If I ever fall asleep, now would you wake me from the dream that's kept me shaking now for weeks?
I woke shortly before two o'clock this afternoon and did not get out of bed until shortly after it. My plan of doing absolutely nothing useful for the day is off to a flying start.
I fell asleep somewhere after five in the morning because I was reading Cyril Hare's An English Murder (1951) and then chasing it with Tragedy at Law (1942). Both novels are available online thanks to Canadian copyright laws, although I read the former in the elegantly, macabrely Christmas-colored edition my parents gave me yesterday; I will want a print-and-ink copy of the latter as soon as I can find one. I had barely even heard of Hare before, but since the hero of one novel is a Jewish refugee professor who's just trying to complete some research on the history of the English constitution when he gets caught up in a Christmastime murder with a cast of suspects so perfectly English country house that he turns detective as much out of professional thoroughness as passion for justice, and the hero of the other is a brilliantly unsuccessful barrister with a knack for cleverness at the wrong moments—he tells very funny stories and loses every case we see him argue—I am feeling both extremely catered to and a little confused.![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
skygiants, I can't speak to more than these two books yet, but if you're feeling let down by a lack of Golden Age empathy I think you could do worse than give Hare's world a try.
I dreamed a series of nonexistent horror films from the late '80's or early '90's about which I can mostly remember tumuli, sea-cliffs, and a peripheral character slowly pulled into the center of the haunting, thereafter the recurring figure of the movies. I think he was some kind of journalist, but not a very reputable one. He looked a little like Kurt Kasznar. I loved them and wish I could remember more about the plots. Shape-changing was involved, and some gross-out special effects, but mostly just too much time in the same place. They formed an unplanned trilogy and people argued about whether a reboot would tie up the loose ends or ruin the mystery.
Unless it was meant as a meta-joke, I have no idea why Universal released a light mystery about a crime-solving reincarnated millionaire dog under a title as bland as You Never Can Tell (1951), but it stars Dick Powell as Rex Shepherd, P.I. and it was honestly delightful.
I fell asleep somewhere after five in the morning because I was reading Cyril Hare's An English Murder (1951) and then chasing it with Tragedy at Law (1942). Both novels are available online thanks to Canadian copyright laws, although I read the former in the elegantly, macabrely Christmas-colored edition my parents gave me yesterday; I will want a print-and-ink copy of the latter as soon as I can find one. I had barely even heard of Hare before, but since the hero of one novel is a Jewish refugee professor who's just trying to complete some research on the history of the English constitution when he gets caught up in a Christmastime murder with a cast of suspects so perfectly English country house that he turns detective as much out of professional thoroughness as passion for justice, and the hero of the other is a brilliantly unsuccessful barrister with a knack for cleverness at the wrong moments—he tells very funny stories and loses every case we see him argue—I am feeling both extremely catered to and a little confused.
skygiants, I can't speak to more than these two books yet, but if you're feeling let down by a lack of Golden Age empathy I think you could do worse than give Hare's world a try.I dreamed a series of nonexistent horror films from the late '80's or early '90's about which I can mostly remember tumuli, sea-cliffs, and a peripheral character slowly pulled into the center of the haunting, thereafter the recurring figure of the movies. I think he was some kind of journalist, but not a very reputable one. He looked a little like Kurt Kasznar. I loved them and wish I could remember more about the plots. Shape-changing was involved, and some gross-out special effects, but mostly just too much time in the same place. They formed an unplanned trilogy and people argued about whether a reboot would tie up the loose ends or ruin the mystery.
Unless it was meant as a meta-joke, I have no idea why Universal released a light mystery about a crime-solving reincarnated millionaire dog under a title as bland as You Never Can Tell (1951), but it stars Dick Powell as Rex Shepherd, P.I. and it was honestly delightful.
no subject
There is quite a lot of him in print and ink thanks to Faber and Faber, which is very pleasing to me since I will want hard copies of Tragedy at Law, With a Bare Bodkin (1946), and probably He Should Have Died Hereafter/Untimely Death (1958) (I did not dislike the intervening Pettigrew mysteries, but they did not make the same impression on me). In some ways I am fascinated that Pettigrew became a series character at all—his first appearance is such a strong self-contained story—but I am not complaining. I'm also interested in Hare's short fiction, which I see has been helpfully collected. What is his children's novel like?
The only downside is that there are far too few.
I did kind of read half his oeuvre in an afternoon.
no subject
I saved that, when I saw that I'd have none left to look forward to. Maybe it's time to break it out.
I did kind of read half his oeuvre in an afternoon.
Hard not to. He's more-ish, like a tin of really good mixed biscuits.
Nine
no subject
I would love to read your report.