Golden Age Treats
This Deadly Ilse: A Golden Age Mystery Map is a perfect gift for the GA fan in your life – or for yourself. It is attractively designed and the captions are written by Martin Edwards – need I say more? Some of the locations and the books associated with them were familiar to me – Agatha Christie’s Greenway in Devon, for instance, and my own village in Derbyshire is mentioned! – but many more were not. I’ve enjoyed some armchair travelling in good company and have picked up ideas for more GA reading.
I’ve mentioned in an earlier post that the splendid Galileo 
publishers are reprinting the novels of Clifford Witting. Dead on Time – one of the best – is out now. I’ve written about it here: https://promotingcrime.blogspot.com/2021/12/the-golden-age-clifford-whitting-1907.html. Like their earlier reprints, Dead on Time is very nicely produced with a lovely cover.
Galileo are not the only small publishers issuing reprints of GA titles. Oleander Press, also based in Cambridge, have brought out The Yorkshire Moorland Mystery (1930) by J. S. Fletcher and Murder at the College (1932) by Victor L. Whitechurch under the imprint Oreon. I am not a huge fan of Fletcher, but The Yorkshire Moorland Mystery was a decent read with plenty of plot twists. However Murder at the College was right up my street. I do love an academic mystery. Murder at the College is set in the fictional town of Exbridge, clearly modelled on Oxford or Cambridge. A seasoned reader of GA mysteries will probably guess at least one aspect of the solution, but that didn’t spoil my enjoyment.
So there we are, a round-up of welcome additions to what’s available in GA fiction. And there are more to come from both book publishers.
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6 Comments
Margot Kinberg
July 13, 2022Those look fantastic, Christine! It’s so nice that these gems are being republished for a new audience. And with Martin Edwards involved, you know it’s quality!
Christine Poulson
July 15, 2022Yes, indeed, you can rely on Martin! It’s great that so much GA stuff is being republished.
Annie Oxford
July 13, 2022Thank you, Chrissie, for these great suggestions! I’ve got Murder at the College on order. I think I may be out of my depth (or mind)! Last week started the The Morland Dynasty, books by Cynthia Harrod-Eagles I have the first 8 books of the series, then we’ll see. Deborah Crombie mentioned the series on FB. Debs and I are Anglophiles supreme, so hints of history being “taught” with fiction, I was hooked. You may have read them, so you know the first starts around 1440s. Fascinating! Then the William Morris Appreciation Society group suggested “How We Might Live: At Home with Jane and William Morris.” Had to have that, but had no idea of its length, but I’m loving it, sooo… Hoping all is well with you and yours, Annie
Christine Poulson
July 15, 2022Good to hear from you, Annie. I haven’t heard of any of these books, but I do like novels where you also learn a lot and the Jane and William Morris book sounds intriguing. Hope all’s well with you.
Crysta Winter
July 26, 2022Dear Christine, I think it was a post in your blog 2020. I can’t remember the exact content and unfortunately I can’t find it again in your blog. But what I do remember vividly was a wonderful little sequence by an author that you reproduced in your post. She used it to describe the slightly blurry reflection of the room in the window panes, and that reflections of this kind are the reflection of the grandmother’s room.
This “image” was so magical that I can’t get it out of my mind. Can you perhaps remember the post? I would so love to read it again.
best greetings from germany. Crysta
Christine Poulson
July 27, 2022This is what you are thinking of, Crysta. Wonderful, isn’t it? http://www.christinepoulson.co.uk/the-blitz-spirit/