An Update on the 2012 Vintage Mystery Reading Challenge

UPDATE

Unfortunately, my last post on the 2012 Vintage Mystery Reading Challenge was something of a resignation. Due to circumstances beyond my control, I decided that it was impossible for me to continue the challenge with the themes I had chosen at the start of the year. I then promised that I would finish the Challenge, but under new themes. I have finally chosen the themes and rearranged my previous reads to fit them. The results are most interesting, if I say so myself. So, without further ado, I present to you the new-and-improved reading lists for the 2012 Vintage Mystery Reading Challenge.

Lethal Locations

The Castleford Conundrum by J. J. Connington

Death in Harley Street by John Rhode

The Duke of York’s Steps by Henry Wade

Evil Under the Sun by Agatha Christie

L'Assassin habite au 21 (The Murderer Lives at No. 21) by S. A. Steeman

The Murder at the Vicarage by Agatha Christie

Strangers on a Train by Patricia Highsmith

The Spanish Cape Mystery by Ellery Queen

 
Cherchez Le Homme

The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler

The Case of the Baker Street Irregulars by Anthony Boucher

Cop Hater by Ed McBain

The Death of Laurence Vining by Alan Thomas

Hamlet, Revenge! by Michael Innes

Smallbone Deceased by Michael Gilbert

Six crimes sans assassin (Six Crimes Without a Murderer) by Pierre Boileau

The Tau Cross Mystery by J. J. Connington

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ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED 11/4/12

Ladies and gentlemen, I have some very sad news. I hate to do this, but there is simply no way I can complete the 2012 Vintage Mystery Reading Challenge as I’d intended.

When I set out to do the challenge, I had my reading scheduled, all neat and tidy. But things happened. I got hired in the local car factory’s paint shop over the summer, and was instantly so busy that I lost almost 1/3 of my year’s reading time. Once that was over, I did some renovation work around the house, mainly painting. (I took two weeks of my time after school to surprise my parents by painting the rooms downstairs while they were away.)

So now we’re in November, and when I went to order some of the items from the library system, I made a shocking discovery. While I was working away, the library got rid of most of the items I had intended to read as part of the challenge, including most of the Gladys Mitchell books I had set aside for this purpose. (Also, I just found out that Michael Gilbert’s The Black Seraphim is ineligible for the Challenge, giving me yet another hole.)

I could order these books online and read them all once they came in, but really, that would leave me without any enjoyment of the books themselves, scrambling to meet a deadline. Plus with final exams coming up, I have some more important things on my mind than reading mysteries, as blasphemous as that may sound.

I will complete the Reading Challenge, but I will do so by rearranging my reads from early this year to fit some of the pre-arranged themes. But unfortunately, it’s just not going to go as originally planned. This move will allow me some greater freedom as a reader, which will come in particularly handy come exam season.

On the bright side, the two themes I initially set out to complete have appeared surprisingly often on the blog for ineligible books. For instance, Donald E. Westlake's God Save the Mark appeared seven years too late for eligibility, but a review is coming out soon. Westlake also wrote a book called Humans in which God decides to wipe out humanity... but in Westlake's hand, even the Apocalypse can't run smoothly. (It's a book I might end up reading this year, though I'm not quite sure.) What about Keigo Higashino's Salvation of a Saint? Later on, I will be reading Devil in a Blue Dress for a class. So in a way, the themes will live on...

The ghastly priest doth reign

One of the greatest masters of the Golden Age mystery was Alfred Walter Stewart, alias J. J. Connington. I fell in love with his work last year when I read the brilliant The Case with Nine Solutions. And I am delighted that Connington is back in print! This is due to the folks at Coachwhip Publications, a print-on-demand publishing house that has recently reprinted Murder in the Maze, The Tau Cross Mystery, and The Castleford Conundrum. I’m very grateful to Chad Arment for sending me review copies of the last two books—and I decided to start with The Tau Cross Mystery, which coincidentally fits in with one of my themes for the 2012 Vintage Mystery Challenge!

The Tau Cross Mystery is the tenth novel featuring Sir Clinton Driffield, Chief Constable. And this book takes place not in the country house, but in modern-day suburbia, a setting that is quite effectively portrayed. There’s been a murder: an unknown man has been shot in a supposedly-empty flat. Sir Clinton is given too much evidence, and yet none of it seems to lead anywhere: there’s an overturned paint pot, a bloody handkerchief, an altogether mysterious business involving an unnecessary pair of shoes… and the titular “tau cross”, a gold ornament shaped like a cross modelled on the Greek letter Tau.

The Justice League

Your Excellency—

The Bill you are about to pass into law is an unjust one (…) Therefore it grieves us to warn you that unless your Government withdraws this Bill, it will be necessary to remove you, and not alone you, but any other person who undertakes to carry into law this unjust measure.

(Signed) FOUR JUST MEN.

