harrygbutler keeps reading in 2018 — 4

Welcome to thread 4! I’m Harry, and this is my third year in the 75 Books Challenge. By training I'm a medievalist, by occupation an editor; my taste in reading runs to Golden Age and earlier mysteries, pulp detective and adventure fiction, Late Antique and medieval literature, westerns, and late nineteenth and early twentieth century popular fiction, among others. I also have a fondness for collections of cartoons and comic strips. I usually have a few books going at once.

My wife Erika and I live in eastern Pennsylvania with three cats — Elli, Otto, and Pixie — and a dog, Hildy. Our pets occasionally make an appearance in my thread. My other interests include model railroading, gardening, and birding, so you'll sometimes see something related to them as well.

I’ll be spending time this year building model railroad kits. The boxes for these kits often are good examples of mid-century commercial art design, and I’ll be using scans of some of these as thread toppers.

Two new projects will be features of my threads in 2018 as well: a weekly pulp magazine read and some sort of account of the movies I’ll be watching (I’m aiming to average one a day over the year). These will likely have an impact on my book totals for the year.

I try to provide some sort of comment on the books and magazines I read, but they aren't really reviews.

Books completed in the first quarter of 2018

1. Gold Brick Island, by J. J. Connington
2. Tales of Our Coast, by S. R. Crockett, Gilbert Parker, Harold Frederic, Q, and W. Clark Russell
3. Circus, by Alistair MacLean
4. Poisoned Arrow, by Ibn-e Safi
5. Katzenjammer: A Selection of Comics, by Rudolph Dirks and Harold H. Knerr
6. Vintage Murder, by Ngaio Marsh
7. Cows of Our Planet, by Gary Larson
8. Feeling No Pain, by Syd Hoff
9. The Key, by Patricia Wentworth
10. The Far Side Gallery, by Gary Larson
11. The Groaning Board, by Charles Addams
12. The Old English History of the World: An Anglo-Saxon Retelling of Orosius, ed. and trans. by Malcolm E. Godden
13. The Complete Adventures of Feluda I, by Satyajit Ray
14. Don Rodriguez: Chronicles of Shadow Valley, by Lord Dunsany
15. The Rumble Murders, by Henry Ware Eliot Jr.
16. Aunts Aren't Gentlemen, by P. G. Wodehouse
17. The Pocket Book of Cartoons, ed. by Bennet A. Cerf
18. The Years Between, by Rudyard Kipling
19. My Best Girls, by Helen E. Hokinson
20. Mystery in the Channel, by Freeman Wills Crofts
21. Ben Sees It Through, by J. Jefferson Farjeon
22. History of the Bishops of Salona and Split, by Archdeacon Thomas of Split
23. The Far Side Gallery 2, by Gary Larson
24. Walt Disney's Donald Duck: "Terror of the Beagle Boys", by Carl Barks
25. Alexander and Dindimus: or, The Letters of Alexander to Dindimus, King of the Brahmans, with the Replies of Dindimus; Being a Second Fragment of the Alliterative Romance of Alisaunder; Translated from the Latin, about A.D. 1340-50, ed. by Walter W. Skeat
26. Cap'n Warren's Wards, by Joseph C. Lincoln
27. The Horror on the Links, by Seabury Quinn
28. Headlong Hall, by Thomas Love Peacock
29. Look on the Light Side, ed. by Gurney Williams
30. Midnight Murder, by Gerald Verner
31. The Owner Lies Dead, by Tyline Perry
32. The Crimson Query, by Arlton Eadie
33. Smokewater, by Ibn-e Safi
34. Young Men in Spats, by P. G. Wodehouse
35. Sainted Women of the Dark Ages, ed. and trans. by Jo Ann McNamara and John E. Halborg, with E. Gordon Whatley
36. Sailors' Knots, by W. W. Jacobs
37. The Tale of the Good Cat Jupie by Neely McCoy
38. Mr. Pinkerton Goes to Scotland Yard, by David Frome

Argosy kicked off the pulp magazine era with its April 1894 issue, and it remained a major pulp until it became a slick-paper magazine in the 1940s.

After years of reading reprinted stories and novels from the pulp magazines, last November I picked up a number of the original magazines, and I’ve decided to try reading approximately one a week. I don’t intend to include them in my book count, so I’ll be tracking them separately here. If all goes well, I should read about 50 over the year.

Magazines completed in the first quarter of 2018

1. Short Stories, September 10, 1947
2. Railroad Stories, July 1933
3. Argosy All-Story Weekly, September 7, 1929
4. The Phantom Detective, September 1934 (facsimile)
5. Railroad Stories, January 1933
6. Argosy, August 31, 1940
7. Tales from the Magician's Skull, No. 1 (pulp-inspired or neo-pulp)

Several years ago I challenged myself to view 500 movies in a year. I was successful, but I did find it fairly difficult to manage. I haven’t been watching many movies recently, and I’d like to change that. For 2018, I am hoping to average a movie a day over the whole year, for a total of 365 or thereabouts. I haven’t yet decided how I’ll approach posting about them in my thread, but I do plan to keep a list.

Movies watched in the first quarter of 2018

1. After the Thin Man (1936) — viewed Jan. 1
2. Doctor in the House (1954) — viewed Jan. 2
3. Lawless Valley (1938) — viewed Jan. 3
4. Mr. Moto Takes a Vacation (1939) — viewed Jan. 4
5. Unknown Island (1948) — viewed Jan. 5
6. All Over Town (1937) — viewed Jan. 6
7. The Case of the Howling Dog (1934) — viewed Jan. 7
8. Seven Keys to Baldpate (1947) — viewed Jan. 8
9. A-Haunting We Will Go (1942) — viewed Jan. 9
10. Oklahoma Blues (1948) — viewed Jan. 10
11. The Falcon's Brother (1942) — viewed Jan. 11
12. The Man They Could Not Hang (1939) — viewed Jan. 12
13. Bringing Up Baby (1938) — viewed Jan. 13
14. Air Hawks (1935) — viewed Jan. 14
15. Blackbeard the Pirate (1952) — viewed Jan. 14
16. Charlie Chan at the Race Track (1936) — viewed Jan. 15
17. Live Wires (1946) — viewed Jan. 16
18. Hidden Valley (1932) — viewed Jan. 17
19. Conspiracy (1930) — viewed Jan. 18
20. Chandu the Magician (1932) — viewed Jan. 19
21. Three Smart Girls (1936) — viewed Jan. 20
22. The Monster of Piedras Blancas (1959) — viewed Jan. 21
23. Tarzan Triumphs (1943) — viewed Jan. 22
24. Fog Island (1945) — viewed Jan. 22
25. The Old Fashioned Way (1934) — viewed Jan. 23
26. The Garden Murder Case (1936) — viewed Jan. 25
27. Doctor X (1932) — viewed Jan. 26
28. Destination Tokyo (1943) — viewed Jan. 27
29. Guns in the Dark (1937) — viewed Jan. 28
30. Mysterious Mr. Moto (1938) — viewed Jan. 28
31. Nick Carter, Master Detective (1938) — viewed Jan. 29
32. Call of the Prairie (1936) — viewed Jan. 31
33. English Without Tears (1944) — viewed Jan. 31
34. The Ace of Spades (1935) — viewed Feb. 1
35. The Earth Dies Screaming (1964) — viewed Feb. 2
36. Go West (1940) — viewed Feb. 3
37. Charlie Chan at the Opera (1936) — viewed Feb. 5
38. Tarzan's Desert Mystery (1943) — viewed Feb. 6
39. The Cat and the Canary (1939) — viewed Feb. 7
40. Bonanza Town (1951) — viewed Feb. 8
41. The Night Cry (1926) — viewed Feb. 10
42. Frankenstein (1931) — viewed Feb. 10
43. Ghost of Hidden Valley (1946) — viewed Feb. 11
44. The Deathless Devil (1973) — viewed Feb. 11
45. The Falcon Strikes Back (1943) — viewed Feb. 11
46. Raffles (1939) — viewed Feb. 12
47. Before Dawn (1933) — viewed Feb. 14
48. Theodora Goes Wild (1936) — viewed Feb. 14
49. Secrets of the Night (1924) — viewed Feb. 15
50. Yukon Manhunt (1951) — viewed Feb. 17
51. Desperate Cargo (1941) — viewed Feb. 18
52. Old Mother Riley in Paris (1938) — viewed Feb. 18
53. The Man from Planet X (1951) — viewed Feb. 20
54. Charlie Chan's Secret (1936) — viewed Feb. 21
55. Outlaws of Sonora (1938) — viewed Feb. 22
56. The Black Cat (1941) — viewed Feb. 23
57. The Private Eyes (1980) — viewed Feb. 24
58. A Song Is Born (1948) — viewed Feb. 25
59. The Case of the Curious Bride (1935) — viewed Feb. 26
60. Arizona Legion (1939) — viewed Feb. 28
61. In Fast Company (1946) — viewed March 1
62. Isle of the Dead (1945) — viewed March 3
63. They Live (1988) — viewed March 3
64. I Sell Anything (1934) — viewed March 4
65. Jim Hanvey, Detective (1937) — viewed March 5
66. Curtain at Eight (1933) — viewed March 7
67. Passage to Marseille (1944) — viewed March 7
68. King of the Zombies (1941) — viewed March 9
69. The Fighting Frontiersman (1946) — viewed March 10
70. Charlie Chan on Broadway (1937) — viewed March 10
71. Meet Boston Blackie (1941) — viewed March 11
72. Murder at Midnight (1931) — viewed March 11
73. Sins of Jezebel (1953) — viewed March 14
74. The Phantom from 10,000 Leagues (1955) — viewed March 16
75. The Wayne Murder Case (1932) — viewed March 15-16
76. Whistling in Brooklyn (1943) — viewed March 17
77. Minesweeper (1943) — viewed March 17-18
78. The Girl from Mexico (1939) — viewed March 18
79. Bowery Bombshell (1946) — viewed March 20

Next one's yours!

Happy new thread, Harry! Gosh you've watched a lot of movies already!

Thanks, Jennifer! I expect it's going to get tougher as the weather improves and the days get longer.

Hi Harry! Happy new thread and happy Tuesday to you!

This is from your last thread - I started writing a comment, got called away, finished the comment, and saw that you had a new thread.

I know the feeling about one author making a sale. In 2015 I found original hardcover copies of Sue Grafton's Alphabet Series A-K at the Friends book sale. They were in the Collectibles and Rare room on the first day so I sighed but didn't buy them because I had paperbacks of most of them and didn't want to spend the money (I think they were $5/each), but they always move the C&R books to the regular sections on the second day and there they were! Only $1.50/each on half-price day. Needless to say, I grabbed them. They were the hit of the sale for me.

