Some real-life police work in 1958: A policeman searches a teddy boy (who must be all of 12) during London’s Notting Hill riots.
Thanks to everyone who contributed to #1952book, which I rounded up last night. For those who still want to play, we are skipping on just a few years to 1958, as suggested by Sorcha at Writing About Books.
In 1958 the Cold War was in full swing. Sputnik reentered the atmosphere in January and the first US satellite was launched in the following month. Nuclear tests were rife, and in the UK the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament began.
Some cultural milestones: The first Carry On movie (Carry On Sergeant, with music composed by Bruce Montgomery aka crime writer Edmund Crispin), the first transmission of Blue Peter, and the first performance of My Fair Lady. Elvis broke a lot of hearts by joining the army.
So what was crime fiction like in 1958? You tell me…
Small print
- Books, comics, films, plays and TV also welcome.
- If you want to play but you haven’t got a blog, I’m happy to have you as a guest poster, or to link to Goodreads or Amazon.
- Comment below to join in, or tweet me @westwoodrich.
- Sorry if I miss you out…
Past Offences: Classic crime, thrillers and mystery book reviews 
Count me in! I’ve no idea what book it will be, but I’ll find one. Thanks as ever for hosting this Rich.
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Can it be a foreign book? I was thinking of The Pledge by Durrenmatt (a.k.a. Requiem for the Detective Novel, so how could I resist such a title?).
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Of course!
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Sounds great Rich – count me in!
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lovely, ta! I’ll shift my post up in order to take part (for anyone who needs a suggestion – it’s “Borderline” by Lawrence Block – not for the easily offended for the depiction of sex and drugs and general violence but……)
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Perfect fit Rich since I was planning to read next Playback (1958) but have at least a few more nooks in store
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books
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I was hoping for a 60s book this round. Oh well… Maybe next time? I’ll be able to find something for 1958 with no problem. Taking a cue form your Cold War note above maybe I’ll dig up a spy thriller for a change.
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Sounds fun! I’ll not have as much time in September as I had in August, but for the moment I’m looking at Killer’s Choice by Ed McBain and the movie I Bury the Living.
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Definitely in. I have several books I would like to read but not sure. I have only checked my own books but not lists on the internet. I will see what others suggest.
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I’m in, and my pick is Anatomy of a Murder by Robert Traver.
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Hm. I’ve just discovered that the first of Colin Watson’s Flaxborough novels, Coffin, Scarcely Used, was a 1958 item. A bit tempting.
And another is Ellery Queen’s The Finishing Stroke.
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And a conundrum. (I’ll shut up soon, honest.) John D MacDonald’s The Executioners, which became Cape Fear, bears a dual copyright date: 1957, 1958. I dug into this and found that, unusually, it was published first as a mass-market paperback, by Dell (1957), and then as a hardback, by S&S (1958); the latter is, as it were, yer canonical version. BUT did John D actually revise the book for the 1958 edition or did he merely correct a few of the inevitable Dell typos and take the opportunity to extend his period of copyright by a year? Unless someone has actually sat down and compared the two, which is of course possible, I imagine there’s no way of knowing.
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I am in! Not entirely sure which book I’ll pick yet, I will have a little look at my (unorganised!) bookshelves 🙂
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Hi there, glad to have you on board. I’ve just begun Hide My Eyes.
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No problem. With my post this week though I’m three decades early!
http://thepassingtramp.blogspot.com/2014/09/the-man-from-river-1928-by-gdh-and.html
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Can I have Ngaio Marsh’s Singing in the Shrouds?
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Hi – you absolutely can.
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Here y’are: http://wordcount-richmonde.blogspot.co.uk/2014/09/singing-in-shrouds-by-ngaio-marsh.html
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Pingback: Book Review: Borderline by Lawrence Block | Writing about books
Pingback: Review: Playback by Raymond Chandler | The Game's Afoot
As an opening offering, I’ve just been writing at Goodreads about Ed McBain’s 87th Precinct novel Killer’s Choice (1958).
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Pingback: THE SCENT OF NEW-MOWN HAY (1958) by John Blackburn | Tipping My Fedora
And so to 1958 with John Blackburn’s A Scent of New Mown-Hay – which reminds me, time to get out int he garden:) https://bloodymurder.wordpress.com/2014/09/14/a-scent-of-new-mown-hay-1958-by-john-blackburn/
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I say, that old NEL cover for the book is a bit hot, isn’t it? I bet there were a lot of adolescent boys bitterly disappointed when they read the actual book.
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An important early lesson in the powers of marketing 🙂
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My jejune notes on The Finishing Stroke (1958) by Ellery Queen are now up at Goodreads.
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*looks up jejune for the umpteenth time*
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All you have to remember is that it comes after jemay and before jejuly . . .
That’s normally all I can remember of the word, anyway, unless I’ve just tripped over someone else’s use of it to remind me.
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My notes on Colin Watson’s Coffin, Scarcely Used (1958), the first of his Flaxborough novels, have just gone up at Goodreads.
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Oops: wrong link. Here’s the right one.
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Pingback: Dødes Tjern, De (1958) | Noirish
Probably the only movie I’ll be able to contribute this month to the Challenge: De Dødes Tjern (1958; vt Lake of the Dead; vt The Lake of the Damned), a classic Norwegian ghostly/noirish item.
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Pingback: SHOOTING STAR (1958) by Robert Bloch | Tipping My Fedora
My review of Robert Bloch’s one and only private eye novel, Shooting Star, is now up: https://bloodymurder.wordpress.com/2014/09/19/shooting-star-1958-by-robert-bloch/
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Pingback: Review: Our Man in Havana by Graham Greene | The Game's Afoot
And I reviewed a huge bestseller from 1958, Anatomy of a Murder: http://wp.me/p2jIWi-uo
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James McKimmey – The Perfect Victim – http://col2910.blogspot.co.uk/2014/09/james-mckimmey-perfect-victim-1958.html
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Thanks Col!
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I’m going to link back to my old piece on John Rhode’s Licensed for Murder, where I did get into the period aspect and compared with Ruth Rendell’s Not in the Flesh as an agrarian English mystery.
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Here it is:
http://thepassingtramp.blogspot.com/2014/09/blast-from-past-john-rhodes-licensed.html
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Pingback: Margery Allingham’s Hide My Eyes | Past Offences: Classic crime, thrillers and mystery book reviews