Last week I posted about Black Is the Night: Stories in Tribute to the Author Who Inspired Hitchcock’s Rear Window (you can read my review here). I was dissatisfied with some of the stories because they failed to capture the tone and tension of Cornell Woolrich’s unique noir style–there was too much “sugar-coating” the danger. So, I turned to Darkness at Dawn: Early Suspense Classics by Cornell Woolrich (1985) to read the Real Deal.

When you read a Cornell Woolrich story, Woolrich takes you on a guided tour of the Dark Side of Life. Along the way, the you’ll meet foxy harlots, con artists, grifters, vamps, thieves, pimps, punks, femme fatales, liars, thugs, cheaters, and…of course, murderers.

Take “Death Sits in the Dentist’s Chair” for an example. Most of us dread dental work, but Cornell Woolrich turns the experience into a nightmare in this story. If you can imagine something worse than torture by dentistry, how about “Walls That Hear You” where the story begins with: “Eddie’s tongue had been torn out by the roots and all ten of his fingers had been cut off at the base, leaving just the stumps of both hands.” (p. 19) Eddie’s brother vows to avenge his brother’s attack…and finds himself in deep trouble! Woolrich amps up the fear and horror while the characters generate more and more suspense as they panic in fear.

Or how about setting an actress on fire in “Preview of Death. “Kiss of the Cobra” ends with a man and woman facing death in a snaky, poisonous Mexican stand-off.

Cornell Woolwich created pressure-cooker situations, racing against the clock to force his characters to find a way to survive…or die. Most of the stories in Darkness at Dawn: Early Suspense Classics by Cornell Woolrich were published in the 1930s, a particularly grim time in U.S. history. High-octane suspense, stark menace, and extreme situations highlight these vintage Cornell Woolrich stories. Don’t accept any weak-kneed substitutes! Woolrich’s undiluted noir delivers a rush that will etch itself into your memory! GRADE: A

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

INTRODUCTION By Francis M. Nevins, Jr. — ix

Death sits in the dentist’s chair — 1

Walls that hear you — 19

Preview of Death — 44

Murder in wax — 63

The body upstairs — 82

Kiss of the cobra — 102

Red liberty — 126

Dark melody of madness — 149

The corpse and the kid — 190

Dead on her feet — 215

The death of me — 235

The showboat murders — 260

Hot water — 277

Cornell Woolrich: a checklist — 299

You can read my review of the first Enola Holmes movie here. Enola Holmes 2 just appeared on Netflix this weekend. Unlike the first movie, Enola Holmes 2 is not based on any of the Nancy Springer novels. Enola Holmes 2 stars Millie Bobby Brown reprising her role as Enola Holmes–Sherlock and Mycroft Holmes’s little sister–with Henry Cavill, Louis Partridge, Susie Wokoma, Adeel Akhtar, and Helena Bonham Carter also reprising their supporting roles, while David Thewlis and Sharon Duncan-Brewster are added as new cast members.

Enola is about to give up her detective agency because of lack of business when she’s approached by a match-stick girl named Bessie. Bessie wants Enola to find her missing sister, Sarah Chapman. Enola goes undercover at the match-stick factory and discovers missing pages of an employment journal.

Enola follows her clues and discovers that her case and Sherlock Holmes’s case intersect. Sherlock is investigating a financial case and learning of Enola’s case leads him to believe the match-stick factory lies at the center of the scheme.

The screenplay by Jack Thorne features several action scenes. Millie Bobby Brown gets to show off her fighting skills. Helena Bonham Carter–Enola’s mother–gets to blow things up. Enola also engages in some romance. If you’re in the mood for a fun and frothy movie with some clever twists and a solid cast, consider giving Enola Holmes 2 a try. GRADE: B

Russell Foster, director of the Sleep and Circadian Neuroscience Institute (SCNI) and head of the Nuffield Laboratory of Ophthalmology at the University of Oxford, presents the latest findings on sleep research. Foster believes our lives can be greatly improved if we make the effort to apply this new knowledge to our lives.

Everyone reading this blog would find Chapter 10–When to Take Drugs–enlightening. Most of us are on various medications–high blood pressure, statins, Viagra, etc.–but the effects of these drugs diminish if you take them at the wrong times.

While much of Life Time involves improving sleep, Foster also focuses on the immune system, which is affected by sleep…good and bad. Chapter 13–Finding Your Natural Rhythm–outlines ways to better manage your eating, sleeping, exercise, and circadian cycles to live a longer and healthier Life. I also found Foster’s research on sleep and sex insightful.

