#E R Punshon

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Six Were Present

A review of Six Were Present by E R Punshon – 240711 And so the career of Bobby Owen which has spanned thirty-five novels draws to a close. Originally published in 1956, the year of Punshon’s death at the grand old age of 84 and reissued by Dean Street Press, the author and his publisher persist with their established tradition of selecting uninspiring and uninviting titles. Six were Present is…

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“After all, not every village in the Thames valley got ‘write-ups’ like that in one of the most popular of the five or six national papers that direct our destinies, instruct our tastes, and dictate to us the opinions we hold with such a depth of passionate conviction.”

—E. R. Punshon, Death Among the Sunbathers

[pastoffences]

"Was she getting sunbonnets on the brain?" #1943book roundup

“Was she getting sunbonnets on the brain?” #1943book roundup

Thanks to everyone who submitted a review for the February 2017 Crimes of the Century challenge to review a book or film from 1943.

Tracy at Bitter Tea and Mystery celebrated five years of blogging this month, and celebrated by sharing her review of Laura by Vera Caspary:

I had avoided this novel for years. Although I had never seen the movie based on the book, I thought I knew the story, and…

[seattlemysterybooks]

philsp.com

March 1930 issue

cover by Thomas Skinner

Ben R. Tidyman, “The Gangster Detective"

Herbert Hall Taylor, “The People vs. Cordelia Bodkin"  

Anatole Feldman, “Gunning for Hijackers"

Mark Plum, “False Clues"

Robert Page Ahern, “The Big Shot"

E. R. Punshon, “The Cottage Murders” (Part 2 of 3)

John D. Klorer, “Double-Crossed"

Arden X. Pangborn, “A Gunman’s Blunder"

Arden X. Pangborn, “The Dixon Murder Case"

Joe M. Conrad, “The Snow-Runners"

Seattle Mystery Bookshop

[frimleyblogger]

Triple Quest

A review of Triple Quest by E R Punshon – 240409 The thirty-fourth and penultimate novel in Punshon’s long running Bobby Owen series was originally published in 1955 and has been reissued by Dean Street Press. As I approach the end of the series I have been eking the books out, savouring them like a gourmand, and in this novel Punshon does not disappoint. It is a complex story that has some…

[frimleyblogger]

Dark Is The Clue

My thoughts on Dark is the Clue by #ERPunshon reissued by @DeanStPress #CrimeFiction #BookReview

A review of Dark is the Clue by E R Punshon – 240218 The entertaining and enthralling Bobby Owen series is winding to a conclusion. Dark is the Clue, the thirty-third in the series, originally published in 1955 and reissued by Dean Street Press, is an astonishing piece of work from an author who is now in his eighties. Having followed the series in chronological order, this is one of Punshon’s…

[frimleyblogger]

Brought To Light

My thoughts on Brought To Light by #ERPunshon reissued by @DeanStPress #CrimeFiction #BookReview

A review of Brought To Light by E R Punshon – 231214 I only wish I can write a book as good as this when I am eighty-two. Originally published in 1954, two years before his death, and reissued by Dean Street Press, Brought To Light is the thirty-second novel in Punshon’s Bobby Owen which began in 1933 with Bobby a bobby on the beat. Now he is a Deputy Commander at the Yard with a licence to roam…

[frimleyblogger]

Strange Ending

My thoughts on Strange Ending by #ERPunshon reissued by @DeanStPress #CrimeFiction #BookReview

A review of Strange Ending by E R Punshon – 231021 Never mind a Strange Ending this is a strange book and although a fan of Punshon’s Bobby Owen series is one that I found difficult to get into. This is the thirty-first in the series, originally published in 1953 and reissued by Dean Street Press, and displays some unusual features. The story concerns the murder of Hugh Newton, although some of…

[frimleyblogger]

The Attending Truth

The Attending Truth #ERPunshon #BobbyOwen @DeanStPress #CrimeFiction #BookReview

A review of The Attending Truth by E R Punshon – 230819 Originally published in 1952 when Punshon was eighty and reissued by Dean Street Press, The Attending Truth is the thirtieth in his Bobby Owen series. Called in by the local Chief Constable, Mr Lawson, Bobby is faced with a mysterious murder, that of John Winterspoon, a commercial traveller specialising in groceries, a stranger to the area,…

