Reviewed by Tony Baer: DASHIELL HAMMETT – The Thin Man.
Mystery*File Blog
by Steve
11h ago
Reviewed by TONY BAER:     DASHIELL HAMMETT – The Thin Man. Alfred A. Knopf, hardcover, 1934. Originally published in abridged form in Redbook (December 1933). Reprinted many times. Film: MGM, 1945, starring William Powell & Myrna Loy. (A total of six films were made based on the characters.) TV series: NBC, 1957-59, starring Peter Lawford & Phyllis Kirk.    Nick and Nora Charles are terrific inventions. Equals at witty repartee. Equals at powers of observation, if not detection. Equals at handling their booze.    That’s what’s fun about th ..read more
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A 1001 Midnights PI Review: STANLEY ELLIN – The Dark Fantastic.
Mystery*File Blog
by Steve
2d ago
A 1001 MIDNIGHTS PI Review by Robert E. Briney     STANLEY ELLIN – The Dark Fantastic. John Milano #2. Mysterious Press, hardcover, 1983. Berkley, paperback, 1985.    Stanley Ellin is one of the most honored of contemporary writers of mystery fiction. Beginning with his first story in 1948, he consistently won prizes in the annual short-story contests run by Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine. He is a three-time winner of the Edgar Award of the Mystery Writers of America: for Best Short Story in 1954 and 1956 and for Best Novel (The Eighth Circle) in 1958. Four other ..read more
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Reviewed by David Vineyard: DOUGLAS PRESTON & LINCOLN CHILD – The Cabinet of Dr. Leng.
Mystery*File Blog
by Steve
4d ago
REVIEWED BY DAVID VINEYARD:     DOUGLAS PRESTON & LINCOLN CHILD – The Cabinet of Dr. Leng. Agent Pendergast #21. Grand Central, hardcover, January 2023; paperback, September 2023.    Previously in the Pendergast saga in Bloodless, volume twenty, FBI Special Agent Aloyious Pendergast had discovered that his apprentice and companion Constance was in fact immortal and had grown up in the madhouse and mansion of terror of serial killer and mad scientist Dr. Leng in the 19th Century.    Now as volume twenty-one, The Cabinet of Dr. Leng, opens, Consta ..read more
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SF Diary Review: ANNE McCAFFREY “Weyr Search.”
Mystery*File Blog
by Steve
1w ago
ANNE McCAFFREY “Weyr Search.” Novella. Dragonriders of Pern #1. First appeared in Analog SF, October 1967, Reprinted in Nebula Award Stories Three, edited by Roger Zelazny (Doubleday, hardcover, 1968), among others. Nominated for the Nebula Awars in 1968 for Best Novella of 1967. Winner of Hugo Award that year for that category.    The traditions and ballads of Pern glorify the dragons and their masters, but the time of crisis is past, at least for the time being, and forgetfulness has come easily, A new Weyrwoman is needed for the dragon queen about to be hatched, and dragonme ..read more
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The Amazing Colossal Belgian: A Quartet of Christie Expansions Part 4: Remembered Death, by Matthew R. Bradley.
Mystery*File Blog
by Steve
1w ago
The Amazing Colossal Belgian: A Quartet of Christie Expansions Part 4: Remembered Death by Matthew R. Bradley        Agatha Christie’s revisions of her Hercule Poirot stories sometimes involved expansion into novels, sometimes involved exchanging one of her many sleuths for another…and, on one occasion, both. “Yellow Iris” (The Strand Magazine, July 1937; Hartford Courant, October 10, 1937, as “Poirot Wins Again”) was first collected in The Regatta Mystery and Other Stories (1939), and it later sprouted into Remembered Death (1945), originally serialized in The Sa ..read more
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Reviewed by Tony Baer: MALCOM BRALY – Shake Him Til He Rattles.
Mystery*File Blog
by Steve
1w ago
Reviewed by TONY BAER:     MALCOM BRALY – Shake Him Til He Rattles. Gold Medal k1311, paperback original, 1963 (cover art by Harry Bennett). Belmont, paperback, 1971. Stark House Press, softcover, 2006 [published together with It’s Cold Out There].    Hip saxophone player loves his grass. Sick narco cop wants his ass. Tis the story of the cat and mouse between narco and hipster. Spoiler Alert: The hipster wins.    Pros: Told in legit Sixties beat lingo.    Cons: The story is too pat and neat and clean and happy for this noir fan. But ..read more
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SF Diary Review: ROBERT SILVERBERG “Hawksbill Station.”
Mystery*File Blog
by Steve
1w ago
ROBERT SILVERBERG “Hawksbill Station”. Novella. First appeared in Galaxy SF, August 1967. Reprinted in World’s Best Science Fiction: 1968, edited by Terry Carr &Donald A. Wollheim (Ace, paperback, 1967). First collected in The Reality Trip and Other Implausibilities (Ballantine, paperback, 1973). Expanded to the novel of the same title (Doubleday, hardcover, 1968). Nominated for both the Hugo and Nebula Awards in 1968 for Best Novella of 1967.    Governments of the 21st Century have found Hawksbill Station, located two billions years in Earth’s past, an excellent spot for d ..read more
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Reviewed by Tony Baer: RICHARD WRIGHT – The Man Who Lived Underground.
Mystery*File Blog
by Steve
2w ago
Reviewed by TONY BAER:     RICHARD WRIGHT – The Man Who Lived Underground. Library of America, hardcover, 2021. [Previously unpublished novel from the 1940s. It saw publication in Wright’s lifetime in Accent, Spring 1942. and only in drastically condensed form; it was later included in the posthumous short story collection Eight Men (1961).] Harper, softcover, 2022.    Black dude gets off work, heading home to his pregnant wife, minding his own business, gets stopped by the cops. Who accuse him of murder.    He’s innocent, but the cops’ll hear noth ..read more
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F Diary Review: ROGER ZELAZNY “Damnation Alley.”
Mystery*File Blog
by Steve
2w ago
ROGER ZELAZNY “Damnation Alley.” Novella. First appeared in Galaxy SF, October 1967. First collected in The Last Defender of Camelot (Pocket, 1980). Reprinted in Supertanks, edited by Martin H. Greenberg et al (Ace, 1987). Expanded into the novel of the same title (Putnam, hardcover, 1969). Nominated for a Hugo Award in Best Novella category (placed third).    Damnation Alley is the cross-continent route from Los Angeles to Boston, some years after the Bomb. The plague has hit Boston, and Hell Tanner is one of the drivers sent out with the essential serum [they need]. Armored c ..read more
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Reviewed by Tony Baer: FREDERICK NEBEL – Fifty Roads to Town.
Mystery*File Blog
by Steve
2w ago
Reviewed by TONY BAER:     FREDERICK NEBEL – Fifty Roads to Town. Little, Brown & Co., hardcover, 1936. Mercury Book # 33, digest paperback, date? Film: 20th Century Fox, 1937 (starring Don Ameche & Ann Sothern; director: Norman Taurog).    Bunch of strangers get stranded in an Northwoods hotel in a blizzard. Focus is on a nebbish fire extinguisher salesman who’s gone missing. Very 30’s. The interest comes from the interplay between the various types: flapper, repressed aristocrat bent on murdering his rival, his rival, a rugged independent sort, a drunke ..read more
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