Saturday, April 7, 2018

Immersed in the "Golden Age of Crime"


It has been six weeks since the accident, and I am doing better but not fully recovered. My leg seems to be healing well, but I have lost hearing in one ear, on the side where I had the head injury. I went through some very strange tests, involving warm and cold air blown into my ears while I was wearing a mask - at one point I started to wonder if it was all actually some sort of elaborate prank! This week I'll hear the results of what I decided must be actual tests, and hopefully get some kind of prognosis and possibly a treatment plan.

On the positive side, I was able to go back to work. While this cut seriously into my reading time, and the first week was rough, it has been very good to get back into a routine, and also to get out of the house.

Over the past weeks, I have been immersed in the "Golden Age" of crime. Immediately after the accident, I found myself unable to read, or watch, anything with violence. The murder of a child and a cat in Elly Griffiths' The Crossing Places really upset me. After that, I turned to Miss Silver, and then to Albert Campion. I re-read two of Margery Allingham's books, Police at the Funeral and More Work for the Undertaker. Then I picked up Julia Jones' biography, The Adventures of Margery Allingham. From it I learned that Allingham wrote a novel based on her family, The Galantrys (the UK title is Dance of the Years). I immediately added that to my reading list, though Jones describes it as "uneven." But then I lost interest in the biography, and went back to the mysteries.

Next I picked up The Golden Age of Murder by Martin Edwards, a history of "the writers who invented the modern detective story." He profiles the authors who founded the Detection Club, including of course Dorothy L. Sayers and Agatha Christie. I recognize many of the other names from the compilations of mysteries that he has edited for the British Library Crime Classics series. I cannot resist them or their beautiful covers. (The most recent, Blood on the Tracks, a collection of railway stories, comes out in the US in August.) The Golden Age of Murder is packed full of fascinating stories, about the authors, their books, and real-life crimes that sometimes inspired them. But it's also inspiring me to set it down in favor of the books he writes about. I checked a couple of Miss Marple books out from the library today. I was surprised to read that Georgette Heyer declined an invitation to join the Detection Club. Martin Edwards suggests it was because her husband (a barrister) supplied the plots for her mysteries. I'm currently reading her Behold, Here's Poison, and I remember how the murder was done, but not who done it. I may return to Josephine Tey next. She never joined the Club, perhaps because she was rarely in London. And I was sorry to read that Patricia Wentworth was never even invited to join. I also have The Floating Admiral on the TBR shelves, the first book written collaboratively by Detection Club members. I didn't realize that they went on to write several others, which may or may not end up on the shelves as well. Martin Edwards points out that there were just as many men publishing in the "Golden Age," even though the "Queens of Crime" are better-known today. I have enjoyed some of their short stories, but except for H.C. Bailey, I haven't been inspired to read more of their work.

14 comments:

  1. At least you've had some good mysteries to read while you've been recuperating! I hope you get good news about your hearing, and that you continue to recover and feel better. Best wishes! :)

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    1. Thank you - and I hope to hear about your Egypt trip!

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  2. I am glad you are doing a bit better and I hope you get useful results from the tests you had done.

    The Martin Edwards book sounds good. As usual, your blog posts add to the list of books I want to read. Josephine Tey is one of my favorites. She is is always worth rereading!

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    1. I will soon have a "Martin Edwards" shelf, if he keeps editing those collections of stories. I also have his "The Story of Classic Crime in 100 Books" which could well add 100 books to the TBR :)

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  3. Glad you have some enjoyable reading to get you through the recovery period. Glad to hear the healing continues!

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    1. Thank you! Your post popped up on my reading list, so I'm off to see what's new in Sanibel :)

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  4. I'm glad you're recovering and I hope you can get some treatment for your hearing soon. I prefer Golden Age crime to books with a lot of violence too. The Allingham biography sounds interesting - I have just finished reading her World War II memoir, The Oaken Heart, which I really enjoyed.

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    1. I'm sure I'll get back to the biography. Martin Edwards includes it in his bibliography for The Golden Age of Murder - and that bibliography could add to my reading lists as well! I did enjoy The Oaken Heart, it was the first World War II memoir I read set outside London.

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  5. I hope you'll be completely back to your normal self soon. I think you would enjoy The Oaken Heart too. I always find vintage crime books to be such comfort reads, there's rarely any real nastiness and the victims are usually unknown to the reader - or deserve it.

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    1. I only knew Allingham from her mysteries, so when I saw The Oaken Heart on a list of her books, I was curious. I did enjoy it, very much.

      The murders are rarely described in detail, in vintage crime - well, they are sometimes in the solving of them, I guess, but that's second-hand, so it has less of an impact.

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  6. I'm glad you were able to get back to work, but oh my gosh, it sounds like such a difficult time. I'll keep all my fingers and toes crossed for a good report from your tests.

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    1. Thank you, my dear! It looks like I will get some further tests, and a new medicine for headaches (which I am really happy to try).

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  7. I was so glad to see a new post from you--I've been wondering how you were doing. It sounds like the recovery will be a longish process--hang in there. It is good to get some semblance of normalcy back, though working does cut into reading time :)

    I can't think of a better reading project for the healing process than revisiting the Golden Age of detective/mystery stories. Sounds like an interesting, diverting journey.

    Heal well.

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    1. Thank you, Jane! I have diverged a bit from the Golden Age, to Donna Leon's Venice, but her books feel rather timeless as well.

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Thank you for taking the time to read, and to comment. I always enjoy hearing different points of view about the books I am reading, even if we disagree!