Golden Age detective stories (aka, classic mysteries) focus primarily on the puzzle of the crime. The detective’s approach to solving the crime varies with the character the writer invents.

Perry Mason, Erle Stanley Gardner’s famous lawyer, uses the courtroom to solve his mysteries. Frances and Richard Lockridge’s Mr. and Mrs. North solve their mysteries together.

I’m fond of Stuart Palmer’s exotic Hildegarde Withers (with her wild hats) and her canny skill at solving crimes. Ellery Queen (Frederic Dannay and Manfred Bennington Lee) created legendary mysteries and frequently issued challenges to the Reader to solve them before their detective did.

My favorite story in Golden Age Detective Stories (2021) is Cornell Woolrich’s “The Mystery in Room 913” where Woolrich ratchets up the suspense page by page. If you’re the mood for classic mystery stories written by some of the best mystery writers of that era, don’t miss Golden Age Detective Stories! You can’t go wrong with an anthology edited by Otto Penzler! Do you prefer these classic detectives or do you prefer more modern detectives. GRADE: A

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

Introduction 1

Charlotte Armstrong (Detective: Mike Russell) The Enemy 5

Anthony Boucher (Detective: Sister Ursula) The Stripper 33

Mignon G. Eberhart (Detective: Susan Dare) Postiche 48

Erle Stanley Gardner (Detective: Perry Mason) The Case of the Crimson Kiss 71

H. F. Heard (Detective: Mr. Mycroft) The Enchanted Garden 123

Baynard Kendrick (Detective: Captain Duncan Maclain) 5-4=Murderer 155

Frances Richard Lockridge (Detectives: Mr. & Mrs. North) There’s Death for Remembrance 172

Stuart Palmer (Detective: Hildegarde Withers) The Monkey Murder 190

Ellery Queen (Detective: Ellery Queen) The Adventure of the African Traveler 209

Patrick Quentin (Detectives: Peter & Iris Duluth) Puzzle for Poppy 232

Clayton Rawson (Detective: The Great Merlini) From Another World 249

Craig Rice (Detective: John J. Malone) Good-bye, Good-bye! 281

Mary Roberts Rinehart (Detective: Hilda Adams) Locked Doors 307

Cornell Woolrich (Detective: Striker) The Mystery in Room 913 358

I was shocked when I saw Rebel Wilson, the once chubby Australian comedian from the Pitch Perfect movies, 100 pounds lighter and…glamorous! Rebel Wilson plays a high school senior named Stephanie whose goal is to become Prom Queen. But, a cheerleading accident puts Stephenie into 20 year coma.

When Stephenie wakes up, she’s confronted by a completely different world. Like a modern Rip Van Winkle, Stephenie has to deal with the Future by learning about cell phones, social media, and social changes. Even though Stephenie is 37, she’s developmentally a 17-year-old. That causes a lot of Senior Year’s humor.

Stephenie decides she wants to return to high school and finish out her senior year. She still wants to be Prom Queen, but learns this 2022 school has eliminated competitions. No more sexy cheerleader dance routines either. Stephenie informs the Principal (who used to be her best friend in high school): “I had more fun in a coma.”

Alex Hardcastle, director of Senior Year, specializes in contrasting life in 2002 with 2022. Songs from 20 years ago rub shoulders with contemporary music. Stephenie’s father left Stephenie’s room exactly as it was in 2002 when she went into a coma. On the bedroom wall there’s a movie poster of Clueless. That enters into Stephenie’s decisions later in the movie.

Senior Year follows a predictable trajectory, but there were enough surprises to entertain me. Humor, silliness, and a drop of sadness. That’s a formula that works for me. How was your High School experience? GRADE: B.

SOUNDTRACK:

