

HarperCollins is using the publication of this novella to launch its new Witness Impulse imprint, which will publish new books in mystery, thriller and suspense, but will also republish classics and bring international books to American readers.
I'm excited about Witness's publications, like a couple of my favorite British authors, Frances Fyfield and Stephen Booth. I also notice some other British authors I'm less familiar with, whose books hadn't previously been published in the US or are hard to find here, like Aline Templeton, who writes a police procedural series set in the Scottish countryside and featuring Detective Inspector Marjory Fleming, also known as Big Marge; Alison Bruce, with her DC Gary Goodhew series, set in Cambridge; and Rory Clements, who writes a series starring William Shakespeare's brother, John.
Even though I love grabbing books as soon as they're published, and discovering new authors, this trend of republishing lesser-known international titles and out-of-print mysteries is a welcome one. In addition to the Witness titles, which you can find here, check out some of these:

high-quality paper and type fonts, and attractive cover art. Visit F&M if you're looking for republished classics from authors like Margery Allingham, Robert Barnard, Edmund Crispin, Elizabeth Daly, Peter Dickinson, Caroline Graham, Reginald Hill, Elizabeth Ironside and Ngaio Marsh.
Rue Morgue Press specializes in republications of Golden Age mysteries. You can find some wonderful old favorites on their catalog, like Catherine Aird, Delano Ames, Nicholas Blake (one of my favorites when I first started reading mysteries), Manning Coles, Michael Gilbert, Gladys Mitchell, Colin Watson (his Flaxborough series is just a hoot) and a lot more.

Open Road Integrated Media may be a dull name, but their mission and imagination are anything but. Open Road republishes (in ebook form) celebrated and lesser-known finds in all genres, not just mystery. Thomas Berger, whose classic Little Big Man was made into a movie starring Dustin Hoffmann, is represented with 10 titles, including one I've been meaning to buy, Crazy In Berlin, about a Army medic stationed in Berlin at the end of World War II, and Arthur Rex, a cheeky retelling of the King Arthur legend. Mary Wesley, best known for The Camomile Lawn, also has 10 titles in the catalog.
But if you insist on mysteries (and we all do sometimes), Open Road can deliver a lot of them to your e-reader, including Dorothy L. Sayers's first three Lord Peter Wimsey mysteries. Pieter Aspe's Inspector Van In series, set in Bruges, is up to 24 books, but has only just now started to be translated from Flemish to English. You can find the first two titles, The Square of Revenge and The Midas Murders, on Open Road.

I don't want to mislead, though. Mysterious Press isn't only about ebooks. You can also find some paperbacks there, including one of my recent favorites, Janice Law's Francis Bacon series, whose first two titles are Fires of London and The Prisoner of the Riviera.
Crippen and Landru's niche is republishing mystery short story collections. Perusing their current list, I see story collections by John Dickson Carr, Michael Gilbert, Peter Lovesey, Peter Robinson, Ross Macdonald, Lawrence Block, Craig Rice, Christianna Brand, Erle Stanley Gardner and dozens more.

A lot of my collection of old mystery titles came from rummaging through used bookshops and library book sales. I love every one of those finds, but it's nice to know that when I want to read an old title, I don't necessarily have to go on a dusty hunt.
In studying the Lew Archer novels of Ross Macdonald I’ve tried to identify certain characteristics, themes, motifs, images – call them what you like – that crop up frequently throughout the various books. I don’t claim that the following are particularly important or have any special significance or meaning; nor do I say this is a comprehensive list.
ReplyDeletehttp://postmoderndeconstructionmadhouse.blogspot.com/2014/12/ross-macdonald-characteristics-of.html#.VU14pNKUcwB