"The Avenging Chance" by Anthony Berkeley (1929)

A complimentary box of chocolates leads to tragedy.

Story Review: "The Avenging Chance" is the original kernel of Anthony Berkeley's much expanded novel The Poisoned Chocolates Case (1929). In both a man's wife dies after inadvertently receiving a poisoned box of chocolates. The novel has a different solution than the short story (and different character names). In fact, the novel lavishly provides no less than six reasonable explanations to the mystery, including the resolution from "The Avenging Chance," which is one of the "wrong" theories. Unlike the novel, the story is short, concise, and to the point, efficiently wrapping up a perfect enigma. Oddly, the story and the novel were published the same year, but the novel though written second was apparently published first. A shame since the story provides a sort of red herring for the novel. In a more perfect world "The Avenging Chance" and The Poisoned Chocolates Case would always be published together.  [4★]

Two-Way Murder by E.C.R. Lorac (2021)

A previously unpublished novel presenting murder in the fog on a rural road near the south coast of England.

Mystery Review: Two-Way Murder was apparently written around 1956, but "lost" until it was published by the British Library in 2021 as by E.C.R. Lorac (1884-1958), although she'd planned to use the name "Mary Le Bourne." Thanks to Martin Edwards for his helpful Introduction. This novel doesn't feature either of her long time series detectives Inspector Macdonald or Julian Rivers. Instead we have a duo of Inspector Turner and Inspector Waring from the local police, making it the odd standalone for Lorac (or her alter ego, Carol Carnac). The novel appears at least somewhat unfinished in that it could have used a final good editing to remove the last-draft evidences. Two-Way Murder also desperately needed a map of the region as much of the novel consists of repeatedly driving though a maze of roads and country lanes in a way that quickly becomes complicated. The novel was a step forward for Lorac in technique. She uses a shifting narrator or "detective," turning from Macbane to Waring to feisty housekeeper Alice Ridley, all of whom dig into the mystery. She also uses sets of "doubles," balancing the Rosemary Reeve a powerful and terrible termagant with Dilys Maine, the quiet and obedient. There's also Inspector Turner who operates by the book, one step at a time, in comparison and contrast with Inspector Waring who's instinctive and holistic. Two-Way Murder is a clever mystery, with an interesting cast of characters, family difficulties and a little romance along with a theme on the ethics of withholding information from the police. This fits well with the work of the Golden Age group Allingham, Christie, Marsh, and Sayers, and perhaps others like Christianna Brand, Gladys Mitchell, and Mary Roberts Rinehart are due for a rediscovery. And that's just the women! Lorac's books are a little less tidy and tight than Christie's, but she can certainly be spoken about in the greater list of UK (and US) mystery writers.  [4★]

Murder by Matchlight by E.C.R. Lorac (1945)

A ghostly murderer strikes during a blackout in wartime London.

Mystery Review: Murder by Matchlight has Chief Inspector Macdonald (in his 26th book) investigating a murder that occurred in front of witnesses of a victim who doesn't exist. E.C.R. Lorac (1894-1958) vividly captures the war's effects on London, the Blitz and combined feelings of fear and defiance, the blackouts and sudden deaths and bombed-out streets. This isn't simply a setting but inextricably intertwined with the stories of the characters' lives and integral to the mystery itself. There are a lot of coincidences in this rather Baroque mystery well balanced by the interesting and idiosyncratic characters. In Murder by Matchlight we learn that Macdonald was an Oxford man as were so many of his detecting peers, such as Wimsey, Fell, and Alleyn. As usual Lorac also brings forth a philosophical theme for the reader to ponder while reading, here the validity of vigilantism. Whether it's ever acceptable to take the law into our own hands, whether the death of a bad person is no loss, whether the end justifies the means. In each of her books Lorac develops a moral issue for consideration. Her books always begin better than they end and there are some clumsy moments in Murder by Matchlight -- Lorac's plots are never as tidy as Christie's, but whose are, anyway. This volume also includes a very short story by Lorac from 1953, "Permanent Policeman," that turns on a matter of hairdressing that's less revelatory and relevant now, and has been used by others since.  [3½★]

A Taste for Poison by Neil Bradbury (2022)

An accessible and entertaining handbook and history of eleven toxins.

