I've been reveling in some good old mystery reading lately.  Doesn't September, with the skies and temperatures changing, seem like a good time to cozy up with a good, formulaic puzzle of will and intention?  I think so.  The kind of month during which a good, crisp apple and a warm, snuggly blanket are pleasurable requirements. Maybe some Bach playing in the background (if one doesn't become too distracted and just sit and listen, that is)?  


But what are the mysteries I've been cozying up with? Georgette Heyer's They Found Him Dead -- with the irrepressible, meticulously well-drawn character, young Timothy Harte -- and Anna Katharine Green's The Leavenworth Case and now Agatha Christie's The Tuesday Club Murders.  All three have surprised me by being much different and much better than I expected.  Not that I thought Christie's would be a dud, but I was concerned when I discovered it was a series of short, self-contained puzzlers rather than one, big mystery because I've never been much of a short story fan.  But Christie knows how to weave a narrative, short or long, that hauls you in.


I've just recently stumbled across 19th c/early 20th c author Anna Katharine Green.  For those of you who, like me, didn't know what a great influence she was on the mystery genre, I will merely mention that she was supposedly admired by both Wilkie Collins and Agatha Christie. So that'll give you some idea, I suspect.  At any rate, The Leavenworth Case is a wonderful whodunnit with unsavoury characters and desperate heroines, a singularly fascinating detective who sees much and only seems to do little, and a narrator who reminds me of a more intelligent Watson.  I thoroughly enjoyed it and I've definitely added Green to my list of must-read-alls.