>8 karenmarie: Good morning, Karen. Thanks!

I guess I'll reply here, then. :-) That's a good score! I've stumbled on a few of those opportunities unexpectedly. Though I had been collecting Louis L'Amour hardcovers when I could find them, it was pretty slow going until a fortunate find at a sale netted me dozens. Likewise, I'd been halfheartedly picking up Zane Grey volumes but only had a few until I came across an inexpensive box lot at a library sale. In both cases, the sales were otherwise fairly undistinguished for me.

>8 karenmarie: I saw that post, nice haul!

>9 harrygbutler: I'm still keeping an eye out for those L'Amour's for you.

Since I know you're a train buff, I thought I'd share: next weekend (March 10th) we are planning to go to a train show in Mebane, NC. My dh is thrilled, and I will enjoy it as well, though I don't get into the trains as much as he does. You can see the train display/show website here: http://www.themebanetrainlayout.com/

24. Walt Disney's Donald Duck: "Terror of the Beagle Boys", by Carl Barks



Another in the fine series of reprints of Donald Duck comics by Fantagraphics Books, Walt Disney's Donald Duck: "Terror of the Beagle Boys" offers the usual mix of adventure and humor, all in gorgeous color. The standout story is "Donald Duck in Old California," in which Donald and his nephews travel back in time like the Connecticut Yankee, to California on the cusp of the Gold Rush; it's a sweeping tale that honors the culture of the ranchos and gives the boys a taste of the changes brought about by the discovery of gold as well. Recommended.

>10 fuzzi: Thanks! I've only seen a few of the L'Amours at sales recently, and I think nearly all have been either Sackett or Silver Canyon.

Enjoy the train show! I had planned to go to one this past weekend but in the end decided there was no real reason to make the 90-minute drive on the heels of a long day out and driving around on Saturday. There's a show within driving distance nearly every weekend through May, I think, so it's easy to skip some of them.

Happy new thread, Bill.
Great start almost in the top ten in terms of posts on your threads mate.

>13 PaulCranswick: Thanks, Paul! I'm glad folks are finding posts of interest.

Happy new thread, Harry!

>9 harrygbutler: My husband LOVES Louis L'Amour, and his mom found a bunch (32) of those hardcovers at a garage sale and bought them for him. SO not like her to be so thoughtful - he was touched. They look like this:

>15 Crazymamie: Thanks, Mamie!

Those are the hardcover editions I've been buying, too — just a few left to have them all, now. That was a nice gift from your husband's mother.

Movie 58. A Song Is Born (1948)

Source: IMDB

The final screen pairing of Danny Kaye and Virginia Mayo is a Technicolor musical remake of 1941’s Ball of Fire. Here, nightclub singer Honey Swanson (Mayo) takes refuge at the Totten Institute of Music when the police are after her because of a murder blamed on her beau, gangster Tony Crow (Steve Cochran). The institute, under the leadership of Professor Hobart Frisbee (Kaye), is conducting a seminar to study contemporary music, with greats such as Tommy Dorsey, Louis Armstrong, Lionel Hampton, Charlie Barnet, and more in attendance, and Honey moves into the institute to take part and hide until Tony sends for her. Hobart falls under her spell; will she warm to him as well? And what will happen when Tony resurfaces? A pleasing bit of casting is Benny Goodman as one of the music professors at the institute. Recommended.

A clip of the performance of the title song is available on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RVmkCfrhqns

Love Danny Kaye!

>18 fuzzi: Though the Goldwyn pictures of the 1940s are great, my favorite is probably The Court Jester.

"The pellet with the poison's in the flagon with the dragon! The vessel with the pestle has the brew that is true!"

One of the boons for a reader of vintage mystery and similar fiction in recent years has been the flourishing of small presses reprinting long-neglected works, but these small publishing operations can also be ephemeral. We lost Rue Morgue Press a few years ago, and now it appears that the end has come for Ramble House, which printed or reprinted many mysteries by oddball mystery writer Harry Stephen Keeler and made available many other mysteries but also books in the weird, horror, and science fiction genres. The website is defunct, and although books are still listed on Lulu and Amazon, it is not clear to me how long they will remain available. A message posted by publisher Fender Tucker last August indicated that he had tired of the book business, so I don't have high hopes for a revival.

I've been happy with the numerous Ramble House reprints I've gotten over the years, including the complete set of clever Inspector Beale mysteries by Rupert Penny.

If you have interest in any of the genres mentioned — vintage mystery, weird fiction, horror, and science fiction — I'd encourage you to take a look at the list of titles I was able to pull up via the Wayback Machine and snap up any of interest: https://web.archive.org/web/20170925113105/http://ramblehouse.com/

>19 harrygbutler: You got me with this one, Harry. Had to look up the clip on YouTube (forgot to copy the link—what is wrong with me!)

You've come close to convincing me to get a Louis L'Amour novel to read for Mark's final AAC. Close, I say. But not quite there.

>21 weird_O: Here's a nice long clip that has the whole sequence: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LS75NtlH3gI

You might consider trying a Louis L'Amour short story collection instead, if it's allowed. And if you want to avoid westerns, you could try West from Singapore, Night over the Solomons, or The Hills of Homicide are some titles that come to mind.

>20 harrygbutler: It's so so sad that so many great smaller operations are one-cylinder engines of creativity. I live in *terror* that Haffner Press will vanish one day while I'm not looking. I will be bereft should that happen. I've been their fanboy since I bought The Complete John Thunstone, a six-star joyread, years ago.

>23 richardderus: I was tempted by that offering from Haffner, but I already had both novels and the Night Shade Books 5-volume collection of Wellman's short stories, so I couldn't really justify it.

>24 harrygbutler: Those came along after I'd bought my copy. I'm delighted to see that the collection's still available though at the *elevated* price of $90!!

I've been coveting the Fredric Brown mystery collection....

>25 richardderus: Those have caught my eye as well, but so far I've resisted getting them. Too many other books clamoring for attention first.

Happy new thread!

Thanks, Jim!

Re #250 on previous thread: It seems odd to see Don Knotts as anyone other than Barney Fife. Looking at your movies list on this thread, you are doing quite well.

>29 thornton37814: Hi, Lori! I'm a fan of his movies — The Ghost and Mr. Chicken, The Reluctant Astronaut, The Incredible Mr. Limpet, etc., though I haven't seen any of those for years — and like him as part of a team with Tim Conway, for example in The Apple Dumpling Gang. I don't think we watched enough of The Andy Griffith Show to get in the way of my picturing him in other roles.

>19 harrygbutler: I've never seen that movie in its entirety, but I have very fond memories of his movie "Hans Christian Andersen". We had the LP and so I know all the songs by heart..."Wonderful, wonderful Copenhagen, salty ol' queen of the sea..."

>21 weird_O: I second the recommendation of L'Amour short stories. My favorite of his short story collections is War Party, and my favorite novel is Conagher. If you don't want to read a western, I'd recommend Last of the Breed.

Funny thing, when I stumbled upon Louis L'Amour in the public library about 1985 or so, I scorned to read any of his "westerns", but decided instead to try reading Jubal Sackett, which takes place in 1600s America. I never looked back, and have read almost every book written by L'Amour, and have them all on a shelf in my bedroom, for easy reread accessibility.

Why do I love Louis L'Amour's books so? Probably because he is a storyteller, with characters you can love, or love to hate.

>31 fuzzi: I find Kaye pretty consistently entertaining.

Movie 59. The Case of the Curious Bride (1935)

By Source, Fair use, Link

The second of Warren Williams' Perry Mason films finds Perry planning to depart on a trip to China when an old flame seeks his advice about a situation in which a husband presumed dead and buried has returned to disrupt a new marriage. She disappears, but leaves behind a purse containing a gun. Soon, her first husband is found murdered, and there is evidence that she was there that night. Perry takes on her defense, despite her father-in-law's wish that she be convicted of the crime. Hijinks ensue. The coroner is a delightful character, a gourmand who seems distinctly sympathetic to Perry's efforts. Recommended.

25. Alexander and Dindimus: or, The Letters of Alexander to Dindimus, King of the Brahmans, with the Replies of Dindimus; Being a Second Fragment of the Alliterative Romance of Alisaunder; Translated from the Latin, about A.D. 1340-50, ed. by Walter W. Skeat



The story of Alexander the Great enjoyed a good deal of popularity in the Middle Ages, offering as it did both the opportunity for travelers' tales and an exploration of overweening ambition. At least two alliterative Middle English poems were written based on the Latin Historia de preliis, or History of Alexander's Battles,, composed in the 10th century by Archpriest Leo of Naples, though both survive in fragmentary form. Alexander and Dindimus, a portion of one of those alliterative poems, owes its survival to its inclusion in the middle of a Middle French account of Alexander, because the scribe wanted to make sure to include the letters between the emperor and the ruler of the Brahmans, which were omitted in the version of the Alexander romance he was copying.

These 1,140 lines detail the correspondence between Alexander and Dindimus, leader of the Brahmans, people who live beyond the Ganges, on the subject of their mores and what constitutes virtuous living. The Brahmans live simply, residing in caves, eschewing the plow and the fish hook and depending on nature's bounty, with no ambition to make war on others. Dindimus decries Alexander's active life of conquest, urging him to a better course, while Alexander defends his way of life and in turn criticizes the lives of Dindimus and his people as wretched and bestial. I'd say Dindimus comes out on top.

Mildly recommended.

First lines:
Whan þis weith at his wil  ·  weduring hadde,
Ful raþe rommede he  ·  rydinge þedirre.
(When this wight had the weather he desired, he went very rapidly riding thither.)

Morning, Harry! Happy New Thread. I am off today but not sure I will get out for any bird strolls. We will see. I have been hearing and seeing flocks of Sandhill cranes making their trek north and heard a single red-winged blackbird trilling yesterday. All signs of spring.

>15 Crazymamie: I have about 10 of these on shelf too. It was such a cool idea.

>35 msf59: Thanks, Mark! Nice to see the cranes. I'm not sure whether our mixed flock of grackles and red-winged blackbirds is back around yet or not; I've seen a few grackles but not the rest.

Bantam did a similar series of leatherette books (in dark blue) for the works of Agatha Christie.

Good morning, Harry, and happy Thursday to you!

