Posted in #Classics

A Murder Is Announced: A Miss Marple Mystery

The villagers of Chipping Cleghorn, including Jane Marple, are agog with curiosity over an advertisement in the local gazette which read: ‘A murder is announced and will take place on Friday October 29th, at Little Paddocks at 6:30 p.m.’ Unable to resist the mysterious invitation, a crowd begins to gather at Little Paddocks at the pointed time when, without warning, the lights go out …


Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

The villagers of Chipping Cleghorn are agog with curiosity when the Gazette advertises “A murder is announced and will take place on Friday, October 29th, at Little Paddocks at 6.30 p.m.”

A childish practical joke? Or a spiteful hoax? Unable to resist the mysterious invitation, the locals arrive at Little Paddocks at the appointed time when, without warning, the lights go out and a gun is fired. When they come back on, a gruesome scene is revealed. An impossible crime? Only Miss Marple can unravel it.

From AudioFile

Rosemary Leach provides an animated narration of this Christie classic. Leach’s versatile portrayals of the townspeople hold the listener spellbound as she introduces men and women of all ages and weaves her voice through a full range of dialects, accents and brogues. B.L.W. (c)AudioFile, Portland, Maine

Posted in #Classics

Sleeping Murder: Miss Marple’s Last Case

In Agatha Christie’s classic, Sleeping Murder, the indomitable Miss Marple turns ghost hunter and uncovers shocking evidence of a perfect crime.

Soon after Gwenda moved into her new home, odd things started to happen. Despite her best efforts to modernize the house, she only succeeded in dredging up its past. Worse, she felt an irrational sense of terror every time she climbed the stairs.

In fear, Gwenda turned to Miss Marple to exorcise her ghosts. Between them, they were to solve a “perfect” crime committed many years before.


Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Soon after Gwenda moved into her new home, odd things started to happen. Despite her best efforts to modernize the house, she only succeeded in dredging up its past. Worse, she felt an irrational sense of terror every time she climbed the stairs.

In fear, Gwenda turned to Miss Marple to exorcise her ghosts. Between them, they were to solve a “perfect” crime committed many years before.

From AudioFile

Gwenda and Giles Reed buy a lovely Victorian house. When she begins refurbishing the house, Gwenda discovers that tearing out a wall, putting in steps to the garden, or choosing new wallpaper for the nursery are actually restoring the house to an earlier appearance, one she couldn’t possibly know about. Then she has a vision of a dead woman lying at the foot of the stairs. Certain she is losing her mind, she turns to Jane Marple for help. Rosemary Leach becomes Miss Marple, flawlessly performing that clever lady, as well as Agatha Christie’s myriad other delightfully drawn characters. Leach switches in and out of a variety of British accents with assurance, and as Gwenda her hint of New Zealand is appropriately subtle. SLEEPING MURDER, Christie’s final novel, never disappoints. S.J.H. © AudioFile 2003, Portland, Maine– Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine

Posted in #Classics

Murder in E Minor (The Nero Wolfe Mysteries Book 1)

Iconic sleuth Nero Wolfe returns to track down the murderer of a New York Symphony Orchestra conductor in this Nero Award–winning mystery.
Ever since disgraced associate Orrie Cather’s suicide, armchair detective Nero Wolfe has relished retirement in his Manhattan brownstone on West Thirty-Fifth Street. Two years after Cather’s death, only a visit from Maria Radovich—and the urging of Wolfe’s prize assistant, Archie Goodwin—could draw the eccentric and reclusive genius back into business. Maria’s uncle, New York Symphony Orchestra conductor Milan Stevens, formerly known as Milos Stefanovic, spent his youth alongside Wolfe as a fellow freedom fighter in the mountains of Montenegro. And now that the maestro has been receiving death threats, Wolfe can’t turn his back on the compatriot who once saved his life.
Though her uncle has dismissed the menacing letters, Maria fears they’re more than the work of a harmless crank. But before Wolfe can attack the case, Stevens is murdered. The accused is the orchestra’s lead violinist, whose intimate relationship with Maria hit more than a few sour notes in her uncle’s professional circle. But Wolfe knows that when it comes to murder, nothing is so simple—especially when there are so many suspects, from newspaper critics and ex-lovers to an assortment of shady musicians.
Now, in this award-winning novel that carries on the great tradition of Rex Stout, the irascible and immovable Nero Wolfe is back in the game, listening for clues and ready to go to war to find a killer.
Murder in E Minor is the 48th book in the Nero Wolfe Mysteries, but you may enjoy reading the series in any order.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“A loving, knowledgeable, mightily pleasing recreation.” —Kirkus Reviews “Wolfe in all his glorious splendor. . . . The book plays strictly by the rules that Stout established.” —Chicago Tribune “It is fun once again to enter the brownstone on West 35th Street. . . . [Wolfe] is as insufferably omniscient as ever.” —The New York Times

About the Author

Robert Goldsborough (b. 1937) is an American author best known for continuing Rex Stout’s famous Nero Wolfe series. Born in Chicago, he attended Northwestern University and upon graduation went to work for the Associated Press, beginning a lifelong career in journalism that would include long periods at the Chicago Tribune and Advertising Age.

While at the Tribune, Goldsborough began writing mysteries in the voice of Rex Stout, the creator of iconic sleuths Nero Wolfe and Archie Goodwin. Goldsborough’s first novel starring Wolfe, Murder in E Minor (1986), was met with acclaim from both critics and devoted fans, winning a Nero Award from the Wolfe Pack. Nine more Wolfe mysteries followed, including Death on Deadline (1987) and Fade to Black (1990). His most recent book is Archie in the Crosshairs (2015).

Posted in My Likes and Dislikes

The Hobbit: Or There and Back Again

This beautiful gift edition of The Hobbit, J.R.R. Tolkien’s classic prelude to his Lord of the Rings trilogy, features cover art, illustrations, and watercolor paintings by the artist Alan Lee. 

Bilbo Baggins is a hobbit who enjoys a comfortable, unambitious life, rarely traveling any farther than his pantry or cellar. But his contentment is disturbed when the wizard Gandalf and a company of dwarves arrive on his doorstep one day to whisk him away on an adventure. They have launched a plot to raid the treasure hoard guarded by Smaug the Magnificent, a large and very dangerous dragon. Bilbo reluctantly joins their quest, unaware that on his journey to the Lonely Mountain he will encounter both a magic ring and a frightening creature known as Gollum. 

Written for J.R.R. Tolkien’s own children, The Hobbit has sold many millions of copies worldwide and established itself as a modern classic.