Okay, more like a shopping spree, but they're all crime novels. It all started here. I'm a great fan of cozy mysteries and have been in the mood to get back to them. That cozy mystery post generated lots of wonderful suggestions, and prompted me to do some mystery shopping. This is part two--the books I couldn't find locally I ordered online (at least some of them). And as it is impossible to look at such a great stack of books without starting at least one of them, I've picked up the top book, Christianna Brand's Green for Danger. This is Brand's most famous novel and considered her masterpiece. I'm not far into it, but it's set in a military hospital in Kent. The Germans are bombing, the casualty ward is full and someone is going to be murdered soon, I expect. From what I understand Brand is known for writing "locked room" sorts of mysteries, where all the suspects are in one contained place. There are three doctors and four nurses in this novel, and from the start the reader knows one of them will commit murder.
Along with the Brand I have Malice Aforethought in which a country doctor dreams of murdering his wife. Nicola Upson's An Expert in Murder features author Josephine Tey as the sleuth in a grisly murder. This is set in the London theater world of the 1930s. Usually I'm leery of real people becoming fictional characters, but this one sounds good. Edmund Crispin's The Moving Toyshop is set in Oxford. It's one of those scenarios where someone finds a body, returns with the police and the body is gone. The Times called it a rococo classic. I'm not entirely sure what that means, but I can't wait to find out. John Dickson Carr's The Hollow Man is another "locked room" mystery. The perpetrator in this story leaves no footprint in the snow. And I plan on reading the next few books in Catriona McPherson's Dancy Gilver series, The Burry Man's Day and Winter Ground, which are set in 1920s Scotland.
Many thanks to those who suggested these to me. I think I might just start at the top and make my way straight through the pile. Evebtually Ill return to my Rough Guide and see what other ideas I can come up with. Mystery anyone?