Detective Novels

With websites like Amazon.com, it’s easy to take shallow dips into lots of books because they let you “browse” the first pages.

Sherlock Holmes Day. — May 22 can mean a lot if you are a fan of detective novels, crime fiction, or detective stories, whatever you call them. Today is Sherlock Holmes Day. Why today? Because May 22 is the birthday of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the creator of Sherlock Holmes. Who doesn’t like Sherlock Holmes? I…

The fictional female detectives I grew up alongside — I’ve read mystery novels my whole life. In fact, the very first chapter books I ever read as a budding young reader were mysteries. One of the things that I loved about these books is that the protagonists they featured were female crime solvers fairly close in age to mine…

Secrets can be dangerous — Father Tom unwillingly returns to the town where his wife was murdered We meet Father Tom beside the baptismal font at Saint Clare’s, his first assignment as a parish priest. He is about to baptize an infant. He was not a priest when he left town shortly after his wife Joan’s funeral 15 years before. He tells us (not the congregation) The…

Agatha Christie on book planning. — “The best time for planning a book is while you’re doing the dishes.” ― Agatha Christie I like this quote and want to say to her, “I did, and I broke 2.” — to coin another quote of hers, “Everybody said, “Follow your heart.” I did; it got broken.” Kidding…