#e.c.r. lorac

[j-august]

"I suppose all Londoners who survived the winter of 1940 with nerves unimpaired, did develop what the psychologists call 'a defence mechanism' - they learned to disregard disessential bangs."

E.C.R. Lorac, Checkmate to Murder

[kaggsy59]

"...the great ribbon of the Danube itself showed strong and dark..." @BL_Publishing #ecrlorac #BLCC @medwardsbooks

I continue to play catch-up with the lovely review copies from British Library Publishing, and I have to confess to have been having such fun with the crime classics recently! They’ve been a wonderfully distracting treat during stressful work times and even whilst I was poorly in February! The fact that I read today’s book when I was ill shows just how far behind I am with reviewing but there you…

[myrna-nora]

2024: Books

January 1. The Final Curtain (祈りの幕が下がる時) (2013) Keigo Higashino 2. The Last Word (2023) Taylor Adams 3. Unruly (2023) David Mitchell 4. Death in Kashmir (1953) M.M. Kaye # 5. Death of a Bookseller (1956) Bernard J. Farmer † 6. There Should Have Been Eight (2023) Nalini Singh 7. Miss Marple: Complete Short Stories (1985) [1927-1956] Agatha Christie ♥ 8. Murder's a Swine (1943) Nap Lombard † February 9. The Mysterious Case of the Alperton Angels (2023) Janice Hallett 10. Death in Fancy Dress (1933) Anthony Gilbert † 11. The Murder at the Vicarage (1930) Agatha Christie ♥ 12. Everyone on This Train Is a Suspect (2023) Benjamin Stevenson 13. Inheritance (2023) Nora Roberts 14. Someone from the Past (1958) Margot Bennett † 15. The Body in the Library (1942) Agatha Christie ♥ 16. The Extra Woman (2017) Joanna Scutts 17. The Inugami Curse (犬神家の一族) (1951) Seishi Yokomizo March 18. Traitor's Purse (1941) Margery Allingham * 19. The Moving Finger (1943) Agatha Christie ♥ 20. Mother-Daughter Murder Night (2023) Nina Simon 21. Murder in the Mill-Race (1952) E.C.R. Lorac † 22. Club You To Death (2021) Anuja Chauhan 23. A Murder Is Announced (1950) Agatha Christie ♥ 24. Murder by the Book (2021) [1933-1973] Martin Edwards (Editor) † 25. The Choice (Anything You Do Say) (2017) Gillian McAllister

April 26. The Good, the Bad, and the Aunties (2024) Jesse Q. Sutanto ^ 27. They Do It with Mirrors (1952) Agatha Christie ♥ 28. How to Solve Your Own Murder (2024) Kristen Perrin 29. Jumping Jenny (1933) Anthony Berkeley † 30. The Ministry of Fear (1943) Graham Greene 31. A Pocket Full of Rye (1953) Agatha Christie ♥ 32. Close to Death (2024) Anthony Horowitz ^ 33. Betsy-Tacy (1940) Maud Hart Lovelace 34. Betsy-Tacy and Tib (1941) Maud Hart Lovelace 35. Betsy and Tacy Go Over the Big Hill (1942) Maud Hart Lovelace 36. Betsy and Tacy Go Downtown (1943) Maud Hart Lovelace 37. Crook o' Lune (1953) E.C.R. Lorac †

