Friday 30 December 2016


I enjoyed Andrew Marr's series Paperback Heroes a couple of months ago - especially the episode on spy fiction - and scribbled down several titles to be read later. So this was my not-very-Christmassy Christmas reading and a jolly good read it was, taken with a whiskey sour. (Give me the classic cocktails, not the fancy ones!) I even got to watch the 1943 film, seemingly made with a great deal of involvement, but not actually directed by Orson Welles. The film stayed fairly true to the book, until the ending went way over the top. I've never read Eric Ambler before but I'll definitely seek out some more.


Right now I'm belting through The Secrets of Wishtide, a thoroughly enjoyable Victorian murder mystery introducing lady detective Mrs Laetitia Rodd. To be honest, it's also thoroughly derivative and owes much to Steerforth and little Em'ly as well as the original female detective Mrs Gladden. But it's a nice easy read and a good excuse for not even thinking about venturing out into icy fog.

4 comments:

Vronni's Style Meanderings said...

I'm sure Eric Ambler was on our school reading list or am I confusing him with Erich Remarque's book 'All Quiet on the Western Front'? I can still remember an awful lot of books on that list - 'Last Exit to Brooklyn' being another one.

Detective fiction is my guilty pleasure. I love the Jackson Brodie series by Kate Atkinson; The Adrian McKinty and Stuart Neville books and the Simon Serailleur series by Susan Hill. I've also got a pile of older detective type fiction to read in 2017 including Josephine Tey; Margery Allingham and Ngaio Marsh; the first two of whom were also on the school reading list...

Happy New Year, Mary!

Mary said...

Your school reading list sounds far more interesting than anything I did at school, Veronica. I'd have thought Erich Remarque was more likely than Eric Ambler but you never know. Have you read Tiger in the Smoke? I think that's my favourite Margery Allingham.

Vronni's Style Meanderings said...

No, but I've got it! I think the Tey on our school list was 'Daughter of Time'. It was a very interesting list and I don't know if you've read 'Last Exit to Brooklyn' but it includes a gang rape scene!

Mary said...

Heavens, the nuns I went to would never have countenanced that!