German civilian police in postwar Berlin, 1945
Every month on Past Offences I gather together blog posts about crime fiction written or filmed in a particular year. Regular contributor Bev has chosen 1945 for April. So did anyone have the energy to produce crime fiction in ’45? I bet they did, you know.
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.
Anyone can play, so over to you…
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 
I’m planning to read soon The Curse of the Bronze Lamp (1945) by John Dickson Carr writing as Carter Dickson.
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Excellent – after doing a Ngaio Marsh for 1947, I decided to fill in and read her Died in the Wool – so that’s nicely 1945…
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And here it is! http://goo.gl/z7z2Y0
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I still feel like I need a shower after reading Mickey Spillane for the 1947 book so I’m going to go for something a bit safer and choose another Arthur Upfield – Death of a Swagman
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I’m planning to read The Yellow Room by Mary Roberts Rinehart. Here are some ideas people can use if they’re not sure what to read:
– Sparkling Cyanide by Agatha Christie
– Coroner’s Pidgin by Margery Allingham
– The Lucky Stiff by Craig Rice
– Send for Paul Temple Again by Francis Durbridge
– Appleby’s End by Michael Innes
– The Rising of the Moon by Gladys Mitchell
– The Indigo Necklace by Frances Crane
– The Case of the Golddigger’s Purse by Erle Stanley Gardner
– There was a Crooked Man by Kelley Roos
– The Black Eye by Constance and Gwenyth Little
– She Came Back/ The Traveller Returns by Patricia Wentworth
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Continuing my exploration into Helen McCloy, I’m going to read The One That Got Away ( locked room AND dying message – I’m excited!) I may also tackle Sparkling Cyanide and the film version of And Then There Were None.
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The McCloy book sounds intriguing. I look forward to your review of it.
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I’ll take The Murderer Is A Fox by Ellery Queen, jump-starting my bibliography that I started too many years ago…
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Just discovered that one of my obscurish treasures is from 1945. So I’ll try and fit in Miles Burton’s Early Morning Murder as well…
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Looks like it was obscure for a reason… https://classicmystery.wordpress.com/2016/04/17/early-morning-murder-by-miles-burton-aka-john-rhode/
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I’m definitely in (having chosen the year, I better be….) with Jade Venus by George Harmon Coxe. There are others lurking on the TBR pile, but it’ll be a surprise to see which ones percolate to the top.
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I have a very defined list of books I’m writing about this year so I haven’t been participating unless one of them overlaps with the year chosen. Through sheer luck I have a few 1945 books lined up in my TBR pile: This Is the House by Shelley Smith, Port of Seven Strangers by Kathleen Moore Knight, Death, My Darling Daughters by Jonathan Stagge, and Puzzle for Wantons by Patrick Quentin. So it’ll be one (or more) of those.
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Cool, it’ll be nice to have you back John. Always enjoy your ‘what I learned’ bits.
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Pingback: ‘Boobs, booze, bigotry and bullets’: 1947 book | Past Offences: Classic crime, thrillers and mystery book reviews
First one done! The Jade Venus by George Harmon Coxe
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Pingback: Film Notes: Scarlet Street (1945) directed by Fritz Lang – A Crime is Afoot
Pingback: The Yellow Room (1945) by Mary Roberts Rinehart | crossexaminingcrime
Here is my review of Mary Roberts Rinehart’s The Yellow Room:
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Pingback: MURDER ON THE MOORS: Helen McCloy’s The One That Got Away | ahsweetmysteryblog
Here is my review of Helen McCloy’s The One That Got Away:
https://ahsweetmysteryblog.wordpress.com/2016/04/11/murder-on-the-moors-helen-mccloys-the-one-that-got-away/
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I’m planning to read She Came Back (1945) aka The Traveller Returns by Patricia Wentworth
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My review is at http://paradise-mysteries.blogspot.com.au/2016/04/review-traveller-returns-patricia.html There is some doubt about the date of publication.
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FYI: Most of Wentworth’s books were published in the US first during the 1940s and 1950s. The first published date of She Came Back is 1945. Many of her books did not appear in the UK, for whatever reason, until three of four years after the US edition, sometimes under different titles. This one was published in the UK in 1948. No doubts at all.
There are several accurate bibliographical resources available to everyone on the internet and you should avail yourself of them when this kind of trouble arises. For those who don’t own or have access to the large number of crime fiction references books with bibliographical info I suggest using WorldCat.org. It’s a catalog of actual books held by libraries (mostly university libraries) all over the globe and adheres to standard library cataloging rules. The bibliographies on the numerous crime fiction websites are poorly researched and filled with errors. Wikipedia especially is notorious for “cut and paste” research. So are many of the mystery book websites written by people who used other websites for their research. This is why errors in publication info get repeated all over the internet.
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Thanks John. I worked out late last night that 1945 must have been the USA date
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Second Entry: The Indigo Necklace Murders by France Crane (originally The Indigo Necklace)
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Here’s my first contribution: This Is the House by Shelley Smith. Loved this one!
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Pingback: Review: The Curse of the Bronze Lamp (1945) by John Dickson Carr, as Carter Dickson – A Crime is Afoot
Pingback: ROSEMARY FOR REMEMBRANCE: Christie’s Sparkling Cyanide | ahsweetmysteryblog
As promised, a review of Christie’s Sparkling Cyanide – great character studies devolve into mediocre puzzle: https://ahsweetmysteryblog.wordpress.com/2016/04/15/rosemary-for-remembrance-christies-sparkling-cyanide/
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I have read Trouble on the Thames by Victor Bridges, and will be posting a review later this week.
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And I now have a post up for Trouble on the Thames. At Bitter Tea and Mystery on April 20th.
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Pingback: Film notes: Spellbound 1945 directed by Alfred Hitchcock – A Crime is Afoot
Pingback: Film Notes: Fallen Angel (1945) directed by Otto Preminger – A Crime is Afoot
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Pingback: Film notes: Leave Her to Heaven (1945) directed by John M. Stahl – A Crime is Afoot
Pingback: FUGUE FOR TEN BODIES: Thoughts on Directing And Then There Were None | ahsweetmysteryblog
Rich, feel free to delete this! I wrote about my experience this year directing AND THEN THERE WERE NONE. The novel came out in 1939 and the play in 1943. Rene Clair’s film version, the first of many, came out in 1945, and I briefly discuss it here:
https://ahsweetmysteryblog.wordpress.com/2016/04/22/fugue-for-ten-bodies-thoughts-on-directing-and-then-there-were-none/
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I was just wondering has next month’s year been decided yet?
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I seem to believe it’s 1957.
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It is indeed, thanks Brad
Rich
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Pingback: Silence in Court (1945) by Patricia Wentworth | crossexaminingcrime
Here is an extra review by me. Patricia Wentworth’s Silence in Court:
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All these bonus posts this month! Add me to the list of participants with a second book. Here it is: Death, My Darling Daughters by Jonathan Stagge. This one included a murder method like something out of the movie Horrors of the Black Museum.
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