Vicki Tyley

One of my collecting ambitions is to start laying in more issues of the classic mystery digest magazines of the postwar period, such as Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine and Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine. A good introductory piece on these can be found at The Thrilling Detective Web Site.

Vicki Tyley's Two Birds, which is available for Kindle, is just exactly the sort of short story that would have been published in AHMM or EQMM in their heyday (or still, for that matter; both those magazines remain on the newsstands). Of necessity, a short crime story with a whodunit element is light on setting and texture because of space considerations; it might have an almost geometric quality, and so it is with Two Birds. It might take place anywhere.

But Vicki Tyley is a New Zealander transplanted to Australia, and since I have always been very attracted to Australia, I am curious to take a look at her full-length novels (five so far) for their local flavor. Mysteries with a strong sense of place are self-recommending for me.

The element of Two Birds that grabbed my attention was the psychology of the protagonist, Daniel Abbey, from whose POV the story is told. The thoughts of a married womanizer who suffers no apparent guilt or even particular concern over his habits is fascinating to me. "Don Draper!" you immediately think, but I ask you, do we ever really get Don from the inside? I haven't seen Mad Men all the way to its conclusion yet, but in the four seasons I have watched, I haven't developed a sense of how Don really thinks about what he does. He remains somewhat opaque (but still fascinating, of course).

Daniel Abbey is a little different story, because we are given access to his mental processes. Tyley effectively hints at a whole string of adulteries (and some other intriguing bits of backstory, such as the death of a brother-in-law in a "boating accident," hmm). My reader feedback to Vicki Tyley is, go all the way with this theme sometime! It truly has a lot of potential. And you have definite insight into this type of masculine psychology.… (más)

The dating agency Dinner for Twelve looks innocuous enough, but it certainly attracts its share of oddball characters. Its clients though don't expect murder to be on the menu, but one of the guests at the first dinner that Brenda, Megan, and Greg attends disappears and is then found dead.

Greg Jenkins employs a rather comic private investigator to assist him in the search for his missing sister. And when her friend Brenda disappears he and Megan become a sleuthing "item". Greg is pretty sure he knows which of the other Dinner for Twelve clients is guilty, and is exultant when the police detain this person to assist in their enquiries, but bewildered when he is released.

This is a story with many twists and turns, with one that I didn't expect right at the end.… (más)

I've been meaning to read this novel by Australian author Vicki Tyley for some time now and I found it a satisfying read. The plot is well thought out, perhaps a little unlikely, and I liked the main character Jacinta Deller.

The setting is suburban Melbourne but I didn't think the novel had a particularly Australian flavour, apart occasional bits of the dialogue.

I must admit that I had the final solution worked about about two thirds of the way through, and was pleased to find that I was right.

I believe Vicki Tyley's books might only be available as self-published e-books, but perhaps someone could leave more information via a comment. If you are looking for a light but satisfying read, then this might hit the spot.… (más)