The Blue Fairy's Bookshelf

Trouble Is My Business Raymond Chandler, 1950 (stories originally published 1934-39) Premise: Four long short stories (not quite novellas) by the master of hard-boiled detective fiction. Chandler and his creation Philip Marlowe are always a delight as far as I'm concerned. These stories may not be the best of the best, but they are each satisfying in turn. Marlowe gets tangled up with wealthy families with gambling debts, mysterious women, corrupt politicians, corrupt cops, and aging ex-cons. I especially enjoyed "Goldfish," about the search for a string of valuable pearls stolen years earlier, because it was quite different in setting and characters than the others. The best one is probably the last, "Red Wind," which starts with weather and murder and spirals quickly out of control from there. It's the tone and the style that carry you effortlessly through Chandler's work, and that talent is developing here before it comes to full flower in hi...

The Henchmen of Zenda K.J. Charles, 2018 Premise: Romance and danger abound for hired blades when everyone has their own agenda and a throne is on the line. A retelling of The Prisoner of Zenda . At this point, a new book from KJ Charles is an auto-buy for me, although I did pause before reading to quickly catch up on the source material. The Prisoner of Zenda (1894) is a pulp adventure in grand old style, with a humorous if stuffy British protagonist who gets swept up in a scheme to save the king of a tiny fictional European country... by pretending to be him. Ironically, I had already read and enjoyed Double Star , which is a sci-fi retelling of the same. The language is fun and the characters largely enjoyable in their over-the-top melodramatics. The Henchmen of Zenda is the same story as told by one of the villain's hired soldiers-of-fortune, and it alleges that said British protagonist was a liar in several respects. It makes the politics more complicated and ...

Blacksad Juan Díaz Canales (writer), Juanjo Guarnido (artist) English Translation published 2010 Premise: This volume collects the first three Blacksad albums, each one a self-contained story. They follow the adventures of private investigator John Blacksad as he stumbles through surviving in the darker parts of the 1950's, trying to get to the truth behind murder, abduction and corruption along the way. He's also a six-foot cat, and the world is entirely populated with anthropomorphic animals. I absolutely loved this book. I'm not sure that it's for everyone, though, so let me try to explain what I loved about it. (Please Note: this is a graphic novel for mature readers . The mostly naked corpse on page one should be a tip-off.) I love noir. When someone really nails the sweet spot balanced between melodrama, cynicism, honor, the chance of sweetness and a sense of fatalism, I am a happy camper. Blacksad takes its inspiration directly from the French inter...

Bride of the Rat God Barbara Hambly, 1994 (e-edition 2011) Premise: Small-town Norah is surprised how well she's adjusting to Hollywood as her sister-in-law's assistant and doggie caretaker.   Chrysanda (aka Christine) is a rising star in the silent movies with a flamboyant lifestyle and a troupe of Pekinese. Norah begins to hope that she can finally start to put the sadness of her husband's death behind her, when mysterious happenings begin to follow both women. What does Christine's necklace have to do with a gruesome murder? And how can they protect themselves from something they barely understand? This was absolutely delightful, a B-movie set in literary prose. The plot has curses and visions and magic from the MYSTIC EAST, and through it all Norah is determinedly practical and grounded. I love how she manages, even when being practical involves listening to some dreams and not others, talking her friends into seeking out a Chinese wizard, and paying atte...

Kiss for a Killer G. G. Fickling, 1960 I picked up this book because: 1) It was $1.00 2) Awesome cover art 3) Back cover copy claimed: “The Ficklings are widely credited with creating American fiction's first female detective” Premise: Honey West is a private investigator, and like most, she has a talent for being at the wrong place at the wrong time.  This time, however, her sometime flame Rip Spensor is messily dead, and Honey heads the list of suspects.  The rest of the list includes a Italian movie starlet, a reporter, and the leaders of a nudist cult. I'm a fan of classic noir and pulp, but I haven't read any in a while, and most of what I've read was from the 30's and 40's, not the 60's.  In short, I had to readjust my brain to get into this, but then I flew through it.  It's really short. I was disappointed with this book.  It starts strong, and has some good parts, some clever turns of phrase, but it's just not great.  I like ...