• The Bad Touch – The Bloodhound Gang
• Only You (And You Alone) – The Platters
• Sk8er Boi – Avril Lavgne
• Candy – Mandy Moore
• She’s So High – Tal Bachman
• Hot in Here – Nelly
• Come on Over (All I Want Is You) – Christina Aguilera
• We Are The Bull Dogs – Performed by Cast of Senior Year
• A Moment Like This – Kelly Clarkson
• Come Get a Hummer From Balbo
• Remember the Name – Fort Minor featuring Styles of Beyond
• Fallin – Joshua Radin
• Girls Stars – Jok a Face
• Aeroplane – Stella Project featuring Casey Carlson
• U Drive Me Crazy (The Stop Remix!) – Britney Spears
• Fast (Motion) – Saweetie
• Strike It Up – Black Box
• Launch Scene from the Motion Picture Deep Impact – James Horner
• Man! I Feel Like a Woman – Shania Twain
• Summer Love – Jonathan Sharp
• We Don’t Stop – David Veith
• It’s My Time – Randall Cooke and Mia Bojanic
• The Power of Love – Jennifer Rush
• Body Rock – Regulus Red
• Satisfy My Love – Nicholas Pesci
• Bossed Up – KC Carter
• Ridin’ the Wave
• Winter – Joshua Radin
• Drive – Leslie Hayes McCann
• C’est La Vie – B*Witched
• Grow As We Go – Ben Platt
• So Strong – Olivier Bibeau
• Outta Patience

My favorite chapter in Antti Ilmanen’s insightful book, Investing Amid Low Expected Returns, is Chapter 13: “Risk Management.” Antti Ilmanen includes a classic story about a novice investor asking an experienced investor for advice during the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis where the USSR and the USA were within days of a potential nuclear war.

The novice investor asks, “Should I buy or sell stocks right now?”

The experienced investor answers, “Buy, of course. If the nuclear war doesn’t come it’s the Right Call because the Stock Market will go up. If the nuclear war does come, well, who cares about our stocks. We’re toast.” (p. 208)

Risk is ultimately more about survival than volatility. You might remember my post from 2013, “Why I’m Buying Oil Stocks” and my follow-up post from 2014, “Hope You Bought Some Oil Stocks When I Did.” And you might recall my 2018 post, “Buy It, Buy It Now!” where I warned of signs of Inflation. That prediction got delayed by the Pandemic, but it hit us hard in 2022.

Investing Amid Low Expected Returns presents several strategies to make money (and keep it!) despite the dire economic circumstances. One strategy is to buy commodities…like oil. Another is to hunker down and reduce spending until Inflation cools (probably a year or two from now). Another strategy is to sell some assets–sell your house and move into an apartment or condo–and go from two cars down to one car. Or zero cars.

Times are going to be tough, especially for those on fixed incomes, but Investing Amid Low Expected Returns gives you some ideas so you can survive this economic upheaval. How are you doing with Inflation raging? GRADE: A

