Category Archives: Crime fiction

Recommendation: The Nine Tailors by Dorothy L. Sayers

English Bell Ringing, Stolen Emeralds and Murder My memories from my first reading of The Nine Tailors was that it was a bit slow and there was way too much detail about English change-ringing of church bells. I think that … Continue reading

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Recommendation: The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club by Dorothy L. Sayers

PTSD and generational tensions regarding war service didn’t start with the Vietnam War. Both are explored in Sayer’s Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club by Dorothy L. Sayers is another delightful Lord Peter Wimsey novel. … Continue reading

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Wit and wordplay, parody and playfulness, allusion and appropriation: Jasper Fforde’s The Eyre Affair is to classic literature what Hitchhiker’s Guide is to sci-fi and fantasy

The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde is set in an alternate England, where home-cloned dodos are common house pets and the public’s passion for literature occasionally erupts in street violence. Thursday Next is a literary detective, part of a specialised … Continue reading

Posted in British, Comedy, Contemporary, Crime fiction, Fantasy, Fiction, General adult audience, Novel, Speculative Fiction | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The Sydney Opera House and the murder and narrative of Helga’s Web by Jon Cleary: Equally impressively constructed!

Helga’s Web is the second book in the Scobie Malone series (it stands alone but has key characters in common with The High Commissioner). During the building of the Sydney Opera House, a woman’s body is found in one of … Continue reading

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Multifaceted Australian crime fiction: The High Commissioner by Jon Cleary

The High Commissioner by Jon Cleary is the first in the Scobie Malone series. Malone, a police detective, is sent to London to bring back the Australian High Commissioner for the decade-old murder of his wife. Malone finds himself in … Continue reading

Posted in 20th Century, 20th Century Light Fiction, Australian, Crime fiction, Fiction, General adult audience, Novel | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Crime and Punishment by Feodor Dostoevsky

Before I read Crime and Punishment all that I had heard about Feodor Dostoevsky was that he was a Russian author and, whereas Tolstoy understood legalism, Dostoevsky understood grace. I’ve since found out that he is also considered one of the greatest … Continue reading

Posted in 18th Century, Classic, Crime fiction, General adult audience, Realism, Russian, Social Novel | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment