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The Banquet Ceases
A review of The Banquet Ceases by Mary Fitt – 250217 Mary Fitt is the nom de plume of Classics lecturer Kathleen Freeman and The Banquet Ceases, originally published in 1949 and reissued by Moonstone Press, is the thirteenth novel in her Superintendent Mallett series, I am always unsure about a story that gives two resolutions, one that is sufficient to satisfy the police precipitated by a…
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Counsel For The Defence
A review of Counsel for the Defence by James Ronald – 250120 The tenth collection of the works of James Ronald, reissued by Moonstone Press, features two novella, the eponymous Counsel for the Defence, originally published in 1932, and The Awakening of Theodore Wrenn, originally published in 1934 under his pseudonym of Michael Crombie, and a light, inconsequential short story, The Baby and the…
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Pity For Pamela
A review of Pity for Pamela by Mary Fitt – 240921 What a beautiful book. Originally published in 1950 and reissued by Moonstone Press who seem to have taken Mary Fitt, the nom de plume of the Classicist Kathleen Freeman under their wing, this is a powerful psychological study culminating in cold and calculated retribution. According to the excellent introduction by Curtis Evans, the book takes…
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Death Croons The Blues
A review of Death Croons the Blues by James Ronald – 240828 The seventh in the series of James Ronald collections reissued by Moonstone Press features a novel, Death Croons the Blues, originally published in 1934, a novella, Angel Face, and two short stories, The Other Mr Marquis and The Joke. Both the novel and novella feature what comes close to a series sleuth, the journalist with a nose for…
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Cross Marks The Spot
A review of Cross Marks the Spot by James Ronald – 240726 The sixth volume of James Ronald’s work reissued by Moonstone Press features Cross Marks the Spot, originally published in 1933. It bears all the hallmarks of being written quickly, the plot has as many holes as a colander, but the saving grace is that Ronald can write and is a compelling story teller. He has the ability to draw his…
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Sweet Poison
A review of Sweet Poison by Mary Fitt – 240709 Taking its title from a line from Shakespeare’s King John, Sweet Poison is the eighteenth in Fitt’s Superintendent Mallett series, originally published in 1956 and reissued by Moonstone Press. To call it a Mallett story is almost stretching a point, though. Yes, he and his medical companions, Fitzbrown and Jones, feature in the book but theirs is a…
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The Dark Angel
A review of The Dark Angel by James Ronald – 240703 The fifth in the series of reissues of the work of James Ronald from Moonstone Press features as its main course The Dark Angel, originally serialized in the Portsmouth Evening News in 1930. As a consequence it has a very episodic feel about it and is a little too obvious if you work on the principle of always suspect the least likely. The set…
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They Can’t Hang Me
A review of They Can’t Hang Me by James Ronald – 240527 One of the finds for me in 2024, thanks to a wonderful series of reissues from Moonstone Press, is James Ronald and They Can’t Hang Me, the main course of the fourth collection of his works, originally published in 1938, is the best yet. The premise is that a former newspaper magnate, Lucius Marplay, believes that he was cheated out of his…
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