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"Our Pageant" is Gladys Mitchell's brief short story concluding SERPENTS IN EDEN: COUNTRYSIDE CRIMES, edited by Martin Edwards and published in 2016. Information on its previous publication is sketchy. Though Mitchell is most noted as the creator of Mrs. Bradley, that exotic lady does not appear...

"Clue in the Mustard" is Leo Bruce's brief short story telling of Sergeant Beef's first murder case as a young constable in Long Cottrell in the home counties. Originally published in the 24 March 1950 issue of Evening Standard, it has also been printed under the alternate title "Death in the...

"The Scarecrow" is a short story by Ethel Lina White, included by editor Martin Edwards in his SERPENTS IN EDEN: COUNTRYSIDE CRIMES anthology published in 2016. I found no history of the story's previous publication. Kay is nearly strangled by a rejected lover Waring, who's confined to a...

"Inquest" is a short story by Leonora Wodehouse in SERPENTS IN EDEN: COUNTRYSIDE CRIMES, an anthology edited by Martin Edwards and published in 2016. The story originally appeared under the pseudonym Loel Yeo in the Strand magazine in 1932. The first person narrator is Dr. Mellan, who...

"Direct Evidence" is Anthony Berkeley's short story featuring Roger Sheringham that Martin Edwards chose for the SERPENTS IN EDEN: COUNTRYSIDE CRIMES anthology he edited and published in 2016. "Direct Evidence" was previously published as part of The Roger Sheringham Case-Book compiled by...

"A Proper Mystery" is Margery Allingham's non-Albert Campion short story chosen by Martin Edwards for inclusion in the SERPENTS IN EDEN: COUNTRYSIDE CRIMES anthology he edited and published in 2016. The story originally appeared in the May 1942 issue of The Lights of Essex magazine; it was...

"The Naturalist at Law" is R. Austin Freeman's Dr. John Thorndyke short story included in SERPENTS IN EDEN: COUNTRYSIDE CRIMES, edited by Martin Edwards, published in 2016. In 1929, Freeman included the story in his anthology The Famous Cases of Dr. Thorndyke. Dr. John Thorndyke is a specialist...

"The Long Barrow" is H. C. Bailey's short story involving Reggie Fortune, a qualified physician who acts as a consultant to Scotland Yard. It is available in the anthology SERPENTS IN EDEN: COUNTRYSIDE CRIME, edited by Martin Edwards and published in 2016. The story originally appeared in the...

Herbert Jenkins's short story "The Gylston Slander" is included in SERPENTS IN EDEN: COUNTRYSIDE CRIME, an anthology edited by Martin Edwards issued in 2016. Jenkins published "The Gylston Slander" in his 1921 collection of short stories, Malcolm Sage, Detective. Sage is a former civil servant...

"The Fad of the Fisherman" is G. K. Chesterton's non-Father Brown short story included in the SERPENTS IN EDEN: COUNTRYSIDE CRIMES anthology edited by Martin Edwards and published in 2016. Originally published in June 1921 Harper's Monthly, "The Fad of the Fisherman" also appeared in...

"The Genuine Tabard" is E. C. Bentley's short story reprinted in the SERPENTS IN EDEN: COUNTRYSIDE CRIMES anthology edited by Martin Edwards and published in 2016. Featuring Philip Trent, the story was printed in 1938 in Bentley's Trent Intervenes collection. Trent dines in company with the...

"Murder by Proxy" is one of the earliest locked room mysteries, written by M. McDonnell Bodkin and published in the 6 February 1897 issue of Pearson's Weekly. It was republished in 2016 in the SERPENTS IN EDEN: COUNTRYSIDE CRIMES anthology edited by Martin Edwards. Squire Neville of Berkly...

"The Black Doctor" is Arthur Conan Doyle's non-Holmes short story originally published in Strand magazine in 1898. It is the opening title in SERPENTS IN EDEN: COUNTRYSIDE CRIMES, an anthology edited by Martin Edwards and published in 2016. Set in the village of Bishop's Crossing, some ten...

IN TIMES LIKE THESE is an Emilie Loring romantic suspense novel originally published in 1968. It was reissued in digital format in 2018. Her novels helped form my reading habits, so I have been eager to return to my roots. IN TIMES LIKE THESE and The Shining Years (reviewed separately) are like...

"Mr. Bennet's Illness" is Timothy Underwood's farce based on Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. The short story was published in digital format in 2018. The New Oxford American Dictionary (online) defines farce as "a comic dramatic work using buffoonery and horseplay and typically including...

MELVILLE IN LOVE: THE SECRET LIFE OF HERMAN MELVILLE AND THE MUSE OF MOBY-DICK is Michael Shelden's account of the love affair between Herman Melville and Mrs. Sarah Ann (Huyler) Morewood and its influence on his writing. It was published in digital format in 2016. Melvile had a long...

WHEN ALL THE GIRLS HAVE GONE is Jayne Ann Krentz's romantic suspense novel published in digital format in 2016. Krentz's novels once were an automatic, hard cover, day of issue purchase for me, but WHEN ALL THE GIRLS HAVE GONE reminds me why no longer. I quit reading after about a fifth of the...

THE LADY MUST DECIDE is the third and final volume in Laura Hile's novel series Mercy's Embrace, based on characters from Jane Austen's Persuasion, Mansfield Park, Emma, and Pride and Prejudice. It was published in digital format in 2010, and all three volumes are available through Kindle...

SO LIVELY A CHASE is the second installment in Laura Hile's three-volume Mercy's Embrace, a sequel to Jane Austen's Persuasion, with included characters from Mansfield Park, Emma, and Pride and Prejudice. It was published in digital format in 2009. It is essential to read the segments in order...

SO ROUGH A COURSE is the first in Laura Hile's three-volume Mercy's Embrace sequel to Jane Austen's Persuasion. I appreciate that its three-volume structure is clearly indicated. It was published in digital format in 2009, available free through Kindle Unlimited. SO ROUGH A COURSE overlaps...