Trial Run, by Dick Francis (1978)

Trial Run, by Dick Francis (1978)

TOPICS: Amateur male detective. Location: Moscow, Russia Time: The Present (1978)

How can you say 'no' to a Prince? You can't. Randall Drew found out quite quickly, though the last place he wanted to go was Moscow, even if it was on a missin for the Royal Family. But the Prince's brother-in-law had his heart set on riding in the Olympics, and it seemed some jealous Russian had her heart set on killing him if he did.

So leaving behind his well-bred horses and high-born girlfriend, Randall went to Moscow, little expecting that the sabotage and murder he'd find would pale in comparison to the unspeakable terror that followed...

Dick Francis
TITLE YEAR MAIN CHARACTER OCCUPATION
Dead Cert 1962 Alan York Amateur jockey, Company representative
Nerve 1964 Rob Finn Professional jockey
For Kicks 1965 Daniel Roke Australian horse breeder,
undercover investigator
Odds Against 1965 Sid Halley Investigator, former champion jockey
Flying Finish 1966 Henry Grey Amateur jockey, semi-professional pilot, in-
flight horse-transport supervisor
Blood Sport 1967 Gene Hawkins Civil service screener
Forfeit 1968 James Tyrone Racing journalist
Enquiry 1969 Kelly Hughes Professional jockey
Bonecrack 1971 Neil Griffon Business consultant
Rat Race 1972 Matt Shore Air taxi pilot
Smokescreen 1972 Edward Lincoln Actor
Slay Ride 1973 David Cleveland Jockey Club Director of Security
Knockdown 1974 Jonah Dereham Bloodstock agent
High Stakes 1975 Steven Scott Inventor, racehorse owner
In the Frame 1976 Charles Todd Artist
Risk 1977 Roland Britten Accountant, amateur jockey
Trial Run 1978 Randall Drew Gentleman farmer, former jockey
Whip Hand 1979 Sid Halley Investigator, former champion jockey
Reflex 1980 Philip Nore Professional jockey, amateur photographer
Twice Shy 1981 Jonathan Derry Teacher, Olympic marksman
William Derry Owner’s representative
Banker 1982 Tim Ekaterin Merchant banker
The Danger 1983 Andrew Douglas Kidnapping investigator
Proof 1984 Tony Beach Wine merchant
Break In 1985 Kit Fielding Champion jockey
Bolt 1987 Kit Fielding Champion jockey
Hot Money 1987 Ian Pembroke Amateur jockey
The Edge 1988 Tor Kelsey Jockey Club undercover investigator
Straight 1989 Derek Franklin Professional jockey
Longshot 1990 John Kendall Writer
Comeback 1991 Peter Darwin Diplomat
Driving Force 1992 Freddy Croft Former jockey, owner of horse tranport business
Decider 1993 Lee Morris Architect/builder
Wild Horses 1994 Thomas Lyon Film director
Come to Grief 1995 Sid Halley Investigator, former champion jockey.
To the Hilt 1996 Alexander Kinloch Artist
10-lb. Penalty 1997 Benedict Juliard Student, amateur jockey, insurance
investigator
Second Wind 1999 Perry Stuart TV meteorologist
Shattered 2000 Gerard Logan Glass blower and sculptor
Under Orders 2006 Sid Halley Investigator, former champion jockey
Dead Heat 2007 Max Moreton Chef and restaurateur (written with son Felix)
Silks 2008 Geoffrey Mason Barrister (written with son Felix)
Even Money 2009 Ned Talbot Bookmaker (written with son Felix)

A Botanist at Bay, by John Sherwood (1985)

A Botanist at Bay, by John Sherwood. 1985

TOPICS: Location - New Zealand. Detective - amateur female. Topic: botany


Celia Grant, botanist and amateur sleuth, is on her way to New Zealand, where her daughter is about to have a baby.