May 38. Deep Waters (2019) [1893-1975] Martin Edwards (Editor) † 39. 4.50 from Paddington (1957) Agatha Christie ♥ 40. The Hike (2023) Lucy Clarke 41. The Spoilt Kill (1961) Mary Kelly † 42. Nightwatching (2024) Tracy Sierra 43. The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side (1962) Agatha Christie ♥ 44. The Last One (2023) Will Dean 45. The Clue of the Broken Locket (Nancy Drew #11) (1934, rev.1965) Carolyn Keene * June 46. Mind Games (2024) Nora Roberts 47. A Caribbean Mystery (1964) Agatha Christie ♥ 48. The Great Mistake (1940) Mary Roberts Rinehart * 49. Quick Curtain (1934) Alan Melville † 50. One Perfect Couple (2024) Ruth Ware 51. At Bertram's Hotel (1965) Agatha Christie ♥ 52. Big Ben Strikes Eleven (1934) David Magarshack † July 53. Fear Stalks the Village (1932) Ethel Lina White † 54. Lady in the Lake (2019) Laura Lippman 55. Nemesis (1971) Agatha Christie ♥ 56. The Widow of Bath (1952) Margot Bennett † 57. The Marlow Murder Club (2021) Robert Thorogood 58. Middle of the Night (2024) Riley Sager 59. Sleeping Murder (1976) Agatha Christie ♥ August 60. The Cheltenham Square Murder (1937) John Bude † 61. The Case of the Missing Servant (2009) Tarquin Hall ♦ 62. The Case of the Man Who Died Laughing (2009) Tarquin Hall ♦ 63. Ludo and the Star Horse (1974) Mary Stewart 64. The Division Bell Mystery (1932) Ellen Wilkinson † September 65. The Case of the Deadly Butter Chicken (2012) Tarquin Hall ♦ 66. Death on the Down Beat (1941) Sebastian Farr † 67. Death of a Busybody (1942) George Bellairs † 68. Invisible Weapons (1938) John Rhode 69. Bodies from the Library 3 (2020) [c1920-1967] Tony Medawar (Editor) October 70. The Case of the Love Commandos (2013) Tarquin Hall ♦ 71. The Postscript Murders (2020) Elly Griffiths 72. Home Is Where the Bodies Are (2024) Jeneva Rose 73. The Case of the Reincarnated Client (2019) Tarquin Hall ♦ 74. We Solve Murders (2024) Richard Osman 75. Castle Skull (1931) John Dickson Carr † 76. He Who Whispers (1946) John Dickson Carr † November 77. The Glass Bottom Hoax (2024) Diane Vallere ^ 78. The Z Murders (1932) J. Jefferson Farjeon † 79. Be Buried in the Rain (1985) Barbara Michaels 80. Surfeit of Suspects (1964) George Bellairs † 81. Marple: Expert on Wickedness (2024) Mark Aldridge 82. The Listening House (1938) Mabel Seeley 83. What Time the Sexton's Spade Doth Rust (2024) Alan Bradley ^ December 84. Everyone This Christmas Has a Secret (2024) Benjamin Stevenson ^ 85. Dramatic Murder (1948) Elizabeth Anthony † 86. The Will and the Deed (1960) Ellis Peters 87. The White Priory Murders (1934) Carter Dickson † 88. Letters from Father Christmas (1976) [1920-1943] J.R.R. Tolkien # physical TBR pile: read what I already own ^ finished or caught up in series * re-reads ♥ re-read complete series (Miss Marple) ♦ re-read complete series (Vish Puri) † British Library Crime Classics imprint

yearly list books

[mariacallous]

So I need some book recommendation help, my nephew's birthday is coming up, he'll be 14 and I like to get books so I asked if there was anything he was looking for or genres he enjoyed, and he came back with "murder mystery" and name dropped The Family Upstairs by Lisa Jewell as one he enjoyed. Now thrillers, police/detective, crime novels, murder mysteries, are all totally outside my wheelhouse, the only things close to that I've ever read are Rivers of London and The Yiddish Policemen's Union which clearly I was reading for reasons that don't really have to do with police/detective stuff, but you love an Agatha Christie, soooo what in your view are great crime/detective thriller/mysteries because I want to aim high and get something good.

It depends on how many Agatha Christie's or other murder mystery novels he's read, but if he likes The Family Upstairs, he may enjoy Christie's Crooked House or Ordeal by Innocence or The Sittaford Mystery or Dumb Witness or Sad Cypress or Sleeping Murder

Francis Iles's Before The Fact would be another one I might recommend, as well as Ethel Lina White's Fear Stalks The VIllage, E.C.R. Lorac's Post After Post-Mortem and These Names Make Clues, Ngaio Marsh's Surfeit of Lampreys, A Man Lay Dead, and Light Thickens. Dorothy L. Sayer's Unnatural Death, Strong Poison, and Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club.

