Tag: mystery
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Notes on Notes on Poe
From Literary Kicks, here’s a fascinating article written by Michelle Glauser about notes found in a book about Edgar Allan Poe. Glauser begins: Have you ever found something in an old book that took you by surprise? It’s not unusual to find a name or maybe even a phone number. Sometimes you’ll find evidence that…
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Locked Room Mysteries
One of my goals is to write a good “locked room” mystery with an original solution. You know, a murder that takes place under seemingly impossible conditions. I refuse to believe all the ideas have been used up. In the meantime, here is a mammoth 7 part review of a locked room anthology that appears…
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Hidden Wadsworth Camp
See more hidden room images at A Pretty Book. Moving right along with my Wadsworth Camp research, I just found out that Camp’s The Abandoned Room was originally as The Secret Room Murders under the pseudonym Tory Hageman. I don’t think Amazon.com will mind if I quote them directly: Tory Hageman was a house pseudonym used…
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Bill’s Bookshelf # 4: Alfred Hitchcock Presents…Books
By the early 1960s, Alfred Hitchcock was riding an enormous wave of popularity. His television program, Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1955 – 1962), had made the director a household name. 1960 saw the release of his highest grossing and arguably most famous film, Psycho, followed sensationally in 1963 by The Birds. I’m a “baby boomer.” Watching…
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Mystery Marsh
I came away from day two of the UNF Writer’s Workshop with a better understanding of the craft of writing. I feel exhilarated, but also a little tired. Tonight, in lieu of a lenthy blog entry, please allow me to share this link to the website of Glynn Marsh Alam, whose topic at the Conference was How to Keep Your…
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Eyes Over Romania: Dracula Survives
Claudia Moscovici, via Literary Kicks, says, “As a native Romanian who is also a novelist, I’m very intrigued and, frankly, somewhat baffled by America’s obsession with vampires and the Dracula legend.” Read the entire article here, including Claudia’s list of five possible reasons we are fascinated by vampires, followed by some discussion.
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Mysteries of London
G. W. M. Reynolds (July 23, 1814 – June 19, 1879) is not as famous today as Dickens or Thackery, but during his lifetime, he was arguably more popular. His serial The Mysteries of London (1844), sold 40,000 copies a week in installments known as “penny dreadfuls” before it was issued in bound volumes. Wikipedia tells us, “The Mysteries of London and its sequel…
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Old, Dark Houses
“The Oaks” mansion in The Bat (1959, Liberty Pictures), one of several movies based on the book and play of the same name by Mary Roberts Rinehart. Click on the mansion, if you dare. Click on the picture From the PBS web site, Masterpiece Mystery Casebook Index, here’s Ron Miller on that classic staple of mystery fiction,…