Book Review: Dead Men’s Plans by Mignon G. Eberhart Sewal Blake is the stepdaughter of Julius Minary, the child of his first wife. Only a few years into their marriage, Sewal’s mother died, and Julius almost immediately remarried. She bore him a daughter, Amy, and a son, Reg, before passing away herself. Bereft and knowing… Continue reading Book Review: Dead Men’s Plans
Tag: millionaires
Book Review: Halo in Brass
Book Review: Halo in Brass by Howard Browne (writing as John Evans) Paul PIne, private detective, is hired on a missing persons case. It seems that Laura Fremont, originally from Lincoln, Nebraska, has gone incommunicado in the big city of Chicago. Her plain rural parents are worried sick. The first obstacle pops up in that… Continue reading Book Review: Halo in Brass
Magazine Review: Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine September/October 2021
Magazine Review: Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine September/October 2021 edited by Janet Hutchings “The years keep coming and they just keep coming.” It seems like just a few months ago I reviewed a 75th anniversary issue of Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, but in fact it was five years ago, and here’s the 80th anniversary issue. It’s… Continue reading Magazine Review: Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine September/October 2021
Book Review: Arsene Lupin
Book Review: Arsene Lupin by Maurice LeBlanc & Edgar Jepson This should be a happy time for millionaire Gournay-Martin. Not only is he one of the richest men in France, but his daughter Germaine is finally getting married to the dashing Duke of Charmerace. But there is a cloud in his life. Three years ago,… Continue reading Book Review: Arsene Lupin
Book Review: Five Little Peppers and How They Grew
Book Review: Five Little Peppers and How They Grew by Margaret Sidney In the small rural community of Badgertown, there is a little brown house where the Pepper family lives. Mr. Pepper passed some years ago, so Mary “Mamsie” Pepper takes in sewing and mending to feed her five children. From oldest to youngest, they… Continue reading Book Review: Five Little Peppers and How They Grew
Movie Review: Champagne
Movie Review: Champagne (1928) directed by Alfred Hitchcock The Girl (Betty Balfour) is a spoiled heiress who is in love with The Boy (Jean Bradin.) The Father (Gordon Harker) thinks the boy is a “cake hound” who is after the family money, so has forbidden the girl to see him. The girl promptly hired a plane… Continue reading Movie Review: Champagne
Movie Review: An Affair to Remember
Movie Review: An Affair to Remember (1957) directed by Leo McCarey International playboy Niccolo Ferrante (Cary Grant) is traveling back from Italy to marry his heiress fiancée Lois Clark (Neva Patterson). On the ship, Nickie discovers that his lost cigarette case is in the hands of nightclub singer Terry McKay (Deborah McKerr, singing voice by Marnie… Continue reading Movie Review: An Affair to Remember
Book Review: The Last Séance
Book Review: The Last Séance by Agatha Christie Agatha Christie is best remembered for her tales of mystery and detection, but she didn’t confine herself to that field. She also wrote stories with elements of the supernatural, and this new volume collects twenty of them in one place, rather than in scattered anthologies. The title… Continue reading Book Review: The Last Séance
Movie Review: Diamonds Are Forever
Movie Review: Diamonds Are Forever (1971) directed by Guy Hamilton We open with James Bond (Sean Connery) globetrotting in a search for his archenemy, Ernst Stavros Blofeld (Charles Gray), leader of the international crime syndicate SPECTRE. He quickly catches up to and kills two Blofelds, one of whom was a surgically-altered double for the real criminal.… Continue reading Movie Review: Diamonds Are Forever
Book Review: If This Goes On
Book Review: If This Goes On edited by Charles Nuetzel The “if this goes on” story is a staple of short science fiction. Pick a current trend like “women not wearing hats anymore” or “cat videos” and extend it out to an exaggerated conclusion. For example, the Robert Heinlein story of that name, which posits… Continue reading Book Review: If This Goes On