Nonfiction Review: A Taste for Poison is a book one may feel somewhat self-conscious about reading, especially if you have an elderly but wealthy great-uncle in Michigan. This is a perfect companion guidebook for mystery readers. Bradbury acknowledges Agatha Christie several times, noting that she used one poison alone (cyanide) to kill off eighteen characters in her books. Being a "trained and certified pharmacist during World War I" prepared her well for such plot twists. A Taste for Poison is a quick read and includes numerous true-crime recapitulations of the many notorious poisonings of history, including the Borgias (though not Socrates). Some examples ripped from recent headlines. A section is included explaining in granular detail how each poison works at the molecular level in the organs, as well as the symptoms and visible effects (some horrific) on the body. Readers will be able to determine the accuracy of the narrative descriptions of poisonings by their favorite crime authors. Budding mystery writers will find this invaluable. Also mentioned in passing is the "poison garden" of Alnwick Castle in Northumberland (owned by the 12th Duke thereof) which contains "more than one hundred different species of deadly plants." Although hemlock wasn't mentioned in the book I'm sure it's in the garden. In the past, poisonings were often attributed to natural causes such as infectious diseases with similar symptoms. Unfortunately, even in suspicious cases there was no way to detect the presence of poison. Now, however, examiners can determine both the presence and quantity of poison in a body. Bradbury asserts that murder by poison is rarer now, but still occurs although "the likelihood of getting away with such murders in the present day is almost nonexistent." Whew! A Taste for Poison is simultaneously informative, light hearted, and horrifying. Photographs are included. With numerous additional toxins available, there's the opportunity for a sequel.  [5★]

Loaded by Dylan Jones (2023)

An oral history of the legendary Velvet Underground.

Nonfiction Review: Loaded reminded me of the best quote ever about a rock band: "Only a thousand people bought the first Velvet Underground album, but every one of them started a group." That just about says it all. Loaded is a book (sort of) about that influential band. Subtitled "The Life (and Afterlife) of the Velvet Underground," Dylan Jones is more interested, obsessed with even, in Andy Warhol and his coterie -- as if Jones had written a biography of Warhol, couldn't sell it, and so overhauled it as an account of the VU. Of course Lou Reed will get an outsize number of pages, he was the heart of the band. John Cale warrants even more space than given here. Even Nico, who sang lead on just three songs on one album, is worthy of a fair share of attention. But I wish more pages in Loaded had been devoted to the music, the songs, the sound, the albums, and the people who created it all instead of the hangers-on at the Factory. But if you're an Andy Warhol acolyte (and he deserves them) then this will please you no end. If you're looking for more on Sterling Morrison, Moe Tucker, and the Yule brothers there's not as much as you might've hoped. There's not even enough good gossip, despite this being an oral history with periodic notes by Jones giving context and history. There's also a quite a few inaccuracies and incorrect facts (e.g., Jimmy Page did not replace Eric Clapton in the Yardbirds). Loaded is good enough for what it is, but a great band deserves a great biography.  [3½★]

All the Sinners Bleed by S.A. Cosby (2023)

Investigation into the murder of a popular school teacher opens a bloody can of maggots for the first Black sheriff of Charon County, Virginia.

Mystery Review: All the Sinners Bleed starts with a school shooting and quickly escalates from there. This is the fourth crime novel by S.A. Cosby (my second) and it's another intense, tough, and compelling story confirming Faulkner's statement about the past. Not a mystery, more a thriller and police procedural that mixes in-depth characters with occasional graphic violence. Cosby wonderfully evokes the landscape and way of life in rural Virginia, though some of the characters are like no one you'd ever find there. In an interview Cosby noted being concerned that his writing might be too "country" to get published. That wasn't the problem with All the Sinners Bleed; the "country" was the best part. No, some of the narrative is more preachy, politically correct, and "city" than you'd ever find in the Virginia backwaters. Compare "Scott was the type of man who complained about the world being too sensitive these days without ever acknowledging the irony of his own fragility or privilege" with "Titus thought Scott was a spoiled brat." Which sounds more like rural Virginia? Any thoughts about "identity" and culture wars there are well-hidden beneath a thick crust of insular Southern suspicion. (Yes, I suffered serious trauma in rural Virginia.) But it's easy to overlook the odd break of verisimilitude in All the Sinners Bleed when the story keeps propelling the reader nonstop to the next page. I only complain because all the rest of the book is of such high quality that I expected more of the same. I have two more books by Cosby to read and then I'll be waiting impatiently for the next, along with everyone else.  [4★]

Troubled Daughters, Twisted Wives ed. by Sarah Weinman (2013)

Anthology of 14 stories plumbing the depths of domestic suspense.

