Elizabeth Foxwell

_The Return of the Soldier_! _The Return of the Soldier_! I remain stunned by the strength of this debut novel. Vera Brittain introduced West to her (eventual husband) Henry Maxwell Andrews.

Zelda Popkin Zelda Popkin’s adventurous life could have made her the protagonist of one of her own novels. In his brilliant telling of the story of her life, her histo…

Book on Zelda Popkin by her grandson, Jeremy Popkin. www.bloomsbury.com/us/zelda-pop...

Len Deighton’s Observer cookstrips, Michael Caine and the 1960s Novelist Len Deighton’s ‘cookstrips’ taught a generation of 1960s men to make minestrone, boeuf bourguignon and chicken paprika. To celebrate their return in OFM, he recalls what happened next. By Rob...

He also wrote cookbooks on French cooking. He had something called "cook strips" in the _Observer_. www.theguardian.com/books/2014/d...

Are you familiar w/Len Deighton's cookbk?

Ah ha, Michael Arlen. That would be "The Good Friend" w/ his Chief-Inspector Parbold. Arlen is possibly best known for _The Green Hat_ (1924).

The Chronological Bibliography of Early Occult Detectives – 1800s Click here for A Key to the Chronological Bibliography of Early Occult Detectives. There, you’ll find an explanation for this bibliography’s hyperlinks, the four types of occult detecti…

Tim Prasil has compiled a "Chronological Bibliography of Early #Occult Detectives" brombonesbooks.com/research/the...

Shipwrecked! by Martin W. Sandler: 9781662602047 | PenguinRandomHouse.com: Books A 2024 Sibert Honor Book A 2024 ALSC Notable Book "(A) deeper dive into marine archaeology...enlivened by photographs, diagrams and archival images, describes sunken vessels as ‘time capsules’...

Maybe _Shipwrecked!_ by Martin W. Sandler. www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/726713...

Oh, yes. The infamous James Corbett, a super-bad writer. His _Devil-Man from Mars_, for example, reveals that the Devil-Man reaches Earth earlier than expected because of his fine tail wind.

Murder Most Unladylike - Robin Stevens There's been a rather shocking murder at Deepdean School for Girls...

Robin Stevens, starting w/ _Murder Most Unladylike_. robin-stevens.co.uk/books/murder...

Submissions Online journal and not-for-profit project dedicated to the exploration of curious and compelling works from the history of art, literature, and ideas.

Maybe Public Domain Review? publicdomainreview.org/about/submis...

Headshot of author Gillian Flynn in a black top.

And still more on Gillian Flynn. elizabethfoxwell.blogspot.com/2020/04/clue...

Image of Carol Lynley and Keir Dullea in the film _Bunny Lake Is Missing_

Well, here's the domestic #noir issue of Clues (39.1, 2021). elizabethfoxwell.blogspot.com/2021/03/Clue...

Noel Coward is always a good idea.

Cover of Chester Himes: A Life by James Sallis, with large headshot of Himes

Author James Sallis died on Jan 27 at age 81. Although he might be best known for _Drive_, he had a long & distinguished career, incl. this well-respected biography of Chester Himes
elizabethfoxwell.blogspot.com/2026/02/Sall... #BlackHistoryMonth

So sad that he died so young.

FYI, Jennifer Morag Henderson's bio of Tey. Henderson was successful in having a blue heritage plaque placed on the business of Tey's family in Inverness.

Donna Andrews is not the 1st cozy mystery writer to be named Grand Master. Some predecessors: Katherine Hall Page (2024), Joanne Fluke (2023), BarbaraNeely (2020), Jane Langton (2018), Carolyn Hart (2014), Elizabeth Peters/Barbara Michaels (1998), Ngaio Marsh (1978), Agatha Christie (1955)

The Hours Before Dawn Check out this great listen on Audible.com. WATERSTONES THRILLER OF THE MONTH AUTHOR: 'Britain's Patricia Highsmith' (Sunday Times) Discover the original psychological thriller as a sleep-deprived ...