>36 harrygbutler: I have that entire dark blue leatherette series - given to me by mother over the course of eleven years, 1987-1997. They have pride of place in my Library. One time I told Mom that I was going to move all the books I'd read to my newly-annexed Retreat (daughter's old play room) and she was very anxious about the Christies. I knew she wanted to be able to envision where they were, knew another visit was not possible, so I have left them there. I was actually considering moving them this week, but then remembered Mom and have decided to keep them where they are.

>37 karenmarie: Good morning, Karen! What a great gift from your mom — and I think you made the right decision. Thanks for sharing the photo!

A few of my L'Amour volumes have come from my parents, but as my dad has also been accumulating them, some have gone the other way, too.

I am late to the party ;-)
Happy new thread, Harry!

>39 FAMeulstee: Fashionably late! :-) Thanks, Anita!

The first books bought in my efforts to latch onto the Ramble House volumes I want sooner rather than later arrived today — three mystery novels and a collection of occult detective stories:



The Yellow Mistletoe, by Walter S. Masterman (first published in 1930; apparently it contains a lost civilization in ... Bulgaria)



Midnight Murder, by Gerald Verner (first published in 1935 as by Donald Stuart)



The Crimson Query; or, How the Squid Got Besuckered, by Arlton Eadie (first published in 1929)



The Broken Fang and Other Experiences of a Specialist in Spooks, by Uel Key (first published in 1920)

First flowers of the season.

>22 harrygbutler: >31 fuzzi: Thanks for the L'Amour suggestions. I have a couple of months, I believe, to make up my mind.

>43 weird_O: If you try one, I hope you enjoy it.

'Morning, Harry, and happy Thursday to you!

Crocuses, right? They are sweet looking.

Movie 60. Arizona Legion (1939)

Source: IMDB

Arizona rancher Boone Yeager (George O'Brien) is going to the dogs: hanging out in a saloon, drinking and gambling, selling off his stock to support his new llifestyle, and imperiling his engagement to the local judge's daughter, Letty (Laraine Day, here billed as Laraine Johnson). Bandits repeatedly raid and rob with impunity, and Boone seems poised to fall in with them, especially when he serves on a jury that acquits a murderer. But is he playing a subtler game? Interesting characterizations and high production values. Recommended.

>45 karenmarie: Thanks, Karen! Yep, those are crocuses.

>44 harrygbutler: I hope so, too. There are a few authors whose books I keep for repeated rereading, and L'Amour is one of them.

>48 fuzzi: I found a photo of my big haul a couple years ago. If I counted correctly, I got 28 L'Amours from a library book sale then.

>42 harrygbutler: Beautiful! We're getting close to orange blossom season. Parts of the East Valley smell amazing as you drive through the neighborhood.

>49 harrygbutler: oh NICE. If I were still collecting hardcovers, I'd be envious. :)

>42 harrygbutler: Spring is on its way, Harry :-)
Last week I saw some purple and yellow of starting crocusses in the garden. I haven't checked on them in the past week, as the weather turned very cold. I hope they decided to wait a bit ;-)

>50 mstrust: Oh, how pleasant! As the weather improves, I'll definitely be itching to get out where things are blooming, and I'll be eagerly awaiting the blossoms on our lilacs.

>51 fuzzi: It was particularly welcome as I think I had gotten all the books that were easy to find, and I didn't relish trying to track them all the rest down via Ebay or similar sources.

>52 FAMeulstee: Yes, indeed, Anita! I found a couple of the crocus flowers that are strewn about in our lawn on the cusp of blooming today, and soon it will be time for the violets. I hope yours made it through the cold weather OK!

'Morning, Harry, and happy Friday to you!

We're going to have strong winds all day from this nor'easter. What kind of weather are you going to get out of it?

>42 harrygbutler: Hooray for the first flowers!

>49 harrygbutler: Wow! That is impressive. How many of these did they make?

Morning, Harry. Happy Friday. It looks like it will be a nice day in the Midwest. Hope to see and hear some bird activity. hope your day goes smoothly.

>56 karenmarie: Hi, Karen! I think we're just going to get rain, and rain, and rain. If I were sure we'd stay above freezing from here on out, I'd try to fill our rain barrels. :-)

>57 msf59: Good morning, Mark! I think there are just over 100 in the series: all his novels and most, if not all, of his short story collections, and I believe his volume of poetry.

26. Cap'n Warren's Wards, by Joseph C. Lincoln



Retired ship captain Elisha Warren is surprised to find that he has been named executor of his estranged brother’s estate, and in particular that he has been named guardian of Abijah’s two underage children, Caroline and Stephen, who are just a couple years short of their majority. The youths, distressed by their reduced circumstances (for the estate was found smaller than expected when the broker died) resent their new guardian, who comes to the city to look over matters and so clearly doesn’t fit in with their set, and thus cling more tightly to the grasping Dunns, mother and son, who have thus far stuck by them despite the diminution of their fortune (because sufficient remains). Circumstances persuade Captain Warren to accept the responsibility, and also bring him into conflict with the Dunns; he also makes the acquaintance of a young writer whose novel of the sea gives them a source of common interest. Missteps and misunderstandings complicate matters even further, as Captain Warren strives to do what is best for his wards. Not in the top rank of Joseph C. Lincoln’s novels, but fairly enjoyable nonetheless. Recommended.

We're going to get back into the 80's next week, which makes it feel like our Winter lasted all of three days. I wish we had more days to wear gloves and a scarf.

>61 mstrust: Ow. We have had a very mild winter, and it hasn't been wintry enough for me. The temperature must have fallen today, though, as I looked out the window a little bit ago and saw that the rain had turned to snow. I'm not really expecting accumulation, though.

A sure sign of a villain:

"I was not — reading," replied Mrs. Dunn, with a slight shudder.

>63 harrygbutler: A witch! A witch! Burn her burn her!!

How deeply I fell in love with Jubal Sackett lo those many years ago. I'd sort of forgotten.

>64 richardderus: :-)

I enjoyed Jubal Sackett enough to reread it at least once, though in general I think I prefer L'Amour's earlier, shorter novels.

>64 richardderus: you managed to make me smile twice, for Monty and Jubal. :)

>64 richardderus: *snerk*

Good morning, Harry! Happy Saturday to you.

>69 karenmarie: Hi, Karen! It has been pretty good so far. I've finished a book and watched a movie, and I'm about to sit down to a breakfast including homemade biscuits.

>70 harrygbutler: nummy!

BTW, my Bluebird came back, and this time my camera was ready:

>70 harrygbutler: I made a double batch, so we'll have some to snack on and perhaps biscuits and sausage gravy tomorrow.

Great shot of the bluebird! Thanks for sharing over here!

>71 fuzzi: Wow! Great shot!

>72 harrygbutler: >73 mstrust: thank you. I took about 60 photos within a couple minutes, ONE of them just had to be good, right? Anyway, I'm happy.

I wish I were closer, I was hankering for a biscuit this morning but was too lazy to make some or go out to Bojangles!

>73 mstrust: fuzzi's bird photos are always very good.

>74 fuzzi: A real plus of the digital age of photography is the ability to do that.

There are plenty to share, so you would have been welcome to a couple. I much prefer my own biscuits to any I've ever gotten out at a restaurant, though some have been OK.

Movie 61. In Fast Company (1946)

Source: IMDB

Slip, Sach, and the boys tangle with a big taxi company using dirty tactics to drive independent competitors out of business. Leo Gorcey's father Bernard joins the cast as the owner of Louie's Sweet Shop, their hangout, and Leo's brother David also appeared for the first time, as Chuck, a role he'd hold until the end of the run in 1958. Slip is the main focus in this outing, and he handles it well. Recommended.

>76 harrygbutler: thanks. If you ever get down to NC, I highly recommend Bojangles blueberry biscuits, they are superb! I ask for "no icing", and therefore not only get less sugar, but they come to me fresh out of the oven. Yum.

I have some issues with digital cameras/photography: it doesn't quite have the depth and richness of film. However, the ability to take 100s of photos in an attempt to get one good one is indeed a BIG plus.

>78 fuzzi: Thanks for the suggestion!

By the way, I did order that copy of The Tale of the Good Cat Jupie; it just arrived this afternoon.

27. The Horror on the Links, by Seabury Quinn



The first volume in Night Shade Books' edition of the stories of Jules de Grandin is nearly 500 pages of pulpy goodness. The occult investigator, formerly associated with the Sûreté, and his friend Dr. Trowbridge thwart all manner of malevolence, usually supernatural in origin, although occasionally more mundane. The 22 tales in this collection cover the first four years in which the de Grandin stories appeared in the pulp magazine Weird Tales, from their first appearance in October 1925 through the end of 1928. Some aspects of some of the stories may be dated, but clever and adventurous de Grandin and staid but dependable Trowbridge are consistently entertaining — and the bringing to bear of both traditional weapons (e.g., garlic) and modern science (e.g., radium powders) to defeat extra-normal horrors remain engaging. Standouts for me include the twisted tale of vengeance in the first story, "The Horror on the Links"; supernatural thievery in "The Dead Hand"; loves from beyond time, in "Ancient Fires" and "The Jewel of Seven Stones"; the sympathy for the afflicted in "Restless Souls"; and spectral Templars (long before the Blind Dead movies), in "The Chapel of Mystic Horror." Some of the stories are definitely not for the squeamish, albeit more is implied than is stated. Recommended.

Happy almost new thread, Harry.

>20 harrygbutler: The loss of Rue Morgue made me very sad, as did Langtail Press's demise. I'm glad that Poisoned Pen Press is picking up some of that slack, as is Felony & Mayhem (a little), but sadly there are still a lot of those old books that are impossible (or at least very expensive) to get right now.

>30 harrygbutler: We are also Don Knotts fans! Mr. Limpet is a classic in our house. Ed and I have also been fans of Jerry Lewis since we were young.

>37 karenmarie: I am soooo jealous, Karen. I merely have all of the Christies in paperback. At one point, when I was in elementary and middle school, I was collecting them with one particular style cover, but my mother gave them away when I went to college, so now even my paperback collection is a hodge-podge of different covers.

>81 rretzler: I really wish Rue Morgue still existed as a publisher.

>79 harrygbutler: great re: Jupie. I've not read mine, yet...

>81 rretzler: I love LT, with so many people who see the importance of getting matching covers for all the books in a series, really! I had to search for a while to not buy a copy of Dragonsinger that had a horrible cover (the one with Menolly wearing a red dress).

>81 rretzler: Thanks, Robin.

