A Year in Review

Since it is more than probable that I will not post any other entry in A Crime is Afoot before next year I would not like to miss this opportunity to give you a flavour of what 2021 has been like reading wise.

The 2021 highlight was the possibility that Bodies From The Library provided me to attend, via Zoom, their 2021 conference, what lead me to read the following books:

1. Howdunit A Masterclass in Crime Writing by Members of the Detection Club, 2020 Conceived and Edited by Martin Edwards
2. When Last I Died, 1941 (Mrs Bradley # 13) by Gladys Mitchell
3. The Rising of the Moon, 1945 (Mrs Bradley #18) by Gladys Mitchell
4. The Saltmarsh Murders, 1932 (Mrs Bradley # 4) by Gladys Mitchell read in 2020
5. The Mystery of the Peacock’s Eye, 1928 (Anthony Bathurst Mysteries Book #3) by Brian Flynn read in 2019
6. The Murders near Mapleton, 1929 (Bathurst Mysteries Book # 4) by Brian Flynn read in 2020
7. Murder en Route: An Anthony Bathurst Mystery, 1930 (Anthony Bathurst Mysteries Book # 8) by Brian Flynn read in 2020
8. The Fortescue Candle, 1936 (Anthony Bathurst Mysteries # 18) by Brian Flynn
9. Tread Softly, 1937 (Anthony Bathurst Mysteries # 20) by Brian Flynn
10. The Grindle Nightmare, 1935 by Q. Patrick
11. Black Widow (A Peter Duluth Mystery #8), 1952 by Patrick Quentin
12. Death’s Old Sweet Song, 1946 (Dr. Westlake #8) by Jonathan Stagge
13. The Cases of Lieutenant Timothy Trant s.s. collection (2019) by Q. Patrick currently reading
14. Hunt in the Dark (2021) s.s. collection by Q. Patrick, which I’m planning to read next

I would love if this experience could be repeated next year, via Zoom, since the possibilities I have to physically attend the Bodies From the Library conference in 2022 are slim.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading (only one book by author, with the exception of John Dickson Carr/Carter Dickson):

1. The Judas Window, 1938 (Sir Henry Merrivale # 7) by John Dickson Carr, writing as Carter Dickson
2. The First Time He Died (1935) by Ethel Lina White
3. Mr Splitfoot, 1968 (Dr. Basil Willing #12) by Helen McCloy
4. The Eye of Osiris, 1911 (Dr Thorndyke Mysteries #3) by R. Austin Freeman
5. The Seventh Guest (1935) by Gaston Boca (transl. John Pugmire)
6. The Lying Voices (1954) by Elizabeth Ferrars
7. He Who Whispers, 1946 (Dr Gideon Fell # 16) by John Dickson Carr
8. The Robthorne Mystery, 1934 (Dr Priestley #18) by John Rhode

I want to make special mention of an author I have recently discovered whose oeuvre I look forward to reading soon

Roger Ormerod (1920 –2005) was a rather prolific British writer of ingenious and densely plotted crime novels which were published in the UK and the US. He lived in Wolverhampton, Staffordshire, and amongst other things worked as a civil servant and as a Social Security inspector – backgrounds which he made full use of in his fiction, as he did with his hobbies of painting and photography. He wrote, if my information is correct, at least twelve standalone books; six novels in a series featuring Philipa Lowe and Oliver Simpson; 16 books in a series featuring private detective David Mallin; and 13 in his Richard and Amelia Patton series, for a total of 47 books published between 1974 and 1999, that I have identified.

Last but not least, I do want to thank Jason Half his kind invitation to take part in the Mitchell Reading Group. The December 2021 title has been Groaning Spinney (1950). For further information visit Jason Half blog, Post #1, Post #2, Post #3 and, coming soon, Post #4. This experience has enable me to realise multiple aspects of the book that, otherwise, I would have overlooked.