She also plans, at the request of her friend the Duchess Hermione, to look for Uncle Bertie -- Lord Albert Melton -- whose strange disappearance is made even more puzzling by his photos of some very rare plants and a very naked redhead.

Upon her arrival, Celia learns that the redhead is Rosie Murphy, a radical member of New Zealand's Parliament, and a leader of an environmentalist battle against a dam that would endanger certain rare wild plants. Trouble is that Celia and her new friend, fellow botanist Tom MacRae, are certain those plants -- the very ones found in Uncle Bertie's photos -- aren't wild, aren't endangered, and were obviously recently transplanted at the proposed dam site!

Suddenly Rosie Murphy is murdured, and Celia Grant is the prime suspect! Can Celia combine her horticultural and investigative skills to learn the truth about the plants, find Uncle Bertie, and clear her name?

Celia Grant
1. Green Trigger Fingers (1984)
2. A Botanist at Bay (1985)
3. The Mantrap Garden (1986)
4. Flowers of Evil (1987)
5. Menacing Groves (1988)
6. A Bouquet of Thorns (1989)
7. The Sunflower Plot (1990)
8. The Hanging Garden (1992)
9. Creeping Jenny (1993)
10. Bones Gather No Moss (1994)
11. Shady Borders (1996)

The Marble Orchard, by William F. Nolan (1996)

The Marble Orchard, by William F. Nolan (1996)

TOPICS: Location: East Los Angeles, Detectives: real person as detective, real people as characters. Time period: the past (1930s)

The year is 1936, and Raymond Chandler, Dashiell Hammett, and Erle Stanley Gardner have taken to solving crimes as amateur detectives. As narrated by Chandler, their latest adventure begins in East Los Angeles, with the discovery of what is apparently the ritual suicide of his wife's former husband in a Chinese cemetery - but was it really suicide?

Following a trail of clues from the coastal splendors of the William Randolph Hearst castle to the rococo Victorian mansions of Bunker Hill, the trio of sleuths are helped -- and hindered -- by an odd assortment of characters like the mysterious screen star known as the Vampire Queen, a missing sister who prefers to stay missing, and an ex-stage actor with a penchant for using his fists, and by such real-life personalities as Shirley Temple, Charlie Chaplin, Hedda Hopper and Orson Welles.

The Marble Orchard is a complex, colorful, and ultimately dangeorus adventure - a richly textured thriller that also celebrates the joys of love and marriage between Chandler and his exceptional wife, Cissy.

The Black Mask Boys Series
The Black Mask Murders (1994) - narrated by Dashiell Hammett
The Marble Orchard (1996) - narrated by Raymond Chandler
Sharks Never Sleep (1998) - narrated by Erle Stanley Gardner

Thus Was Adonis Murdered, by Sarah Caudwell (1981)

Sarah Caudwell (1939 – 2000) was a British barrister and writer of detective stories.

"She is best known for a series of four murder stories written between 1980 and 1999, centred around the lives of a group of young barristers practicing in Lincoln’s Inn and narrated by a Hilary Tamar, a Professor of Medieval Law (gender unknown), who also acts as detective."

For American readers, Sarah Caudwell may be an aquired taste. As her Wikipedia entry states, "The books have a self-consciously literary style, including many references to the classics and other subjects of higher learning."...and "Professor Tamar is frequently physically removed from the action and is kept informed by a series of improbably long letters and telexes."

I don't know if I'd call them "improbably" long...her characters are British, after all, but today's modern readers, who communicate via internet and who on many occasions have said proudly that they can't read more than a paragraph of an email or message board message without becoming bored, may find the style unreadable.

I love it. That is Sarah Caudwell's schtick, that the action takes place via letters, which Hilary (and the other characters not involved in the action) read, and react to.

Of all her books, Thus Was Adonis Murdered is my favorite, The Sybil in her Grave my least favorite, because of the nature of the book, but I'll get to that when I present it here.