[frimleyblogger]

The Secret Search

The Secret Search #ERPunshon #CrimeFiction #BookReview @DeanStPress

A review of The Secret Search by E R Punshon – 230706 Here’s a mystery before we start. The cover of the reissued edition of this book by the excellent Dean Street Press shows it to be the twenty-eighth in Punshon’s Bobby Owen series while the usually reliable Fantastic Fiction shows it as the twenty-ninth, appearing after The Golden Dagger, both of which were originally published in 1951. It…

[frimleyblogger]

The Golden Dagger

If the hat fits. Bobby Owen solves what is behind the strange goings-on around Cobblers in The Golden Dagger, reissued by @DeanStPress #CrimeFiction #bookreview

A review of The Golden Dagger by E R Punshon – 250528 E R Punshon took a bit of a risk in setting the twenty-ninth in his Bobby Owen series at Cobblers. Originally published in 1951 and reissued by Dean Street Press, it is not exactly a load of cobblers but, in my view as a fan of Punshon’s work, it is one of his weakest. It reads like a wheezy old car gamely ascending a steep hill, barely able…

[frimleyblogger]

Everybody Always Tells

A shopping trip leads Bobby Owen to investigating a locked-room mystery with two missing guinea pigs. Intriguing #CrimeFiction from #ERPunshon reissued by @DeanStPress #amreading

A review of Everybody Always Tells by E R Punshon – 230323 Surely one of the reasons that E R Punshon’s Bobby Owen series fell into undeserved obscurity is the poor choice of titles. Everybody Always Tells is not one that leaps off the book cover and demands that the reader invests some time in reading it. The title comes from Owen’s oft repeated, at least in this book, and somewhat optimistic…

[frimleyblogger]

So Many Doors

Bobby Owen grapples with two women who are driven by their own Furies in this entertaining and thrilling piece of #CrimeFiction from E R Punshon, reissued by @DeanStPress #amreading

A review of So Many Doors by E R Punshon -230212 One of life’s many little mysteries is why a Golden Age detective crime writer of the quality of E R Punshon fell so spectacularly out of fashion. Considerable credit must go to Dean Street Press for their sterling effort in reviving his fortunes and those of others. Perhaps what did not help his cause is his choice of titles (or was it his…

[frimleyblogger]

Four Strange Women

A dark, atmospheric, almost Gothic and melodramatic piece of #CrimeFiction from ER Punshon as Bobby Owen wins his spurs in Wychshire. Reissued by @DeanStPress #amreading

A review of Four Strange Women by E R Punshon Bobby Owen’s promotion to Inspector and his transfer to Wychshire, his reward after a bit of string pulling by Lady Markham after his success in Murder Abroad, turns out to be a bit of a poisoned chalice. The chief constable, Colonel Glynne, is in a pickle as he suspects that his daughter, Becky, and possibly his son, Leonard, as well as the daughter…

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Murder Abroad

A reworking of a familiar Greek myth allows Bobby Owen to solve a mystery as he undertakes a private case in France. Good #CrimeFiction from the reliable E R Punshon, reissued by @DeanStPress #amreading

A review of Murder Abroad by E R Punshon Originally published in 1939 and now reissued by Dean Street Press, the thirteenth in Punshon’s enjoyable Bobby Owen series, Murder Abroad is unusual in several respects. As its rather prosaic title suggests the story is set abroad, in the quiet French village of Citry-sur-l’eau in the Massif Centralto be precise, and Bobby is flying solo, operating with…

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Suspects – Nine

A change of style from E R Punshon in Bobby Owen's 12th adventure, reissued by @DeanStPress #CrimeFiction #amreading

A review of Suspects – Nine by E R Punshon Originally published in 1939 and now reissued by Dean Street Press, Suspects – Nine is the twelfth in Punshon’s Bobby Owen series. Its title and idea, a case where there are (ahem) nine suspects, although one is a bit of a cop-out named just X, can, perhaps, be traced to J J Connington’s A Case with Nine Solutions, published eleven years earlier. At…