When Rue Morgue went on hiatus temporarily, that served as a wake-up call for me, and I quickly scanned all their offerings and identified those I was certain I wanted, and I got them as quickly as I could. That included all the books by Constance and Gwenyth Little (e.g., Great Black Kanba), in particular, but also the Margaret Scherf volumes they had out, and some others. I did miss out on some series, which I only sampled after their demise, such as Glyn Carr's books about Abercrombie "Filthy" Lewker.

Does Poisoned Pen Press do any vintage mysteries other than the British Library Crime Classics? I find that series rather variable in quality.

Have you tried any of the reprints in the Collins Crime Club from HarperCollins? They've put out quite a bit so far; I just wish that all the Ben the Tramp books by J. Jefferson Farjeon were available in matching hardcovers.

Ohio-based Coachwhip Publications is a small publisher I like with lots of vintage mystery reprints.

It has been quite some time since I've watched a Jerry Lewis movie, but I liked them when I did.

Our Agatha Christies are a mismatched accumulation, too. We do have some of the leatherette books, but also some from another reprint series, and still others in various editions.

>82 thornton37814: As I enjoy comic mysteries, I miss Rue Morgue too, Lori. My biggest regret is that they never finished the Theocritus Lucius Westborough series by Clyde B. Clason — and the two volumes they didn't reprint have been incredibly expensive when I've shopped for them.

Movie 62. Isle of the Dead (1945)

Source: IMDB

The body count is high in the Isle of the Dead, a horror film produced by Val Lewton and set during the First Balkan War in 1912. Plague results in the quarantining of several people: Greek General Pherides (Boris Karloff), the American reporter Oliver Davis (Marc Cramer), Mr. & Mrs. St. Aubyn (Alan Napier and Katherine Emery) and their servant Thea (Ellen Drew), Dr. Drossos (Ernst Deutsch) of the Greek army, retired Swiss archaeologist Albrecht (Jason Robards, Sr.), and superstitious Madame Kyra (Helene Themig). The band must await a change in the wind that should put an end to the quarantine. As the pestilence runs its deadly course, claiming victims, the suspicions of Madame Kyra center on Thea, whom she sees as a malevolent creature, a vampiric vorvolaka, draining the life of Mrs. St. Aubyn and threatening destruction to all the others unless she is stopped, and the powerlessness of Dr. Drossos to halt the plague causes Madame Kyra's superstitions to gain an audience among some on the island. Recommended.

A bit of trivia: The painting Isle of the Dead by Swiss artist Arnold Böcklin is used behind the opening credits of the movie. There were several versions of the painting made by Böcklin; this is the one in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

By Arnold Böcklin - 1. The Yorck Project: 10.000 Meisterwerke der Malerei. DVD-ROM, 2002. ISBN 3936122202. Distributed by DIRECTMEDIA Publishing GmbH.
2. Metropolitan Museum of Art, online collection, Public Domain, Link

>83 fuzzi: Erika read The Tale of the Good Cat Jupie last night and described it as a bit odd. I'm not sure when I'll get to it.

28. Headlong Hall, by Thomas Love Peacock



A mixed group of philosophers, artists, authors, and others forgather at Squire Harry Headlong's estate, in the vale of Llanberris, in Caernarvonshire, forming a house-party in accord with the wishes of the squire, who had become "seized with a passion to be thought a philosopher and man of good taste" and had been disappointed in his first hope, of finding such creatures at a university. The novel chronicles some of the events and conversations — especially conversations — among the members of this group during their holiday, from their arrival and first dinner, through a dramatic explosion and rescue, to a fancy ball, to wedlock for some. Throughout, the author casts a gently satiric eye on the many visitors and their quirks of personality and outlook. One might find this slight novel, written in 1815, dated in some of its details and trappings, but in many respects it remains timely, for the types of individuals depicted are with us still, and one may recognize oneself among them. As the author noted in a preface added some 20 years thereafter:

Perfectibilians, deteriorationists, statu-quo-ites, phrenologists, transcendentalists, political economists, theorists in all sciences, projectors in all arts, lovers of music, lovers of the picturesque, and lovers of good dinners, march, and will march for ever, pari passu with the march of mechanics, which some facetiously call the march of intellect.

Recommended.

>87 harrygbutler: I'll check it out, thank Erika for the review.

>89 fuzzi: Will do.

63. They Live (1988)

Source: IMDB

A drifter (Roddy Piper) arrives in contemporary or near-future Los Angeles looking for work, and he is befriended by a construction worker (Keith David). Strange interruptions to TV programming, odd activity at a local church, and aggressive police raids make him aware that something more than just an economic downturn may be going on. Then he discovers that sunglasses made by an underground resistance group reveal subliminal messages all around him, and that many of the people walking around aren't people at all, but ghoulish-looking aliens, and he decides to put a stop to the invasion. Wrestling star Piper does a good job in the role, and a fight with David is particularly well done. Recommended.

>71 fuzzi: Hooray for bluebirds. One of my favorites.

Morning, Harry. I saw my first Snowy Owl yesterday on the lakefront. That makes 3 different owl species in 2 weeks. How cool is that? Now, I have to somehow spot an Barred Owl.

I hope you had a good weekend.

>92 msf59: Congratulations on the snowy owl, Mark! Their season down this way is drawing to a close, so I don't know whether we'll have a chance to spot one before they go.

"Up from the Egg: The Confessions of a Nuthatch Avoider"
by Ogden Nash

Bird watchers top my honors list.
I aimed to be one, but I missed.
Since I'm both myopic and astigmatic,
My aim turned out to be erratic,
And I, bespectacled and binocular,
Exposed myself to comment jocular.
We don't need too much birdlore, do we,
To tell a flamingo from a towhee;
Yet I cannot, and never will,
Unless the silly bird stands still.
And there's no enlightenment in a tour
Of ornithological literature.
Is yon strange creature a common chickadee,
Or a migrant alouette from Picardy?
You rush to consult your Nature guide
And inspect the gallery inside,
But a bird in the open never looks
Like its picture in the birdie books—
Or if it once did, it has changed its plumage,
And plunges you back into ignorant gloomage.
That is why I sit here growing old by inches,
Watching the clock instead of finches,
But I sometimes visualize in my gin
The Audubon that I audubin.

29. Look on the Light Side, ed. by Gurney Williams



This volume, published in 1957, brings together jokes, humorous prose, humorous light verse, and cartoons from the biweekly general-interest magazine Look. The Ogden Nash poem I posted in >94 harrygbutler: came from this volume. Alas, I found the cartoons quite variable in quality, and I didn't care much for a lot of the prose or light verse. Mildly recommended.

Good morning, Harry. I hope your day goes well.

Homemade biscuits, yum.

>71 fuzzi: Beautiful photo, fuzzi. >78 fuzzi: I’ll have to try those. I didn’t realize Bojangles had blueberry biscuits. I don’t like their chicken particularly, but their biscuits are wonderful.

>81 rretzler: I appreciate them now more than ever, Robin, first off because I, too, had a variety of mismatched cover paperbacks and the fact that Mom’s gone now and I still have a very tangible reading link with her.

>88 harrygbutler: Ah, a book bullet! The Regency fascinates me.

>94 harrygbutler: I adore that poem – haven’t read it before although I’ve read quite a bit of Ogden Nash. In fact, I was quoting him at dinner last with some of my favorite little ditties – “The Germ”, “Celery”, etc.

>96 karenmarie: Hi, Karen!

I think I liked all the Peacock I've read. They're all, or nearly all, fairly short as well. It took some restraint to not move on immediately to Nightmare Abbey.

I like Nash, but I have to take his work in small doses.

Duly noted about Peacock. As a bonus, in looking him up just now and learning that he was a close friend of Percy Bysshe Shelley, I've finally learned how to pronounce Bysshe! (It's Bish).

>98 karenmarie: I think I always assumed that was the pronunciation, but it is nice to have confirmation.

Morning, Harry! I also like the Ogden Nash poem.

>100 Crazymamie: Hi, Mamie! I'm glad it's a hit. :-)

>92 msf59: a Snowy owl...oh, I wish. There was one that was spotted at the Outer Banks a few years ago, that would have been a good day trip!

>94 harrygbutler: oh, that's a good one! I've not read that particular Ogden Nash before. I do recall his ode to canaries:

The song of canaries
Never varies.
And when they're molting,
They're pretty revolting!

>96 karenmarie: Bojangles' meat is too spicy for me, but their Bo-berry biscuits just flake and melt in the mouth...no kidding.

>102 fuzzi: There have been snowy owls along the Jersey Shore this winter, but we've only managed to get over that way once, and we didn't see one during that trip (though we did get to see a peregrine falcon hunting).

Pulp 5. Railroad Stories, January 1933



The January 1933 issue of Railroad Stories offers another good mix of fact and fiction features. Of the two novelettes, E. S. Dellinger's King Lawson story ("Snowed In!") is the better, though it probably depended a bit too much on prior familiarity with the lead character; Charles Layng's "The Roaring Road" was rather loosely structured and might have worked as well as a series of short stories. "Telegrafter, Beware!" and "Amateur Boomer" put the accent on humor, with mixed success. "Westbound Jinx" took an unexpectedly serious turn, but some of the story depended on detailed familiarity with operating procedures that I lack. "Strike Order" was an OK tale of industrial sabotage in the context of the grim conditions for locomotive manufacturing in the early years of the Great Depression. The final story, "Death Overhead," was an odd story about a guiltridden trainman who had killed another; I don't think it really worked.

The nonfiction included the usual assortment of brief anecdotes and snippets of railroad history, as when the city of Erie, Pa., tried to prevent through rail service through the town, and bits of information about railroad operations and motive power in response to reader queries. The model railroad feature this month was guidance on building a low trestle.

Movie 64. I Sell Anything (1934)

Source: IMDB

A minor First National film, I Sell Anything stars Pat O'Brien as "Spot Cash" Cutler, a brash Second Avenue auctioneer whose boast is that he can indeed sell anything. He is led by society girl Millicent (Claire Dodd) to target more elite customers, in particular planning an auction of fake antiques on behalf of Peter Van Gruen (Clay Clement), who in fact is in cahoots with Millicent to play Cutler for a sucker. Roscoe Karns is Cutler's chief assistant, and Hobart Cavanaugh, Harry Tyler, and Gus Shy serve as shills during the sales. Ann Dvorak is on hand as a loyal assistant rescued from desperate poverty, but she doesn't really have much to do. Mildly recommended.

"But a bird in the open never looks
Like its picture in the birdie books—"

^Amen to that! Thanks for sharing the Nash poem.

