Pretty Sinister Books

THE STORY: Donald Chadmore, newly released from prison for an assault charge has come to his uncle Theodore's home in order to protect him from a possible attack.

THE STORY: James "Peter" Piper, bespectacled, lanky reporter "with an ugly face" working for the Herald somewhere in northern California, is allowed access to the murder scene at a religious cult's colony.

Just a quick note for any of the Spanish language readers out there.

THE STORY: Charles Graham makes a visit to Chicago's Century of Progress exposition and while passing through the Belgravian Pavilion he sees a man open a doorway.

"Wonder of wonders!

THE STORY: Noel Ross, ex-police sergeant with Scotland Yard, has just ad an operation to remove shrapnel from his head.

There is nothing more upsetting than falling for the hype on a book jacket.

Paolo Levin, concert pianist living in Rome, is being followed by an emaciated and crippled young man.

THE STORY: Liz & Bob Macklin purchase an old home in Marshall, Massachusetts and begin an extensive rehab project transforming the gloomy, dark paneled, house into a bright, livable home.

This bookshop receipt was Left Inside a copy of The Wallet of Kai Lung that I purchased many moons ago from John Chandler's long-lived but sadly now defunct bookstore Bookman's Corner on Broadway and Wellington in the Lakeview neighborhood of Chicago.

THE STORY Elmer Bliss, reporter, is hired by a mysterious gentleman called Philander Summerfield to look into a recent Peter Somhers murder case that he believes was never solved.

These bits of ephemera are rather remarkable for both being well over 100 years old.

The results of the Cecil M.

On rare occasions I find a letter still in its envelope inside a book.

A couple of years ago I bought a small pile of rare hardcover editions of Cecil M.

For those among you who were with me from the start of this blog back in 2011 you may recall I had a somewhat regular feature (at one time weekly) in which I share photos of objects, mostly paper ephemera, found in the old books I own.

THE STORY: Matt Galt, Scottish ex-pat and private detective with a middling business, lives and works in Stratford primarily because he is an aficionado of the Bard.

Here we go again.

THE STORY: Sentence Deferred (1939) tells of how circumstantial evidence and coincidence can complicate a murder investigation.

There will always be Sherlock Holmes pastiches.

THE STORY: Malcolm Drake has returned from his WW2 Navy service a damaged man.

Lonely war veteran Major Johnson while doing his best to be neighborly and social finds himself through utter chance implicated in the death of an 11 year-old girl he picked up as a hitchhiker.

When last I wrote of Jean Leslie's professor detective, Peter Ponsonby, several years ago (One Cried Murder) he was faced with the apparent suicide of a psychology professor that turned out to be nasty murder.

Misanthropic George Potterne is found shot in his back at his solitary retreat, a one room cottage known as The Lake House (1946) a five minute walk from his main house on the estate known as Melcote Priory.

Reporters always seem to be the best crime fiction writers.