Lucy Foley's The Guest List and The Hunting Party, John Dickson Carr's The Case of the Constant Suicides.

[living400lbs]

"The entrance of Elizabeth Leigh brought Grenville to his feet with a whoop of joy. “Angel!” he exclaimed fervently, but Elizabeth only made a face at him.

“I don’t approve of coming to see comparatively young men in their own rooms,” she announced haughtily. “Not on moral grounds, but because it gives them swelled head. However, my club’s no place for a good talk. There’s always some long-chinned spinster listening in from behind a pillar, and restaurants are the same, so I just came here."

- from Bats In The Belfry by E.C.R. Lorac, written in 1936.

[natreads]

January in books and movies

Books:

Jag tror jag går in i hans rum och öppnar en väska till by Marie-Louise Ekman (audiobook) - 3 stars

The Weary Blues by Langston Hughes (e-book) - 4 stars

Harlem Shadows: Poems by Claude McKay (e-book) - 3 stars

If Beale Street Could Talk by James Baldwin (physical) - 4 stars

Love, Creekwood by Becky Albertalli (audiobook) - 3 stars

Death of an Author by E.C.R. Lorac (audiobook) - 3 stars

The Young Man by Annie Ernaux (e-book) - 4 stars

Movies:

Wonka - 4 stars

Bottoms - 4.5 stars

Everything Everywhere All At Once - 4.5 stars

Saltburn - 3.5 stars

Bodies Bodies Bodies - 3 stars

Bones and all - 4.5 stars

Tár - 4 stars

Goodreads | Letterboxd

[nataliect]

My top books of 2024

10. Post After Post-Mortem by E.C.R. Lorac

9. The Death of Artemio Cruz by Carlos Fuentes

8. The Art of Prophecy by Wesley Chu

7. Revelation Space by Alastair Reynolds

6. The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by Victoria Schwab

5. Gods of the Wyrdwood by RJ Barker

4. From Grace to Charity by Emily Belle Freeman

3. Morning Star by Pierce Brown

2. Heirs of the Blade by Adrian Tchaikovsky

1. To Green Angel Tower by Tad Williams

I read quite a few books this year but mostly fantasy and sci fi. One accomplishment I’m happy about is I read a half dozen over 800 pages!

Some of the best books are long.

[myhistoryofbooks]

Favorite books I read in 2023

The Memory Police by Yoko Ogawa - I read this in January and it has not left my mind since. A haunting novel where very little happens and yet everything that matters happens.

Bats in the Belfry by E.C.R. Lorac - golden age mystery from the 1930s, heavy on gothic atmosphere and a terrific plot.

The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett - a little bit of a cheat because I know I read this at some point during childhood but it had been so long that this felt like reading a brand new book. It's a classic for a reason.

High-Rise by J.G. Ballard - every Ballard I read is better than the last. He's officially a favorite author now.

Surrender by Bono - I'm a U2 megafan so of course I loved this. A genuine, introspective examination of a life in music.

Summer by Edith Wharton - wow, why did I wait so long to read this, it's been on my shelf for years. A stunning portrayal of the limitations of womanhood.

The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides - Another one I waited too long to read. As deeply felt and heart breaking as the equally great film adaptation.

The Black Count by Tom Reiss - fun and fascinating biography of an understudied but influential figure in Black history.

Vampires of Nightworld by David Bischoff - I"m still on the fence as to whether this book is secretly brilliant or just deeply stupid but either way I had the absolute most fun reading it of any book in a long time.

The October Country by Ray Bradbury - As always, Bradbury delivers the goods.

The Best Worst Christmas Pageant Ever and The Best Worst Halloween Ever by Barbara Robinson - Technically a trio of books about the incorrigible Herdman kids who always manage to do the unexpected. There were written in the 70s and have some dated elements, but are overall so delightful.

[cupofteajones]

Book Review: Fire in the Thatch by E.C.R. Lorac

Book Review: Fire in the Thatch by E.C.R. Lorac

Format: Paperback

Pages: 240 pages

Published: February 10, 2018 (January 1st 1946)

Publisher: The British Library

Genre: Mystery & Thrillers, Fiction & Literature (more…)

[considermycat]

Currently #reading Murder in the Mill-Race by E.C.R. Lorac.

