Every month on Past Offences I gather together blog posts about crime fiction written or filmed in a particular year. I’ve called it Crimes of the Century. On his second go, JJ from the Invisible Event has picked 1930 for September.
There is something about this picture that makes me want to propose a caption competition as well…
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 
Well, I’ll buck my current trend and go for Peril At Cranbury Hall by John Rhode. Have you heard of him?
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I liked that one. Lucky you to have found a copy! I’ll be interested in your take. I called this “a great book for anyone interested in a training manual on how to solve a fair-play mystery novel” when I reviewed it back in Dec 2011. There’s a complex cipher in the book that requires a mathematical mind to understand. You may like that part!
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Looking forward to it. I picked it up on Ebay for a tenner a couple of months ago. Not a first edition, but not far off – a “cheap edition” I think. Looking at Abebooks, where the cheapest available is £65, it looks like “Lucky” is understating it.
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Whoo whoo! An actual “Golden Age” year! And what a year! (Thanks, JJ and Rich!)
Murder at the Vicarage (Miss Marple’s debut)
The French Powder Mystery (Ellery Queen’s second book and an improvement on The Roman Hat Mystery)
It Walks by Night (Carr’s debut!!!)
The Scarab Murder Case (S.S. Van Dine)
The Longer Bodies (Gladys Mitchell)
Strong Poison AND The Documents in the Case (Sayers)
The Second Shot (Anthony Berkeley)
The Secret of High Eldersham (John Rhode, writing as Miles Burton)
Mystery Mile (Margery Allingham)
Sir John Magill’s Last Journey (Freeman Wills Crofts)
Charlie Chan Carries On (Earl Derr Biggers)
The Maltese Falcon (Dashiell Hammett) – THE MALTESE FALCON, FOLKS!!!!
Mr. Pottermack’s Oversight (R. Austin Freeman)
Beggar’s Choice and The Coldstone (Patricia Wentworth)
Dead Man’s Quarry (Ianthe Jerrold)
The Crystal Beads Murder (Annie Haynes)
The Person Called Z and The Mystery on the Moor (Jefferson Farjeon)
I’m sure people will add to this list! I’m thinking JJ and I should do a double post comparing Miss Marple to Bencolin! Whaddaya say??
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Very extensive list. Hard to add many more really. Surprised you didn’t include The Mysterious Mr Quinn though. Other options include:
Murder by Latitude by Rufus King
The Dying Alderman by Henry Wade
Behind the Screen by The Detection Club
Half Mast Murder and Death in a Deck-Chair by Milward Kennedy
The League of Discontent and The four Armourers by Francis Beeding
As to what I will review I’m not sure yet. Nothing in my TBR pile. May re-read a Christie or a Sayers.
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In addition,you can add Pinehurst by John Rhode and The Hardway Diamonds Mystery by Miles Burton aka… well, you know.
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Was kinda expecting a flood of Wade reviews in light of The Murder Room publishing him in his entirety, but so far nothing. Might try and fit Dying Alderman in as it’s apparently a good one….
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It’s actually the only Wade I’ve read, and it is pretty good.
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Thank you, Brad and Kate, for these lists! I’m reading Mignon Eberhart’s While the Patient Slept, but I’ve just ordered Half-Mast Murder by Milward Kennedy, and plan to make that my second pick for 1930. Plus, I haven’t read either author before, so I get to discover new stories and the writers that go with them.
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If I have time to look at It Walks by Night then a Marple/Bencolin post might be on, sure. Could be interesting!
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Ooh, I’ve got Crystal Beads on my Kindle.
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That picture most definitely warrants (ahem) a caption competition!
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I’m in! I’ve got The French Powder Mystery, Murder by Latitude, and The Hardway Diamonds Mystery all sitting on the TBR pile. Off to see what other 1930 treasures I might be able to explore…
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Other possibilities on the TBR stack:
The Wheelchair Corpse by Will Levinrew
The Hammersmith Murders by David Frome
The Mystery of Burnleigh Manor by Walter Livington
Lock 14 by Georges Simenon
About the Murder of Geraldine Foster by Anthony Abbott
The Ticker Tape Murder by Milton Propper
The Rynox Murder Mystery by Philip MacDonald
Giant’s Bread by Mary Westmacott (Agatha Christie)
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Is there such a thing as TBR pile envy?
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You absolutely have to read THE WHEELCHAIR CORPSE, Bev! Please include it for this challenge. It’s one of my favorite “alternative crime” books. Utterly loopy and the body count is ridiculously high. Everyone must read a Professor Brierley mystery before they die, I say. HA!
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Kate: I have way too many books on my TBR stack (not that I’m willing to part with any). I just can’t resist book sales and used book stores whenever they come my way.
John: I absolutely plan on fitting The Wheelchair Corpse into the Sept TBR pile.
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I can proffer Ellery Queen’s French Powder Mystery, Berkeley’s The Second Shot, and possibly more as I sort through my TBR. Was all ready to go on 1932, see, so this sudden change has caught me somewhat on the hop! More news as I get it…
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Well you all know that I probably have 57 or more books from 1930. :^) Since there are several lists here of both familiar and the obscure (thanks Bev for including ol’ forgotten Milton Propper from Philadelphia) I’ll not add more names and titles. I’ll try to dig up an obscure American writer or two, but my guess is that my 1930 books are mostly well known Brits.
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Well, John, I owe having Milton Propper on my TBR pile to you–thanks to your generosity on that last mystery quiz with prizes that you hosted!
