Special additional kudos will go to whoever comes up with the best caption for our 1957 picture.
Every month on Past Offences I gather together blog posts about crime fiction written or filmed in a particular year. Regular players Brad and John between them chose 1957 for May.
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 
Quite a few well known mystery writers seem to have taken a break during this year but there is still quite a selection to choose from. I think I will probably do my first re-read of my blog and read Christie’s 4:50 from Paddington, which I am fond of. Some other ideas for people wondering who to pick are:
The Twenty Third Man by Gladys Mitchell
Three for the Chair and If Death ever slept by Rex Stout
Deep Water by Patricia Highsmith
The Con Man by Ed McBain
Off with his head by Ngaio Marsh
End of Chapter by Nicholas Blake
The Colour of Murder by Julian Symons
She Wouldn’t Say Who by Delano Ames
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Very helpful Kate, thanks. I’ll do something, but don’t know what yet….
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I am doing The Guns of Navarone by Alistair MacLean. Have been looking forward to it for the last month.
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I have that one too. Hmm.
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I have posted my review for GUNS OF NAVARONE by Alistair MacLean at Bitter Tea and Mystery on May 18.
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I have only four from 1957 on my TBR stacks. Not sure what I’ll do, but it will be at least one of these four:
Dead Man’s Riddle by Mary Kelly
The Litmore Snatch by Henry Wade
Suspicious Circumstances by Patrick Quentin
Gownsman’s Gallows by Katharine Farrer
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No promises or commitments as yet (these are a hairy few weeks), but I’m looking at the possibilities of these 1957 movies:
No Down Payment
Seven Thunders
The Young Don’t Cry
Trois Jours a Vivre
I actually covered the last of these in my film noir book, but it’s a fun item and far too long since I last watched it, so I may decide to give it the more extensive treatment the website affords.
As for books, I’m tempted by The Brat and The Angry Dream by Gil Brewer.
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I will look around on my shelves to see if I have anything from that year, in which I was nine years old.
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Great, looking forward to your review Nan!
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I hear the following were also published in 1957, but don’t currently have them on my bookshelves (they’re either back in England or not available at the local libraries). Crime might be stretching the definition a bit for some of them, but they are suspenseful:
Daphne du Maurier: The Scapegoat
Nevil Shute: On the Beach
Ian Fleming: From Russia with Love
Chester Himes: A Rage in Harlem
Rex Stout: If Death Ever Slept (Nero Wolfe)
Jim Thompson: The Kill-Off
Ed McBain: Killer’s Choice (actually, this one I may have…)
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Probably I’ll choose A Rage in Harlem aka For Love of Imabelle by Chester Himes.
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Have rather lost track of my books while laid up, but if I have anything you can count me in. Shall keep you in suspense…
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Yeah, no, I don’t have anything from 1957. Which is absurd, given the sheer number of unread books I possess, but there you go. So I’m out for this month!
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See Rome and Die by Louisa Revell is mine. It’s due back in the library in one week so I better read it soon. I’ll dig into the TBR boxes and see if I can find one or two others. I must have something! I’m looking at US writers only since they tend to be underserved on most of the vintage mystery blogs.
I’ve already reviewed loads of 1957 books on my blog. Here are two suggestions of excellent books that might appeal to most of the regular participants of this blog meme:
An Air that Kills – Margaret Millar
Miss Fenny (in the US: The Woman in the Woods) – Charity Blackstock
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OK I’m in – and thanks John for the tip – I don’t recall ever reading any Margaret Millar and it looks like I can get my hands on that one easily enough
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Pingback: ‘You waited for anything and everything these days’: #1945book reviews | Past Offences: Classic crime, thrillers and mystery book reviews
I wrote this up a while back, but it feels good to start another “year in review” with a novel by Helen McCloy, especially one I enjoyed more than THE ONE THAT GOT AWAY. Here’s my review of THE SLAYER AND THE SLAIN:
https://ahsweetmysteryblog.wordpress.com/2015/11/15/the-darker-reaches-helen-mccloys-the-slayer-and-the-slain/
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Pingback: Film notes: Sweet Smell of Success (1957) directed by Alexander Mackendrick – A Crime is Afoot
Here are my Goodreads notes on Gil Brewer’s The Angry Dream (1957; later reissued as The Girl from Hateville). A helterskelter ride if ever there was one.
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I have THE ANGRY DREAM in the original hardcover. I’ll have to read this and find out if its coherent and properly typeset/designed or if the flaws originate with the 1st edition. It’s logical to blame the paperback reprint house for the structural and printing flaws, but it may not be the case.
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Many thanks! I’d be very interested to know. My assumption is that hardcover editions usually get these basics right.
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Pingback: EVOLUTION OF A COURTROOM MYSTERY: Witness for the Prosecution | ahsweetmysteryblog
Here’s a little write-up about the great mystery film of 1957: Billy Wilder’s version of “Witness for the Prosecution.”
https://ahsweetmysteryblog.wordpress.com/2016/05/05/evolution-of-a-courtroom-mystery-witness-for-the-prosecution/
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Pingback: 4:50 from Paddington (1957) by Agatha Christie | crossexaminingcrime
Here is my review of 4:50 from Paddington:
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Pingback: Review: AN AIR THAT KILLS by Margaret Millar | Reactions to Reading
Here’s my first offering: Dead Man’s Riddle by Mary Kelly
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Here are some notes on Daphne du Maurier’s The Scapegoat (1957).
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I found an old Rex Stout book in a dusty pile hidden behind a plant stand and it turned out to be published in 1957. Yahoo! My post is up on Three for the Chair Three novellas and two were very good indeed. I’m eager to dig into some more Nero Wolfe now.
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This is End of Chapter by Nicholas Blake aka C Day Lewis http://clothesinbooks.blogspot.co.uk/2016/05/1957-book-end-of-chapter-by-nicholas.html
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And I’ve also done Furnished for Murder by Elizabeth Ferrars
http://clothesinbooks.blogspot.co.uk/2016/05/book-of-1957-furnished-for-murder-by.html
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Here’s a piece on the impressive 1957 Argentine movie La Casa del Ángel, directed by Leopoldo Torre Nilsson.
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Some Goodreads notes here on Fredric Brown’s The Wench is Dead (1957).
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Pingback: Seven Thunders (1957) | Noirish
And here goes with the movie Seven Thunders (1957; vt The Beasts of Marseilles), a noirish movie set during the Nazi occupation of France.
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My second 1957 book: Gownsman’s Gallows by Katharine Farrer
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Pingback: Young Don’t Cry, The (1957) | Noirish
My third and I think last movie offering: The Young Don’t Cry (1957).
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Caption for book: “How much to mail these brats to Timbuktu?
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Pingback: Crime of Passion: 1957 Crime Fiction Gathering – BNoirDetour
Here’s a film contribution to your gathering/collection on 1957: https://bnoirdetour.wordpress.com/2016/05/19/crime-of-passion-1957-crime-fiction-gathering/
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Great review, S!
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My third offering: The Litmore Snatch by Henry Wade
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Pingback: Review: A Rage in Harlem (1957) by Chester Himes – A Crime is Afoot
Pingback: The Twenty-Third Man by Gladys Mitchell – In Search of the Classic Mystery Novel
I managed to read a second: Conquest after Midnight by Berkeley Gray. First time meeting/reading Norman Conquest. A bit hokey for me. Flashes of old fashioned thriller motifs mingled with predictable plotting and very often unintentionally silly.
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The Twenty Third Man by Gladys Mitchell is up at my site now – https://classicmystery.wordpress.com/2016/05/25/the-twenty-third-man-by-gladys-mitchell/
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