Table of Contents

Foreword Cliff Asness xiii

Part I Setting the Stage 1

Chapter 1 Introduction 3

1.1 Serenity Prayer and Low Expected Returns 3

1.2 Outline of This Book 6

1.3 On Investment Beliefs 11

Chapter 2 The Secular Low Expected Return Challenge 15

2.1 Broad Context 15

2.2 Rearview-Mirror Expectations, Discount Rate Effect, and Low Expected Returns 17

2.3 How Low Are “Riskless” Long-term Yields from a Historical Perspective? 21

2.4 Decadal Perspective on Investment Returns 24

Chapter 3 Major Investor Types and Their Responses to This Challenge 27

3.1 Three Broad Investor Types 28

3.2 History of Institutional Asset Allocation 33

3.3 How Has the Low Expected Return Challenge Hurt Various Investor Types? 42

3.4 How Are Investors Responding to the Low Expected Return Challenge? 45

Part II Building Blocks of Long-Run Returns 49

Chapter 4 Liquid Asset Class Premia 51

4.1 Riskless Cash Return 52

4.2 Equity Premium 55

4.3 Bond Risk Premium 69

4.4 Credit Premium 74

4.5 Commodity Premium 81

Chapter 5 Illiquidity Premia 87

5.1 Illiquid Alternative/Private Assets 88

5.2 Less Liquid Public Assets 101

5.3 Liquidity Provision Strategies 102

Chapter 6 Style Premia 105

6.1 Value and Other Contrarian Strategies 109

6.2 Momentum and Other Extrapolative Strategies 117

6.3 Carry and Other Income Strategies 124

6.4 Defensive and Other Low-Risk/Quality Strategies 131

Chapter 7 Alpha and Its Cousins 139

7.1 Alpha and Active Returns 139

7.2 Reviewing the Classification of Portfolio Return Sources 146

7.3 Demystifying Hedge Funds, Superstars, and Other Active Managers 147

Chapter 8 Theories Explaining Long-run Return Sources 151

8.1 Rational Reward for Risk or Irrational Mispricing? 152

8.2 “Bad Returns in Bad Times” at the Heart of Risk Premia 153

8.3 Other Core Ideas for Rational Risk Premia and Behavioral Premia 155

8.4 Who Is on the Other Side? – and Related Crowding Concerns 158

Chapter 9 Sustaining Conviction and Patience on Long-run Return Sources 163

9.1 Patience: Sustaining Conviction When Faced with Adversity 164

9.2 Economic Rationale – and Has the World Changed? 169

9.3 Empirical Evidence – and Data Mining Concern 170

Chapter 10 Four Equations and Predictive Techniques 173

10.1 Four Key Equations and Some Extensions 173

10.2 Overview of Predictive Techniques 180

Part III Putting It all Together 185

Chapter 11 Diversification – Its Power and Its Dark Sides 187

11.1 Outline of the Remainder of This Book 187

11.2 Ode to Diversification 188

11.3 Critics’ Laments 193

Chapter 12 Portfolio Construction 195

12.1 Top-down Decisions on the Portfolio 195

12.2 Mean-variance Optimization Basics and Beyond 200

12.3 Pitfalls with MVO and How to Deal with Them 204

Chapter 13 Risk Management 207

13.1 Broad Lens and Big Risks 208

13.2 Techniques for Managing Investment Risk 209

13.3 Managing Tail Risks: Contrasting Put and Trend Strategies 210

13.4 Managing Market Risks: Portfolio Volatility and Beyond 214

Chapter 14 ESG Investing 219

14.1 Booming ESG 220

14.2 How Does ESG Affect Returns? 221

14.3 ESG Impact of ESG Investing – a Case Study on Climate Change 224

Chapter 15 Costs and Fees 225

15.1 Trading Costs 226

15.2 Asset Management Fees 230

Chapter 16 Tactical Timing on Medium-term Expected Returns 235

16.1 Contrarian Timing of the US Equity Market 235

16.2 Beyond Contrarian Timing of Equities: Other Assets and Factors, Other Predictors 240

Chapter 17 Bad Habits and Good Practices 243

17.1 Multiyear Return Chasing 244

17.2 Other Bad Habits and Good Practices 246

Chapter 18 Concluding Remarks 249

Acknowledgments 253

Author Bio 255

Acronyms 257

References 259

Index 277

Boxes

3.1 Global Market Portfolio 39

4.1 A Brief History of Inflation 54

4.2 Weak Empirical Relationship Between GDP Growth and Equity Returns 67

5.1 Share of Illiquid Assets in Global Wealth 89

5.2 Calendar Strategies 103

6.1 The Size Premium 107

7.1 Systematic Versus Discretionary Investing 142

8.1 How to Make Sense of Flow Data When Every Buyer Has a Seller 161

10.1 Machine Learning 183

11.1 Rebalancing 192

12.1 Modern Portfolio Theory and Two-Fund Separation 202

13.1 Can Risk Management Enhance Returns? Volatility Targeting 216

15.1 Taxes 233

It’s 1921 in Bangalore, India when a young wife named Kaveri–married to a handsome doctor–gets involved in solving a murder. A man is stabbed to death. Kaveri learns he’s a pimp with a stable of beautiful women. What do you think a woman who studies her calculus books in her spare time would do?

Kaveri tracks down a prostitute who identifies herself as Mala. More clues are revealed and another body is discovered. Kaveri persists in her investigation despite the danger.

I enjoyed the scenes of life in India in the early 1920s. Kaveri’s husband, Ramu, loves to drive his car through the dusty streets of Bangalore. As you might suspect, the strictures of India in those days cramp Kaveri’s movements. But she earns the respect of Mr. Ismail, the Deputy Inspector of the Wilson Gardens police station, the officer assigned to solve these murders.

This is Harini Nagendra’s first novel. In her Acknowledgements (p. 286), Harini Nagendra, a Professor Sustainability at Azim Premji University in Bangalore, states it took her 13 years to write The Bangalore Detectives Club. I hope it doesn’t take her 13 more years to write a sequel! I can’t wait to read it! GRADE: B

Of all the contemporary SF writers, John Scalzi reminds me most of Robert Heinlein. I loved Scalzi’s Old Man’s Universe series, especially Old Man’s War (2005). I was less enthused about Scalzi’s The Interdependency series. So I wondered what Scalzi would do with his latest novel, Kaiju Preservation Society (2022). After reading it, I would say Scalzi’s back in the Old Man’s War mode.

