5 posts published by Puzzle Doctor during September 2025| In Search of the Classic Mystery Novel
1358, France. In the midst of the Hundred Years War, King John II of France is the prisoner of the English. As bands of English soldiers roam the countryside pillaging anything that isn’t nailed down – and doing much worse – King Charles of Navarre is seeking to take the throne for himself. But France […]| In Search of the Classic Mystery Novel
Waldstein’s Folly is in danger of being demolished. A London establishment, a acoustically perfect concert hall, it has housed its three-storey organ as its centrepiece (despite orchestras not usually using organs). As a reporter is being shown around, working on a story to help save the building, the organ sounds out from all around him. […]| In Search of the Classic Mystery Novel
1928, New Year’s Eve, Dartmoor. Ravenswick Abbey, the family seat of the Ravenswick family. A gathering for family and faithful servants is arranged in the upstairs room of the bed-bound Lord Ravenswick. Nine people step into the lift. The lights go out and a gunshot is heard – and when the lights come back on, […]| In Search of the Classic Mystery Novel
Nestled in North Yorkshire lies Midwinter, a tiny village in the middle of nowhere. Run by the Midwinter Trust, this year a selection of six people, all with links to the world of crime-writing, ha…| In Search of the Classic Mystery Novel
In the north of Iceland stands a sanatorium, once used for treating cases of tuberculosis, but it has an even darker past. In 1983, a nurse was killed – strangled but with fingers cut off. Soon aft…| In Search of the Classic Mystery Novel
Kit Pelham, professional cult sci-fi fan, has developed something of a reputation as a detective following her unmasking the killer of Wolf Tyler in The Fan Who Knew Too Much. So when she is on the scene when a dismembered body is found, along with a mocking poem implying this is the first of ten […]| In Search of the Classic Mystery Novel
So, it’s been a weird sort of August. A break to one of our favourite isolated spots in Scotland managed to coincide with Storm Floris, and I’ve spent most of the month waiting for a medical test that, thankfully, produced an all-clear result. I was fairly sure that was going to be the case, but […]| In Search of the Classic Mystery Novel
Dr Gideon Fell meets a man in a Somerset valley and learns of a murder that came up from the lake itself. Sir Henry Merrivale visits a house in Goblin Wood where a girl disappears from a cottage that was watched from all sides. And there are some other stories in the collection too… OK, […]| In Search of the Classic Mystery Novel
“I don’t have to exhibit my wife in the nude in order to help my sale of rabbits!” Woman Detective-Constable Kitty Palgrave isn’t the favourite officer in the Women’s Section of CID due to her impetuousness despite her abilities, so she is dispatched to make some basic enquiries in the reported disappearance of a 15 […]| In Search of the Classic Mystery Novel
Thirty years ago, Annabel Maddock was killed. One of her group of friends, Dave, went to prison for it and the rest drifted apart. But Dave is released from prison and it seems that the story of Annabel Maddock is far from over for the village of Barton Mallett. Ben Knot, Annabel’s boyfriend at the […]| In Search of the Classic Mystery Novel
Barry Brown came to South Devon to write a book. He had made a career ghost-writing celebrity autobiographies, but he has come into possession of some information that could give new life to his career. But rather than giving him new life, that information may well be what caused him to be murdered. With Barry’s […]| In Search of the Classic Mystery Novel
Elin S Jónsdóttir, the best-selling crime writer, has disappeared. Famed for writing a series of ten exquisite crime novels – and then stopping – there seems to be no reason for her to vanish. And …| In Search of the Classic Mystery Novel
1940, the early days of the war. There are safer ways of crossing the Atlantic, but for those who must make a quick crossing, for whatever reason, the most direct way is on board the M.V. Edwardic,…| In Search of the Classic Mystery Novel
Lights! Camera! Action! Monica Stanton, the daughter of a village vicar has come to Pineham Studios near Watford to start a screenwriting job with Albion Studios. She is rather disappointed to disc…| In Search of the Classic Mystery Novel
Avory Hume had told his daughter that he was pleased with her engagement to James Answell, but when Answell is summoned to a meeting with Hume in his study, the man’s attitude seems to have changed…| In Search of the Classic Mystery Novel
The cathedral city of Storminster is being plagued by a campaign of poison-pen letters, all typed on the same typewriter, all “signed” with a picture of the scales of justice. Some of the secrets t…| In Search of the Classic Mystery Novel
So, what constitutes a book worthy of the Tuesday Night Bloggers (and friends) Reprint of the Year award? Or rather, what should constitute it? Last week, for my first nomination, I cited Carter Di…| In Search of the Classic Mystery Novel
Seymour Merriman is holidaying in Bordeaux when to his horror, he runs out of petrol. Luckily, he gets a lift to a nearby plant that constructs pit-props – you know, those wooden things that keep a…| In Search of the Classic Mystery Novel
Praed Street, near Paddington, London. Back in the late 1920s, you would not want to be trying to sell property in that locale. First, one Jim Tovey, a greengrocer, is killed by a single stab-wound…| In Search of the Classic Mystery Novel
Ellery Queen has stepped back from detective work due to his recent traumatic investigations in Wrightsville – Calamity Town, The Murderer Is A Fox and Ten Days’ Wonder – until it takes about one m…| In Search of the Classic Mystery Novel
Right, June is over and done with. A big shout out to Cotswold Falconry Centre and their Owl Experience for an amazing birthday treat for my much better half and a bit of a boo to the hotel who’s “…| In Search of the Classic Mystery Novel
Currently there are 35, soon to be 40, reprints of Brian Flynn’s mystery novels from Dean Street Press that I had a hand in, so if you’ve read one (or more) you might want a bit of back…| In Search of the Classic Mystery Novel
Malcolm Stannaway lies dead and his family – the two halves of his family, from each of his wives – gather to hear who has granted what from the contents of his substantial estate. Given what sort …| In Search of the Classic Mystery Novel
The dark of night, and Stephen Benright was in trouble. He was stopped at a police road-block – there was a local escaped “loony” on the prowl – but managed to convince the officers that it was onl…| In Search of the Classic Mystery Novel