Russell Foster writes clearly and expresses the research findings in understandable language. Life Time is a brilliant guide to improving your Life and happiness. How’s your sleep? GRADE: A

Table of Contents:

List of Figures ix

List of Abbreviations xi

List of Tables x

Introduction i

1 The Day Within 17

2 A Heritage from Our Cave Days 32

3 The Power of the Eye 51

4 Out of Time 70

5 Biological Chaos 93

6 Back in the Rhythm 117

7 The Rhythm of Life 144

8 The Seven Ages of Sleep 168

9 Time Out of Mind 200

10 When to Take Drugs 224

11 A Circadian Arms Race 254

12 Eating Time 272

13 Finding Your Natural Rhythm 287

14 The Circadian Future 308

Appendix I Studying Your Own Biological Rhythms

Part I Developing a Sleep Diary 330

Part II Chronotype Questionnaire 331

Appendix II The Key Elements and Overview of the Immune System 337

References 343

Acknowledgements 431

Index 433

Vegas has made the 6-1 Buffalo Bills a 13-point favorite over the surprising 5-3 NY Jets. The Jets QB Zach Wilson threw for nearly 400 yards last Sunday against the New England Patriots–but also threw THREE game-killing interceptions. How will your favorite NFL team perform today?

Devices and Desires, first published in 1989, involves a serial killer, a nuclear facility hiding a number of secrets, and additional murders. P. D. James’s Scotland Yard detective, Adam Dalgliesh, settling the estate of a relative, gets caught up in the investigations. The crimes take place on Larksoken, a fictional isolated headland in Norfolk.

P. D. James begins with a psychopath called “The Whistler” (because he whistles as he kills young women), but pivots to the more complicated and sinister events at the nuclear facility.

The TV version of Devices and Desires was broadcast in 1991. Roy Marsden plays Adam Dalgliesh and seems stiff and aloof for much of the time. But, as the bodies start to pile up, the plot and the action accelerate into some satisfying storytelling following James’s mystery novel. Are you a P.D. James fan?

DEVICES AND DESIRES NOVEL: GRADE: B+

DEVICES AND DESIRES TV SERIES: GRADE: B

Yes, I’m that George Kelley who wrote the INTRODUCTION to this new Stark House edition of Harold R. Daniel’s The Girl in 304. Thank you Greg Shepard, Editor and Publisher of Stark House, for inviting me to be part of the Black Gat Books series!

I discovered Harold R. Daniel’s work in the early 1970s when I bought plenty of old Dell paperbacks back then and found Daniel’s first novel, In His Blood (1955), full of suspense and surprises. In His Blood was nominated for an Edgar for Best First Novel.

The Girl in 304 was Daniel’s second novel, also published by Dell, and featured the investigation of the murder of Lucy Carter, a carhop (remember them?), who had been stabbed to death and whose stripped body was dumped near the side of the road. Sheriff Ed Masters delves into Lucy’s troubled life and discovers perplexing questions. Why did Lucy suddenly quit her job at Benny Zurich’s drive-in? What was Lucy’s connection to Lieutenant Cox, a dirty cop who shook down working girls who lived in the same hotel that Lucy did?

The Girl in 304, with its hints of deadly secrets and hidden motives, takes the reader to dark places and sinister schemes.

Norman R. Daniel’s wrote a series of excellent mysteries and hopefully Stark House will reprint more of them for a new audience. GRADE: A

HAROLD R. DANIEL’S NOVELS:

In His Blood (Dell, 1955)

The Girl in 304 (Dell, 1956)

The Accused (Dell, 1958)

The Snatch (Dell, 1958)

For the Asking (Fawcett, 1962)

The House on Greenapple Road (Random House, 1966; Dell 1969)

This compilation of Number One hits from the 1980s varies widely from a song from a movie like Ray Parker Jr.’s “Ghostbusters” to a “gimmick” song like the Bangles’s “Walk Like An Egyptian.” The hits display the tastes and buying habits of audiences from that era.

How many of these hits do you remember? Any favorite songs here? GRADE: B+

TRACK LIST:

1-1	The J. Geils Band–	Centerfold
1-2	Billy Idol–	Mony Mony
1-3	Huey Lewis & The News–	The Power Of Love
1-4	Blondie–	The Tide Is High
1-5	Kim Carnes–	Bette Davis Eyes
1-6	Duran Duran–	The Reflex
1-7	Paula Abdul–	Straight Up
1-8	Simple Minds–	Don’t You (Forget About Me)
1-9	Culture Club–	Karma Chameleon
1-10	John Waite–	Missing You
1-11	Sheena Easton–	Morning Train (Nine To Five)
1-12	Poison (3)–	Every Rose Has Its Thorn
2-1	Rick Springfield–	Jessie’s Girl
2-2	Bonnie Tyler–	Total Eclipse Of The Heart
2-3	Toto–	Africa
2-4	Daryl Hall & John Oates–	Maneater
2-5	Mr. Mister–	Broken Wings
2-6	Starship (2)–	We Built This City
2-7	Bruce Hornsby And The Range–	The Way It Is
2-8	Paul Young–	Every Time You Go Away
2-9	Bangles–	Walk Like An Egyptian
2-10	Cheap Trick–	The Flame
2-11	Bad English–	When I See You Smile
2-12	Rick Astley–	Never Gonna Give You Up
2-13	Lisa Lisa & Cult Jam–	Head To Toe
2-14	Ray Parker Jr.–	Ghostbusters
2-15	Exposé–	Seasons Change
2-16	Mr. Mister–	Kyrie

I started reading Cornell Woolrich stories and novels in the 1970s. All in all, I preferred Woolrich’s short stories to his novels. He was a master of generating angst and suspense. Just sample some of the classic stories in Nightwebs by Cornell Woolrich  (Author), Francis M. Nevins Jr. (Editor).