Kaiju Preservation Society is narrated by a food-delivery guy named Jamie Gray. When offered a job outside the food delivery industry, Gray jumps at it. What Jamie gets is a mission to both protect the Earth and to protect a very different alternate Earth. I want to avoid spoilers but dragons are involved.

The alternate Earth Scalzi creates is reminiscent of Harry Harrison’s Deathworld novels: everything on that planet wanted to kill you.

There’s some clever plotting, some mysteries, some conspiracies, and an action-packed ending that will remind you of an early Heinlein SF novel. If you’re in the mood for some frothy but fun SF, Kaiju Preservation Society delivers! GRADE: B

I discovered Conan the Barbarian like many readers did in the 1960s when Lancer Books start publishing Robert E. Howard’s work. I especially loved the Frank Frazetta covers that graced some of the volumes.

Then in the early 2000s, Ballantine Books started publishing Robert E. Howard’s works in hardcover editions (later trade editions became available, too). THE COMING OF CONAN THE CIMMERIAN from 2006 includes many of the classic Conan stories like “The Frost Giant’s Daughter,” “The Tower of the Elephant,” and “Queen of the Black Coast.” Robert E. Howard captured the character of Conan perfectly and these stories hold up after decades of neglect.

Are you a fan of Conan the Barbarian? GRADE: A

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

• “Foreword” (Mark Schultz) — xv
• “Introduction” (Patrice Louinet) — xix
• “Cimmeria” (poem) — 1
• “The Phoenix on the Sword” — 5
• “The Frost Giant’s Daughter” — 29
• “The God in the Bowl” — 39
• “The Tower of the Elephant” — 59
• “The Scarlet Citadel” — 83
• “Queen of the Black Coast” — 119
• “Black Colossus” — 149
• “Iron Shadows in the Moon” — 183
• “Xuthal of the Dusk” — 211
• “The Pool of the Black One” — 245
• “Rogues in the House” — 271
• “The Vale of Lost Women” — 295
• “The Devil in Iron” — 313
• “The Phoenix on the Sword” (first submitted draft) –345
• “Notes on Various Peoples of the Hyborian Age” — 369
• “The Hyborian Age” — 371
• Untitled Synopsis (“The Hall of the Dead“) — 393
• Untitled Synopsis (“The Scarlet Citadel”) — 395
• Untitled Synopsis (“Black Colossus”) — 397
• Untitled Fragment (“The Hand of Nergal“) — 399
• Untitled Synopsis #2 (“The Snout in the Dark“) — 401
• Untitled Draft (“The Snout in the Dark”) — 403
• “Hyborian Names and Countries” — 411
• Hyborian Age Maps (drawn by Howard) — 415
• “Hyborian Genesis: Notes on the Creation of the Conan Stories” (Patrice Louinet) 423
• “Notes on the Conan Typescripts and the Chronology” (Patrice Louinet) — 447
• “Notes on the Original Howard Texts” –453
• Sketches — 459

I fell into a Kate Bush mood and listened to her first album, The Kick Inside (1978) and The Whole Story (1986). The Kick Inside was remastered in 2018 which made Kate Bush’s premier recording sound even better! The Kick Inside includes Katie Bush’s UK No. 1 hit, “Wuthering Heights“. The album peaked at No. 3 on the UK Albums Chart and has been certified Platinum by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI). Kate Bush became the first female artist to have an entirely self-penned Number One hit in the UK.

The production of The Kick Inside included several progressive rock performers, including Duncan Mackay, Ian Bairnson, David Paton, Andrew Powell, and Stuart Elliott of the Alan Parsons Project, and David Gilmour of Pink Floyd.

“Wuthering Heights,” one of my favorite Kate Bush songs, was released as her debut single on January 20, 1978 when she was just 18 years old. Inspired by the 1847 Emily Brontë novel of the same name, “Wuthering Heights” stayed at Number One on the UK Singles Chart for four weeks, and remains Kate Bush’s most successful single.  I love Ian Bairnson’s guitar solo at the end of the song.

For some reason, Kate Bush re-recorded the vocals to “Wuthering Heights” on The Whole Story. I prefer the original vocals. Both of these CDs will fill your ears with incredible music! Some of Kate Bush’s best work shows up on The Kick Inside and The Whole Story. Are you a Kate Bush fan? GRADE: A (for both)

The Kick Inside: Track listing

All tracks are written by Kate Bush.

