by Mary Colonel Sanderstead of the Manor awaits the arrival of his young friend Jimmy Leigh to play golf on the Manor's private course...

by Mary Late at night Sir Clinton Driffield is on his way to visit his sister Mrs Anne Thornaby of Fern Lodge near the titular village. H...

by Mary This Golden Age of Detection novel is set during Christmas week at the Noah's Ark, a former coaching inn currently chockablock...

by Mary As this novel opens, Leslie Seaforth and his fiancee Joyce Hazlemere are visiting the Struan Museum. Its eccentric collection inclu...

by Mary When I was in my mid-teens my favourite teacher was the fellow who taught the English class. Given our age group, my classmates ...

by Mary Much of the plot of The Twenty-One Clues revolves around members of the dwindling congregation of the Church of Awakened Israel, ...

by Mary Detective Murray Wigan relates a number of cases solved with the assistance of Charles Quarles, professor of philosophy. A ghastly...

At Kevin Tipple's blog Mary discuses writing, characters, and how history relates to our characters. Check it out at: Minor Characters ...

by Mary Moris Klaw is a colourful fellow who runs a ramshackle curio emporium (some would call it a junk shop) at East London's Wapping...

by Mary The Dangerfield family is an ancient one, having resided in their mansion Friocksheim since before the Norman Conquest. Their titul...

by Mary London's Praed Street is typical of thousands of unremarkable urban streets, narrow, not too attractive, and occupied by reside...

by Mary Chief Constable Sir Clinton Driffield is being shown around the extensive grounds of Ravensthorpe, home to Cecil Chasewater and h...

by Mary Speaking of Macbeth, on being informed Birnam Wood was on the move he must have been horrified, recalling the prophecy he would n...

by Mary We spent the first week of August pacing up and down the battlements of Maywrite Towers, staring hopefully down the road and, it mu...

by Mary We now return to our continuing series titled When Household Machinery Goes Rogue. In Childe Harold's Pilgrimage Lord Byron ...

by Mary As with all readers, bookcases have been a constant presence in my living spaces. The first graced a Victorian terraced house, ...

by Mary Dining by candlelight sounds romantic but not when there's been no power for almost a week. Such was the case when the 1978...

by Mary Years ago, a friend who lived in the Middle East at the time mentioned she had met another expat who worked for the BBC. who obse...

by Mary When I mentioned my intent was to talk about "tubbies" this time round, Mr Maywrite asked me if the word was a Britishi...

by Mary We are not two to boast, but a few years ago we outdid Herman Melville in that Three For A Letter features not one but two whales...