[j-august]

"Think of it. 1850 to 1940. What a period to have lived through! Some folks say there's been more change in the world in those hundred years than in the whole thousand years preceding. Progress? My hat! Do you call it progress?" "Depends where you're progressing to," said Reeves. "Sometime these past two years I've thought human beings were making a bee-line for hell."

E.C.R. Lorac, Checkmate to Murder

[kaggsy59]

"It's the damn weather that's been the trouble all through." #Dewithon @BL_Publishing @medwardsbooks

Hot on the heels of my first post for the #Dewithon comes my second! And it’s perhaps a slightly unexpected one, but when it popped through the door recently it immediately bypassed Mount TBR as I knew it would be the perfect choice! The book is “Impact of Evidence” by Carol Carnac, and it’s a new title in the British Library Crime Classics range. Although Carnac (also known as E.C.R. Lorac) did…

[myrna-nora]

2023: Books

January 1. The Wall (1938) Mary Roberts Rinehart + 2. Fallen Into the Pit (1951) Ellis Peters ** 3. Agatha Christie: A Very Elusive Woman (2022) Lucy Worsley 4. Death on the Cherwell (1935) Mavis Doriel Hay # 5. A Death in Tokyo (麒麟の翼) (2011) Keigo Higashino 6. The Twyford Code (2022) Janice Hallett 7. Checkmate to Murder (1944) E.C.R. Lorac #

