I'm happy to hear from at least one of the previous book giveaway winners that the last prize, a copy of A Case for Solomon by Bruce Graeme, proved to be:
"...brilliant. Apart from being a true bibliomystery, it also pulls off one of the best plot surprises/twists I have come across. Thank you for introducing me to such an inventive and innovative series."
And I can assure you that Pray for the Dawn is just as innovative and surprise filled. Just released from Ramble House last week the new edition of this EXTREMELY scarce book is available nowhere for free online and has never before been reprinted until this year Here's your chance to win a brand spanking new, hot off the laser jets, copy.
Those who may have read my rave review back in April already are prepared for pulpy horror, genuine thrills, and paranoid ravings from terrified characters who are trying to survive the weekend in creepy house on an isolated island. Paranoid and terrified because they are at the mercy of a murderous and apparently revived corpse. And it's a detective novel to boot! What do you need to do to win a copy? Just this...
Leave a comment and name your favorite mystery about a group of strangers stranded somewhere at the mercy of a crazed killer. I have two copies and will award one each to two different people. This new edition with an attractively gruesome cover illustration by Gavin O'Keefe also comes with an informative and amusing Afterword by Yours Truly done in a suitably offbeat Ramble House style of banter and wisecrackery.
1. Open to all readers who live in the USA, Canada or UK.
2. Winners must provide me with a legitimate email address and name (or nickname) when they leave the comment. Comments marked Anonymous or Unknown are not eligible.
3. Winners will be contacted by email and then must provide me with a legitimate shipping address in one of the three countries listed.
CONTEST CLOSED.
John - Thanks again for making this one available. I ordered my copy 1.5 weeks ago and it is scheduled for delivery today. Looking forward to reading it.
ReplyDeleteWhether I win or not, John, this sounds like a cool title to have! I can’t be original!!! My favorite strangers-stranded-together novel has always been that Christie title with the many embarrassing names. I have seen so many authors attempt to do this - and do it badly! Thanks for helping to make a more positive option available!
ReplyDeleteYou may be the only entrant, Brad. You’re a shoo in! I’m expecting everyone to say ATTWN or Murder on the Orient Express though there are dozens of this type of mystery from the Golden Age.
DeleteAnd Then There Were None is my favorite as well. Hard to top that one. Rim of the Pit was also amazing, but I don't believe all the folks trapped by the snowstorm were strangers. My least favorite of these types of novels is The Ninth Guest by Bristow & Manning. What a waste of a great premise.
ReplyDeleteJeff F. (jdfastros21@yahoo.com)
One I remember well is Barbara Tutton's Plague Spot. Tutton is pretty obscure -- but you like that! My notes say her work was never published in the Us. Here we have a group from a bacteriological research station who are isolated, trapped by weather and threatening exposure to a virus (Sound familiar??). They attended a house party as I recall. An interesting twist on a well-known trope but with a scientific edge. Robert Hale: 1965
ReplyDeleteSelf-promotion is no bad thing when you have so much good news to share, John -- keep at it!
ReplyDeleteThe Invisible Circle by Paul Halter is a really wild and enjoyable take on this sort of story, but if we're talking Golden Age -- and if ATTWN is already gone -- I still think Murder on the Way! by Theodore Roscoe takes a lot of beating
Never one for the obvious, so I nominate
ReplyDeleteSeventeen Cards by E Charles Vivian.
I had no plans to return to Vivian after some thoroughly disappointing experiences, but this actually sounds like a blast -- many thanks!
DeleteI could have sworn I posted but hey ho, ATTWN is still a fave, Benighted AKA Th Old Dark House by JB Priestly and a mention of a short story The Most Dangerous AKA The Hounds of Zaroff by Richard Cornell.
ReplyDeleteWayne.
just realised on the resend I missed my e-mither, mookblue66 [at] hotmail.com
Deletesorry,
Wayne.
John, I really wish this was open world-wide. As for the strangers-stranded trope, one that is definitely out is Shari Lapena's An Unwanted Guest. Hope you remember it:)
ReplyDeleteUgh! If only I could forget that one. Sorry about the USPS mail problems. But you should be able to buy one I think. Ramble House doesn’t exclude countries, do they?
DeleteUSPS mail problems ? Utter bullshit ! I often get books from John Pugmire of New York, sent by USPS, without any problem. The postage for sending a paperback is 25.50 dollars. Once he sent me two paperbacks together, it still cost 25.50 dollars ! Crazy USPS!
DeleteWell good for you. I live in Chicago not New York and I can tell you that the problems with sending packages overseas from here are seriously out of control. We barely get our own domestic mail delivered on time if we get it at all.
Deletepulpy horror, genuine thrills, and paranoid ravings from terrified characters
ReplyDeleteNow that sounds like my cup of tea. So when is it being released?
As the post says (“just released last week”) it is available now. The book is only for sale through the Ramble House website and not on Amazon. Use the link in the post to order from their site.
DeleteWith a doff of the cap to "Fire Will Freeze" by Margaret Millar, I would like to nominate "Appleby on Ararat" by Michael Innes.
ReplyDeleteJohn: Thought of another. Newton Gayle's Murder at 28:10.All the "guests" are holed up in the Piper's residence in Puerto Rico where there's been "murder done" because of an oncoming hurricane. We have the barometric pressure gaged with each chapter as the suspense builds and no one knows who to trust. An enjoyable read by Maurice E Guiness and Muna Lee Marin, Scribner 1936.Worth a reprint I think.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the reminder. I think Curt Evans wrote about that one. I’ve only read one book by that duo — The Sentry Box Murder. An excellent impossible crime mystery set also in Puerto Rico. I think it chronologically precedes the one you mention.
DeleteFirst of all, as I was one of the lucky winners of your previous book giveaway, I can only hope lightning strikes twice! But if not, Pray For The Dawn is a book I've been planning to purchase, anyway... Wayne Mook, above, already mentioned my #1 pick for "strangers trapped together with murderer" mystery, J.B. Priestly's brilliant Benighted. So let me also suggest a novel published not long after that one, in 1930: The Invisible Host, by Gwen Bristow & Bruce Manning, set at a dinner party in a New Orleans penthouse, with, yes, an invisible (and murderous) host. It was subsequently turned into a Broadway play and also made into a film, both under the title The Ninth Guest. I purchased my copy of the book in part for its wonderful dust jacket illustration: https://www.dustjackets.com/advSearchResults.php?action=search&orderBy=author&category_id=0&keywordsField=invisible+host
ReplyDeleteOh, forgot to include my details with the above comment: Allan Horrocks, overmanmool [at] gmail … cheers!
ReplyDelete