“IT IS IMPOSSIBLE NOT TO BE THRILLED BY EDGAR WALLACE” proudly declares the back of my edition of The Four Just Men. Indeed, back in his day, Edgar Wallace was a wildly popular author. Even Hitler was a fan of his work—although you’ll never see that on a dust jacket! An enormously prolific author, Wallace holds the record among 20^th century authors as the one with the most film adaptations based on his work. He’s even more known today for the role he played as the co-creator of King Kong… and then there’s the Four Just Men series, which began with The Four Just Men in 1905.

Julian Symons might scoff at this point—Wallace can’t be a real writer! He was too popular! And he has a point, in that Wallace’s output is so immense that the quality is highly variable. But one thing remains constant, and that is the factor of unadulterated fun that goes into reading an Edgar Wallace adventure. The Four Just Men is just that—incredibly fun. There’s even an impossible crime thrown into the mix—but more on that later.

Evil Lies in Wait

Arlena Stuart Marshall is a beautiful woman, and she flares up passionate emotions wherever she goes. Men adore her, or at the very least, admire her beauty. Women despise her. It’s not the most harmonious atmosphere she brings with her to the Jolly Roger Hotel, where the great Hercule Poirot is coincidentally staying. She seems to have her sight set on young Patrick Redfern, recently married to Christine, and this relationship is tearing apart the young marriage.

Someone at last decides to stop Arlena for good, by strangling her at Pixy Cove. Hercule Poirot is asked by the local police to help out with the investigation. And thus, he begins to question everyone. There’s no shortage of suspects, he soon discovers: there’s Arlena’s husband Kenneth and his daughter Linda; there’s the dressmaker Rosamund Darnley, something of a childhood sweetheart of Kenneth Marshall’s; Patrick and Christine Redfern, whose marriage was being threatened; Revered Stephen Lane, a religious fanatic convinced Arlena was the incarnation of evil… and there’s plenty more where that came from!

A Demon in My View

I have quickly become very fond of Margaret Millar, which is why I decided to make her books an integral part of my 2012 Vintage Mystery Reading Challenge. Only Gladys Mitchell and Ellery Queen appear more frequently on my list of books to read. I decided to get the challenge underway by starting with Millar, and soon settled on The Devil Loves Me (1942). It is the third and last of Millar’s books starring Paul Prye. This is my first book read under the theme Devil Take the Hindmost.

Paul is about to get married to Miss Nora Kathleen Shane, and the ceremony is taking place in the ever-so-exotic locale of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. However, the wedding is delayed when one of the guests, Jane Stevens, drops from atropine poisoning. Paul then discovers an anonymous letter addressed to him. Part of it goes thus: I have always been intrigued by the funereal aspect of weddings and the hymeneal aspect of funerals. It is high time someone combined the two.

2012 Vintage Mystery Reading Challenge: Challenge Accepted

Bev over at My Reader’s Block has got a Vintage Mystery Challenge going this year. Now, naturally, if I’d know about it and signed up, I would have won hands-down... but as it is, I think it’s a bit late for that. However, that doesn’t stop me from planning ahead— which is what I thought of doing when I saw Bev post about the upcoming 2012 Vintage Mystery Challenge. I even had a good idea for a customized theme… but nah, the more I thought of it, the less eligible books I could come up with. Most of the titles I’d had in mind were post-1960 anyhow…

“Oh, Patrick,” you might be thinking, “you’re writing about it, so obviously you came up with something! So cut it out and just tell us!” Well, it actually started with a comment Bev herself made on Les Blatt’s post about the challenge on his excellent blog, Classic Mysteries, where she gave me a few good ideas. They started to swirl around my brain, and before I knew it, I had enough titles to fill up two lists. Naturally, I no longer had any excuse to hold out.

So, without further ado, here is my first theme for the upcoming challenge. All these books make some sort of reference to the Devil or (more generally) evil in the title, which is why I’ve named it:

Devil Take the Hindmost

Evil Under the Sun – Agatha Christie

Do Evil in Return – Margaret Millar

The Black Tower (The Tower of Evil) – John Rhode

The Devil’s Elbow – Gladys Mitchell

The Devil's Steps – Arthur W. Upfield

The Devil Loves Me – Margaret Millar

The Devil in Velvet – John Dickson Carr

The Devil at Saxon Wall – Gladys Mitchell

To contrast with this list, I’ve compiled another list of books with the opposite theme—these titles refer to angels, God, religious symbols, justice, and saints, which is why I’ve given the theme the name of:

How Like An Angel

The Black Seraphim – Michael Gilbert

The Egyptian Cross Mystery – Ellery Queen

The Four Just Men – Edgar Wallace

Lament for a Maker – Michael Innes

The Lamp of God – Ellery Queen

St. Peter’s Finger – Gladys Mitchell

The Tau Cross Mystery – J. J. Connington
Thanks to the Saint – Leslie Charteris

Naturally, these listings are only tentative and might change— in particular, there’s one impossible crime novel that will find its way on the “Devil Take the Hindmost” list if I don’t get around to it before the New Year is ushered in. But that will be seen in good time…

If you want to participate in this challenge, be sure to check out the rules and instructions here!