The Emperor's Snuff Box by John Dickson Carr

Beautiful Eve Neill has fought a bitter divorce battle with her ex husband Ned Atwood, Eve is now free and living in a villa in France. Ned, the insolent, handsome devil is out of her life. She can now focus her attention on Toby Lawes, Toby is the stiff shirt son of Sir Maurice Lawes who with his family live in the villa opposite to Eve's. Senior Lawes has an interest in collecting precious antique objects, and maintains them in a room on the first floor.

All is going well, Toby has proposed marriage to Eve and Toby's family i.e. his father, mother, sister and Uncle have started accepting her as part of the family. Nobody is interested in Eve's past, and she is slowly recovering from the shadows of Ned Atwood.

But Alas, word has reached Ned that her ex plans to remarry.  Ned, who still has a spare key to Eve's villa trespasses and confronts his ex wife in the middle of the night. Eve is dumbstruck, just when her life was getting back on track, her husband has come back to derail it.

Parker Pyne Investigates by Agatha Christie

Are you unhappy? then contact Parker Pyne. This is what the advertisement reads in the Times and if you believe Christie people actually do contact Pyne, Pyne deals especially with matters of the heart. Unfaithful wife/husband, boredom, murder, Pyne will relinquish your worries and make you happy again. The book comprises of a series of short stories in which Pyne deals with his client's troubles, for which the portly fellow charges a fee. Parker employs a writer, a seductress and a lounge lizard among other staff. Pyne who worked in the records department is now retired and runs his detective agency.

Parker Pyne also travels the world and like his more famous counterpart "Hercule Poirot" gets involved in one case after another, although the former is much more mundane then the colorful Poirot. There are a total of 12 stories in this anthology  but I'm not going to review all the 12 stories and do more of a generic review. One reason behind doing this is that all the stories are quite alike and have nothing so special as to warrant a review for each.

Sparkling Cyanide by Agatha Christie

New job has forced me to cut back on my reading, but I have managed to finish Sparkling Cyanide from the Queen of Crime. Hopefully as I settle in and things start normalizing I will catch up on my reading and get a few more books read and reviewed.

Rosemary died a year ago, but her memory still lingers not just in the hearts of the ones who loved her but even in those who hated and wanted to forget her. At the Inquest a verdict of Suicide by consuming poison was returned, but Rosemary's widower, George Barton, has now got his hands on certain innuendos that suggest that the poor girl might not have committed suicide but that someone had put cyanide in her Champagne. When looked at things superficially who would want to murder Rosemary? A harmless wife or the heiress, the seductress or a cheating wife. She was a lot of things to a lot of people but only one present on that fateful birthday party of the departed, poisoned her. Now, George with help from Colonel Race wants to solve this murder by Sparkling Cyanide!

The Fourth Door by Paul Halter

Henry has had the gift since he was a child. He could perform spectacular magic tricks and bedazzle his audience with his skills as an acrobat and a conjurer. Henry lived with his father and mother, in a little village outside Oxford. Tragedy struck and Henry's mother was killed in an accident. Henry's father, Arthur, turned to a medium for solace.

The medium called Alice Latimer lives with her husband in a haunted house close to Henry's. One day Arthur is badly attacked, and left to die. His son goes missing and is blamed for the attempt on his father's life. Henry's best friend and the Latimers claim to see him at the same time at two different railway stations, but how can one man be at two places at the same time, is someone mistaken or another clever trick by Henry.

A few years later Alice Latimer, wants to do a seance and drive out the malevolent spirit from the haunted house, her husband, Patrick Latimer, offers to lock himself up in the haunted room and face the wrath of the enigmatic spirit. In front of witnesses the room is locked and sealed from outside, there is no way to either get in or out, a classic locked room, and where there is a locked room, murder can't be far behind. Poor Patrick is found murdered, but on careful scrutiny it is determined that the murdered man is not really Patrick. As more and more mysteries keep piling, the dead bodies also start piling up.

Paul Halter has been crowned the king of locked room mysteries and a successor to John Dickosn Carr, but does such an opulent title really suit him and his work?

The Case of the Velvet Claws by Erle Stanley Gardner

Like so many of Perry Mason's clients, a young beautiful woman calls on Perry in his office. She is in big trouble, she is married and was caught in an inn with another man, who happens to be a rising politician.
If this information leaks to the press both there reputations would be sullied for life. As luck would have it, a nosey newspaper which is infamous for blackmailing has got involved. Now this woman wants Perry to circumvent her from this precarious predicament.

Perry Mason pays Belter, the owner, of the ignoble newspaper a visit and threatens him with unpleasant consequences if he tries to dig more in this story. As Mason is exiting Belter's home, he bumps into his wife, who turns out to be the same woman who visited Mason in his office.

Mrs Belter calls Perry in the dead of the night, she says that it is an emergency and Mason drives up to her on a rainy night. He finds her a little distance from her home, soaked wet, the woman is hysterical she says that she heard her husband arguing with someone on the top floor in her husband's room. Later she heard the same person shoot her husband and then run away in a car. Perry is shocked and starts to haggle with Mrs Belter on finding out more about the killer, Mrs Belter tells him that she did recognize a familiar voice, she thinks that the person who was arguing with her husband and then shot him was Perry Mason!

