Spell the Month in Books is a monthly meme hosted by Jana at Reviews from the Stacks. The link up post is posted on the first Saturday of each month. Each month one or two themes are suggested for the books that are chosen. The theme for August is “favorite authors.”
Once again, I am getting this post in very late in the month.
A is for And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie
This is one of Agatha Christie's most well-known mysteries. I have read at least 50 of Christie's mystery novels, but I did not read this one until 2020. I knew the general setup but had not watched any film adaptations, and was wondering how it all ends. Could it live up to the acclaim it has always gotten? It did for me. The writing is very suspenseful. I could not help trying to figure out not only who was the killer but how it was all managed. I did at one time suspect the actual culprit but Christie is very competent at making you second guess your deductions.
U is for Unruly Son by Robert Barnard
This book was published in the UK as Death of a Mystery Writer. The main character is an obnoxious and overbearing mystery author who has made many enemies and insulted just about everyone he encounters. His wife and daughter love him, or at least tolerate him, but his two sons don't have much good to say about him. Of course, all of his children would like to inherit his money. So when he dies by poisoning they are the first persons the police consider as suspects. This was a very good read, which I expected because Robert Barnard is one of my favorite authors. He rarely disappoints me.
G is for Gambit by Rex Stout
Rex Stout is my favorite author of all. He wrote 33 novels and 41 novellas about the private detective Nero Wolfe and his assistant, Archie Goodwin. The books are narrated by Archie. The series began in 1934 and the last book in the series, A Family Affair, was published in 1975, shortly before Stout's death. The Nero Wolfe series is fun to read because Wolfe has so many quirks. He hates to leave his home, thus he needs Archie Goodwin to do the legwork for him. He raises orchids and spends four hours each day in the plant rooms. Eating and good food are very important to him and he never discusses business when eating. And those are just a few of his quirks. However, Gambit has one of the most straightforward plots of the 33 novels that Rex Stout wrote. Less of the quirks are evident or emphasized. The plotting is intricate and the mystery is especially challenging.
U is for The Unfortunate Englishman by John Lawton
I have been a fan of John Lawton's writing for years. His Inspector Frederick Troy series consists of eight novels published between 1995 and 2017. Those novels are a mix of police procedural and espionage, and are set between 1934 and 1963, with many of them covering multiple timelines. The Unfortunate Englishman is the second novel in the Joe Wilderness series. That series (so far) has focused on English / Russian / German relations in Berlin following World War II. The books in this series are really good spy fiction, but also complex and confusing. I love the focus on Berlin and the wall. This second novel in the series doesn't make as much sense if you have not read the first book.
S is for SS-GB by Len Deighton
SS-GB is an alternate history in which England has been invaded by Germany. The protagonist in this story is Detective Superintendent Douglas Archer of Scotland Yard, working under Gruppenführer Fritz Kellerman of the SS. The story is very complex. Len Deighton is one of my favorite authors, and I especially enjoy his spy fiction novels. I love his writing. This book, which is both a whodunit and a spy story, is no exception.
T is for A Tale about a Tiger and Other Mysterious Events by S.J. Rozan
S.J. Rozan is the author of the Lydia Chin / Bill Smith mystery series, one of my favorite contemporary mystery series. Lydia Chin is an American-born Chinese private investigator in her late twenties who lives in New York’s Chinatown with her mother. Bill Smith is a private investigator in his forties who lives in Manhattan. They are not partners but they often work together on cases. The element that I have always liked about this series is that the narrator of the books alternates. The first book was narrated by Lydia; the second book was narrated by Bill; and so on.
In A Tale about a Tiger and Other Mysterious Events, published by Crippen & Landru in 2009, there are nine stories by Rozan; six of the stories feature either Lydia Chin or Bill Smith or both.
16 comments:
N ot Quite Dead Enough by Rex Stout
I ce by Ed McBain
F lowers for the Judge by Margery Allingham
T ill Death Do Us Part by John Dickson Carr
Y esterday's Spy by Len Deighton
These are great choices, Tracy! You know what a fan of Agatha Christie I am. And the S.J. Rozan series is very good, too. I haven't read a Robert Barnard in too long, so it's good to be reminded of his work. And Gambit is a solid story (It's hard to go wrong with Rex Stout...). This is a great meme.
Excellent job, Tracy... especially with those two "U"s. I really like that Christie and you have me looking forward to the Rex Stout on my next CC list!
The U is very tricky but that John Lawton book looks great! And I have never read Len Deighton so should try one. I really enjoy this meme.
Jerry, that is a very cool list, and clever.
I wanted to get Margery Allingham on my list but I did not think of her until too late. She is one of my favorite authors too.
Margot, I was lucky to find good choices for so many of my favorite authors. Robert Barnard has written so many books. I have read a good number of them but I still have more to read.
Kelly, ten years ago I would not have put Christie on my favorites list, but the more of her books I read, the more I liked them. I have been reading and rereading Rex Stout for so long he is my choice for comfort reads.
Constance, I agree, you should try Len Deighton, just for the experience. The first book that I read by him was probably his most well-known book, The Ipcress File, and I did not like it. But I have liked all the other books I have read by him.
Barnard is an absolute favorite and I don't remember reading this one.
Gambit sounds good, s more straightforward mystery. I read one of Rex Stout's. Christmas stories recently eaturing Archie and Nero. It was a good way to get back into the series.
Patti, I think I must have read the Robert Barnard book under the alternate title Death of a Mystery Writer many years ago, but I did not remember the plot at all. It was very good. I have read maybe half of his books but I have several more I want to read.
Kathy, Stout's Christmas short story is a favorite with me. Not only is it an excellent short story, but it illustrates how highly Wolfe regards Archie and depends on him.
Gambit is an excellent novel in the Nero Wolfe series, but I had put off rereading it because it is one that I can remember who did the murder. It did not matter, it was still a good read.
I must try that S.J. Rozan series, it looks like a lot of fun.
I think August is one of the harder months to find book titles for because it has two U's in it...but you found some great titles for it. Maybe I'll try it next year.
Cath, I would guess I started reading the Lydia Chin / Bill Smith series about 20 years ago, and I have liked almost every one of the books. For me they are fun reads; some of them are more serious than others, but Lydia is always having (minor) problems with her mother and her brothers, who don't like what she does for a living.
Lark, it took me a while to start doing the Spell the Month posts, but I have really enjoyed it since I have done a couple of months now. At least none of the months for this year have the letter U, but they each have a Y, which seems to cause more problems than you would think.
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