Well, most of my fellow bloggers are doing it, so I’d better have my say…

In our secret cabal where we plot to bring about the end of society and … sorry, in our book club, we did something a little different this month and rather than pick a book for me and Brad to argue about, we were tasked with providing ten books from the 1930s. It was a Top Ten sort of thing, but I decided to use the notion of it being a book club to include interesting books necessarily the “best” books. The only proviso was that we couldn’t repeat an author.

Now, when it came to the day, I discovered that I couldn’t find the list that I’d literally spent hour (singular) doing so rushed off another similar one. There are a couple of titles here that might be replaced by others if I’d had the original list – I really can’t remember – but here we go with my titles – in no particular order.

Peril At End House by Agatha Christie

Is this Christie’s best from the period? Probably not, because And Then There Were None came from this decade, but this is one of the best and is very important to me because when I read it, way, way back when, I solved it. It was one of the first Christie’s that I’d read and I wasn’t wise to her tricks back then and I solved it! Almost every single bit of it, even spotting the name business. I do wonder, does the murderer stick out to those who’ve come to this at the end of the canon, rather than the beginning? I don’t know (but do let me know if you came to this late for some reason). But in case I haven’t mentioned it yet, I solved this one and felt very good about it. And still do, in case you can’t tell.

The Black Spectacles aka The Problem Of The Green Capsule by John Dickson Carr

Not one that I solved, but possibly the best book that Carr wrote. Well, no, I still haven’t forgiven it for that rubbish page-padding bit in the car at the end, but the main plot is so meticulously constructed. It’s a great demonstration of Carr’s wonderful imagination, eschewing the locked room for something much cleverer. Best read without knowing too much about it – so I’ll say no more. Note, I could have also picked the magnificent The Judas Window as well.

The Siamese Twin Mystery by Ellery Queen

People who’ve read a lot of Queen usually plump for The Greek Coffin Mystery from the early titles or Cat Of Many Tails from the latter, but I was delighted to not be the only person who’d picked this one. The reason why this book appeals to me is a central plot device that I just can’t share due to it being a massive spoiler, but something that obfuscates the situation is something that I’ve rarely seen done elsewhere, and it just raises the mystery above the rest.

The Loss Of The Jane Vosper by Freeman Wills Crofts

I haven’t read enough Crofts, but I’ve enjoyed what I’ve read – except for The Pit-Prop Syndicate – so there are probably better titles out there in the range, but the central idea of a murder victim basically being a ship made this one stick in the memory more than the others that I’ve read.

The Robthorne Mystery by John Rhode

It utterly baffles me as to why this hasn’t been included in recent reprints, be it from Collins Crime Club or the US ebooks, and I’ve no idea why the titles that were chosen were the ones picked as a number of them aren’t the best. This one is, Rhode’s take on the identical twins story is an absolute treat, as Dr Priestley endeavours to find out which twin is dead and whether the surviving twin – whichever one it is – killed his brother.

The Case Of The Dead Shepherd by Christopher Bush

I’ll be honest, I find the Christopher Bush books quite variable, but when they are good, they are very good indeed. I picked this one because of its unique setting – a school, but unlike most other Golden Age schools, it’s a normal state school rather than an elite private establishment that for plot purposes only seems to have about five members of staff and three students. It’s quite a bleak portrait of education at the time and my favourite of the Ludovic Travers books.

Murder Isn’t Easy by Richard Hull

Hull is most famous for The Murder Of My Aunt, which to me is just a long shaggy dog story with the punchline in plain sight, and always seemed to want to attempt something new. Most of the books that I’ve read never achieved his ambition, but Murder Isn’t Easy is a roaring success, switching viewpoints for each section as the picture of what is happening slowly becomes clear. Something quite different that over GA books.

Eight Faces At Three by Craig Rice

Starting at a later book in the series didn’t work for me, but the debut from Rice is a much better entry point into the series. There’s some clever stuff in the plot, and by taking time to introduce the characters (and their constant boozing) works really well. When I can find them, I’ll be reading more of the series.

Fatal Dose by Belton Cobb

Ah, Belton Cobb. You may recall my recent review of the god-awful Food For Felony. When Cobb was bad, he was atrocious, but there’s a reason why I own most of the books that he wrote, and that reason is, in part, Fatal Dose. It’s a tight closed circle mystery with good investigation and a superb behavioural clue hidden in plain sight to target the murderer. Bit of a shame that quite a few of Cobb’s subsequent books are inferior copies of this one.

The Padded Door by Brian Flynn

“So, Steve, why don’t you tell us which Brian Flynn book you’ve picked?”

Thanks to John for that one, cheeky so-and-so, but yes, obviously I picked a book from Brian. But which of the seventeen books from the thirties to pick? Well, I went for one that perhaps isn’t my favourite but is one that is often overlooked when it comes to discussion (not that there are that many such discussions). The Padded Door is one of the few Golden Age mysteries that I’ve read that has such a surprise in the middle that I genuinely had to put the book down and go and have a think about it. It’s an absolute cracker and available from Dean Street Press with an introduction by some idiot fan…

Now obviously you don’t need to read anyone else’s lists, but if you did, here are those from Kate, John, Aidan and Brad.