Ngaio Marsh sets Tied Up In Tinsel (1972) at Christmastime at a luxurious, restored manor house located just near a British prison. The owner of the manor, Hilary Bill-Tasman, is an eccentric, prideful man with plenty of problems. But Hilary is also clever and very wealthy. With his massive funds, Hilary is restoring his family’s ancient estate with pompous luxury items. One of Hilary’s eccentricities is that he has hired ex-cons, one-time murderers, as his servants in order to give them “a second chance.” Into this setting, artist Troy Alleyn arrives to paint Hilary’s portrait. Also in the mix is Hilary’s erratic family and his sexy young fiancee. Of course, there’s a murder. Troy’s husband, Superintendent Roderick Alleyn, shows up to solve the baffling mystery. If you’re in the mood for a clever and snarky Christmas mystery, Tied Up In Tinsel delivers. Are you a Ngaio Marsh fan? GRADE: B+

Editor Henry Hitchings sets the tone of Browse: The World in Bookshops with his antics in bookshops while growing up in London. Hitchings first experience results in his buying the sequel to Frank Herbert’s DUNE, Dune Messiah. Years later, Hitchings is ousted from a used bookshop because the suspicious bookshop owner accuses Hitchings–with his big overcoat–of being a shoplifter! The essays in Browse all celebrate books and bookstores. My favorite is Michael Dirda’s “Snow Day.” A monster snowstorm is about to hit the Washington, D. C. area, but Dirda decides to risk a quick trip to Second Story Books in Rockland, Maryland. What he finds there is impressive! This is a booking adventure I have experienced with slightly different results! Do you have a favorite bookstore? What’s you’re biggest bookstore score? GRADE: B+
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Introduction: A Place to Pause — Henry Hitchings p. 7
Bookshop Time — Ali Smith p. 27
Something that Doesn’t Exist — Andrey Kurkov p. 39
The Pillars of Hercules — Ian Sansom p. 53
A Tale of Two Bookshops — Juan Gabriel Vasquez p. 67
Leitner and I —Sasa Stanisic p. 81
All that Offers a Happy Finding Is a Fairy Tale — Yiyun Li p. 95
If You Wound a Snake… — Alaa Al Aswany p. 109
Desiderium: The Accidental Bookshop of Nairobi — Yvonne Adhiambo Our p. 121
Snow Day — Michael Dirda p. 145
Dussmann: A Conversation — Daniel Kehlmann p. 161
La Palmaverde — Stefano Benni p. 173
A Bookshop in the Age of Progress — Pankaj Mishra p. 183
Intimacy — Dorthe Nors p. 197
Bohemia Road — Iain Sinclair p. 211
My Homeland Is Storyland — Elif Shafak p. 231
Writers’ Biographies p. 243
Translators’ Biographies p. 251

Radio stations have been banning “Baby, It’s Cold Outside” so I decided to go back to the source, Neptune’s Daughter (1949), where the song was performed by Esther Williams and Ricardo Montalban–and Betty Garrett and Red Skelton. Yes, TWO couples sing “Baby, It’s Cold Outside in this movie. More on that in an upcoming paragraph.

Prolific song-writer, Frank Loesser, wrote “Baby, It’s Cold Outside” in 1944 as a song for him and his wife, Lynn Garland, to perform at parties. According to the Loessers’ daughter, Susan Loesser, the song is flirty. She said the reference to what is in the woman’s drink–interpreted today as a “date rape” drug–signified only that having an alcoholic beverage was cool. The female singer’s repeated insistence that she needed to go is halfhearted, as she too wanted to stay, Ms. Loesser asserted.

In Neptune’s Daughter, “Baby, It’s Cold Outside” starts in Ricardo Montalban’s apartment. Esther went to the apartment mistakenly looking for her sister (Betty Garrett). Esther searches the apartment, but her sister isn’t there. Embarrassed, Esther accepts a drink from Montalban and he starts singing “Baby, It’s Cold Outside” despite the fact that it’s SUMMER! Meanwhile, in another apartment, Betty Garrett as Esther’s aggressive sister, sings the “male” lines to Red Skelton, who she is trying to seduce! Skelton then sings the “female” lines of “Baby, It’s Cold Outside” as he tries to escape.