Morning, Harry! With our cruddy weather, nothing to report on the birding front.

>102 fuzzi: The Snowy owls have been very popular here, in northern Illinois. They should be heading north soon.

>106 msf59: Hi, Mark! We're due for a fair amount of snow overnight as a wintry storm moves through. I should stock the feeders today.

I'm fond of that last line in the Nash poem: "The Audubon that I audobin." Clever wordplay is my weakness.

>108 rosalita: Reaching the point of understanding at least some of the wordplay is one of the real pleasures of learning Old or Middle English or another language.

Morning, Harry! Happy Tuesday to you!

>110 Crazymamie: Hi, Mamie!

>103 harrygbutler: we had a couple seen this winter, but I missed the opportunities:

http://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/article191641294.html

>112 fuzzi: Good luck seeing one at some point! If the weather cooperates after this week's snowstorm, and if they are still around, we may try for the one(s) seen at the Forsythe NWR one more time before it is too late for them.

>91 harrygbutler: You remember that you said you felt like seeing that one again. Glad that you found it.
Sometimes you have to wonder how someone can get the lead in a major studio picture with a famous director, and then their acting career kind of goes nowhere. But it seems like that's a problem of the past because now once someone gets even mildly well-known, there's no getting rid of them :-D.

>114 mstrust: Hi, Jennifer! I was pleased our library system had it; no ...Frogtown, though. I had forgotten most of the details of the plot, so it was clearly time to revisit it. :-)

It came as a surprise to me when I looked it up online to find a poster image that They Live had actually, albeit briefly, been number one at the box office.

Yes, the big splash followed by nearly nothing is all too common. I'm sufficiently out of the loop about today's performers that I haven't really had to endure too much of anyone (although for some performers, one role is too much!). :-) One of the things I do like about the industry in the '30s and '40s is that, if you look long enough, it seems practically everyone gets a chance for a big role — maybe not a big film at a big studio, but something.

I had to get an early start this morning and didn't get by to say hello. I hope you've had a good day. Looks like you are going to get a good bit of snow. I hope you stay safe and warm!

>116 karenmarie: Thanks, Karen. It was a good one. No snow during the day yesterday, but we did get some overnight. Today is supposed to have a fair amount more.

Morning, Harry. I switched days off to attend a funeral, but with a busy schedule and cold weather, I won't be able to do any walks.

Hope the week is going well.

Hi, Mark. Going well here. Snow expected through the day today, but I don't have to be out in it, so I can enjoy it as it falls.

'Morning, Harry, and happy Wednesday to you. I hope you enjoy your snow day.

>120 karenmarie: Thanks, Karen!

30. Midnight Murder, by Gerald Verner



Quite a tangle results when Scotland Yard receives warning that the "Phantom Stealer" is targeting a London hotel's occupants. With the aid of famed private investigator Lionel Crane, the police determine that a Madame Bourchard is the likely target of the jewel thief, who specializes in pearls. In the morning, Madame Bourchard is found strangled, though the police on guard had seen someone they took to be her leave the room. Further investigation reveals that the murdered woman was not who she claimed, and further that she had been poisoned before she was strangled. Are competing crooks at work?

Although some of the twists and turns are a bit creaky and unbelievable, this thriller by Gerald Verner (as by Donald Stuart) was nevertheless entertaining, and I was successfully misled a couple times. Mildly recommended.

Movie 65. Jim Hanvey, Detective (1937)

Source: IMDB

Character actor Guy Kibbee got one of his few starring performances as Octavus Roy Cohen's folksy detective Jim Hanvey in this Republic feature. The investigator, whose chief interest seems to be pursuing a leisurely existence, is drawn into a case of jewel theft and subsequently murder. He is persuaded to aid young lovers Don Terry (Tom Brown) and Joan Frost (Lucie Kaye), when Don is suspected of the crimes, because of the intervention of hardened criminals Smith (Edward Gargan) and Romo (Edward Brophy). Moderately entertaining; mildly recommended.

Hey harrygbutler, you snowed in?

'Morning, Harry!

What fuzzi asked. *smile*

Morning, Harry!

Hi Harry! We got el zippo from the Stawm, hoping you're okay.

>124 fuzzi: >125 karenmarie: >126 Crazymamie: >127 richardderus: Thanks, everyone!

Our town got more than 9 inches of snow according to the National Weather Service, and we may have had a little less. It snowed pretty steadily all day yesterday after about mid-morning: wet and heavy stuff that took a bit of shoveling. Sometime overnight our Internet connection was knocked out. Obviously it's back now, but the outage lasted long enough that I ended up taking the day off work — which left me time to read another book and make progress on a couple more. :-)

>84 harrygbutler: Hi, Harry. I've been here since but I don't think I ever answered your question. Poisoned Pen Press used to do other mysteries, but I don't think they do anymore - I couldn't even find any in their catalog, but I recall having known about them for a number of years before they started republishing the British Library Crime Classics. I guess it's just like any publisher - there are some great books, and some not so great books.

I did see the Collins Crime Club was republishing some old mysteries - I've preordered a John Rhode and I need to peruse the selection a little more to see what I might want to purchase. The Farjeon's are interesting - I just finished Seven Dead and am in the mood for more Farjeon. I'll have to look into Coachwhip a little more - I did recently purchase The Rumble Murders after your review and noticed that it was from a small publisher in Ohio.

>128 harrygbutler: I'm tired of the winter weather! We woke up to not quite an inch on the ground this morning, but it has mostly melted this afternoon.

>129 rretzler: Hi, Robin! I don't think I knew about Poisoned Pen Press before they got the British Library Crime Classics concession here in the U.S.

I've got Seven Dead lined up to read soon, but I may tackle another Ben the Tramp first.

I discovered Coachwhip quite some time ago, when he was located in Pennsylvania. I try to pick up one or more of his offerings whenever I can, because I know that it's a small operation, so I've got quite a few of his reprints now.

We've had a very mild winter overall, so I can't really complain, but it was a bit surprising to get such a substantial storm this time — heavy snow accompanied by thunder and lightning.

>130 harrygbutler: Thunder Snow!

You might recall a thoroughbred by that name from last year's Kentucky Derby:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/early-lead/wp/2017/05/07/thunder-snow-the-ho...

Movie 66. Curtain at Eight (1933)

Source: IMDB

While readying my review of Jim Hanvey, Detective, I discovered that the investigator had featured in a previous movie as well, which turned out to be available for viewing via the Internet Archive. In Curtain at Eight, a footlight lothario meets his doom at a birthday party in his honor. The long lead-in to the murder makes it clear that several people might have wished him ill, including the sister of a woman who committed suicide over the actor, the scorned fiancé of his current leading lady, the father of that same woman, and more. Further complicating matters is a wandering chimpanzee who has gained possession of a gun, and who is loose and heard to scream when the shot is fired. Two detectives investigate, and one is Jim Hanvey, who repeatedly shows himself smarter than his rival.

The movie suffers from trying to cram too much into its limited running time. Leading lady Dorothy Mackaill, a silent-film star, was nearing the end of her movie career, and despite top billing she doesn't have much to do. Much the same could be said of C. Aubrey Smith as Jim Hanvey. Indeed, once the investigation is under way, the movie seems to focus on the doings and interactions of police Captain Gallagher (Sam Hardy) and reporter Terry Mooney (Russell Hardy), and it gives a lot of screen time to the chimpanzee as well. The later Hanvey movie is a much more entertaining picture. Not recommended.

Morning, Harry. Happy Friday. Nothing much to report on the bird front. Just a cardinal or two singing. Hope it picks up. I may check on my resident GHO tomorrow.

>131 fuzzi: It was rather interesting seeing flashes from the lightning while the heavy snow was coming down.

Thanks for the link to the story. I'd not heard about that; we didn't get a chance to watch the Kentucky Derby last year, and I don't otherwise follow the racing news.

>133 msf59: Hi, Mark! Our feeders were busy yesterday in the aftermath of the snowstorm, but I didn't see anything unusual.

'Morning, Harry! I've heard of thunder snow - sort of exciting in an unnerving kind of way, I suppose, with two events one doesn't usually put together.

I hope you have a great day!

>136 karenmarie: Thanks, Karen! Yep, it was pretty interesting while it was going on — especially as we lost power for about 30 minutes. :-)

31. The Owner Lies Dead, by Tyline Perry



An explosion and fire at Haunted Mine traps a number of miners, and time is running out. Tony Sheridan, nephew of the mine's owner, volunteers to make one last descent to try to find the trapped miners, but time passes, and he does not return. Regretfully, the owner orders the mine entrances covered, and later concrete is used to cap them to put out the fire that continues to burn below. Time passes, and people apparently see Tony alive and about above-ground — but when the mine is reopened five weeks later, his burned body is found at the entrance shaft — shot! How did Tony get out, if he did? And if he did not, how did he end up the victim of a murderer in the depths of the earth? What other secrets does the history of Haunted Mine conceal?

Not particularly well written, with a fairly obvious culprit, but the unusual setting kept me engaged. Mildly recommended.

32. The Crimson Query, by Arlton Eadie



Detective-Inspector Lee Norton, returning to England via ship, has fallen in love with a fellow passenger, Beryl Chalmers, but they are forced to separate upon arrival, as he has received a message to report for orders for another assignment. Yet though the message was in code, he shortly thereafter gets a warning not to follow its injunction — and the reader learns that the warning was left by a woman. He perseveres, however, and is overall pleased to learn that his new duty will take him to the neighborhood of Beryl's home, though he is also dismayed to learn that she is engaged to the inventor he has been detailed to protect. More complications arise as a criminal band led by Count Ravangar, and whose sign is a red question mark, commit murder and make attempts on others.

Multitudes of disguises, secret passages, hidden treasure, a 10-year-old prison break, archaeological research, and plot and counterplot characterize this hectic thriller à la Edgar Wallace, albeit not so polished. A fundamental weakness is that the author discloses too soon that particular people are minions and cannot be Count Ravangar, making it relatively straightforward to identify the mastermind despite other complications piled into the plot. The prose is serviceable, but on the whole I wouldn't recommend it.