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This provides another reason to try an author new to me: the only book on my shelf from Mignon G. Eberhart just happens to be 1930’s While the Patient Slept. I will give that one an examination…
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I’m looking forward to The Maltese Falcon. Have seen the film several times but, believe or not, I’ve haven’t read it so far and it’s on my TBR pile. Now I hve no excuse. Am also interested in reading Dead Man’s Quarry and have also on my TBR several Edgar Wallace’s books published in 1930.
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I will be reading The Diamond Feather by Helen Reilly. I may also read Strong Poison by Sayers (for the third time) but probably cannot get both reviewed in time.
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This sounds fun. I may have a copy of The Maltese Falcon around here somewhere…. Wikipedia says it first appeared in 1929 serialized in The Black Mask. But since the book would have come out later I think it should still count.
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Pingback: AGATHA CHRISTIE AND THE DEADLY DUO | ahsweetmysteryblog
Pingback: THE SPINSTER’S DEBUT: The Murder At the Vicarage | ahsweetmysteryblog
Happy September, everyone! And happy 1930!! Here’s my take on Christie’s classic, The Murder at the Vicarage. https://ahsweetmysteryblog.wordpress.com/2016/09/01/the-spinsters-debut-the-murder-at-the-vicarage/
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Pingback: ‘Tasteless and immoral’: the #1954book results | Past Offences: Classic crime, thrillers and mystery book reviews
My first 1930 boo: The Wheelchair Corpse by Will Levinrew
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the “k” got lost somewhere….
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Boo to you too!
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🙂
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Probably do Strong Poison by Dorothy L Sayers
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And here it is, just getting in under the wire on 30th September!
http://clothesinbooks.blogspot.co.uk/2016/09/book-of-1930-strong-poison-by-dorothy-l.html
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And a second 1930s book (or “boo” as I said previously): The Mystery of Burnleigh Manor by Walter Livingston
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Pingback: #138: The Second Shot (1930) by Anthony Berkeley | The Invisible Event
Here’s my first:The Second Shot by Anthony Berkeley.
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It Walks By Night is up on my blog – Rhode’s Peril At Cranbury Hall would be too if I hadn’t left the book at work on Friday, and a third book should be along before October too…
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Thanks again for this wonderful monthly contest. Here is the link to my review of WHILE THE PATIENT SLEPT by Mignon Eberhart. Halfway through reading Milward Kennedy’s HALF-MAST MURDER, which will be my second…
http://www.jasonhalf.com/blog/book-review-while-the-patient-slept-1930-by-mignon-g-eberhart
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Pingback: Review: Pietr the Latvian, 1930 (Inspector Maigret #1) by Georges Simenon (Trans: David Bellos) – A Crime is Afoot
Here’s my first 1930: https://jiescribano.wordpress.com/2016/09/11/review-pietr-the-latvian-1930-inspector-maigret-1-by-georges-simenon-trans-david-bellos/ (as could not be otherwise)
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Pingback: Review: The Coldstone (1930) by Patricia Wentworth – A Crime is Afoot
Pingback: Peril At Cranbury Hall by John Rhode – In Search of the Classic Mystery Novel
Here’s my second review – Peril At Cranbury Hall by that Rhode bloke. And (for a change for me on Crimes Of The Century) it’s a bit of a cracker…
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Pingback: The Case of Sir Adam Braid (1930) by Molly Thynne | crossexaminingcrime
Here is my review of Molly Thynne’s The Case of Sir Adam Braid (1930):
https://crossexaminingcrime.wordpress.com/2016/09/14/the-case-of-sir-adam-braid-1930-by-molly-thynne/
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I’ve read three and here’s the first of the lot: The Affair of the Gallows Tree One of the most unusual detective novels I’ve read in a long time. More like a western/detective novel amalgam with some very inventive touches throughout the intriguing story.
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My first for the month: Strong Poison.
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My review for HALF-MAST MURDER by Milward Kennedy.
I would welcome any additional perspectives from you well-read mystery fans about Kennedy’s books. This was my first encounter with this author, and perhaps I got hold of the wrong end of the elephant. Feel free to drop me a line if you want to share your thoughts. All best — Jason
http://www.jasonhalf.com/blog/book-review-half-mast-murder-1930-by-milward-kennedy
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Pingback: Review: PIETR THE LATVIAN by Georges Simenon | Reactions to Reading
#2 is up now. Twice Dead by E.M. Channon. If I reviewed on Twitter it would be a brief one word summation: Meh.
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JD Carr’s debut novel, It Walks by Night, is such a milestone that I convinced JJ to guest star and be interviewed about it! 🙂
https://ahsweetmysteryblog.wordpress.com/2016/09/22/you-always-remember-your-first-car/
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Pingback: Review: The Maltese Falcon (1930) by Dashiell Hammett – A Crime is Afoot
My third is not a milestone by any means, but a very fine detective novel all the same. Third time’s the charm, I guess. Has a very well done climactic courtroom trial with all sorts of legal trickery reminiscent of the best of Post and Gardner. All about the murder of an IRA terrorist. Wild Justice by George A Birmingham. So rich and insightful, gave me a lot to mull over when I was done.
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Pingback: The Four Armourers by Francis Beeding – In Search of the Classic Mystery Novel
The deeply disappointing The Four Armourers by Francis Beeding makes it three reviews from me so far – with luck, there’ll be a fourth soon.
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My post for a 1930 book is for The Diamond Feather by Helen Reilly, posted on September 21st at Bitter Tea and Mystery. My favorite Helen Reilly book so far.
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