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Sometimes you’ve just got to turn back time and cosy up with some classic crime fiction!
In this post we reconnect with a lost Cool & Lam mystery in ‘The Knife Slipped’, test our sanity and move in with the Marbles in ‘Payment Deferred’, and bicker over our lost inheritance with the Verekers in ‘Death in the Stocks’ as they try to feign interest in their step-brother’s murder.
So make yourself a coffee and cut yourself a slice of some classic crime fiction – you won’t regret it!
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Happy Reading, Friends!
Series or Standalone? :
This is Book One in the Inspector Hannasyde series.
"Death in the Stocks" Book Blurb:
An English bobbie returning from night patrol finds a corpse in evening dress locked in the stocks on the village green. He identifies the body immediately. Andrew Vereker was not a well-loved man, and narrowing down the suspects is not going to be an easy job. The Vereker family are corrupt and eccentric – and hardly cooperative. It’s another case for the resourceful Superintendent Hannasyde, who sets off on the trail of a killer so cunning that even his consummate powers of detection are tested to their limits.
What did we think?: 5 Stars!
What a fun read! The print in the edition I had was suuuuper small, so it was a testament to the writing that my old eyes were wanting to keep picking it up. I loved the Vereker family – Ken, his sister Tony & their half brother Roger were a blast. I can’t remember reading a crime/mystery fiction where the suspects were so ambivalent to both the murder and the investigation haha – “Kenneth sat down again on the divan and leaned his elbows on his knees. “I’m sick of this murder already,” he said. “They’ll never find out who did it, so why worry?” (p41). Also the first time I’ve read characters ordering bread and butter in a café which amused me more than it should have – “Here, miss, you take these buns back to where they came from, which was the dustbin, I should think judging from the look of them, and bring a nice plate of bread-and-butter, there’s a good girl.” “Sauce!” said the waitress, tossing her head.” (p63). I’ll definitely read more from this series, and be using ‘Sauce!’ as my catchphrase from here on out. Overall I found Heyer a delightful surprise. Most of the quotes I flagged were just things that made me giggle:
“We knew he was dead! He’s been dead for years!” “Well, as a matter of fact, I never was dead.” Said XX, with the air of one making a confidence. (p95)
“But I don’t like policemen. Some people feel the same about cats. Always know the instant one comes into the room, and begin to get creepy. Not that I’ve any objection to cats, mind you.” (p105).
“I can’t stand having that superintendent bobbing in and out like a dog at a fair.” (p129)
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Series or Standalone? :
This is a standalone novel.
"Payment Deferred" Book Blurb:
Mr Marble is in serious debt, desperate for money to pay his family’s bills, until the combination of a wealthy relative, a bottle of Cyanide and a shovel offer him the perfect solution. Slowly the Marble family becomes poisoned by guilt, and caught in a trap of secrets, fear and blackmail. Then Mrs Marble ensures that retribution comes in the most unexpected of ways.
What did we think?: 5 Stars!
I really disliked the main character in this one, so massive shout out to C.S Forester for getting a visceral reaction from me! I felt this could have easily tipped into the horror genre with the suffocating atmosphere, unescapable fate, circles of influence getting smaller and smaller, dark domestic vibes and the inability to forget a crime committed in greed. I felt so bad for Annie Marble – what a desolate life, trapped in an abusive relationship with no lifeline to the outside world – other than her children who have their own focus – “… it was one thing to decide to make oneself agreeable to one’s wife, and quite another to carry it out.” (p156) We learn early on that Mr Marble doesn’t quite have all the sandwiches required for a picnic & tends towards the morose – “He supposed it would end like the cases one read about in the paper, with his children’s throats cut and himself and his wife dead of gas-poisoning.” (p5) He does have moments of self-awareness – ‘… there came moments when he saw himself in his true colours, as the cornered rat he was, struggling with the courage of desperation against the fate that would inevitably close upon him sooner or later.” (p116). The ending seemed quite abrupt but did provide some nice closure. Would read more of Forester’s work, and this was another tick in the ‘win’ column for the Penguin vintage crime series.
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Series or Standalone? :
This is part of the Cool and Lam series.
"The Knife Slipped" Book Blurb:
Lost for more than 75 years, ‘The Knife Slipped’ was meant to be the second book in the Cool and Lam series, but was shelved when Gardner’s publisher objected to (among other things) Bertha Cool’s tendency to “talk tough, swear, smoke cigarettes, and try to gyp people.” But this tale of adultery and corruption, of double-crosses and triple identities-however shocking for 1939-shines today as a glorious present from the past, a return to the heyday of private eyes and shady dames, of powerful criminals, crooked cops, blazing dialogue, and delicious plot twists. Donald Lam has never been cooler-not even when played by Frank Sinatra on the U.S. Steel Hour of Mystery in 1946. Bertha Cool has never been tougher. And Erle Stanley Gardner has never been better.
What did we think?: 5 Stars!
This was my first taste of Gardner (writing as AA Fair) and it was a hit! Picked this one up as part of the ‘Hard Case Crime’ series – such cool editions (no pun intended). Keen to get stuck into the Cool and Lam series and think I might already be a little bit in love with Bertha Cool. Anyone that insists on the appropriate rations of butter and whipping cream for every meal, is a-ok by me. “B. Cool, Investigations” is run by the strong and capable Bertha, who is described as heavy and physically intimidating – but always in a powerful and light-footed way … “Bertha Cool moving along with that flowing walk of hers which, coupled with her massive size, created such an impression of power” (p195). She’s fearless, savvy and refers to herself in the third person a lot – “Bertha Cool isn’t afraid of anything on God’s green earth,” she said. I’ll tackle anything there’s money in.” (p61). I got a kick out of how cheap everything was back in ye olde days – when Donald was negotiating his stakeout expenses … “You can get a very good hamburger sandwich for fifteen cents, and you may have to put in two or three telephone calls – say fifteen cents more. Here’s fifty cents, Donald.” (p27). Some of the references went right over my head in a cute way – “She put her head up and sailed into the joint as though she was Mrs. Astor’s pet horse.” (p50) – who dat? At one point someone actually says ‘Stick ‘em up’ which I haven’t heard outside a cartoon lol. The title phrase ‘the knife slipped’ is used a handful of times – for readers who like to cheer when they find it. I did roll my eyes at the amount of times Bertha said she was going to “cut myself a piece of cake” – meaning a slice of the action. We get it Bertha, lol – “Listen, lover, Bertha tried to cut herself a piece of cake. The knife slipped. Bertha almost cut her fingers.” (p179). All in all, a great intro to a celebrated author.
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