Mystery Review: Troubled Daughters, Twisted Wives, a collection of 14 stories by female authors published between 1943 and 1977, warns us that things are not what they seem to be and people are not who we think they are. This is often true in mysteries when the truth is obscured until the end. In the best of these stories, however, some mystery, the "why," still remains. These tales of "domestic suspense" lean toward the dark, creepy, demented, even mildly supernatural. The "twisted" of the title, hinting at psychopathy, is appropriate even though the stories are based on family, or the lack thereof, and rooted in the mundane, everyday lives of middle America (mostly). The narratives here are less predictable and formulaic than usually found in the crime genre. Although the stories span four decades only one was published in the Fifties, which seems the height of the domestic suspense era, but maybe that's just in the movies. Troubled Daughters, Twisted Wives features notable names like Patricia Highsmith and Shirley Jackson, along with some of my personal favorites such as Dorothy B, Hughes and Margaret Millar, middling-known writers such as Vera Caspary (author of Laura), Charlotte Armstrong, Dorothy Salisbury Davis, Elisabeth Sanxay Holding, and Celia Fremlin. The other five authors were new to me but no less interesting. As with any selection there are hits and misses with two or three being a bit simple or just whooshed me entirely. "Louisa, Please Come Home," "Lavender Lady," "Sugar and Spice," "The Purple Shroud," and "The Stranger in the Car" were the stories I particularly enjoyed, but I easily could see readers picking five others as their favorites. Margaret Millar's "The People Across the Canyon" seemed a perfect Shirley Jackson pastiche. What also struck me about Troubled Daughters, Twisted Wives is just how professional the writing is, how well-written in structure and tone. These people wrote for a living. A job well done.  [4★]

Razorblade Tears by S.A. Cosby (2021)

Two fathers seek revenge for the murder of their estranged gay sons.

Mystery Review: Razorblade Tears is the third of S.A. Cosby's four crime novels (my first). The book, though a thriller as much as a mystery, is heavy on characterization without the typical quirky clichés and explores genuine issues of family, race, and sexuality. There's some graphic violence thrown in among more sensitive moments of loss and love (while being circumspect about the sex). This is an accomplished and successful novel. Cosby has mentioned influences such as Walter Mosley (Easy Rawlins comes in for a shout out), Dennis Lehane, Elmore Leonard, Ross Macdonald, and John D. MacDonald, not to mention Chandler, Hammett, and Arthur Conan Doyle. Pretty good company and some influences are more visible than others. I see a bit of Jim Thompson as well, but whether he's an influence I see Cosby as an heir to James Crumley (that's a compliment, see The Last Good Kiss) in his ability to balance thoughtful insights with graphic violence along with a certain level of alcoholism. Crumley was far heavier on the wish-fulfillment sex and (slapstick) humor, but Cosby's portrayal is a heckuva a lot more realistic. One caveat is a jarring note of piously woke preachiness, okay in its place but is at odds with rednecks and vigilante violence in Southern backwaters while breaking fingers, putting a corpse through a chipper, and some gay-panic-defense-level brutality. It's hard to see "a hell-raising, whiskey-drinking, hard-loving redneck son of a bitch" saying "Thank God for white privilege." These folks just aren't high on the wokeness quotient. But maybe that was required in 2021. Other than that Razorblade Tears contains a high level of writing and plotting throughout. No meandering and meaningless plot points to fill out the story. One character says, "Folks like to talk about revenge like it's a righteous thing but it's just hate in a nicer suit." Anger is also omnipresent, with some stemming from the two father's self-hatred for not reconciling with their sons before their deaths. The rattlesnake wariness of the bromance between the two fathers in the strong core of the novel: "Had he really called Buddy Lee his friend ... they'd killed a man together, so they were more than acquaintances, but ... ."  Razorblade Tears is just the first. I'll definitely be reading Cosby's other three books.  [4★]

The Hunter by Richard Stark (1962)

A robber seeks revenge on the accomplices who betrayed him.

Mystery Review: The Hunter was a new kind of novel, and whether that was a good thing is open to debate. This was the  introduction of the mononymic Parker: hard-boiled, ruthless, amoral, a professional thief who lives well on the proceeds of a few big capers a year. He's not a detective. He's a bad guy, a strong arm robber who doesn't necessarily enjoy killing but doesn't avoid it either. Typically his story is of one bad guy wronged by other bad guys. The Hunter was made into the movies Point Blank (1967) and Payback (1999), both of which are excellent (the first has a sterling reputation; I'm unsure why the second gets so much grief). The novel has almost no extraneous detail, virtually all the writing is either dialog or description of people interacting. Little is wasted on pondering and description and the book reads like a runaway freight. If a field is described it's because Parker has to crawl through it. Here we get the violent end of Spillane melded into the Jim Thompson school of rough trade with just a touch of Simenon. I don't know if Parker is an anti-hero but he's certainly the protagonist as bad guy while he seeks revenge on the accomplices who betrayed him. At the end of The Hunter Parker is traveling to Omaha to get plastic surgery to change his appearance. The author was Donald E. Westlake under the oddly appropriate pseudonym Richard Stark, as the writing is uniquely severe and bare. He wrote 23 more installments of the Parker saga. Maybe it's not okay for the reader to be rooting for the bad guy to get away with it, but it sure is transgressively enjoyable and engrossing.  [4★]