tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8787364257168822822.post8334464437433055282..comments2024-03-18T11:01:42.459-05:00Comments on Pretty Sinister Books: FFB: Death Wears a White Gardenia - Zelda PopkinJ F Norrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06473487417479127354noreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8787364257168822822.post-35944055201810010622014-03-06T21:01:45.269-06:002014-03-06T21:01:45.269-06:00Never even heard of Zelda Popkin before. Sounds fu...Never even heard of Zelda Popkin before. Sounds fun. Tony Rennerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12786913584237340754noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8787364257168822822.post-49635961180045078962014-03-02T19:52:26.420-06:002014-03-02T19:52:26.420-06:00Sounds like a lot of fun. I drool over these mapba...Sounds like a lot of fun. I drool over these mapbacks.Kelly Robinsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01752857506190488860noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8787364257168822822.post-68886641768782574192014-03-02T17:05:11.917-06:002014-03-02T17:05:11.917-06:00I will henceforth remove "cozy" from my ...I will henceforth remove "cozy" from my references and instead use "speciality" to describe these stories. Thanks for setting me straight. Love essay.jack wellinghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06666545887771905191noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8787364257168822822.post-74624551921103046112014-02-28T22:50:10.232-06:002014-02-28T22:50:10.232-06:00Right off the top of my head, John, I started tryi...Right off the top of my head, John, I started trying to remember any other department store mysteries. The only one that sprang to mind is the Ellery Queen book I read last year, THE FRENCH POWDER MYSTERY. I wonder if that's the only one. At any rate, you make Zelda Popkin's book sound very intriguing. (I love the author's name!) I will definitely keep an eye out.Yvettehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08919246184376538331noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8787364257168822822.post-16647468239652249712014-02-24T20:25:11.401-06:002014-02-24T20:25:11.401-06:00I'm having a strange sense of deja vu on this ...I'm having a strange sense of deja vu on this one, John. I can't decide if I've seen it reviewed elsewhere or if I managed to read it in the days before blogging and forgot to write it down. That Dell mapback cover looks awfully familiar.... I do believe I'm going to have to hunt down a copy and read it for myself just to be sure. (Like I need an excuse to add another title to the To Be Found list....)Bev Hankinshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01127476456755776574noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8787364257168822822.post-89004490057532915362014-02-23T17:57:14.603-06:002014-02-23T17:57:14.603-06:00She was proud of her Jewish heritage and being the...She was proud of her Jewish heritage and being the wife of Louis Popkin. Her mainstream novels show her interest and pride in her heritage. Most of the reviews I've found show she had received literary acclaim. One book even sold over a million copies which was quite a feat,back in 1945-46. When your writing is that good doesn't really matter how you sign your name.J F Norrishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06473487417479127354noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8787364257168822822.post-76133531015835868362014-02-23T13:29:15.527-06:002014-02-23T13:29:15.527-06:00You call them "specialty mysteries" and ...You call them "specialty mysteries" and I call them "information mysteries" but we agree on the form and purpose ... to allow the reader to get a backstage look at some little-known milieu which will provide the basis for a mystery plot and carry the reader along if the plot flags. I've always liked this novel, and the rest of Popkin's work in general, and I'm delighted to hear that some of the novels are coming back into print. But I've always wondered why she didn't use a pseudonym -- maybe she thought Zelda Popkin was at least memorable, if not remotely euphonious?<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8787364257168822822.post-83921217768729391502014-02-22T16:12:05.036-06:002014-02-22T16:12:05.036-06:00I like the idea of female department store detecti...I like the idea of female department store detective, which makes perfect sense. And I would buy every Dell mapback (especially mysteries) if I could afford it. Will definitely look for this one.TracyKhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08303342674824383688noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8787364257168822822.post-89763495676657109902014-02-21T12:22:52.205-06:002014-02-21T12:22:52.205-06:00And there's that marvelous story "Evening...And there's that marvelous story "Evening Primrose" by John Collier, too. I think <i>TheTwilight Zone</i> episode (with Anne Francis, right?) owes a lot to that story. For years I had wanted to see the Sondheim TV musical based on Collier's story. Sometime in 2010 it miraculously was released on DVD and I finally saw it for the first time only a a few years ago. Bits and pieces of it have been uploaded to YouTube. Maybe even the entire production.J F Norrishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06473487417479127354noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8787364257168822822.post-50056048511067885482014-02-21T11:54:34.395-06:002014-02-21T11:54:34.395-06:00Sounds like great fun (though it is hard to imagin...Sounds like great fun (though it is hard to imagine a Van Dine story without all the erudite asides ...) - thanks chum. The single giant department store continues to have a romantic fascination that is lost in the mall era though there is that Twilight Zone episodes about the dummies that made it all a bit more unsettling. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com