Dilemma! I am ready to begin reading a book for Vintage Mystery Bingo--I'm jumping the gun just a little, but as I know I won't finish the book before the end of the year, it will be a carryover into January. I might as well get a head start, as I am in the mood for a good mystery. To start I'll choose a book and match it up with a category rather than picking a category and finding a book to fill the slot. There will be plenty of time for that later.
I am, as usual, spoiled for choice. When this happens I dip into several different books and see which grabs me. The only "rules" I need to follow are picking a book published prior to 1960, and the story has to be mostly a mystery. I didn't dig too deeply into my mystery bins (that would be dangerous--I'd spend too much time looking at all the books . . . ), but I still came away with a small handful of stories. So, my teaser is actually a set of teasers. Here are first lines to give a taste:
Mystery Mile (1930) by Margery Allingham -- I had planned on reading all the Albert Campion novels, and it is high time I picked up another book. "'I'll bet you fifty dollars, even money,' said the American who was sitting nearest the door in the opulent lounge of the homeward-bound Elephantine, 'that that man over there is murdered within a fortnight'."
The Circular Staircase (1908) by Mary Roberts Rinehart -- I always mean to read Roberts Rinehart (have a few of her books) and always mean to start with this particular book. "This is the story of how a middle-aged spinster lost her mind, deserted her domestic gods in the city, took a furnished house for the summer out of town, and found herself involved in one of those mysterious crimes that keep our newspapers and detective agencies happy and prosperous."
The Moving Toyshop by Edmund Crispin (1946) -- I usually start with first books in series when it comes to mysteries, but I really like the premise of this one. "Richard Cadogan raised his revolver, took careful aim and pulled the trigger. The explosion rent the small garden and, like the widening circles which surrounded a pebble dropped into the water, created alarms and disturbances of diminishing intensity throughout the suburb of St. John's Wood."
The Hollow Man by John Dickson Carr (1935) -- This is a classic 'locked door' mystery. "To the murder of Professor Grimaud, and later the equally incredible crime in Cagliostro Street, many fantastic terms could be applied -- with reason."
The Man in the Brown Suit (1924) by Agatha Christie -- It's hard to resist an Agatha Christie novel and I like them all--Miss Marples, Poirots and all the standalones, too. "Everybody has been at me, right and left, to write this story from the great (represented by Lord Nasby), to the small (represented by our late maid of all work, Emily, whom I saw when I was last in England. 'Lor', miss, what a beyewtiful book you might make out of it all--just like the pictures!')."
The Singing Sands (1953) by Josephine Tey -- I thought this was her first Inspector Alan Grant book, but it was her last and published posthumously. She died in 1952. Maybe I should look for the first book? "It was six o'clock of a March morning, and still dark. The long train came sidling through the scattered lights of the yard, clicking gently over the points."
The Patient in Room 18 (1929) by Mignon Eberhart -- She was a Nebraska author. I've read one of her books and have meant to read more! "St. Ann's is an old hospital, sprawling in a great heap of weather-stained red brick and green ivy on the side of Thatcher Hill, a little east and south of the city of B---."
Oh, I do love picking out new books to read (are you surprised? -- see sidebar . . . ahem . . . ). I think next year is going to be an especially good mystery reading year (at least I hope so). I'm sort of leaning towards The Circular Staircase at the moment followed closely by The Man in the Brown Suit, but ask me tomorrow and I might have just changed my mind. I think I am going to do a little 'investigating' myself and see if I can find some 'off the beaten path' mysteries to read next year. I'll let you know what I come up with and am always open to suggestions, too.