Tag Archives: CWA

My best of the hundred best crime and mystery stories

(aka Blogger tries clickbait headlines) Earlier in the week I announced that I’d completed reviewing all 106 in the CWA’s list of the 100 best crime and mystery books, and promised to let you know which books I thought genuinely … Continue reading

More Galleries | Tagged , | 24 Comments

Achievement Unlocked: The CWA top 100

This gallery contains 3 photos.

Since beginning Past Offences I have been quietly working my way through the CWA’s 1990 list of the 100 best crime books, a list which begins or end with The Four Just Men (#100) and ends or begins with The … Continue reading

More Galleries | Tagged , | 16 Comments

Agatha Christie: And Then There Were None

This gallery contains 1 photo.

If this had been an old house, with creaking wood, and dark shadows, and heavily panelled walls, there might have been an eerie feeling. But this house was the essence of modernity. There were no dark corners – no possible sliding panels – … Continue reading

More Galleries | Tagged , , , , , , , | 7 Comments

Josephine Tey: The Daughter of Time

This gallery contains 1 photo.

Buy The Daughter of Time at Amazon.com (US visitors) Everything in that history had been hearsay. And if there was one word that a policeman loathed more than another it was hearsay. Especially when applied to evidence.

More Galleries | Tagged , , , , , , | 8 Comments

Dorothy L. Sayers: Gaudy Night

This gallery contains 1 photo.

There is no chance assembly of people who cannot make lively conversation about drains.

More Galleries | Tagged , , , | 20 Comments

Raymond Chandler: The Long Goodbye

This gallery contains 1 photo.

Crime isn’t a disease, it’s a symptom. Cops are like a doctor that gives you aspirin for a brain tumour, except that the cop would rather cure it with a blackjack. We’re a big, rough, rich, wild people and crime … Continue reading

More Galleries | Tagged , , , , , | 7 Comments

Martin Cruz Smith: Gorky Park

This gallery contains 1 photo.

‘I just wanted you to know exactly where you stood. You’re not here legally. You’re not here illegally either, because then you’d have a leg to stand on. You’re simply not here at all, and there’s no way you can … Continue reading

More Galleries | Tagged , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Reginald Hill: Deadheads

This gallery contains 1 photo.

‘Clever fellow, our Patrick. Very clever.’ ‘Sir,’ said Pascoe determinedly. ‘Do you still suspect him of something?’ ‘Me? No. Why should I? A lot of people have died, it’s true. But there’s always people dying, isn’t there? And we’ve no … Continue reading

More Galleries | Tagged , , , , , | 4 Comments

Lionel Davidson: The Rose of Tibet

This gallery contains 1 photo.

‘I understand it’s a fine place. they’re very comfortable there. They have good food, doctors, everything. It’s actually a monastery for women. What they call it, is Yamdring.’

More Galleries | Tagged , , , , , , | 8 Comments

John Dickson Carr: The Devil in Velvet

This gallery contains 1 photo.

I had been long anticipating the moment when my reading of the CWA’s top 100 crime and mystery books eventually brought me to The Devil in Velvet. It’s going to take a lot to beat the oddity of this book’s … Continue reading

More Galleries | Tagged , , , , , , , | 11 Comments