Robert Bloch, Tuesday's Overlooked Film
Tagged Jack Palance, Peter Cushing
32 Comments
GREEN FOR DANGER (1944) by Christianna Brand
Easily he best-known of Brand’s Inspector Cockrill mysteries, this clever and funny book was turned into a clever and funny film that is also one of the most atmospheric whodunits you will ever see. The setting is a secluded hospital now … Continue reading
Murder on the Orient Express (2017)
Just released in the cinemas, this new adaptation of the classic Agatha Christie novel seems to be dividing critics and viewers. In fact, I have now been to see it twice – the first time with a friend who is … Continue reading
I AM MARY DUNNE (1968) by Brian Moore
Karen of Kaggsy’s Bookish Ramblings and Simon of Stuck in a Book regularly celebrate work published in a particular year. And this time it’s 1968, which I couldn’t resist as it’s when I was born. My choice is the thirteenth … Continue reading
Posted in Brian Moore, New York
25 Comments
THE WENCH IS WICKED / BLONDE VERDICT / DELILAH WAS DEADLY by Carter Brown
This omnibus by ultra-prolific paperback writer ‘Carter Brown’ (in private life Alan Geoffrey Yates) – courtesy of those very nice people at Stark House Press – features the first three cases of Al Wheeler, the unorthodox and wise-cracking Lieutenant working in the California … Continue reading
SINGLE & SINGLE (1999) by John le Carré
John le Carré (born David Cornwell on 19 October 1931) is 86 years old today – and to celebrate here is a quick review of a title that is perhaps unfairly neglected. This is one of the later books that … Continue reading
Posted in England, Espionage, John le Carre, London, Russia, Switzerland, Turkey
16 Comments
TO HAVE AND HAVE NOT (1937) by Ernest Hemingway
A tale of smuggling between Cuba and Florida, this is generally considered one of Hemingway’s lesser works, which may actually explain why it made surprisingly good movie fodder. The hardboiled story of downtrodden boat-owner Harry Morgan was famously filmed with … Continue reading
The Manny deWitt trilogy by Peter Rabe
This omnibus – a secret review copy of which arrived, via three drop boxes and as many couriers in disguise – comes courtesy of those very nice people at Stark House Press. It brings together the trilogy of decidedly off-beat adventure … Continue reading
Homecoming
This riveting psychological thriller dealing with returning American servicemen has just completed its second season and I am here to sing its praises – of course, without divulging any spoilers. An audio drama available as a free podcasts, it features … Continue reading
Posted in Amnesia, Audio Review, Florida
8 Comments
Terror by Night (1946)
The Holmes and Watson series picked itself right up again with this train-bound adventure that comes as very welcome after the disappointment of Pursuit to Algiers. It was also the swansong for Dennis Hoey’s Lestrade. Holmes: The Inspector’s going to … Continue reading
Posted in Arthur Conan Doyle, London, Scotland, Sherlock Holmes, Tuesday's Overlooked Film
Tagged Basil Rathbone, Nigel Bruce
20 Comments
PAST TENSE by Margot Kinberg
You all know Margot Kinberg, the indefatigable mystery author and academic who blogs over at Confessions of a Mystery Novelist and who cheerleads for the detective genre here, there and everywhere. Past Tense is the third in her series of … Continue reading
TILL DEATH DO US PART (1944) by John Dickson Carr
This classic Golden Age detective story tends to get a little lost among the multitude of enthralling mysteries that John Dickson Carr was producing at such a prodigious rate at that time. It begins with a superb set piece in … Continue reading
EIGHT MILLION WAYS TO DIE (1982) by Lawrence Block
This fine private eye novel is first and foremost a powerful character study, depicting the slow recovery of an alcoholic but it also provides the requisite crime thrills too. It was the fifth in the Matthew Scudder series of New … Continue reading
PIETR THE LATVIAN (1931) by Georges Simenon
This novel marked the official literary debut of Detective Chief Inspector Jules Amédée François Maigret of the Paris Police Judiciaire when it first appeared in serial form in the summer and autumn of 1930. It was however the fifth in … Continue reading
NINE-AND DEATH MAKES TEN (1941) by Carter Dickson
I fell in love with John Dickson Carr’s work via his ‘Carter Dickson’ alter ego when I chanced across his classic The Reader is Warned back when I was 14. Nine and Death Makes Ten (aka Murder in the Submarine … Continue reading
DEATH IN PARADISE (2001) by Robert B. Parker
The next year should be a good one for fans of Jesse Stone on screen and on the printed page as we are promised two brand new entries in these parallel series. Jesse is a compelling character, built along traditionally … Continue reading
Posted in Jesse Stone, Police procedural, Robert B. Parker
14 Comments
HARK! (2004) by Ed McBain
The Deaf Man – the cold-blooded super-criminal whose antics plagued the boys and girls of the 87th Precinct for decades – was last seen, in 1993’s Mischief, being tied naked to a bed and being shot twice in the chest … Continue reading
HARDBOILED, NOIR AND GOLD MEDALS by Rick Ollerman
Bringing together new essays with material published over the last decade, this new volume in the Stark House Reference range more than lives up to its subtitle: Essays on Crime Fiction Writers from the ’50s through to the 90s. Part of … Continue reading
Tipping My Fedora 