Agatha Christie - The Seven Dials Mystery (1929)

This is the second mystery with Superintendent Battle and Lady Eileen Brent (Bundle). Of all Christie's female characters, I like Bundle the most. Fun, feisty and daring - she's the most engaging youthful character in all of Christie's books.

A group of friends staying in the country set eight alarm clocks to wake up a chronically oversleeping friend... this sets in motion murder, conspiracy and a race for Bundle to find the seven dials and stop whatever dastardly plans they have for England.

Agatha Christie - The Seven Dials Mystery (1929)

This is the second Christie novel featuring Superintendent Battle and Lady Eileen 'Bundle' Brent. It's set four years after the Secret of Chimneys in the 1920s.

Bundle, now a young lady, stumbles on a mystery that began whilst Chimneys was leased for the past two years. What's the significance of the seven clocks? What did Gerry Wade mean by the Seven Dials? Who killed Ronny Devereaux and what does it all have to do with a formula for steel?

Bundle, in her usual exuberant manner, bumbles about, often finding clues by accident. Enlisting the help of Jimmy, Lorraine and Bill, they inflict themselves on the ever tolerant Superintendent Battle who also seems to be involved in the mystery.

I really enjoyed it, but I don't believe there is a Christie I haven't liked. What I really  would have loved is for Christie to have written more mysteries featuring Bundle, who is just such an engaging character, I wanted her story to go on and on.

Agatha Christie - The Secret of Chimneys (1925)

This is Christie's first book featuring Superintendent Battle.

Adventurer Anthony Cade agrees to deliver a manuscript to an English publisher for an old friend. To Cade, this seemed like a simple favour, only no-one wants the manuscript to be published. The resulting capers have Cade crashing a house-party at Chimneys, embroiled in the politics of Herzoslovakia, searching for a Royal murderer and finding the infamous Koh-i-Noor diamond.

The book was FUN! The characters were interesting and enaging. As a murder-mystery it wasn't in the normal thrill-dash-ride for the killer. It was a bit of a mad romp through the idiosyncrasies of politicians, fanatics and aristocracy. None of whom seem even slightly versed in day-to-day realities.

So bring on the full English breakfast (minus the kidneys) and enjoy the farce as Scotland Yard and the Sûreté try to solve a crime with the bumbling help of a cast of characters who think it is all a bit of a lark - as long as the drinks are never delayed by a dashed inconvenient murder.

Rhys Bowen - Queen of Hearts (2014)

This is the 8th book in Her Royal Spyness series. It takes Lady Georgiana Rannoch to America, accompanying her mother as she heads to Reno for a divorce. Georgie's beloved Darcy turns up on the trail of a jewel thief and they all end up in Hollywood, solving a murder, making a movie and drinking cocktails with the amorous Charlie Chaplin.

It was a fun book and I'm relieved to see Georgie and Darcy's relationship moving ahead. The whole will-they-won't-they in the previous books was annoying. I was hoping Darcy would get hit by a bus and Georgie would have a chance to fall in love with someone who loved and respected her, not just using her for her aristocracy connections.

Definitely read this series, the whole Darcy-Georgie thing is a small part of the fun and chaos that happens when she's solving mysteries or sent on 'errands' for the Queen. The only sad part is whenever Georgie has tea with the Queen - there's so many luscious cakes on the table, but etiquette says you may only eat what the Queen does, and she only eats a small slice of bread. So poor Georgie always leaves afternoon tea hungry. Take pity on the poor girl your majesty, please!

Dorothy L. Sayers - Lord Peter Wimsey Mysteries (1923 - 1937)

I am addicted to Lord peter Wimsey mysteries. No matter what else I am reading I have one of Sayer's books on my nightstand for last-thing-before-sleep reading. Today it is 'Have His Carcase', which is amusing - because they don't. They've lost the body!

Wimsey is a fun lovable character. He's traumatised by the horrors of WW1 and it has brought out his sense of the absurd - or whimsey, which is also the family motto. It's how he seems to deal with everything, he's rarely serious and this often drives people to throttling him. I'm not sure it would be a Wimsey book if someone hadn't had a go at him, but he isn't bothered by it. Wimsey seems to accept it as just their way of dealing with his absurdity and the upsetting situations they're all currently in - being that he's generally throttled by one of the people suspected of murder, so far none of them have been the murderer. Just ordinary men at the end of their tether. I think it's how he finds the murderer too. Wimsey expects the murderer to be calm and to put up with more than average, so they're not suspected.

These novels are very much stuck in the era they were written in and it would probably make it difficult for a person without any knowledge of the 1920/30s to read them. Locations, attitudes, products, poetry, plays, stage actresses - they stop the books from having a timeless quality (like Agatha Christie's novels) and give them so much else. The way the stories make me look up words that the dictionary now tells me are archaic or names of people long forgotten is so much part of the allure of the novel. I feel involved in Wimsey's mysteries, much deeper than I would if I was reading a contemporary novel with nothing that I really needed to think about or explore.

Truly worth reading.

Carola Dunn - Dead in the Water

This is book 6 in the Hon. Daisy Dalrymple mysteries. They're set in the 1920s and are just wonderful. The author, Carola Dunn, brings the era into her stories - including the morals, ethics and attitudes of the different classes. Generally most historical fiction is more hysterical fiction and worth avoiding, but not these books. They really make me feel like I'm in 1920s England. I love the glimpses into the post-war landscape, the nod to the horrors the men faced and the evolving roles of women in society.

Most books from this era would focus on the 'Bright Young Things' and model the heroine on an Elizabeth Ponsonby clone. Thankfully Dunn knew they were few and there was so much more to the era than a small number of 'nobs' wandering around London drunk and delirious.

Dead in the Water has Daisy racing off to the Henley Royal Regatta to write an article for an American magazine. It's meant to be a quiet weekend with her fiance, Alec, but of course Daisy stumbles over a body and the amateur sleuth with her 'guileless blue eyes' uses her people skills to find the killer.

The antics of the University crowd are worth the read alone - as are the descriptions of breakfasts! Those rowers could really eat, I spent the book half starved and drooling!!!

All in all an awesome read. I'm so looking forward to the next book. I hope it arrives today.

Kerry Greenwood - The Phryne Fisher Mysteries

I've just read my way through the entire Phryne Fisher Mysteries. They're wonderful!

I really enjoyed the glimpses into the past, the little things that make books special - the brand of perfume, the mode of dress, the type of car, Protestant versus Catholic, the political landscape, the rise of the union & the beginning of the global recession.

I love Greenwood's views on World War 1 - the war to end all wars. It didn't end anything, it set the groundwork for the next 100 years of war. We're still dealing with the fallout from the decisions made in the Versailles Treaty.

It's amazing how human Phryne's character is, with all her flaws and yet so strong and sincere at such a young age - the character is only 28, but she seems to think she is so old and mature, and back then she was.

Her sexual escapades are not for the prude-hearted, she takes on new lovers, discards old lovers and does not apologise for being who she is - a strong, independent, sexual woman of the 1920s, a time not known for women's liberation. I adore her. Phryne brings the 1920s Melbourne alive. I can almost see her as she drives her Hispano-Suiza down St. Kilda's streets, solving crimes and helping people.

I've watched some of the television episodes, but they do not compare to the books for storyline or detail. If you want to meet the real Phryne Fisher, read the books! With her pearl-handled pistol, her Gitanes and silk underwear, her love of cocktails and her belief in doing what is right - even if the law says it is wrong.