Cats Don't Need Coffins (1946) by D. B. Olsen (Dolores Hitchens)This is Olsen's seventh book featuring septuagenarian sleuth Miss Rachel Murdock--about mid-way through the series of 13 books, all of which feature cats in the title. It is also, in my opinion, a very mid-range book. Rachel and her disapproving sister Jennifer--who disapproves of everything from Rachel's getting mixed up in murders to drinking--are invited to Miriam Hamilton's luxurious mansion. Ostensibly, Miriam is feeling gui...| MY READER'S BLOCK
The Disappearing Floor (1940; original text) by Franklin W. DixonFrank and Joe Hardy and their best bud Chet are headed to the woods for a little camping trip. Just by chance there is a scorched envelope in their first night's fire pit with the name "Harry Tanwick" on it and a hundred dollar bill inside. [Will the mystery in this story have anything to do with Harry or the envelope? Not a whole lot. Sorry, if that spoils things too much.] Then...that night Frank wakes to find someone rummagin...| MY READER'S BLOCK
Death on the Dragon's Tongue (1982) by Margot Arnold (Petronelle Cook)When an ailing friend calls on Sir Tobias Glendower, professor of Near Eastern and European Archaeology, to take his place at the site of a prehistoric burial monument (henge) in Brittany, Sir Toby has no idea that that he's going to land in the middle of another murder case--this one involving French politics Breton superstitions, witchcraft, and a transplanted American cult. Not to mention blackmail, drug-running, and kid...| MY READER'S BLOCK
The Feathered Serpent (1927) by Edgar WallaceWhen reporter Peter Dewin first heard about the Feathered Serpent, he laughed. "When he heard of it again, he sneered." It sounded for all the world like something from a shilling shocker or from one of the thrilling plays on London's stages. And, to be fair, the story did start with the theater. Miss Ella Creed, well-known actress, receives a cardboard message with a crude drawing of a Feathered Serpent and the words "Lest you forget." It's an exa...| MY READER'S BLOCK
A Dying Fall (1985) by June ThomsonMartin Holt's relationship with his father has been a rocky one--especially after his mother's death and Martin's decision to leave the family business to become a small hold farmer with the hopes of raising spectacular roses one day. Rex Holt has been used to a lifetime of successes as a businessman and getting his own way. But the two men meet periodically for lunch...and an almost regularly scheduled argument. Martin's latest visit home sees him faced wit...| MY READER'S BLOCK
Murder Being Once Done (1972) by Ruth RendellChief Inspector Reg Wexford has been put on sick leave after a thrombosis in his eye. Dr. Crocker has put him on a regimented diet and ordered him off of alcohol, rich food....and police work. The doctor suggested a month at the seaside--but it's February and Wexford has no intention of freezing at the beach. So, he arranges to stay with his nephew and his wife in London. His nephew is a Detective Superintendent at the Yard. Wexford figures he'll a...| MY READER'S BLOCK
The Four of Hearts (1938) by Ellery QueenEllery Queen is going stir-crazy in Hollywood. After a hugely successful investigation into a Los Angeles murder in the previous book and the West Coast fame that came with it, he was in demand. He's now under contract to Magna Studios to produce scripts. All fine and dandy--except he hasn't actually met with his supposed boss, Jacques Butcher, and he hasn't actually been given any work to do. His agent tells him not worry, it's just the way studios op...| MY READER'S BLOCK
Twelve Drummers Drumming (2021). C. C. Benison (Doug Whiteway)Father Tom Christmas (who prefers vicar or just plain Tom) comes to Thornford Regis looking for peace and quiet for himself and his daughter. He's escaping London where his wife was brutally murdered in their church by an unknown assailant. He has come to replace the Reverend Peter Kinsey, the village's previous vicar who had vanished into thin air not long before. Tom expects life in the small English village to be far less compli...| MY READER'S BLOCK