67. Passage to Marseille (1944)

Source: IMDB

Warner Brothers reunited cast members from Casablanca — including Humphrey Bogart, Claude Rains, Sydney Greenstreet, and Peter Lorre — for this tribute to the Free French forces fighting alongside the Allies in World War 2. A liaison officer with a Free French bomber squadron, Capt. Freycinet (Rains), recounts to a reporter the story of five convicts who escaped from a French penal colony in an effort to reach France to fight on her behalf. The convicts were rescued by a ship carrying the captain and others, including Major Duval (Greenstreet), to Marseille, though conflict erupts when France surrenders to Germany and the ship's captain, Captain Malo (Victor Francen), heads the vessel for England instead. A story within the story is that of Matjac (Bogart), who was transformed from a crusading journalist to a bitter man with a dark thread of violence that reminded me of his character in In a Lonely Place. It is no surprise that he ends up a waist gunner in the bomber. Bogart is curiously secondary in the film, though, and I'd say that is fortunate, as the rest of the convicts are rather more sympathetic, as are Freycinet and Malo. Mildly recommended.

'Morning, Harry, and happy Saturday to you.

>141 karenmarie: Hi, Karen! Thanks for stopping by.

>139 harrygbutler: Awww, I was reading your review and thinking I'd look for that one, then I got to the end.;-)
>140 harrygbutler: I don't know if you're familiar with the Odd Things I've Seen website, but a few days ago he posted a short video of himself visiting Claude Rains' gravesite, which is in a small New Hampshire cemetery for some reason.

>143 mstrust: I would say it's a second-rate Edgar Wallace imitation, which would put it in the third rank of interwar thrillers — but if you aren't particularly familiar with the genre, the writing is decent enough that it is an OK read.

I'd not heard of the Odd Things I've Seen website, so I'll have to check it out. Thanks!

Movie 68. King of the Zombies (1941)

Source: IMDB

A plane driven off course in a storm is forced to make a crash landing on a small Caribbean island. There, the fliers — Mac (Dick Purcell), Bill (John Archer), and Bill's valet, Jeff (Mantan Moreland) — find shelter in the home of Dr. Miklos Sangre (Henry Victor), a Viennese ex-pat who lives there with his wife Alyce (Patricia Stacey), who suffers from some strange disease, and Alyce's niece, Barbara (Joan Woodbury). Mac and Bill soon become suspicious of Dr. Sangre, and Jeff discovers that the doctor is controlling zombies, though he has difficulty at first convincing Mac and Bill of this. An even deeper plot than mad science or black magic lies behind the occurrences. Though the movie isn't all that good, Mantan Moreland shines, as so often in these Monogram features. Mildly recommended.

Morning, Harry. Happy Sunday. I saw my Mama GHO yesterday and brought my wife along too. No sign of Papa or any owlets yet. Plan on going back each week. I only stay 15-20 minutes and keep my distance, but so far it is a well-kept secret. I think I will go for a bird stroll today too.

>146 msf59: Hi, Mark! Glad you got another look at the GHO, and that your wife got a chance to see her as well. I'll look forward to hearing about the owlets if and when they arrive.

33. Smokewater, by Ibn-e Safi



Shakila, the granddaughter of wealthy industrialist Fayyaz Ahmad, asks for Colonel Faridi's help in resolving her grandfather's mysterious lapses, which include raving about "drops" and have followed on an unexplained disappearance during a trip he took alone. When she reveals that his latest bout of disassociation occurred after he saw a white boat, Faridi is intrigued, and he drags Captain Hameed with him as Shakila takes them to Fun Island, where the boat had been seen. The secret service men uncover a complicated plot in the second book in the Doctor Dread story arc, and the evil American archcriminal even makes an appearance, albeit in disguise. The oddities in Safi's characterizations, particularly of Hameed, make it difficult to really like these stories, but I'm interested in seeing how the situation develops in the next volume, The Laughing Corpse, so I've already ordered it.

Movie 69. The Fighting Frontiersman (1946)

Source: A drifting cowboy

A fractious mule causes prospector Cimarron (Emmett Lynn) to stumble across the hiding place of Santa Anna's treasure, for which many have been searching to alleviate hard times in Texas. Malefactors learn of Cimarron's discovery and kidnap him to force him to reveal the location of the hoard. Dixie (Helen Mowery), a saloon singer in whom Cimarron had confided, sends for the prospector's friend Steve (Charles Starrett), telling him of his disappearance, and Steve sets out to find the missing man. Pal Smiley (Smiley Burnette) follows along. Fast action, double-crosses, humorous interplay between Smiley and a barber (Maudie Prickett), and some songs make for a solid outing for the Durango Kid. Mildly recommended.

Hey harrygbutler! We had a great time this weekend at the Mebane Train Layout. There was one room with a large Christmas tree in which a couple tracks were laid, around and going up and down the branches. It was fun trying to guess when the train would appear between the greenery. They also had a huge (Standard?) train running a circuit at the bottom, underneath the tree.

They're open once a month, so if you think you'll be in central NC on a Saturday, check their schedule: http://www.themebanetrainlayout.com/

>150 fuzzi: Neat! The tree sounds like fun. And their photos do show what looks like Standard Gauge equipment, so I think you're right in your identification. We had a quiet weekend; there was no nearby train show, nor a book sale that tempted us to drive, but this weekend will be our visit to the annual Bryn Mawr-Wellesley book sale, which usually is good for at least a few books apiece.

Pulp 6. Argosy, August 31, 1940



This issue from fairly late in Argosy's run as a pulp has a little less to offer than earlier issues that I've read, in part because of a smaller page count, but what is there is still quite good. As usual, I skipped the serials (there are three in this issue) because I don't have all the parts — a little disappointing, as I certainly would like to give "Minions of Mercury" a go, and I'm fairly sure I'd enjoy W. C. Tuttle's serial contribution, "Buckshot for Henry," as I liked the reprinted stories of the actor turned sheriff that I have been able to read. Excluding the serials leaves just one novelette and three short stories. The longer work, "Wilderness Way," by C. F. Kearns, is an OK tale of prospecting in northern Canada, but nothing special. The first of the short stories, Allan Vaughan Elston's "Forgotten Island," deserves its prominence, as it is a gripping story of an escaped murderer and self-sacrifice, with a dollop of menace from coconut crabs, too. "Fifteen Dollars Every Friday," by Fred Engelhardt, is a tale of stolen loot and exoneration with a fair amount of humor, and Jim Kjelgaard's short "Water Flows Downhill" offers a wry twist in which a grizzled prospector gets the best of his betrayer.

>152 harrygbutler: I love Jim Kjelgaard's works. He's usually located in the children's section of the library, but is very suitable for adult reading too.

Addendum: it is snowing here, big fluffy flakes...wow.

>153 fuzzi: I think one of the other pulps I've read recently had a Kjelgaard story.

Snow day tomorrow? :-)

In today's mail I got the inaugural issue of the new sword & sorcery magazine from Goodman Games, Tales from the Magician's Skull, which I backed on Kickstarter. That's liable to constitute my magazine reading for at least part of this week. :-)


Tales from the Magician's Skull, No. 1

>140 harrygbutler: Not one of my favorite with Bogey.

>156 rretzler: It's unlikely that I'll make a point of watching it again in the future.

Morning, Harry. I am sure looking forward to things warming up, turning green and sparking this migration. Everything seems to be at a stand-still.

Hope your week is off to a good start.

>154 harrygbutler: nope. We were too warm here, the snowflakes were big and fluffy, which told me not to expect much. Total was an inch or less, but it froze on the car. Hmmph.

This morning on the way to work the roads were only partly wet, and we didn't encounter any icy spots.

>158 msf59: Hi, Mark! It will be on hold for at least another day out this way, as we've got a steady snow shower happening at the moment.

>159 fuzzi: That's good, I guess, though the ice I'm sure was annoying.

Our big snowfall last week had big flakes, which made it surprising that it accumulated — but it just kept coming, so eventually it got ahead of the warmth of the ground and the air. Roads were in good shape the next morning, though, except where the heavy snow brought down limbs or wires, and it did cause some people to lose power.

Hi Harry, and happy Tuesday to you! We had a bit of snow yesterday afternoon, and it went below freezing last night. Bill stayed home with a sore throat, but would have gone in late - he says there have been over 200 accidents in the greater Raleigh area.

>162 karenmarie: Good morning, Karen! It looks like the snow has pretty much stopped here. It's supposed to stay above freezing during the day today but dip lower overnight, so we may have frozen conditions in the morning. Sorry to hear Bill is under the weather; with luck the day off will take care of it.

>162 karenmarie: glad he stayed home, he's so much safer!

I don't understand why employers insist on non-essential personnel coming to work when the DOT and weather services say to STAY OFF THE ROADS. We don't have the snow-removing/treating capability in many areas of NC (we don't get much wintry stuff so a fleet of plows is not cost-effective) and so employers insisting people report to work when the roads are treacherous is just STUPID. Let them take a vacation day.

Rant over, sorry.

Morning, Harry! I'll be sending you warm thoughts as it is sunny and going to 60F here today.

>164 fuzzi: Rant acknowledged. No problem!

>165 Crazymamie: Hi, Mamie! Thanks! I need a day like that to take a donation to the local Habitat for Humanity ReStore and get some items to bring home. I'm hoping to get some windows I can use for a cold frame in one of our raised beds.

Movie 70. Charlie Chan on Broadway (1937)

Source: IMDB

Charlie Chan (Warner Oland) and son Lee (Keye Luke) return from the Olympics by ship, and as they near New York, a scream from an adjacent cabin summons the pair to rescue a woman (Louise Henry) who has been imprisoned in her bath while her room was ransacked. The woman later conceals a package in the Chans' luggage to ensure that it makes it past Customs. Upon arrival, she takes a room in the same hotel but is initially thwarted in her attempt to get in the Chans' room to retrieve her package, which is revealed to be a scandalous diary. When the woman is found murdered in a nightclub office, the finger of suspicion points at several parties, including club manager Johnny Burke (Douglas Fowley), dancer Marie Collins (Joan Woodbury), and gangster Buzz Moran (Leon Ames). Burke escapes during questioning in his office, which causes the police to focus their attention on him, but a second murder, and other nefarious activities, suggest that a wider group of suspects is required. The great detective assists the local police (in the person of Harold Huber once again) in unraveling the tangle, as he does so well. Recommended.

Good morning, Harry, and happy Wednesday to you?

>163 harrygbutler: I know you work from home, but doesn't Erika commute? Does she go in late or work from home instead?

>164 fuzzi: I agree fuzzi, 100%! There was always tremendous pressure on me to go to work regardless of weather conditions, creating major stress. Fortunately Bill's bosses put no pressure on him to come to work if the conditions are bad, and I'm retired so don't worry about it at all.

