LB's Rambles

The Flowers That Bloom in the Spring

Spring has finally sprung.

The azaleas are happy.

"The Bells of Old Bailey"

"When will you pay me/Say the bells of Old Bailey"

Sound familiar? It's a couplet from a familiar English nursery rhyme, one that names the bells of London. That nursery rhyme is woven through a marvelous, if rather grim, mystery, "The Bells of Old Bailey," by Dorothy Bowers. In a small English village, where five people apparently have committed suicide, the local police turn to a Scotland Yard detective for help. Soon, there is a murder to be solved, and a truly vicious plot eventually is uncovered.

Dorothy Bowers is little remembered today; she died quite young and completed only a handful of novels. Part of the fun of doing my "Classic Mysteries" podcast is having the chance to introduce authors like Dorothy Bowers to readers who might enjoy her work. You can check out this review here - and, as always, I would welcome your subscription to these free weekly podcasts by pasting this RSS link - http://classicmysteries.podbus.com/index.xml - into iTunes or any other RSS podcast-capable program.

The Corner of the Picture

Gerald Vanderleun tells a funny, heartbreaking, beautiful story about old age, museums and Seattle. He tells it so well I had to share.

"The A.B.C. Murders"

A, you take Arsenic. B, you've been Bashed. C, for a touch of Cyanide...

No, not exactly. But the ABC's are very important to one serial killer who is wreaking havoc in a number of alphabetically-chosen places, upon a number of alphabetically-chosen victims. And the killer is challenging Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot to do something about it.

It's all part of Agatha Christie's entry in the serial killer sweepstakes called "The A.B.C. Murders," and it is our book being reviewed this week on the "Classic Mysteries" podcast. You can listen to it here, or, of course, you're welcome to subscribe - there's a link in the right-hand column or you can find the podcast on iTunes and other fine podcast directories. Did I mention, "free"?

Time Warp

A followup on my last post about 3D technology.

There are times I think I have been living in a time warp. Last week, I wrote about a reunion of ABC Radio News personnel, some of whom I have known for more than four decades. After that reunion, I received a video that was put together back in 1969, to promote what were then the brand new ABC Radio Networks. In 1968, ABC became the first US radio network to program four distinct newscasts each hour, each one aimed at a particular group of radio stations. This allowed ABC to have up to four affiliates in each market - very clever indeed.

At any rate, watching that video, I found myself amazed at how far we have come. For example, there are shots of audio tape being edited with a razor blade and a grease pencil. That's how we did it, folks. Even video tapes started out that way. The editors, newscasters and writers all used typewriters. MANUAL typewriters; I was pounding away on an Olivetti until the early 1980s. Video? TV relied on film, which had to be shot, shipped, developed and edited; the entire process took at least hours and often, for overseas stories, days.

The narrator notes, with pride, that all of the ABC news bureaus were linked by private teletype. I remember that one; I was quite proud of being able to type at the machine's maximum speed of 60 words per minute. We also had "facsimile" machines that could transmit documents over phone lines; it generally took six minutes per page. And the newsroom was filled with the clattering noise made by the AP, UPI and Reuters machines, disgorging reams of paper, usually running multiple carbon paper rolls.

Time warp. This morning, I sat and watched people demonstrating console editing of 3D digital video. Punch a few buttons, move a mouse, and a miracle happens. I don't think the people doing the presentation had ever worked with a film doublechainer; certainly not as their primary source. I doubt they were born when that promotional video was made.

Yes, I AM older than dirt.

Time warp.

"The Loss of the Jane Vosper"

A small freighter sinks at sea, after a series of explosions. It sounds like sabotage - but how could it have happened? Apparently, it's a dangerous question; a detective investigating the sinking disappears. Enter Inspector French - the creation of Freeman Wills Crofts, one of the early Golden Age masters of the detective novel, and the star of "The Loss of the Jane Vosper," this week's novel reviewed on our Classic Mysteries podcast.

Crofts is not often remembered today, but he was the master of the intricate timetable mystery. If you have ever read one of those stories in which the crime could only have happened on a Tuesday, the one day in the week when the London train stopped at Little Croydon instead of Nether Hampstead, then you have read a story that is inspired in part by Crofts.

His stories are also very early police procedural novels, for Inspector French has the full resources of Scotland Yard behind him and knows how to use them.

"The Loss of the Jane Vosper" is a fine example of a master at work. Listen to the complete review - it's free, as always.

"Arsene Lupin, Gentleman-Thief"

He was a fictional rogue, a thief, a con man who could plan and execute a daring burglary while imprisoned, a Robin Hood-type, an adventurer, even occasionally a detective, and his popularity rivalled that of Sherlock Holmes himself. Arsene Lupin, the creation of French writer Maurice Leblanc, has remained in print in France for a century, and his popularity keeps him in print in the United States as well, fitting tribute to a man who believed, as he said, that "adventure is everywhere."

Leblanc's stories about Arsene Lupin, many of which have been gathered into a new anthology called "Arsene Lupin, Gentleman-Thief," are the subject of discussion on this week's "Classic Mysteries" podcast. Please follow the link to listen. As always, it's free. The Lupin stories are funny, witty, adventure-filled, heart-warming and quite thoroughly enjoyable.

Oh - and in one story Lupin did, in fact, meet Sherlock Holmes.

And stole his pocket watch...

"The Youth Hostel Murders"

I am not now and never will be a mountain climber. I have considerable difficulty getting up on a ladder to change a lightbulb. The prospect of clinging to a mountainside on a six-inch ledge, with the next step down several thousand feed below me, horrifies me. That said, I find myself really enjoying a series of British mountain-climbing mysteries written by Glyn Carr half a century ago. That includes "The Youth Hostel Murders," which is the subject of this week's review on my "Classic Mysteries" podcast.

"The Youth Hostel Murders" is a good read, with murder and a dash of witchcraft, and a great deal of detail about mountain climbing as well. Listen to the podcast to learn more about the book and how to find it - and why I think that, if you enjoy classic mysteries, you would enjoy it.

Weekend Reunion

There's a big reunion in New York City this weekend of veterans from the radio newsroom where I began my...um...notorious? nefarious? whatever...career. I mean, these are people I worked with before many of you were born, folks. Some became famous; more became and remain infamous. Last I heard, there were nearly 150 people coming.

Can't wait. Stay tuned for a followup report either here or in the Police Gazette.

"The Father Hunt"

For our "Classic Mysteries" podcast this week, we go back to one of my favorite American mystery authors, Rex Stout. Nero Wolfe and Archie Goodwin decide to help a young woman find the father she has never known - and find their search complicated by the fact that the unknown father appears to have murdered the young woman's mother.

As with all of Rex Stout's books about Wolfe, the irascible and nearly immovable Wolfe is bearable to us in "The Father Hunt" mostly because of the people who surround him - Archie, in particular, and Wolfe's cook Fritz and Lieutenant Cramer and...well, check out the podcast for a full review.