The problem with Maxim Jakubowski’s Black Is the Night: Stories in Tribute to the Author Who Inspired Hitchcock’s Rear Window involves setting the bar for the stories at the Cornell Woolrich level. That’s really high! To me, the only two stories that reach Woolrich’s quality are Martin Edwards’s “The Woman Who Never Was” and Bill Pronzini’s “The Long Road Down.”

Edwards’s “The Woman Who Never Was” starts with two grifters who are squatting in an apartment in an abandoned building. The woman leaves, saying she’ll be back in 5 minutes. But, she disappears. Her lover searches for her and discovers a world shifting Reality. A very Cornell Woolrich-type story.

Bill Pronzini’s “The Long Road Down” amps up the stress and tension as a man with a dead body in the trunk of his vehicle is trying to reach the work site where he plans to bury the body. Of course, he’s stopped by a policeman despite all his caution. Woolrich would have loved this story!

However, there are more misses than hits in Black Is the Night. There was only one Cornell Woolrich. This tribute volume is proof that his style of storytelling is rare indeed. GRADE: B-

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

INTRODUCTION / Maxim Jakubowski — 1

Why cornell Woolrich matters / Neil Gaiman — 4

The black window / Joel Lane — 6

Missing sister / Joe R. Lansdale — 8

A thin slice of heaven / Vaseem Khan — 12

Two wrongs / Brandon Barrows —  29

The husband machine / Tara Moss — 38

Black window / Kim Newman — 45

The man in the sailor suit / Nick Mamatas — 51

People you may know / Mason Cross — 84

The woman who never was / Martin Edwards — 75

First you dream, then you die / Donna Moore — 82

Eyes without a face / James Grady — 102

The case of Baby X / Lavie Tidhar — 115

The phantom gentleman / Barry N. Malzberg — 130

Parkview / James Sallis — 133

The lake, the moon and the murder / A.K. Benedict — 139

The jacket / Warren Moore — 151

The woman at the late show / Max Décharné — 162

The bride hated champagne / Paul Di Filippo — 178

Institutional memory / M.W. Craven — 188

Sleep! Sleep! Beauty bright / Charles Ardai — 202

The invitation / Susi Holliday — 221

The long road down / Bill Pronzini — 234

Our opera singer / Kristine Kathbryn Rusch — 244

What happens after the end / Maxim Jakubowski — 262

A shade darker than gray / Joseph S. Walker — 274

Trophy wife / Samantha Lee Howe — 288

Blue moon over Burgundy / O’Neil de Noux — 298

Red / David Quantick — 309

Looking for you through the gray rain / Ana Teresa Pereira — 325

New York blues redux / William Boyle — 338

ABOUT THE EDITOR / 383

ABOUT THE CONTRIBUTORS / 386

Lesley Manville plays book editor Susan Ryeland who gets drawn into a web of intrigue and murder when she receives Alan Conway’s unfinished manuscript of an Atticus Pünd mystery. Based on an Anthony Horowitz mystery novel of the same name, Magpie Murders is a PBS series that follows the death of best selling Alan Conway and the repercussions on Susan Ryeland and her publishing company. Horowitz wrote the scripts to the six episodes.

Ryeland’s publishing company is about to be acquired, but the deal hinges on Alan Conway’s last mystery novel, Magpie Murders, projected to be a best seller like his previous mysteries. Ryeland discovers her manuscript is lacking the final chapter. That could ruin her chances of being CEO of the publishing company and threaten her career as an editor. So Ryeland starts investigating Alan Conway’s death and decides it’s not a suicide as the police think it is. Ryeland thinks Conway–an arrogant, narcissistic prig–was murdered by one of the many people who hated him. And the missing final chapter may reveal who murdered Alan Conway.

Like the novel, Magpie Murders runs on two tracks: Susan Ryeland investigating Alan Conway’s death, and Conway’s fictional detective, Atticus Pund, investigating the beheading of Sir Pye. The story within a story format might annoy some viewers especially when Ryeland speaks to the fictional Pund. I’ve watched three of the six episodes and I’m enjoying what I’m seeing. Are you a fan of Anthony Horowitz and his mysteries? GRADE: B (so far)