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon

Wellington is dead. He has been stabbed with a pitch fork, Christopher lifts him in his arms and gives him a hug, his shirt gets soaked with blood. Mrs Shears walks in, and starts shouting in disgust "What the fuck have you done to my dog?". Mrs Shears calls the police, when the police arrive they found Christopher lying down with his head between his knees. The Policeman tries to lift Christopher but Christopher hates being touched and hits the policeman, he gets arrested.

Christopher is then bailed out from Jail by his father, but Chris is bent on finding out who and why did somebody murder a dog? Chris is a child with special needs, and during his investigation and adventure he takes the reader through his world and how he perceives our lives.

The Pale Horse by Agatha Christie

A priest is called upon to attend to a dying woman, the woman makes the priest privy to a wicked secret before taking her last breath. The priest is found next day murdered and inside his shoe is hidden a list of names, who are these people? are they victims of a conspiracy or the conspirators?

Mark Easterbrook, is a Writer/Historian who gets mixed up in this story. Easterbrook finds out that there is a place called Pale Horse, whereac deaths are arranged. Mark is deeply intrigued and starts finding out more about this place and even arranges a visit. It turns out that the Pale Horse in an old inn that is now inhabited by three spinsters who claim to be witches, people say that using the occult these women can eliminate impediments and can cause people to suddenly fall sick and die. The usually suave and highbrow Mark, now begins to wonder is there more to these seemly harmless but eccentric women or is this is all the result of an over zealous mind.

Mark and the police try to connect the dots, how is the murder of the priest, and a host of seemingly natural deaths related to the Pale Horse. In order to uncover the truth, Mark plays a dangerous game and risks the life of one his dear ones, but to consequences that even the witches cannot foresee.

The Arabian Nights Murder by John Dickson Carr

Dr Gideon fell, is brought face to face with his most bizarre case yet, nothing makes sense . Why would an old man jump off an Oriental museum wall and accuse a police officer of malevolent machinations and then try to punch him? The police man defends himself and knocks down the old timer, he goes for help and when comes back finds that the old blighter has disappeared. Later, when an inspector opens the door of a carriage to investigate some strange goings-on in the museum, a dead body jumps out at him and protruding from his chest is a Persian dagger,  also it has fake whiskers on its chin and a cookbook clutched in his hand.
what does all this mean? with a plethora of strange characters and incidents, Dr fell systematically unravels this mystery wrapped like an onion.

Review: The only way to read this book is after getting drunk, the plot is unnecessarily confusing, and a lot of things which have very low odds of happening, end up happening together to irritate and disconcert the reader.

What to read on Halloween?

It's that time of the year when the dead come back to haunt the living. Halloween reminds one of jack-o-lanterns, trick or treating and the Simpson's Tree House of Horror specials. I have made it an annual ritual to have a horror movies marathon or to read a mystery book with elements of the supernatural on this most dreadful day :O

So, on this Halloween if you are looking for a bit of murder, a bit of mystery and spine chilling, blood curling horror, then read on.....

All The Lonely People by Martin Edwards

Plot: Henry Devlin, is a solicitor who lives alone in his humble abode in Liverpool. One day when he comes back home he has an unexpected visitor. This visitor is the beautiful Liz, Henry's estranged wife, whom he has not heard from in two years. Liz cheated on Henry and left him as an emotional wreck when she walked out on their marriage. Henry is still in love with Liz and aches for her to get back with him. The amorous Liz informs Henry that she has dumped her lover and is now in a relationship with another man. Henry sees his chance and hopes that the two of them can reconcile, but Liz gets murdered she is stabbed several times and left to die. The police make Henry the number one suspect, the solicitor has to now not only prove that he is innocent but also find out who murdered his wife. In his quest Henry will discover that his wife had a most disturbing and tumultuous past.

Top 10 Mystery Films

I was having a discussion with one of my cousins over the best English whodunits/murder mysteries. We both came up with our lists and I thought it would be nice to share it with a broader audience.

So  here goes:

10. The Name of the Rose - Starring Sean Connery as a detective monk, this movie is based on a novel by  Umberto Eco. William of Baskerville and his novice Adso of Melk travel to a monastery in Northern Italy to attend a theological debate. As they arrive, the monastery is disturbed by a suicide. As the story unfolds, several other monks die under mysterious circumstances. William is tasked by the Abbot of the monastery to investigate the deaths as fresh clues with each murder victim lead William to dead ends and new clues. The protagonists explore a labyrinthine medieval library, discuss the subversive power of laughter, and come face to face with the Inquisition. The scene in the labyrinthine library and the motive for the murders are truly awesome!

9. Witness for the Prosecution - Written by the Queen of Crime, an American living in London, Leonard Vole stands accused of murdering his older benefactress shortly after her will is changed in his favor. Barrister Wilfrid Robarts (Laughton) agrees to take the case, even though he’s recovering from heart trouble and should be avoiding the excitement of a high-profile murder trial. The evidence seems strong against Vole, but his German wife (Dietrich), a clever, mysterious former cabaret performer, steps forward and provides an alibi. Sir Wilfrid has his doubts, which prove prophetic when the wife turns up as a witness for the prosecution, all but shattering his case. The canny barrister finds a way to save his client initially, but there are quite a few more satisfying plot twists and great surprises before we reach the end of the tale.