>169 karenmarie: Hi, Karen! Yep, Erika commutes, largely by public transit (rail and bus). If a major storm is coming, she often makes arrangements to take the day off if needed. Sometimes (as with last week's storm) her employer announces a snow day for nonessential staff. It can be difficult when the storm moves in during the day, as her trip home can become a real slog.

34. Young Men in Spats, by P. G. Wodehouse



Young Men in Spats was the very first Wodehouse book I read, many, many years ago, and this collection of short stories stands up well upon rereading. Easily the best of the stories is "Uncle Fred Flits By," in which the unflappable ne'er-do-well drags his nephew, Pongo Twistleton, along on an adventure in the "foul hole" of Mitching Hill, where Uncle Fred piles whopper upon whopper for an afternoon's entertainment and the confounding of those opposed to the course of young love. It also contains my favorite line in the book: "If he had a mind, there was something on it." Most of the stories deal with the romantic lives of members of the Drones Club, including in particular the misadventures of Freddie Widgeon. Of those not dealing with Widgeon, "The Amazing Hat Mystery" is an amusing tale more for what it tells of the habitués of the club than for the "mystery" itself. The final three stories in the volume are related by Mr. Mulliner at the Angler's Rest instead; these tales of his many family members helped cement that worthy's place among my favorite narrators. The most entertaining of the three is probably "The Fiery Wooing of Mordred," which gives new meaning to a lover's ardor. Highly recommended.

That's a title I haven't read, but some of the stories sound very familiar, so I may have them in another Wodehouse compilation. He's always great.
And more wonderfully lurid movie posters! Though it's hard to beat the cover in >155 harrygbutler:.

>171 harrygbutler: Sold!

Morning, Harry! Sweet Thursday. Last work day of the week for me. I was able to see the infamous woodcock sky dance last night, during an organized walk. Always a pleasure to see and my feeder seemed to be pretty busy when I got home yesterday. I saw robins and grackles pecking away. The first of the year.

Good morning, Harry, and happy Thursday to you.

>171 harrygbutler: I just pulled The World of Jeeves, 34 short stories, and will see if I can read a couple per day. Good inspiration!

>172 mstrust: I know what you mean. I've encountered some Wodehouse stories in multiple different collections over the years, as I used to pick up every collection I encountered (e.g., Wodehouse on Crime). I'm thankful that the Collector's Wodehouse series allowed us to sort out some of the challenges connected especially with variant titles, but I know we missed some of the short story collections when we were first getting the books in that edition, so I'll gradually be rectifying that.

Goodman Games (the publisher of Tales from the Magician's Skull) always includes a lot of interesting illustrations in their products. So far, every story in the issue has had a full-page frontispiece. I'll try to remember to scan a couple of the more interesting ones when I get around to reviewing it.

>173 richardderus: I hope you enjoy it, Richard!

>174 msf59: Good morning, Mark! Woodcocks are great fun to watch, aren't they? I have to replenish our feeders today.

>175 karenmarie: Good morning, Karen! I tend to spread the short stories out myself, usually one a day, though sometimes I get on a roll and read more.

71. Meet Boston Blackie (1941)

By Source, Fair use, Link

Helping out a fellow passenger embroils reformed jewel thief Boston Blackie (Chester Morris) in first one murder, then another. His efforts to avoid arrest at the hands of Inspector Faraday (Richard Lane), who suspects Blackie of committing a big jewel robbery, lead him to strange doings on Coney Island, with the Mechanical Man (Michael Rand) somehow involved. Blackie is aided in his efforts by his assistant, the Runt (Charles Wagenheim in this entry) and Cecelia Bradley (Rochelle Hudson), whose car Blackie hijacks while trying to escape from the real killers of the second victim, but who finds herself intrigued by the situation.

This was a solid little movie, strong enough to launch a 14-film franchise, with all starring Morris. Recommended.

Murder in the Tunnel of Love! My my. How can one resist that.

>181 richardderus: By poison dart, yet!

Good morning, Harry, and happy Friday to you!

Morning, Harry. Happy Friday. I am reading and enjoying Mozart's Starling. I know I am still a novice birder but I did not realize how much these birds are despised by the birding community. They must be very invasive and destructive. I don't see them all that often, so maybe I just never thought of it that way. Starlings are one of the only birds you can legally kill.

>183 karenmarie: Thanks, Karen! It's a sunny day here, so I'm hoping I'll get a chance to get to the local Habitat ReStore to get a couple windows to use to make a cold frame. But we'll see how ambitious I am after work. :-)

>184 msf59: Good morning, Mark! Yes, starlings are not thought much of here in the U.S., as they are quite the competitors for resources. They don't really bother me, and I don't begrudge them the food they get at our feeders, but I can't say that I like them.

Movie 72. Murder at Midnight (1931)

By Source (WP:NFCC#4), Fair use, Link

During a play put on for houseguests, Jim Kennedy (Kenneth Thomson) shoots his secretary, Channing (Robert Ellis) — but real bullets had been substituted for blanks, and Channing lies dead. Stricken by the deed, Kennedy retires upstairs while the police are summoned, but he is later found murdered, with his will and a letter likely implicating the murderer missing. The killer does not hesitate to strike again and again as others threaten to reveal the truth, until the police trap the culprit. Creaky, but entertaining in spots, with one diabolical (albeit impractical) murder device. Elements of the story were reused in a later Mr. Wong mystery movie. Not really recommended.

>72 harrygbutler: Too bad some of the rest of us cannot watch those classics with you. That one sounds like a nice old mystery.

>188 thornton37814: It would be nice to do some shared screenings. It has been years since I regularly did that with anyone other than family.

Good news about this one! It is available to watch online via the Internet Archive: https://archive.org/details/Murder_at_Midnight_1931 and also on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=88hirTZBn0c.

Going forward, I'll try to remember to check and mention availability.

A little later this morning, we'll be off to the annual Bryn Mawr-Wellesley book sale. It's a large sale, filling the cafeteria and other rooms at the Princeton Day School, and usually a rewarding one to visit.

http://bmandwbooks.com/

Morning, Harry. Happy Saturday. I had a nice bird walk yesterday. I think I will skip today and do chores around here but I hope to go on a organized walk early tomorrow morning. Have a good weekend.

>190 harrygbutler: Have fun, Harry, I hope you find lots of good books!

Good luck at the book sale today, Harry!

Ooooh, let's see the haul!

>191 msf59: Thanks, Mark. It was a good one.

>192 FAMeulstee: Thank you, Anita!

>193 karenmarie: Thanks, Karen! The sale was very busy, but I still managed to find some books.

>194 mstrust: Coming right up! See below. :-)

I did fairly well at the book sale, today, netting 20 books (Erika also found two) at an average of $2 apiece.

Mystery, Crime, Espionage, etc.

The Blotting Book, by E. F. Benson (1908; paperback reprint)

The Blue Lights, by Arnold Fredericks (1915; one of a series starring Robert and Grace Duvall, who were among the first, if not the first, married sleuths in detective fiction; the author's real name is Frederic Arnold Kummer)

A Brief Case of Murder, by Patrick Laing (1949)

The Cask, by Freeman Wills Crofts (1920; 1977 Dover reprint)

The D. A. Calls It Murder, by Erle Stanley Gardner (1937)

The Faceless Adversary, by Frances & Richard Lockridge (1956)

Hunt with the Hounds, by Mignon G. Eberhart (1950)

Let Dead Enough Alone, by Frances & Richard Lockridge (1955)

Mr. Guelpa: The Famous French Detective Visits America and Finds the Most Baffling Mystery of His Career Awaiting Him, by Vance Thompson (1925)

The Pointed Tower, by Vance Thompson (1923; possibly not a mystery or crime story)

The Seven Conundrums, by E. Phililips Oppenheim (1923)

TBSL Fiction

Sandy, by Alice Hegan Rice (1905)

Many Cargoes, by W. W. Jacobs (1897)

Poetry

Archy Does His Part, by Don Marquis (1935)

Cartoons

"Honey, I'm Home!": A Collection of Cartoons from The Saturday Evening Post, ed. by Marione R. Nickles (1954)

Modern Times: Cartoons from The Wall Street Journal, selected by Charles Preston (1968)

What Am I Laughing At?, by Sgt. Ralph Stein (1944)

Children's Books

Popeye on Spook Island, by Bud Sagendorf (1981)

Son of the Black Stallion, by Walter Farley (1947; to replace a copy in poor condition)

The Tin Woodsman of Oz, by L. Frank Baum (1918; paperback reprint)

Popeye on Spook Island was published in 1981?! What the actual? Is that a typo or am I just naive to think that 1981 is 20 years after Popeye meant $$ to anyone?

Plus I hate you forever and ever and ever and nothing you can say or do will fix it because that's an awesome haul.

>196 harrygbutler: Nice haul, Harry, although I must admit I only know one of these titles.

>197 richardderus: Thanks, I guess. :-)

Yep, 1981. The strip was still going then; in fact, there are still new Sundays being created and distributed by King Features Syndicate. This appears to be a collection of some of the strips. Perhaps the collection was inspired by the 1980 movie.

>198 FAMeulstee: Thanks, Anita! Most of the titles were unfamiliar to me, too, but I usually enjoy older mysteries, so I was willing to pick those up. I just finished a book of stories by W. W. Jacobs that I liked well enough, so I picked that up, and I've liked the books by Alice Hegan Rice (the most famous probably Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch), so though I hadn't heard of Sandy, I decided to give it a try. The volume of poetry was the big find for me. I've been a fan of the archy and mehitabel poems by Don Marquis since I was a kid, and I think this was the last of the volumes out there that I was missing.

Movie 73. Sins of Jezebel (1953)

By Lippert Pictures - movieposter.com, Public Domain, Link

Weak-willed Ahab (Eduard Franz) marries Baal-worshipping Philistine princess Jezebel (Paulette Goddard) despite the warnings of the prophet Elijah (John Hoyt). Drawn into idolatry and ever blacker acts, culminating in the murder of the wise Naboth for his vineyard, Ahab reaps a harvest of betrayal, rebellion, and death, and both he and Jezebel meet grim ends. A Biblical epic on a budget, with — as one wag put it — "a cast of dozens," Sins of Jezebel runs heavy on the drama (especially the Tristan & Isolde-type story of Jehu (George Nader) and Jezebel) and light on the action, presumably because they couldn't afford costumed battle scenes. Joe Besser provides the comic relief as chariot-maker Yonkel. Goddard does well with her role, but it's not a very good movie. Mildly recommended.

Hi Harry and happy Sunday to you!

>196 harrygbutler: Excellent haul. I never realized ESG had a character named Doug Selby – I did read the Bertha Cool/Donald Lam series but thought those and Perry Mason were it! Live and learn.