My opinion about “Baby, It’s Cold Outside” is that it is NOT a “rape” song. “Baby, It’s Cold Outside” won an Oscar as Best Original Song. It’s been a standard for almost 70 years. Yes, Neptune’s Daughter is a silly movie with too much Xavier Cugat and His Orchestra, but watching Esther Williams frolic in the pool makes it all worth it! What do you think about the “Baby, It’s Cold Outside” controversy? GRADE: C+

The Favourite is NOT my favorite. Far from it. The movie is set in England in the early 1700s when Queen Anne (Olivia Colman), losing her health and mental capacities, relies on her brilliant friend Lady Sarah (Rachel Weisz) to help her run her Government and her private life. Into this palace situation enters penniless Abigail (Emma Stone) who claims she’s a distant relative of Lady Sarah. Lady Sarah makes a Huge Mistake in finding Abigail a job as a scullery maid.

The cunning Abigail manages to insinuate herself close to the Queen. And, in a bold move, Abigail both betrays Lady Sarah to her political opponent and arranges to cause Lady Sarah to fall from the Queen’s grace. The Favourite wallows in duplicity, deceit, and treachery. But all of this skullduggery is undercut first by Director Yorgos Lanthinmos (The Lobster and The Killing of a Sacred Deer) flashing visual cue cards before scenes in the movie. I found this practice annoying. But what I found more annoying was the soundtrack that blared random sounds and irksome atonal “music” detracting from what was happening on the screen. Wonderful cast, dull script. The Favourite reminds me of Stanley Kubrick’s Barry Lyndon: looks sensational, but is as empty as a politician’s promises. GRADE: C

I enjoyed Otto Pensler’s first Bibliomysteries volume (you can read my review here) so I read this new latest volume. These anthologies require the stories include books and bookstores in their plots. I enjoyed Peter Lovesey’s “Remaindered” about a successful heist where the loot ends up in a bookstore. F. Paul Wilson’s baroque “The Compendium of Srem” explores the impact of a book with Special Powers. I also liked Thomas Perry’s “The Book of the Lion”–the legendary book by Chaucer–that might be worth $18 million in a cunning scheme. Megan Abbott blends books and a tormented young woman into a dangerous mix. James W. Hall’s “The Haze” features a ancient hit man in a nursing home reading crime novels and hallucinating. Once again, Bibliomysteries: Volume 2 keeps the pages turning. GRADE: B+
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Introduction / Otto Penzler — vii
Remaindered / Peter Lovesey — 1
The compendium of Srem / F. Paul Wilson — 29
The gospel of Sheba / Lyndsay Faye — 71
The nature of my inheritance / Bradford Morrow — 119
The sequel / R.L. Stine — 167
Mystery, Inc. / Joyce Carol Oates — 195
The book of the lion / Thomas Perry — 235
The mysterious disappearance of the reluctant book fairy / Elizabeth George — 267
From the queen / Carolyn Hart — 311
The little men / Megan Abbott — 343
Citadel / Stephen Hunter — 381
Every seven years / Denise Mina — 479
Condor in the stacks / James Grady — 503
The travelling companion / Ian Rankin — 549
The haze / James W. Hall — 585

The Detroit Lions (5-8) take on the hapless Buffalo Bills (4-8) in another meaningless NFL game. The Bills have signaled that they intend to play more rookies and 2nd year players in these final games of the 2018 season. In effect, these are “Preseason” games as players audition for jobs for 2019. The weather for the game should be mild: 40 degrees with a slight breeze. Steve Tasker, former Buffalo Bill Special Teams ace and now a commentator for CBS Sports, said the reason the Bill have THREE home games in December harks back to last season’s highly rated “Snow Game.” The NFL was hoping for another Winter Wonderland game like that one, but so far it’s snowed here on weekdays, not weekends. How will your favorite NFL team perform today?

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse starts with Brooklyn teenager Miles Morales getting a bite from a radioactive spider that gives him Spider-Man powers. But before Miles can adjust to his new skill set, the world alters with a rip in the space-time continuum and more Spider-like characters from various dimensions appear. Miles first meets a slovenly Peter Parker (who has just broken up with Mary Jane). Then there’s Spider-Woman. And Spider-Man Noir (from the black & white 1930s). And an anime version with a robot Spider-Creature. Most bizarre is the talking Spider-Pig: Peter Porker. Together, the various incarnations of Spider-Man need to cooperate to close the rip in the space-time continuum before they die in this dimension where they cannot survive for long. The plot revolves around Miles as he tries to explore his new powers and to work with the other older and more skilled characters. Miles also has some issues with his policeman father who dislikes vigilante super-heroes.

