Tag: Agatha Christie

The Case of the Christie Conspiracy wins Agatha Award

Kudos to Kelly Oliver and The Case of the Christie Conspiracy for a well-deserved Agatha Award. After all, it doesn’t get much cozier than a murder mystery with the legendary Golden Era detection club as suspects.

A murder of a fellow author is followed by Dame Agatha’s much speculated upon disappearance, making her a prime suspect. Eliza Baker, secretary to club president Dorothy Sayers, is not so sure and she and the group’s newest member, Theo, set out to investigate.

Oliver does a brilliant job of setting the stage and bringing readers along on a fabulous mystery in true Christie style. I also loved the perfectly-balanced tension and rivalry between the two amateur detectives.

I highly recommend The Case of the Christie Conspiracy to cozy mystery lovers and Agatha Christie devotees. You’ll love it!

Order online or buy now at your favorite independent bookstore. Mine is Sellers Books and Art in Jim Thorpe, PA.

Review by Di Prokop, More Mystery Please

So much to love

There is so much to love in Ragnar Jónasson’s The Mysterious Case of the Missing Crime Writer that I have forgiven his cliffhanger of an ending.

My introduction to the acclaimed Icelandic author first came in his A Christmas Puzzle short story, where I felt as if I’d discovered a lost Christie or Marsh manuscript.

Those Golden-era crime fiction feels remain front and center in his current cozy, as we find our protagonist Helgi Reykdal tucked in at his late father’s bookshop, reading an Icelandic translation of Dame Agatha’s Peril at End House, during a visit home to be with his ailing mother.

Then comes a call from his boss at the Reykjavik police department, who offers him the chance of a lifetime — to solve the disappearance of Iceland’s preeminent crime writer, Elin Jónsdóttir.

With the help of some classic missing person mysteries to inspire him, Helgi sets off to solve the case that could make or break his career. With a rich cast of characters/suspects, lots of secrets, twists and turns, not to mention a Fatal Attraction–esque ex, The Mysterious Case of the Missing Crime Writer is an absolute delight, even if everything isn’t tied up in a bow. I look forward to reading the next installment of the series.

I highly recommend The Mysterious Case of the Missing Crime Writer to cozy, Golden-age and international mystery fans. I received an advanced reader copy of the English translation from St. Martins Press/Minotaur Books, courtesy of NetGalley.

Order online or buy now at your favorite independent bookstore. Mine is Sellers Books and Art in Jim Thorpe, PA.

Review by Di Prokop, More Mystery Please

Ware’s Zero Days offers heart-pumping suspense

Ruth Ware’s Zero Days will have you hanging from your fingertips right along protagonist Jack Cross as she races to find out who killed her husband before she’s locked up for his murder or much worse.

The international bestselling author of The It Girl has been referred to as the new Agatha Christie. In fact, the British novelist’s short story Miss Marple’s Christmas was included in the New York Times bestseller Marple: Twelve New Mysteries.

Zero Days, however, is no cozy and Jack Cross is no Jane Marple. Instead of knitting needles in her bag, Jack has tools to pick locks, break into buildings and hack computer systems for corporate security reports. She is also smart and brave and tough and sad, her physical pain and grief raw and palpable on the page, all the while moving the story’s pace in this one-day-read-page-turning-heart-pumping suspense thriller.

I highly recommend Zero Days and look forward to reading more Ruth Ware. I received this free egalley from Simon & Schuster, courtesy of NetGalley. This review is fair and impartial.

Order online or buy now at your favorite independent bookstore. Mine is Sellers Books and Art in Jim Thorpe, PA.
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Marple: Twelve New Mysteries

By Agatha Christie; Naomi Alderman; Leigh Bardugo; Alyssa Cole; Lucy Foley; Elly Griffiths; Natalie Haynes; Jean Kwok; Val McDermid; Karen M. McManus; Dreda Say Mitchell, Kate Mosse; Ruth Ware

From the moment I saw the cover of Marple: Twelve New Mysteries, I couldn’t wait to get my hands on it.

These are the first Miss Marple stories authorized by Agatha Christie’s estate since 1976 when Sleeping Murder was published posthumously – the year Dame Agatha died. 
Readers first met Jane Marple in the 1927 short story The Tuesday Night Club followed by the novel Murder at the Vicarage in 1930. We’ve missed her.

The authors of these new short stories captured the voice and the knowing glint in the eye of the beloved spinster crime-solver bringing us back to familiar characters and settings.  

In the first story, Evil in Small Places, author Lucy Foley nails it, placing St. Mary Meade’s own Miss Marple at the home of a school friend in another village, sitting by the fire knitting a jumper (sweater) for her nephew Raymond, before murder most foul occurs.

It wasn’t until the second story, Val McDermid’s The Second Murder at the Vicarage that I realized Miss Marple’s voice in my head was actually that of Geraldine McEwen, the late actor who played her in a dozen films I’ve watched countless times on PBS, Acorn and BritBox.

In The Murdering Sort by Karen M. McManus, I enjoyed meeting Jane Marple’s great-great niece Nicola and wonder if enough detecting genes run in the family for more mysteries to solve.

I’m not sure if I have a favorite of the collection but Elly Griffiths’ Murder at Villa Rosa would be in the running. It was interesting to see Jane Marple have an impact on the story set on the Amalfi Coast without her being the protagonist.
 
These tales also find her in the English countryside, London, New York, Cape Cod, on a cruise ship to Hong Kong, all courtesy of her novelist nephew Raymond West. She always did get around.

While new books by my favorite authors are usually devoured, this Marple edition was savored.

​I highly recommend Marple: Twelve New Mysteries. In fact, it would be a perfect holiday gift for any Christie fan on your list – one story for each of the 12 days of Christmas.

I received a free egalley courtesy of William Morrow, a division of Harper Collins, through NetGalley. This review is fair and impartial.

Order online or buy now at your favorite independent bookstore. Mine is Sellers Books and Art in Jim Thorpe, PA.

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