I love Archy and Mehitabel and have a very nice slipcased edition.

>202 karenmarie: Thanks, Karen!

Gardner was incredibly prolific. He wrote lots of short stories of various kinds. I have a couple collections of western-oriented stories he wrote, as well as a Crippen & Landru collection of short vigilante crime stories called The Exploits of the Patent Leather Kid, drawn from his work for magazines. I've read that he later discounted his pulp stories, but I've liked those I've read.

I have a couple copies of archy and mehitabel, including the hardcover edition that was at my grandparents house in which I first encountered the poetic cockroach and the adventurous feline.

>202 karenmarie: >203 harrygbutler: I'm another fan of archy and mehitabel since I found a copy in a second-hand store. I should find the copy (!) and peruse again. Thanks for the memory...

Karen O.

>200 harrygbutler: I've been a fan of the archy and mehitabel poems by Don Marquis since I was a kid, and I think this was the last of the volumes out there that I was missing.
I love it when I find a last missing book that has been on my wishlist forever :-)

35. Sainted Women of the Dark Ages, ed. and trans. by Jo Ann McNamara and John E. Halborg, with E. Gordon Whatley



This volume provides translations of the lives of 18 saints who lived during the Merovingian era in Gaul (so from the fifth to the eighth centuries), beginning with the life of Saint Genevieve, patron saint of Paris, who was born in the waning years of the western Roman Empire and died around the same time as Clovis I, first Christian king of the Franks, and of Clotilde, the wife of Clovis, and Radegunde, one of the queens of Clovis's son Clothar I. (Included in the chapter on Radegunde is a poem either by her or by her friend, the poet Venantius Fortunatus, on the murder of Radegunde's brother.) The remainder of the lives chiefly deal with women who founded or led communities of monastics, generally living according to one or another of the rules that were written during these centuries, as adapted to their particular circumstances or communities. Most of the lives were written fairly soon after the deaths of their subjects, but a few are the work of Carolingian authors, though based on earlier material. Some good material, though the interpretive notes are rather weakened for use by students by the unavailability in English of much of the material needed for context, though conditions may have improved since this book was published in 1992. Recommended.

>204 klobrien2: Hi, Karen! Thanks for commenting. Glad to have yet another fan of archy and mehitabel around! Enjoy the reread when you get to it.

I think I have the two more recently published volumes that brought the uncollected poems together, archyology and archyology ii, but for some reason they aren't showing up in my catalog. They must be hiding! :-)

>205 FAMeulstee: It is indeed a good feeling, Anita!

>196 harrygbutler: Nice haul there!

Good morning, Harry! Happy Monday to you.

Movie 74. The Phantom from 10,000 Leagues (1955)

Source: IMDB

A cast with a dearth of charisma (including Kent Taylor as an investigating scientist, Michael Whalen as a "mad" scientist, and Cathy Downs as the former's love interest and the latter's daughter) tangle with undersea radiation and a mutated monster that is killing those who come too close, with espionage and seething hatred in the background as well. Poorly paced and at times rather confusingly scripted, this is a dud of a creature feature. Not recommended.

Note: For those interested in seeing it nevertheless, it is available at the Internet Archive.

>209 thornton37814: Thanks, Lori! This haul was probably about average for me for this sale; some years I struggle to find much, but other years there are ample offerings.

>210 karenmarie: Thanks, Karen!

Magazine 7. Tales from the Magician's Skull, No. 1



The first issue of the pulp-inspired magazine Tales from the Magician's Skull is a decent initial effort, with solid illustrations (a feature of products from publisher Goodman Games) and solid stories overall. Here are a couple of the drawings that served as full-page illustrations for stories (from the Kickstarter page: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1409961192/tales-from-the-magicians-skull).





The lead story in the volume, "What Lies in Ice," by Chris Willrich, I thought probably the weakest; the image of severed hands swarming a ship to attack those aboard was solid, but the author's descriptions of action didn't work too well, and there were some jarring word choices that took me out of the story. The second, "The Guild of Silent Men," by James Enge, was better, a sort of murder mystery — though a simplistic one — with an interesting lead character. "Beneath the Bay of Black Waters," by Bill Ward, is the subject of the first illustration above; it's a tight little tale of an invasion of a surface city by creatures from beneath the sea, with an illicit drug in the mix, and an unexpected twist involving that drug. Aeryn Rudel's "Beyond the Block" (the second illustration above) might be my favorite of the stories, with vengeance reaching beyond the grave. "Crypt of Stars," by Howard Andrew Jones, works well, with an aged leader developing a plan to bring freedom to some of those captured by an invading empire. C. L. Werner's "There Was an Old Fat Spider" was suitably creepy. And John C. Hocking's "The Crystal Sickle's Harvest" put me in mind of some of Jack Vance's Dying Earth stories, albeit without the same lush riot of language.

Many of the stories seemed to belong to existing series involving either characters or setting, which probably helps to explain the polish that might otherwise be surprising in the contents of a new independent magazine.

As is fitting for a product of a gaming company, the magazine also includes an appendix with game stats for creatures and items in the tales. The stats are for Dungeon Crawl Classics, Goodman Games' own fantasy role-playing game, but they likely fairly easily to convert for use in Dungeons & Dragons (at least earlier editions) and retro-clones like Swords & Wizardry or Labyrinth Lord.

I'm glad I took a chance on the Kickstarter, and I look forward to getting the next issue. Recommended.

Nice haul, harrygbutler!

I started reading The Black Stallion Mystery, but I'm finding it kind of slow, blah. It might pick up, so I'll keep at it.

>215 fuzzi: Thank you! I'm way behind on the Black Stallion books, but I'm still aiming to make my way through them all.

Movie 75. A Strange Adventure (aka The Wayne Murder Case) (1932)

Source: Free Classic Movies website

Another mystery from the early 1930s: Grouchy old Silas Wayne (William V. Mong) is reading his will to a gathering of grasping relatives, as well as his doctor and his housekeeper, when he collapses across his desk. When members of the group, which includes two policemen on hand to make an arrest at some point in the evening, rush to the stricken man, they discover that he has been stabbed to death, and that a famed diamond he owned is missing. Detective-Sergeant Mitchell (Regis Toomey) arrives to investigate, and he must also deal with aggressive reporter "Nosey" Toodles (June Clyde), as a masked and hooded figure stalks the halls. Moderately entertaining; mildly recommended.

Availability: We have the Alpha Video DVD, but it is online at the Free Classic Movies website where I snagged the photo.

Movie 76. Whistling in Brooklyn (1943)

Source: IMDB

In the final movie in the "Whistling" series, radio star Wally "The Fox" Benton (Red Skelton), who is getting ready to head off to be married to Carol Lambert (Ann Rutherford), his girlfriend, is sought by the police as "the Constant Reader," a serial murderer who taunts the police, thanks to an ill-considered publicity scheme engineered by his chauffeur, Chester (Rags Ragland). Along for the ride is an inexperienced reporter, Jean Pringle (Jean Rogers), who had intended to cover the marriage. Meanwhile, the real killer plots to saddle Wally with the crimes, leading to a climactic sequence at Ebbetts Field with the Dodgers. Recommended, but I'd start with the first of the movies, Whistling in the Dark.

Availability: A DVD is available from Warner Archive, but we watched it on a DVD I had recorded.

>215 fuzzi: & >216 harrygbutler: I thought The Black Stallion Mystery was one of the weakest books in the series, only the third Red Stallion books was worse.
Next month I will join in again with The Horse-Tamer.

'Morning, Harry! Happy Tuesday to you. Happy start of Spring, too.

>211 harrygbutler: That artwork induces the Ewwww factor.

>214 harrygbutler: That is amazing artwork, thanks for sharing. Is that Cthulhu I detect in the first illustration?

>217 harrygbutler: "Nosey" Toodles is a great name. (fixed message reference)

>219 FAMeulstee: Hi, Anita! Sounds like The Black Stallion Mystery isn't one I should rush to read!

Morning, Harry! I am so glad that my name is not "Nosey" Toodles. Just saying...

>220 karenmarie: Hi, Karen!

I think the image in >214 harrygbutler: is supposed to evoke a Cthulhu-like feel without explicitly including him.

>222 Crazymamie: Good morning, Mamie! It's not a bad fit for a reporter, though! :-)

36. Sailors' Knots, by W. W. Jacobs



This is a solid collection of stories, chiefly humorous in tone by the author most famous for the story "The Monkey's Paw." Some of the stories are narrated by one of Jacobs's popular creations, the night watchman, who recounts, inter alia, the misadventures of sailors ashore, including some recurring characters. Particularly amusing was a story (not narrated by the watchman) about a ship captain who takes refuge from a pursuing policeman in that policeman's home, and of the vengeance wreaked by the policeman's daughter. I liked the volume well enough that I snapped up Jacobs's first big hit, Many Cargoes, when I ran into it at a book sale this past weekend. Though dated in some respects, the humor often works, and the creepiness of the ghost story "The Toll House" is only enhanced by its more comic surroundings. Recommended.

>219 FAMeulstee: >221 harrygbutler: I have almost finished reading The Black Stallion Mystery, and it certainly is not on my "reread" list. It's just okay.

I still prefer it to The Island Stallion Races.

And I am looking forward to The Horse Tamer, as I have fond memories of that one.

Morning, Harry. Cold and windy here, so I doubt there will be any birdy action. It sure doesn't feel like spring. Sighs...

>226 fuzzi: I'm pretty sure I never read The Horse-Tamer. If I did, I don't recall it.

>227 msf59: Good morning, Mark! It's cold and windy here, too, with snow on the way this evening and tomorrow. I have to refill the feeders ahead of the storms.

>226 fuzzi: That is exactly why I skipped the Mystery, and I completely agree that The Island Stallion Races is the worst of the books I have read in the series.
Looking forward to next months read too, I don't think I have ever read it before.

>230 FAMeulstee: I'm finding some parts of The Black Stallion Mystery are familiar, and I think I recall the ending. However, I've decided I'm not going to "cheat" by peeking at the last few pages, but finish reading the book to the end.

It's not bad, it's just not very good, and such a let-down from previous books in the series.

Good morning, Harry, and happy snowy Wednesday to you! Looks like you're going to get quite a bit of the white stuff. Your birds will be happy with you on the job.

>232 karenmarie: Hi, Karen! Yes, the snow is coming down now. We got some "wintry mix" yesterday afternoon and evening, but it looks like it has changed over to all snow now. The feeders are full.