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Cozy Mystery Fiction

Book Reviews

  • SHORT STORY REVIEW: “The Wife of Kenite” by Agatha Christie

    I have a stereotype of Agatha Christie based on the very few Hercule Poirot novels and short stories I have read thus far. The stereotype is that she writes classic Cozy Mysteries. Cozy Mysteries are a sub-genre of crime fiction in which sex and violence occur offstage, the detective is usually an amateur sleuth, and the crime and detection take place Read more

  • SHORT STORY REVIEW: “The Euthanasia of Hilary’s Aunt” by Cyril Hare

    The Short-Story form allows writers to be more “playful” than they could be in a longer form. TExperiment, even cheat a little, if you will. All in the name of entertainment. Cyril Hare was the pen name of Alfred Clark a barrister and a member of the famous Detection Club. He wrote a number of Read more

  • SHORT STORY REVIEW: “Bread Upon the Waters” by A.A. Milne

    One of the most enjoyable things about reading short story anthologies is the number of pleasant surprises you get. In the Golden Age of Detective Fiction (the 1920s & 1930s) everyone who wrote in Britain tried their hand at mysteries. Even Winnie-the-Pooh’s famous creator, A.A. Milne. Milne’s short story “Bread Upon the Waters” is an Read more

  • BOOK REVIEW: The Corpse in the Waxworks by John Dickson Carr

    I recently reviewed the John Dickson Carr novel Castle Skull here at ClimbingSky, which I liked very much. When I went online to my local library to find another book in the British Library Crime Classics Series to read this Carr novel, The Corpse in the Waxworks, immediately caught my eye. In The Corpse in Read more

  • Golden Age Detective Fiction

    For some reason I have been reading a lot of Golden Age Detective Fiction of late. The Golden Age of Detective Fiction is generally considered to be the kind of mysteries written in the 1920s and 1930s, primarily in Britain. What that means is that I have been reading novels by and short story collections Read more

  • BOOK REVIEW: Murder by the Book, ed. by Martin Edwards

    The Bibliomystery is a sub-genre of Mysteries that I greatly enjoy. Bibliomysteries, as their name implies, are mysteries deeply intertwined with books and the literary world. These stories might involve the theft of a rare edition, the murder of a bookseller, or shady dealings within a publishing house. The defining characteristic is a substantial connection Read more

  • SHORT STORY REVIEW: “Malice Domestic” by Philip MacDonald

    Writer Philip MacDonald was born in Britain but immigrated to California where he became a screenwriter for Hitchcock among others. I found his excellent short story “Malice Domestic” in Murder by the Book, another wonderful volume in the British Library Crime Classics Series. “Malice Domestic” in the story of Carl Borden, “a writer of some Read more

  • BOOK REVIEW: Murder at the Manor, edited by Martin Edwards

    The classic English country house is a quintessential backdrop for British crime fiction, particularly short stories. From Agatha Christie to Margery Allingham, renowned authors crafted intricate mysteries for their detectives to solve within these sprawling estates. The enduring popularity of these tales stems from a combination of nostalgia for a bygone era and the irresistible Read more

  • BOOK REVIEW: Castle Skull by John Dickson Carr

    John Dickson Carr was born in Greenville, South Carolina, but lived for a long time in England. Since his work features English and Continental locales and detectives he is generally classified as a British Golden Age Mystery writer. Certainly the British Library considers him as such since they include a number of his works in Read more

  • The Year of the Short Story: A Check-In

    I am a little over two months into “The Year of the Short Story” and I thought I would check-in. As of the morning of Saturday, February 8th (when I am writing this post), I have read 101 different short stories. Yes, I am keeping a record. My goal has been to read two short Read more