No.	Title	Length
1.	“Moving“	3:01
2.	“The Saxophone Song”	3:51
3.	“Strange Phenomena“	2:57
4.	“Kite“	2:56
5.	“The Man with the Child in His Eyes“	2:39
6.	“Wuthering Heights“	4:28

No.	Title	Length
7.	“James and the Cold Gun”	3:34
8.	“Feel It”	3:02
9.	“Oh to Be in Love”	3:18
10.	“L’Amour Looks Something Like You”	2:27
11.	“Them Heavy People“	3:04
12.	“Room for the Life”	4:03
13.	“The Kick Inside”	3:30
Total length:	43:13

The Whole Story TRACK LIST:

		Wuthering Heights (New Vocal)	4:57
		Cloudbusting	5:09
		The Man With The Child In His Eyes	2:38
		Breathing	5:28
		Wow	3:46
		Hounds Of Love	3:02
		Running Up That Hill	5:00
		Army Dreamers	3:13
		Sat In Your Lap	3:29
		Experiment IV	4:21
		The Dreaming	4:14
		Babooshka	3:29

It’s hard to believe I’ve contributed 75 reviews to Patti Abbott’s WEDNESDAY’S SHORT STORIES. It seems like only yesterday….

Since this is the 75th post in this series, I thought I’d feature one of my favorite mystery short story collections: Marcia Muller and Bill Pronzini’s A Century of Mystery 1980-1989. Not only does it feature plenty of great writers, the stories tend to be full of surprises!

Let’s start with Frederick Forsyth’s classic “There Are No Snakes in Ireland” with its tricky ending. Lawrence Block is at his best in “As Good as a Rest.” I’ve always enjoyed Tony Hillerman’s “Chee’s Witch.” Ed Gorman’s “The Reason Why” is both clever and profound. And, of course, Marcia Muller’s “Deadly Fantasies” and Bill Pronzini’s “Stacked Deck” fit right into this All-Star line-up.

If you’re looking for a great mystery anthology, A Century of Mystery 1980-1989 fits the bill. GRADE: A

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

Introduction: Edward D. Hoch — 1

The Good Samaritan by Isaac Asimov — 7

A Man With a Fortune by Peter Lovesey — 23

There Are No Snakes in Ireland by Frederick Forsyth — 36

A Great Sight by Janwillem van de Wetering — 59

Greektown by Loren D. Estleman — 69

Father’s Day by Ruth Rendell — 85

The Worst Crime Known to Man by Reginal Hill –97

A Case of Chivas Regal by George V. Higgins — 105

Lucky Penny by Linda Barnes — 116

As Good as a Rest by Lawrence Block — 136

Chee’s Witch by Tony Hillerman — 146

Hit-and-Run by Susan Dunlap — 157

King’s X by Brian Garfield — 168

Skin Deep by Sara Paretsky — 183

Stacked Deck by Bill Pronzini — 197

More Final Than Divorce by Robert Barnard — 219

The Dakar Run by Clark Howard — 228

The Reason Why by Edward Gorman — 260

Blood Types by Julie Smith –270

Deadly Fantasies by Marcia Muller — 293

Obi-Wan Kenobi is the latest Star Wars television series–like The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett–to stream on Disney+. It is part of the Star Wars franchise, beginning ten years after the events of Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith (2005), and stars Ewan McGregor as the title character, reprising his role from the Star Wars prequel trilogy.

Ten years after the events of Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith—in which the Jedi were destroyed by Order 66 and Obi-Wan Kenobi‘s apprentice, Anakin Skywalker, became the Sith Lord Darth Vader—Kenobi is in hiding on the planet Tatooine. He’s watching over Anakin’s son Luke, when he is called on a mission to rescue Anakin’s daughter, Leia, after she is kidnapped by the Galactic Empire’s Jedi-hunting Inquisitors in a plot to draw Obi-Wan Kenobi out of hiding and capture him.

I watched the two episodes available–there will be six in all–and after a slow start Ewan McGregor starts to shed the meek manner he cultivated on Tattooine to hide from the Inquisitors who hunt Jedi. After tracking the kidnappers to the corrupt planet Daiyu, Obi-Wan Kenobi discovers that there’s something more trying that the sinister Inquisitors…the stubborn little girl named Princess Leia. So far, so good. GRADE: Incomplete