Backmatter:
For young barrister Julia Larwood, it was to be a vacation in search of eros, in flight from the tax man... An Art Lover's Holiday to Italy. Reduced to near penury by the Inland Revenue, Julia could hardly afford such a luxury, but she'd be in hock to the Revenue either way, so why not? Poor, hapless, incurably sentimental Julia. How could she know that the ravishing young ARt Lover for whom she conceived a fatal passion was himself an employee of Inland Revenue? Or that her hard-won night of passion would end in murder - with her inscribed copy of this year's Finance Act lying a few feet from the corpse...

Opening paragraphs
Scholarship asks, thank God, no recompense but Truth. It is not for the sake of material reward that she (Scolarship) pursues her (Truth) through the undergrowth of Ignorance, shining on Obscurity the bright torch of Reason and clearing aside the tangled thorns of Error with the keen secaturs of Intellect. Nor is it for the sake of public glory and the applause of the multitude: the scholar is indifferent to vulgar acclain. Nor is it even in the hope that those few intimate friends who have observed art first hand the labor of the chase will mark with a word or two of discerninbg congratulation its eventual achievement. Which is very fortunate, because they don't.

Hilary Tamar Books
Thus Was Adonis Murdered (1981)
The Shortest Way to Hades (1985)
The Sirens Sang of Murder (1989)
The Sibyl in Her Grave (2000)

Murder, My Suite, by Mary Daheim (1995)

Murder, My Suite, by Mary Daheim, "A bed and breakfast mystery", 1995

Truth to tell, I don't like Daheim's "Bed-and-breakfast" mysteries. Amateur detective Judith's cousin calls her coz all the time, an affectation that grates on my nerves. In addition, Judith's mother lives with her, and is a mean old biddy who doesn't like Judith's second husband, so we get a lot of verbal abuse. I just want to slap the old woman!

Nevertheless, it's definitely a "cozy." And there are a lot of books in the series so someone must like them...

Backmatter
Gossip columnist Dagmar Delacroix Chatsworth and her yappy lapdog Rover's recent stay at the hillside Manor left hostess Judith McMonigle Flynn's nerves, and best bed linens, in tatters. So Judith joins Cousin Renie for some well-earned off-season R&R at Canada's famous Bugler Ski Resort-only to discover with horror that the swanky getaway is the next stop on destestble Dagmar's itinerary. But it seems the cousins aren't the only guests with serious grudges against the dirt-disher and her malicious mutt.. And when one of the despised lady's entourage is murdered on the snowless slopes, Judith sets out to corner a killer-before more hapless hangers-on discover that Dagmar's company can be even more poisonous than her pen.

Opening paras
Judith Grover McMonigle Flynn stared in horror at the slashed beige drapes, the shredded down comforter,, and the tattered petit-point chair. Hillside Manor's choice bedroom was a shamble. Judith understood why her current guest had been thrown out of the Cascadia Hotel.

Detection Unlimited, by Georgette Heyer (1953)

Georgette Heyer was (and probably still is) a very popular writer of Regency romances. She also wrote 8 detectives stories, most of which I enjoy very much. Detection Unlimited is not one of my favorites (and the title is sooo undescriptive), but it's still a good mystery for all that.

Detection Unlimited, by Georgette Heyer. 1953

Backmatter:
It was a hot June evening, and young Haswell had just motored the lovely Abby Dearham back from Thornden's social event of the week. All of the vollage uppercrust had come to Haswell's tennis party-the Squire, the Vicar, the sharp-tongued heir to five centuries of local real estate. But Sampson Warrenby had declined, and no one was sorry.

Why this charmless social climber was invited was beond Abby. Had he some sinister hold on the social leaders of Thornden?

All joking was cut short when a wild-eyed girl came running down the lane. For it was Warrenby's niece, announcing he was dead.

First paras
Mr. Thaddeus Drybeck, stepping from the neat gravel drive leading from his house on to the road,found his further progress challenged, and indeed, impeded, by the sudden onrush of several Pekinese dogs, who bounced and barked asthmatically at his feet. Repressing a desire to sweep them from his path with the tennis racquet he was carrying, he used this instead to guard his ankles, for one of Mrs. Midgeholme's Pekes was known to bite.