Try Celia Fremlin (e.g., _The Hours Before Dawn_) www.audible.com/pd/The-Hours...

December 15 Zoom event on the work of Agatha Christie. A blog focusing on the history of mystery/detective fiction.

Dec 15/4:30P ET: Zoom w/@nicholasbirns.bsky.social & Margaret Boe Birns (NYU) re their new _#AgathaChristie Under the Magnifying Glass: Close Readings of 12 Novels_. Spec guest @jcbernthal.com (_Agatha Christie: A Companion to the #Mystery Fiction_) elizabethfoxwell.blogspot.com/2025/12/Birn...

I didn't realize that McFarland was sending cats along w/ books. 😺

Cover of Peril Under the Palms by KK Beck with an illustration of a flapper's body in a sleeveless dress and with a string of red beads around her neck.

My favorite 1920s-set mystery series is by K.K. Beck: _Death in a Deck Chair_, _Murder in a Mummy Case, & _Peril Under the Palms_. @deanstpress.bsky.social has reprinted early mystery novels by Patricia Wentworth www.deanstreetpress.co.uk/pages/author...

American Magdalene - McFarland American Magdalene The Life Behind the Scandalous Book Madeleine: An Autobiography Brenda S. Tolian 978-1-4766-9801-4 978-1-4766-5792-9

The @mcfarland.bsky.social holiday $ale is on—take 35% off w/coupon code HOLIDAY25 till Dec 1 (drops to 25% off after this date). Intriguing new bk: American Magdalene, in which Brenda S Tolian unmasks the author behind a 1919 acct of a sex wker in the US & Canada mcfarlandbooks.com/product/amer...

Dan Stashower highlighted Eliot Ness & the Untouchables game as "the worst board game ever created" 🙂

YMCA entertainer Ruth Charlotte Bush died at age 29 due to poison gas exposure during her #WW1 svc. writing in 1918, “…I wouldn’t have missed these experiences for anything any one could offer me. I know that when all is over I shall be a better, stronger, truer girl” buff.ly/ZNkZut5

I am eternally devoted to Betteredge & Miss Clack.

Illustration of suffragist and lawyer Catharine Waugh McCulloch

Article by U-FL law prof @elizabethdkatz.bsky.social on often forgotten early female US judges—some obtaining their positions yrs before the 19th amendment. Image: suffragist & lawyer Catharine Waugh McCulloch, who was elected in 1907 as a justice of the peace in IL. papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

Edward Gorey, mystery fan. A blog focusing on the history of mystery/detective fiction.

I recently visited the Edward Gorey House on Cape Cod and learned that Gorey was a devoted #mystery fan. I blogged on some of the mysteries in his library. elizabethfoxwell.blogspot.com/2025/10/Gore... #AgathaChristie #RossMacdonald #JaneLangton #WilkieCollins #PatriciaWentworth #detectivefiction

Image of author Harriet Prescott Spofford in black, with a black veil on her head.

Harriet Prescott Spofford image below. For those who would like to read her #mystery stories:
-- "In a Cellar": wdl.mcdaniel.edu/node/510
-- "Mr. Furbush": wdl.mcdaniel.edu/node/407
-- "In the Maguerriwock": wdl.mcdaniel.edu/node/521

Cover of The Hollow Tree Mystery by Madelon St Denis with an illustration of a dead body in a tree.with the head held by two hands

Cover of The Jekyll-Hyde Murder Case by Madelon St Denis w/ an illustration of a woman in a strapless lavender evening dress seated next to a lamp and a table with cards on it.

I reviewed for EQMM 2 bks (orig publ in 1930s magazines) by Madelon St. Denis w/an early female PI: _The Hollow Tree Mystery_ & _The Jekyll-Hyde Murder Case_ www.coachwhipbooks.com/mystery-auth...