Notorious gangster and bank robber John Dillinger was finally captured in July 1934 after evading police for more than a year.
Every month on Past Offences I gather together blog posts about crime fiction written or filmed in a particular year. This June the chosen year is 1934 – selected by regular contributor Bev at My Reader’s Block.
If you want to take part, you can! When you’ve written your post, just let me know below. I’ll gather them all together at the end of the month.
Small print
- Don’t be shy!
- Just comment below to link to your blog post.
- 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.
- Books, comics, films, plays and TV also welcome.
- Sorry in advance if I miss you in the round-up, although I am getting better at that bit.
Past Offences: Classic crime, thrillers and mystery book reviews 
Pingback: Badass biddies, screaming mimis and, erm, a fur turban: #1949 book | Past Offences Classic Crime Fiction
Having asked for the date (thanks for letting me choose!)….I am in with The Riddle of the Traveling Skull by Harry Stephen Keeler (which sounds as though it may be one of those “so bad, it’s good” books and I can’t wait to find out. Will also rummage through the stacks to see if there are any other likely suspects.
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First one wound up not being the book that prompted me to ask for 1934…but it’s coming! Here, instead: The Line-Up by Helen Reilly
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And…here’s The Riddle of the Traveling Skull.
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I’m in, but not sure what book yet
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I enjoyed submitting an entry last month. Please count me in for this month too. Thanks.
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Most of my ambitions to get 1949 posts done last month fell victim to a brutal personal schedule, but I am glad that (1) I at least posted about Akira Kurosawa’s wonderful film “Stray Dog,” and (2) Frederic Brown’s “The Screaming Mimi,” which I am reading and greatly enjoying, was covered although not by me. I am also reading Nelson Algren’s “The Man with the Golden Arm,” which I mentioned as a possibility. Eventually I’ll write about both books in my blog.
For this month, I have ideas, of course, but I will spring them when they are fait accompli.
As I mentioned last month, there are books I would love to consider, but would never be able to get copies in time. This month, there are also several such, and so I offer them as possibilities to the whole group: F. Tennyson Jesse’s “A Pin to See the Peepshow” (which was also dramatized on British television in 1973); Harold Heslop’s “The Crime of Peter Ropner,” an “attempt at a crime novel from a left-wing perspective”; and Dorothy Whipple’s “They Knew Mr. Knight.” Have at ’em!
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Last month, I promised a post on an “untranslated, historically significant European crime novel” of the year 1949, and by golly, even though I’m late, here it is: Maria Lang’s Mördaren ljuger inte ensam (The Murderer Is Not the Only Liar).
http://bookthemdanno.blogspot.mx/2015/06/crimes-of-century-1949-mordaren-ljuger.html
This month, for the third month in a row, I will offer a post on another such untranslated European crime novel, following the Lang and Merce Rodoreda’s Crim. Because hey, it’s a theme.
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Thanks Patrick, I like reading these pieces. I’ve heard of, but not read, this month’s author.
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Thanks! They are quite fun to write, actually. The author and book that I had in mind for this month presented a complication, which I will remain mysterious about until I can write them up at some point in the future. But I might be able to substitute another author and book.
I’m also looking at the possibility of writing up a film or two. There are quite a few obscure crime-related 1934 titles available on YouTube.
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I shall try to track down a copy of Ngaio Marsh’s first novel – A MAN LAY DEAD
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I’ll stick with one and promise no others (as I have done for the past two months): Constable, Guard Thyself! by Henry Wade. Just happened to be in my TBR pile for the Golden Age bingo challenge. Truly serendipitous.
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A nice opportunity for me to read Dorothy L. Sayers The Nine Tailors
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I plan to read Death of a Ghost by Margery Allingham. I had been planning to reread her books starting from about that period, so it fits in well.
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Pingback: World Accuses, The (1934) | Noirish
I’ve sort of accidentally opened my account with the movie The World Accuses: it was the next one waiting to be posted on Noirish, and I suddenly noticed the date on it! I have, er, four others for later in the month.
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I’ve posted notes about Ngaio Marsh’s A Man Lay Dead here. I’m looking forward to seeing what bernadetteinoz makes of it!
Like Tracy, I’ve been thinking of (assuming I have time) tackling Allingham’s Death of a Ghost. Ellery Queen’s The Chinese Orange Mystery is another possibility.
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Oops! Screwed up the link:
I’ve posted notes about Ngaio Marsh’s A Man Lay Dead here. I’m looking forward to seeing what bernadetteinoz makes of it!
Like Tracy, I’ve been thinking of (assuming I have time) tackling Allingham’s Death of a Ghost. Ellery Queen’s The Chinese Orange Mystery is another possibility.
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Pingback: Hollywood Mystery (1934) | Noirish
Notes now posted on the Poverty Row movie Hollywood Mystery (1934).
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Another book: The Chinese Orange Mystery (1934) by Ellery Queen.
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Aaargh! I see I screwed up the Ngaio link again! Here it really properly is.
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Pingback: Review: Maigret (aka Maigret Returns) by Georges Simenon | The Game's Afoot
My jejune views on Margery Allingham’s Death of a Ghost are here. I’m very much looking forward to reading Tracy’s take on this one.
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Pingback: Search for Beauty (1934) | Noirish
Another movie: Search for Beauty (1934).
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My review of Murder on the Orient Express is here: http://wordcount-richmonde.blogspot.co.uk/2015/06/murder-on-orient-express.html
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Nathanael West’s A Cool Million up on the blog! http://col2910.blogspot.co.uk/2015/06/nathanael-west-cool-million-dismantling.html
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Pingback: Ticket to a Crime (1934) | Noirish
Yet another movie: Ticket to a Crime (1934).
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Pingback: Agatha Christie: Parker Pyne Investigates | Past Offences Classic Crime Fiction
Pingback: Death Of A Ghost by Margery Allingham | In Search of the Classic Mystery Novel
Death Of A Ghost now up on my site.
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Well, better late than never: I posted my review of Fredric Brown’s 1949 novel “The Screaming Mimi” at my blog today.
http://bookthemdanno.blogspot.mx/2015/06/crimes-of-century-1949-screaming-mimi.html
At this rate, I’ll have something up for 1934 in August!
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Pingback: Back Page (1934) | Noirish
And a final movie from me: Back Page (1934).
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I did get my review for Death of a Ghost up on Bitter Tea and Mystery yesterday.
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And a great review it is.
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thanks, John.
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Got it, thanks Tracy. Death of a Ghost is our first triple review!
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Hi, I’ve just recently joined the world of book blogging (so excuse the primitive nature of my blog as it’s still under construction). But I found that one of my books I’ve talked about is from 1934. It’s Alan Melville’s Quick Curtain.
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Hi, very glad to meet you. I’ve just finished Quick Curtain this morning – looking forward to comparing notes (won’t read your review until I’ve finished mine).
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Yeah it’ll be interesting to see if we have the same ideas about Quick Curtain.
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Pingback: Alan Melville: Quick Curtain | Past Offences Classic Crime Fiction
My post is up. Constable, Guard Thyself! by Henry Wade I thought it a very modern book for 1934.
If for some reason my HTML written link doesn’t work, just click on my name and you’ll be taken to my blog.
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Pingback: Crimes of the Century | The Game's Afoot
Here’s mine:
The Strange Boarders of Palace Crescent by E.P. Oppenheim. An interesting mystery set in a boarding house.
http://inkquilletc.blogspot.in/2015/06/the-strange-boarders-of-palace-crescent.html
Thanks
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