"Shoo!" said Drybeck testily. "Get away!"

The Pekes, maddened to frenzy by this form of address, bounced and barked more than ever; and one of them made a dart at Mr. Drybeck's racquet.

Heyer's Mysteries
Footsteps in the Dark (1932)
Why Shoot a Butler? (1933)
The Unfinished Clue (1934)
Death in the Stocks (1935)
Behold, Here's Poison (1936)
They Found Him Dead (1937)
A Blunt Instrument (1938)
No Wind of Blame (1939)
Envious Casca (1941)
Penhallow (1942)
Duplicate Death (1951)
Detection Unlimited (1953)

The Curse of the Giant Hogweed

Canadian author Charlotte MacLeod wrote a mystery book of that title, featuring Pete Shandy, Professor Timothy Ames and Professor Stott going back in time to solve a mysteyr featuring giant hogweed. I always thought she made it up, but apparently it's true:

From the blog Infocult

Giant human-wounding plant invades Canada
A very large weed is invading Canada and attacking people. It's called heracleum mantegazzianum, or giant hogweed (you pick), and is on the move in Ontario. Like something out of a 1970s eco-horror movie, or Day of the Triffids, the Terrible H is spreading.


Size: maxes out at six meters. Yes, a twenty-foot-tall weed. Hence "giant" in the name.
Weapon: it oozes poison. The stuff's strong enough to burn flesh, or blind your eyes, even permanently.
Stealth: it can hide, and still get you.
"[exposure] could be inadvertent," [Jeff Muzzi, manager of forestry services for Renfrew County] said. "You might not even know it's here, [just] walk into it and happen to break a leaf. The next thing you know, you've got these nasty burns."

Growth: this anti-human weed is spreading energetically.
"It spreads primarily by seeds... [which] can be carried by vehicles, by people, by winds it could be a bird. It could be any reason at all and I think every plant will produce something to the tune of 500,000 seeds, so the spread potential is pretty big."
Yes, it is deemed invasive.

Canadians, you can only mutilate, kill, and ship so many people before you outrage nature herself!

The Peanut Butter Murders, by Corinne Holt Sawyer (1993)

The Peanut Butter Murders, by Corinne Holt Sawyer.

Backmatter:
The dead man was a mere fifty, too young too have much in common with the well-heeled oldsters at the beautiful CAmden-sur-Mer retirement community in southern CAlifornia. His death looks like an accident, but when those ever-alert senior sleuths Angela Benbow and Caledonia Wingate discover that he was courting one of their neighbors, they can't help hoping they'll luck into a nice murder investigation.

A second murder confirms their suspicions that a dangerous killer is on the loose. But between Angela's shameless curiosity and Caledonia's blitzkrieg, a mere murderer hasn't a chance. Unless he can eliminate them, too.

Opening paragraph

Caledonia Wingate threw her tremendous head back and laughed a laugh that Jack of beanstalk fame would have found ominously familiar. "I cannot imagine myself," she rumbled to Angela Benbow, her tiny friend and fellow resident in the retirement home of Camden-sur-Mer, "cutting up lettuce and poking it through the bars of a cage to feed some canary. Even if it's a blue canary--or whatever that ratty-looking thing is!"

Death on the River Walk, by Carolyn Hart (1999)

Carolyn Hart's heroine in this series of mysteries is Henrie O, doubtless a takeoff on the famous author of short stories with a twist, O. Henry.

Death on the River Walk, by Carolyn Hart (1999)

Backmatter:
Pulitzer Prize-winning ex-reporter Henrietta O'Dwyer Collins no longer chases hot stories all over the world, but murderous mysteries seem to find her. This time, a frantic phone call from an old and dear friend on the other side of the world sends Henrie O rushing to the fabled city of San Antion, (Texas) to check out the baffling disappearance of her friend's devoted granddaughter, Iris Chavez. Iris, employed at the Tesoros Gallery on SAn Antonio's famous River Walk, has suddenly dropped from sight without a word.

