Wednesday, November 27, 2013

James Anderson's Parodic Homages

Jon L. Breen ("The Case of the Golden Age Gems," MYSTERY SCENE, 2011) reminds us of several "lighthearted puzzle mysteries" that are worth your attention. Excerpts:
James Anderson’s lasting contribution to mystery fiction consists of three novels about English house-party murders, all taking place in the same country house, Lord Burford’s historic Alderley, and all investigated by the same easily-overlooked but sneakily clever policeman, Inspector Wilkins . . . .
. . . Clearly reflecting a love of the classical puzzles of the Golden Age of Detective Fiction, unapologetically artificial and light-hearted, they managed both to parody and to provide genuine examples of the traditional British detective novel between World Wars.
Anderson's three novels are also available as e-books:
THE AFFAIR OF THE BLOODSTAINED EGG COSY (1975)
THE AFFAIR OF THE MUTILATED MINK (1981)
THE AFFAIR OF THE THIRTY-NINE CUFFLINKS (2003)
Wikipedia has a nicely concise article about Anderson.

Category: Detective fiction

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