February 8. The Poisoned Chocolates Case (1929) Anthony Berkeley + # 9. Death and the Joyful Woman (1961) Ellis Peters ** 10. Bodies from the Library, 2 (2019) Tony Medawar (Editor) 11. Finlay Donovan Jumps the Gun (2023) Elle Cosimano ^ 12. Flight of a Witch (1964) Ellis Peters ** 13. Murder in the Basement (1932) Anthony Berkeley # March 14. Mrs. 'Arris Goes to Paris (1958) Paul Gallico 15. A Nice Derangement of Epitaphs (1965) Ellis Peters ** 16. These Names Make Clues (1937) E.C.R. Lorac # 17. House of Many Ways (2008) Diana Wynne Jones ^ 18. Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice for Murderers (2023) Jesse Q. Sutanto 19. The Decagon House Murders (十角館の殺人) (1987) Yukito Ayatsuji + 20. Poirot: The Greatest Detective in the World (2020) Mark Aldridge + 21. Death of Jezebel (1948) Christianna Brand # 22. The Spite House (2023) Johnny Compton 23. The Cask (1920) Freeman Wills Crofts April 24. The Piper on the Mountain (1966) Ellis Peters ** 25. Crossed Skis (1952) Carol Carnac # 26. The Wintringham Mystery (1927) Anthony Berkeley 27. Wrong Place Wrong Time (2022) Gillian McAllister 28. Smallbone Deceased (1950) Michael Gilbert # 29. Heads You Lose (1941) Christianna Brand May 30. Black is the Colour of my True Love's Heart (1967) Ellis Peters ** 31. Murder of a Lady (1931) Anthony Wynne # 32. The Lake District Murder (1935) John Bude # 33. The Mill House Murders (水車館の殺人) (1988) Yukito Ayatsuji 34. Green for Danger (1944) Christianna Brand * # 35. The Case of the Howling Dog (1934) Erle Stanley Gardner June 36. Identity (2023) Nora Roberts 37. A Will To Kill (2019) R.V. Raman 38. The Grass-Widow's Tale (1968) Ellis Peters ** 39. The Enigma of Garlic (2022) Alexander McCall Smith ^ 40. Miss Pym Disposes (1946) Josephine Tey 41. The Seat of the Scornful (1941) John Dickson Carr # 42. Fell Murder (1944) E.C.R. Lorac # 43. The House of Green Turf (1969) Ellis Peters ** July 44. The Westing Game (1978) Ellen Raskin * 45. The Case of the Gilded Fly (1944) Edmund Crispin 46. Mourning Raga (1969) Ellis Peters ** 47. Grave Intentions (A Dire Isle) (2022) R.V. Raman 48. Weekend at Thrackley (1934) Alan Melville # 49. The Singing Sands (1952) Josephine Tey ^ 50. The Story of Classic Crime in 100 Books (2017) Martin Edwards + 51. The Only One Left (2023) Riley Sager 52. Death of an Airman (1934) Christopher St. John Sprigg # 53. The Knocker on Death's Door (1970) Ellis Peters ** August 54. A Disappearance in Fiji (2023) Nilima Rao 55. The Mistress of Bhatia House (2023) Sujata Massey ^ 56. Tour de Force (1955) Christianna Brand ^ 57. The Colour of Murder (1957) Julian Symons # 58. Post After Post-Mortem (1936) E.C.R. Lorac # 59. Death to the Landlords (1972) Ellis Peters ** 60. Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep (1997) Patricia H. Rushford * 61. The Plague and I (1948) Betty MacDonald ^ September 62. City of Gold and Shadows (1973) Ellis Peters ** 63. Red Sky in Mourning (1997) Patricia H. Rushford 64. Twice Round the Clock (1935) Billie Houston # 65. Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone (2023) Benjamin Stevenson 66. Please Don't Push Up the Daisies (2023) Diane Vallere ^ 67. Laughing Gas (1936) P.G. Wodehouse 68. The Black Spectacles (1939) John Dickson Carr # 69. The Last Devil to Die (2023) Richard Osman ^ 70. Rainbow's End (1978) Ellis Peters ** October 71. Thirteen Guests (1936) J. Jefferson Farjeon # 72. Ghosts From the Library (2022) Tony Medawar (Editor) 73. Black Rainbow (1982) Barbara Michaels ^ 74. The Stranger Diaries (2018) Elly Griffiths 75. Where Are the Children? (1975) Mary Higgins Clark + 76. It Walks by Night (1930) John Dickson Carr # 77. Jane-Emily (1969) Patricia Clapp 78. The Woman in Black (1983) Susan Hill 79. Midnight Bayou (2001) Nora Roberts November 80. The Progress of a Crime (1960) Julian Symons # 81. Just Another Missing Person (2023) Gillian McAllister 82. The Running Grave (2023) Robert Galbraith ^ 83. Murder by Matchlight (1945) E.C.R. Lorac # December 84. The Santa Klaus Murder (1936) Mavis Doriel Hay # 85. The Christmas Guest (2023) Peter Swanson 86. The Busy Body (2024) Kemper Donovan + 87. Murder After Christmas (1944) Rupert Latimer # 88. The Twelve Days of Murder (2023) Andreina Cordani 89. Trojan Gold (1987) Elizabeth Peters + read what I already own challenge ^ finished or caught-up in series * re-reads ** re-read series challenge (Felse Investigations) # British Library Crime Classics

[mariacallous]

from the intro to Death of an Author, a British Library Crime Classic by E.C.R. Lorac

[living400lbs]

“You asked me—quite rightly—what time I left Grenville yesterday evening. I told you a few minutes after six. If you were having the place watched, you knew what time I left.”

“Yes,” agreed Macdonald. “Our man agreed with you. Six five he made it. After which you mounted a number thirteen bus in the Strand, which got held up when the Fascisti tried to demonstrate in Trafalgar Square at six thirty-five. You arrived home at seven three. The moral of which seems to be that it is quicker to walk than to go by bus in London during the rush hours.”

- from Bats In The Belfry by E.C.R Lorac

Some things are eternal...like traffic.

[olderthannetfic]

Hi. What are the titles of the last five novels you had fun reading? :)

--

God... The last million things I read were BTS fanfic. Let me check my kindle... I think everything I've been consuming is audiobook versions, actually. Here are some from the past year:

The Affair of the Thirty Nine-Cufflinks by James Anderson

Post After Post-Mortem by E.C.R. Lorac

Fairy and Impartial by Meghan Maslow

Brass Carriages and Glass Hearts by Nancy Campbell Allen

Murder Has a Motive by Francis Duncan

So indie m/m, golden age detective novels, parodies of golden age detective novels, and 19thC fantasy pastiche.