Soon Henrie O discovers that amidst the exquisite objects in the prestigious gallery and among the family members is hidden a dark secret--one Henrie O must uncover if she is to find Iris. Late one dark night on the River Walk, Henrie O sees a sprawled body...and realizes that treachery and disgrace lurk in the shadows of an old and respected business...and death awaits anyone daring to uncover the truth.

Opening paragraph

I glanced at the computer printout that rested on the passenger seat of the rental car, a casual picture of a grandmother and granddaughter, arms linked, faces aglow with laughter and love. The bright photograph had been scanned into a computer half a world awayand the resulting crisp picture that had issued from my daughter's computer was one of the small miracles that no one remarks in today's technological wonderland. The grandmother, Gina Wilson, was one of my oldest friends, a shining memory from the happiest years of my life. The granddaughter, Iris Chavez, was a child I'd come to know because she spent so much of her growing up time with Gina. Iris was near in age to my own granddaughter, Diana.

From Wikipedia:
Hart's Henrie O mysteries feature 70-something retired newswoman, Henrie O'Dwyer Collins, as she travels the country and the world, solving crimes that seem to follow her as she travels. Henrie gets by on her grit, tenacity, and sensible shoes.

Dead Man's Island (1993)
Scandal in Fair Haven (1994)
Death in Lovers' Lane (1997)
Death in Paradise (1998)
Death on the River Walk (1999)
Resort to Murder (2001)
Set Sail for Murder (2007)

Louisiana Hotshot, by Julie Smith (2001)

Louisiana Hotshot, by Julie Smith (2001)

If you're looking for mysteries that take place in New Orleans, Louisiana, check out the Talba Wallis/Baroness Pontalba series.

Here's the info from the jacket:

Edgar Award winner Julie Smith returns to the bewitching streets of New Orleans with the smartest, sassiest, hippest street detective ever-the Baroness Pontalba.

Meet the snazziest P.I. in the land. Not by accident does she roam America's jazziest city, New Orleans. By day she is Talba Wallis, smart, sassy, ebony, and a fledgling detective. By night she is the Baroness Pontalba, poet laureate of the city's smoky rooms, matron saint of her town's exotic and multi-colored cafe society.

Goaded into a day gig by her pushy mom, she finds herself employed by Eddie Valentino, a crusty old detective who thinks he doesn't like anyone young, female or black. He also doesn't realize his life is unravelling.

Taking up the slack, Talba is plunged into a world of fame, money and power run amok, hunting a man who seduces teenage black girls and may be making them disappear.

At the same time she is haunted by disturbing near-memories, but the more she pursues them, the more the roadblocks go up. Her forgotten past only emerges when violence enters her life-but not, she learns, for the first time.

Abut the author
Julie Smith is a former reporter and tbhe author of 15 mystery novels. New Orleans Mourning, the first in the Skip Langdon series, won the Edgar for best novel. Ms. Smith lives in the Faubourg Marigny section of New Orleans.

http://www.juiliesmithauthor.com

Liberty Falling, by Nevada Barr (1999)

Liberty Falling, by Nevada Barr, was published in 1999.

Each of Barr's books takes place in some national park... on this occasion, the park is the Ellis Island National Monument - the island on which stands the Statue of Liberty, and the buildings that greeted legal immigrants during the 1920s.

Anna's sister, Molly, is deathly ill in a New York hospital, and Anna Pigeon has come to be with her, and in her spare time, to keep her sanity, she explores Liberty Island, and, as usual, comes across murder...and this time, a plot that could change America forever.