The animation explodes on the screen and delights the eyes! Phil Lord who worked on The LEGO Movie is co-writer of the script for Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse which means the pacing of the movie, along with the frequent humor, is excellent. Action, fun, and suspense… what more could you want? I can’t wait to see it again! GRADE: A

Generous Maggie Mason sent me this wonderful, supersized (1126 pages!) collection of novels from the Roaring Twenties. Leslie Klinger’s annotated edition of these classic crime novels is a reader’s delight! Not only does this old-fashioned Dictionary size book deliver some of the best American mystery fiction of that decade, it provides plenty of additional information on the texts. My favorite novel of this group is Dashiell Hammett’s Red Harvest. Hammett’s tale of violence and corruption set the template for future crime novels. Next, I enjoyed rereading Ellery Queen’s The Roman Hat Mystery. I prefer the early Ellery Queen puzzle novels to the later ones. Some experts consider The Roman Hat Mystery to be one of the very best of the Ellery Queen novels. I’m not a big fan of Earl Derr Biggers’ The House Without a Key or S. S. Van Dine’s The Benson Murder Case but both novels have historical significance. Little Caesar by W. R. Burnett, an underrated novel, morphed into an iconic movie.

If you’re interested in classic crime novels, Classic American Crime Fiction of the 1920s is a must-buy. If you have a casual interest in older mysteries, this group offers plenty of entertainment and detailed information. I know plenty of mystery fans who would love to find em>Classic American Crime Fiction of the 1920s under their tree! Have you read these classic crime novels? Thanks again, Maggie! GRADE: A
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Introduction / by Otto Penzler — v
Foreword / by Leslie S. Klinger — ix
A note on the texts — xxvii
The house without a key / by Earl Derr Biggers (1925) — 2
Appendix: The House without a Key on film — 250
The Benson Murder Case / by S. S. Van Dine (1926) — 252
Appendix: S. S. Van Dine sets down twenty rules for detective stories — 497
The Roman Hat Mystery / by Ellery Queen (1929) — 502
Red Harvest / by Dashiell Hammett (1929) — 778
Little Caesar / by W. R. Burnett (1929) — 970
Appendix: Introduction by W. R. Burnett — 1115
Bibliography — 1123
Acknowledgements — 1126

Every 13 seconds, someone buys a Jack Reacher book. That statistic was cited in an article on Lee Child in last month’s ATLANTIC. Just in time for the Holidays, a Jack Reacher novel shows up with an entertaining puzzle and some graphic violence. Reacher is wandering around New Hampshire, where his father Stan Reacher, grew up. Reacher decides to visit Laconia, his father’s hometown. However, a quick search at the City Clerk’s office produces no Stan Reacher. Reacher’s father also told people he was born in June, but sometimes he said his birthday was in July. That’s Lee Child’s signal Things Are Not What They Seem.

On a second track of Past Tense, a young Canadian couple have car trouble and find a motel deep in the woods. Yes, shades of Psycho. Eventually, their story and Reacher’s story intersect with violent results. We learn a bit more about Jack Reacher’s family and their secrets. We learn you don’t want to have your car break down in the middle of Nowhere. Do you like Lee Child’s Jack Reacher novels? GRADE: B+

Yesterday, I was summoned for Jury Duty in Niagara Falls, New York (not Niagara Falls, Canada!). Step by step, inch by inch, I made my way into the court house along with 92 other prospective jurors. We had to do some paperwork, then we went through Jury Orientation, and then we were taken from the Basement waiting area to the court room on the Second Floor.

This was a civil case so they only needed six jurors and two alternates. I was one of the 12 prospects chosen at random to begin the selection process. The Judge questioned us. The plaintiff’s lawyers questioned us. The defendant’s lawyers questioned us.

A drunk driver drove his vehicle onto the North Tonawanda Walking Path. He hit two people who were walking their dog. He and his car went into the Erie Canal and had to be rescued. Those are the sketchy facts we were given. The driver has pleaded Guilty. but, now the couple who were injured are suing North Tonawanda claiming the Walking Path wasn’t designed for Safety.

After undergoing all of the questioning, seven of the 12 prospective jurors were dismissed. I was one of them. I’m figuring my status as a North Tonawanda resident familiar with the crime scene counted heavily against me. The remaining prospective jurors will be reporting tomorrow because one more juror and two alternates need to be selected. I’ll be sleeping in! Have you been on Jury Duty lately?