'Classic' Detective Stories you have enjoyed.

[3rd Viennese School]

I liked Columbo.

Columbo barges in. "Just one more thing that's bothereing me. I was up all night thinking about it with my wife. That's Mrs. Columbo.."

Murderer: "Leutenant. I'm on the toilet!!"

Columbo : "This will only take a minute sir"

Etc etc you know how it goes.

Peter Falk. I wonder what happened to him?

3VS

[amateur51]

What a wonderful thread. Can I strongly endorse the comments by readers of Donna Leon and her policeman, Guido Brunetti. Also Martin O'Brien's Jaquot books, though they do tend to get a bit bloody towards the end of the series. As a change from the continental diet, has anyone read JM Gregson and his groups of policemen in deepest Gloucestershire? Lightweight but entertaining. Living in Shropshire, I have felt obliged to try Ellis Peters and her Cadfael but couldn't really work up much enthusiasm. Maybe others (apart from Signora Arancie) have had more luck.

Oh arancie lucky you, living in Ludlow. It used to be my favourite weekend destination. How many Michelin-star restos does it have currently, I wonder? I just think it has a wondeful vibe

[salymap]

I liked Columbo.

Columbo barges in. "Just one more thing that's bothereing me. I was up all night thinking about it with my wife. That's Mrs. Columbo.."

Murderer: "Leutenant. I'm on the toilet!!"

Columbo : "This will only take a minute sir"

Etc etc you know how it goes.

Peter Falk. I wonder what happened to him?

3VS

His death was reported recently wasn't it? Poor man, had been ill for years.

[3rd Viennese School]

Is his car still alive?

3VS

[Bax-of-Delights]

Where did you find out about Bruce Montgomery/Edmund Crispin, anton? I've often wondered.

Colin Watson of the incomparable Flaxborough novels died in his 50s. I don't know anything else about him.

I was in correspondence with Colin Watson in the early 80's shortly before he died. He was a journalist - his very first book was a straight novel (The Puritan) set in a provincial newspaper office - and then he embarked on the glorious Flaxborough series. Sadly missed but still read with great enjoyment 30 years after his death.

For those who like classic village mysteries may I reccommend V.C.Clinton-Baddeley and Lynton Lamb. Slight volumes but charming (Lamb actually illustrated his own books).

[Chris Newman]

Oh arancie lucky you, living in Ludlow. It used to be my favourite weekend destination.

Sounds like a clear case of Bunburying to me.

[salymap]

I was in correspondence with Colin Watson in the early 80's shortly before he died. He was a journalist - his very first book was a straight novel (The Puritan) set in a provincial newspaper office - and then he embarked on the glorious Flaxborough series. Sadly missed but still read with great enjoyment 30 years after his death.

For those who like classic village mysteries may I reccommend V.C.Clinton-Baddeley and Lynton Lamb. Slight volumes but charming (Lamb actually illustrated his own books).

I mention VC Clinton Baddeley earlier in this thread and have ' Only a matter of time'and ''My Foe Outstretched' by him. Slightly different from most crime books but enjoyable I thought.

[Bax-of-Delights]

salymap:
apologies for reiterating your suggestion - I hadn't read through the whole thread.
V.C. Clinton-Baddeley did 5 crime novels in total (the last finished by Mark Goullet) and was also, apparently, the founder of "The London Library of Recorded English" - an anthology of English verse on records.
Here's a quote from one of his crime novels (his character is very fond of opera):
Davie: "...As soon as I've had tea, a slave to pleasure, I'm going to Covent Garden."
Dyke: "Turandot: I don't like the sets or the clothes."
Davie: "They do at least suggest the right period. I dislike this modern kink for presenting works precisely as they were not intended. Rosenkavalier in art nouveau scenery is twaddle."
Dyke: "Has anyone ever done it the other way round? Let me see -- a Tudor production of The Importance of Being Earnest -- that would be 'original'."
Davie: "What a splendid thought!"

I'll also suggest ANTHONY OLIVER who wrote 4 very good crime novels (The Pew Group, Ellberg Collection, Cover Up & The Property of a Lady). He was an authority on Staffordshire Pottery and had a little shop off Kensington Church Street. He was also an actor and appeared in films and TV (Dixon of Dock Green).

[amateur51]

Sounds like a clear case of Bunburying to me.

[PatrickOD]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0132n6t

[antongould]

Just stumbled across a Crispin / Fen short story - Lacrimae Rerum - that incorporates a concert broadcast by the BBC in 1935 of Tchaikovsky 6 and Walton 1 and the Radio Times and of course an impossible murder.......

[salymap]

Just stumbled across a Crispin / Fen short story - Lacrimae Rerum - that incorporates a concert broadcast by the BBC in 1935 of Tchaikovsky 6 and Walton 1 and the Radio Times and of course an impossible murder.......

Nice to see this old thread Anton. And I'll bet that Geoffrey Bush was that behind that story. The friendliest of composers always said that he influenced Bruce Montgomery - and of course he's mentioned in one or two of the books. I'd like to find thatstory, is it in a volume of short stories?

You'll have a shock when you get back here, turned very autumnal. bestio salymap

[Nick Armstrong]

Just stumbled across a Crispin / Fen short story - Lacrimae Rerum - that incorporates a concert broadcast by the BBC in 1935 of Tchaikovsky 6 and Walton 1 and the Radio Times and of course an impossible murder.......

You stumbled across in in Malta...??!??!

[mercia]

I'd like to find thatstory, is it in a volume of short stories?

I think it's in this collection

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Beware-Trains-Classic-Edmund-Crispin/dp/0140088164/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1350312412&sr=1-2

[antongould]

You stumbled across in in Malta...??!??!

Lady Gould has a Kindle and as I was out of reading material I downloaded a short story collection Beware of Trains for £2.99!

Not sure if it's in print salymap but will attempt to find out and let you know.

Anyone found any new classics of the genre recently......?