British mysteries

  • Writers’ Room Interview: Morgan Richter

    Have you heard of the Eulalie and Carlo Scandiuzzi Writers’ Room at the Central Library? The Writers’ Room, located on Level 9 of the Central Library, offers a space for writers to work on their projects and access Library resources. Use of the room is through an application process for the Writers’ Room Residency. We… Continue reading

  • 100 Years of Agatha Christie

    In October of this year, we get to celebrate Agatha Christie being brought into our lives. Her first novel The Mysterious Affair at Styles was published in the U.S. in October of 1920. The United States was first to be introduced to Hercule Poirot. He would go on to be the main character in 33… Continue reading

  • Mystery Challenge: Professionals – The Police

    ~by David W. Someone’s been murdered: who are you going to call? A haughty genius and his devoted doctor sidekick? A persnickety little Belgian whose egg-shaped head is punctuated by a tiny moustache? A wisecracking shamus in a dingy office, drinking rotgut and polishing his gat? Of course not: YOU CALL THE COPS! Continue reading

  • Mystery Challenge: Amateur Sleuths

    ~ by Jenny C. For all of you reading along in the Mystery Challenge, this week we focus on the valiant, perceptive, amateur sleuth. Now, many heroes and heroines of the mystery genre qualify as amateurs, especially those from points in history before official certifications, but I wanted to highlight some of the most winning… Continue reading

  • Lumpen London

    The loveable con artist is a staple of British literature.  Lucky Bunny by Jill Dawson fits the pattern, but with a whip smart female protagonist who comes full circle from stealing from doorsteps to keep her little brother fed, to taking part in the heist of the century to escape from an abusive husband with… Continue reading

  • Alphabet of Crime: Keeping up with the Jameses.

    The book’s location is MYSTERY > JAMES. Quick – who’s the author? Chances are you guessed P.D. James, the doyenne of contemporary British crime fiction, who over the past fifty years has penned over a score of titles – most featuring buttoned-down Inspector-cum-Superintendent Adam Dalgliesh – that have consistently raised the bar on what is possible… Continue reading

  • SPL Discoveries: David Peace

    Okay, maybe we didn’t exactly discover them,  but here are writers, old and new, that we’d love to see more readers to discover themselves. It happens this way a lot at the library: call it serendipity in the stacks. I stumbled upon David Peace’s unsettling works quite by chance. Picking up a book titled Occupied City, I was arrested… Continue reading

  • Crime: Is Dorothy L. Sayers still worth reading?

    “Is Dorothy L. Sayers still worth reading?” Well I’ve been reading her lately (in anticipation of the Taproot Theatre’s upcoming production of Gaudy Night), and my unsurprising answer is yes, but why? After all, her hero – Edwardian aristocrat Lord Peter Wimsey – seems at first blush to be just the kind of plummy, pompous plutocrat that we’ve… Continue reading

  • Crime: The I’s Have It.

    As I set out to read my way through my alphabet of crime, I was a little worried about the letter ‘I,’ but it turned out to be quite a little Anglo-French treasure trove. Here are three great authors in our mystery “I’s,” each with their own distinct voice. Graham Ison is one of the many… Continue reading

  • Are You Tough Enough? Derek Raymond’s Dare.

    Among crime readers, there are certain qualities that serve as points on our criminal compass. For example, authors who put a scalpel to the subtle psychological underpinnings of crime contrast with those for whom swift action on every page is essential. Another scale lies between whodunnits with a humorous or “cozy” feel, and those on the darker, grittier… Continue reading

  • Beyond Tea & Crumpets: Gritty Brits on DVD

    Think of British TV mystery and you may conjure up images of teacup wielding dowager sleuths, peering through the foxgloves at some suspicious goings on about the Village green. Lord Peter Wimsey and Miss Marple. Arsenic and tweed. But there’s a whole other side to British Crime – a tough contemporary side where hardened detectives battle it… Continue reading

  • Crime: The Sherlock Holmes you don’t know.

    Arriving at the D’s in my Alphabet of Crime, I want to pay homage to Arthur Conan Doyle, or more specifically to his greatest creation. Sherlock Holmes is especially hot right now, but as arguably the most beloved series character in the history of fiction, he never really goes out of style. Of course you can… Continue reading

  • Crime: The Singular Pleasures of E.C. Bentley

    This year I’m reading my way through the mystery section, A-Z. Read along, won’t you? I’ve just had the best time reading E.C. Bentley’s Trent’s Last Case, a beguiling whodunit that prefigured crime’s Golden Age. It is 1913, and detectives are very much dominated by Sherlock Holmes and his countless imitators, such long forgotten ratiocinators as Sexton Blake, Duckworth Drewe,… Continue reading

  • An Alphabet of Crime: Margery Allingham

    I made a couple of New Year’s resolutions involving crime this year: to start up a regular weekly crime column here in ShelfTalk, and to alphabetically read my way through the mystery section at the Central Library, two authors/letters each month. My colleague Linda has done this twice, up to the letter G anyway, and so I… Continue reading