Mystery Reviews

Miscellaneous Stuff by Grobius Relating to Mysteries

This includes reviews and comments that don't fit elsewhere on the web site. Many of the items have been cut and pasted to other bits of the site, a lot of it on the Forum and the Blog, but as I am basically lazy, the original texts are posted here.

Reviews

• Charles Brockden Brown: Wieland (an early American Gothic novel, precursor of the mystery).
• Wilkie Collins: This author really deserves a web page of his own because he was so important in the development of the mystery novel, but he does not strictly count as an author of detective stories. His tales range from the supernatural to the social commentary, but often include an investigation of a crime by some form of detective. Even if he didn't develop the so-called puzzle plot, he is still well worth reading: Armadale; The Law and the Lady; The Moonstone. Why isn't The Lady in White included? Well, I just don't have the energy now to reread this harrowing book, with the sinister Count Fosco and other great characters (recommendation, anyway, is read this book!). There is, however, a review based on the television version of the story. See also a short review of two of his later novellas, My Lady's Money and The Haunted Hotel.
• August Derleth: Solar Pons (famous pastiches of Sherlock Holmes by the Wisconsin editor and horror writer).
• R. Austin Freeman: Two books (predates the Freeman web page).
• Lury_Gibson: Dangerous D@ta and Blood D@ta (Arthur C. Dogg, Internet Detective).
• William Gillette: Astounding Crime on Torrington Road (quaint 1927 mystery by the actor who first played Sherlock Holmes).
• Hugh Greene: Rivals of Sherlock Holmes (short story collections by Graham Greene's brother of contemporary 'rivals' of the master).
• James Hogg: Confessions of a Justified Sinner (very early 'sort-of' mystery, mainly horror)
• Alexander Laing: The Cadaver of Gideon Wyck (a nasty but intriguing mystery).
• Val McDermid: A Place of Execution (was much impressed with this book).
• Dorothy Sayers: Busman's Honeymoon (a rather scathing review posted on GAD).
• Upfield, McClure & Marshall: Three 'Foreign' Procedurals (Escape from Brooklyn for a while). [No, this is not the name of a law firm; and the web page 'Farplace' is not a Tennessee dialect word]
• Willard Huntington Wright: The Great Detective Stories (S.S. Van Dine's famous anthology).
• Israel Zangwill: The Big Bow Mystery (the first classic locked room mystery).

More Reviews: Pre-2000, Post-2000, Oddities

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