Here's the list of Nevada Barr books and the National Parks in which they take place:

Track of the Cat --Guadalupe Mountains National Park --1993
A Superior Death --Isle Royale National Park --1994
Ill Wind --Mesa Verde --National Park --1995
Firestorm --Lassen Volcanic National Park --1996
Endangered Species --Cumberland Island National Seashore --1997
Blind Descent --Carlsbad Caverns National Park --1998
Liberty Falling --Statue of Liberty National Monument --1999
Deep South --Natchez Trace Parkway --2000
Blood Lure -- Glacier National Park --2001
Hunting Season --Natchez Trace Parkway --February 2002
Flashback --Dry Tortugas National Park --February 2003
High Country --Yosemite National Park --February 2004
Hard Truth --Rocky Mountain National Park --March 2005
Winter Study --Isle Royale National Park --April 2008
Borderline --Big Bend National Park --April 2009
Burn New Orleans --Jazz National Historical Park August 2010

Octagon House, by Phoebe Atwood Taylor (1937)

(McElroy House in San Francisco, 1861)

Phoebe Atwood Taylor, writing in the 1930s and 1940s, is the creator of the "hayseed" sleuth, or the "codfish Sherlock," Asey Mayo. Asey does most of his sleuthing on Cape Cod.

What is an Octagon House?

Octagon houses were a unique house style briefly popular in the 1850s in the United States and Canada. They are characterised by an octagonal (eight-sided) plan, and often feature a flat roof and a veranda all round. Their unusual shape and appearance, quite different from the ornate pitched-roof houses typical of the period, can generally be traced to the influence of one man, amateur architect and lifestyle pundit Orson Squire Fowler. Although there are other octagonal houses worldwide, the term octagon house usually refers specifically to octagonal houses built in North America during this period, and up to the turn of the century.

Octagon House was written in 1937 and is the 11th book in the series. The book has some interesting features. The first chapter starts out in the new WPA library - one of Franklin D. Roosevelt's ideas to help Americans out of the Depression was to create work - the Works Project Administration or WPA, and one of these was to paint murals in post offices across the land.

The lead character has spent all her life hunting for ambergris (a whale discharge that was much used in making perfumes and was extremely valuable). When she finally finds some..enough to make her fortune, it is so waterlogged that she can't lift it out of the surf. Along comes her hated sister, who agrees to help her...for a price.



Asey Mayo books
The Cape Cod Mystery - 1931
Death Lights a Candle - 1932
The Mystery of the Cape Cod Players - 1933
The Mystery of the Cape Cod Tavern - 1934
Sandbar Sinister - 1934
Deathblow Hill - 1935
The Tinkling Symbol - 1935
The Crimson Patch - 1936
Out of Order - 1936
Figure Away - 1937
Octagon House - 1937
The Annulet of Gilt - 1938
Banbury Bog - 1938
Spring Harrowing - 1939
The Criminal C.O.D. - 1940
The Deadly Sunshade - 1940
The Perennial Boarder - 1941
The Six Iron Spiders - 1942
Three Plots for Asey Mayo (novelets) - 1942
Going, Going, Gone - 1943
Proof of the Pudding - 1943
The Asey Mayo Trio (novelets) - 1946
Punch with Care - 1946
Diplomatic Corpse - 1951

The Ironclad Alibi, by Michael Kilian (2002)

The Ironclad Alibi, by Michael Kilian, is a Harrison Raines Civil War mystery. It was published by Berkley Prime Crime in 2002.

Harrison Raines appears in the following mysteries:
A Killing at Ball's Bluff
Murder at Mabassas
A Grave at Glorieta

Here's the backmatter for The Ironclad Alibi

U.S. Federal Agent Harrison Raines' latest mission is to investigate "The Monster" - the Confederate Navy's first ironclad ship - in his old home town of Richmond, Virginia. Through a chance encounter with his first love, Bella Mills, Harry learns that her husband is in charge of the ship's restoration. But when Bella is murdered, Harry's friend, ex-slave Caesar Augustus, is arrested for the crime. Now Harry must find the real killer, rescue Caesar, and inform the Union about the new Confederate menace.