Saturday, December 11, 2021

Best Vintage Mystery Reprint of 2021, part one

As the ubiquitous commercialization of Christmas invades our lives let us once again turn to the end of the year tradition begun by our dear friend Kate Jackson who blogs at Cross Examining Crime and look at candidates for Best Vintage Mystery Reprint of the Year.  2021 offered up a cornucopia of reprint editions of crime fiction and covered all aspects of the genre from traditional detective novels to clever thrillers to tension filled novels of suspense.  There were over 100 books on the list Kate sent us and I found over 50 more on my own, not the least of which was the surprise addition from Penguin of some long out-of-print books by Mabel Seeley, one time bestselling writer in the stable of Doubleday's Crime Club back in the heyday of that seminal publisher.  It was too late for me to nominate The Listening House (1938), her pioneering mystery novel heavily influenced by Rinehart, Eberhart and the rest of the HIBK school,  because I had already chosen my nominees.  But I think I found two excellent books despite not knowing of the Seeley's reprints.

Unlike most of the others who participate in the is end of the year ritual among the vintage mysteyr bloggers I adhere to a personal standard in choosing these "Best of the Year" reprint candidates. For those who missed this extravaganza in past years (or are too lazy to look it up from this blog's archives) I'll give you my own two most important rules for what I feel merit a wise choice of a vintage reprint:

  1. A truly forgotten author, long out of print
  2. Writing and plotting that contributes substantially to the genre

Enough of the preamble.  Here's Nominee #1 from your opinionated maven at Pretty Sinister Books...

 

Sing Me A Murder by Helen Nielsen

  • Nielsen is an underappreciated and neglected writer over shadowed by her contemporaries Margaret Millar, Charlotte Armstrong and Ursula Curtiss who tend to get all the accolades when the talk turns to mid 20th century women mystery writers.
  •  Her crime fiction uses the conventions of traditional detective fiction but often subvert them with innovative plotting, unusual characters, and contemporary insights for fans of history and sociology. Sing Me A Murder incorporates popular music into the storyline (a key character is a singer and recording artist). We also get some intriguing background on 1950s architecture, automobiles and car maintenance!  All of it help in solving the various mysteries in the novel.
  • Nielsen's characters are vibrantly depicted.  Often it is the supporting players in the story who are the most attractive and get some of the best scenes.  I remember a nosy neighbor who stole the show, so to speak, in her scenes. Also a gas station attendant has a couple of great monologues. This rings true to me. That the people we take for granted, the background players in our lives, are often those who consciously or not have the greatest influence on us.
  • She's a damn fine writer with an excellent command of English and sometimes startling uses of imagery and metaphor.
  • Stark House Press has reprinted Sing Me a Murder in a twofer bound with Nielsen's equally innovative and gripping crime novel False Witness.  So you get two Nielsen books for the price of one if you buy the reprint of Sing Me a Murder. (Am I cheating?  Don't care!) 

You can read the full review of Sing Me A Murder back in the archives of 2016 posts by clicking here.  The Stark House Press reprint has been on sale since November of this year.  Highly recommended!  And make sure you read False Witness too!  The review for that second book can be found here

Tune in next week for my male writer nominee, a true classic and a giant of a writer in Golden Age of Detective Fiction.

17 comments:

  1. John - The Mabel Seeley title, The Listening House, would have been a worthy nominee as I enjoyed that one.

    I don't know Helen Nielsen, but I have had consistently good experiences with your recommendations so will give this one a try.

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    1. Hope it lives up to my laudatory comments.

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    2. Hi Scott - as a blog reader you can still nominate the Mabel title over on my ROY launch page.

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  2. My TBR is full but I’ll add this. Your Stark House recommendations have all been winners before. I especially liked Sleep with Slander

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    1. Glad to hear I'm recommending winners for you, Ken. Stark House has also reprinted four other Helen Nielsen books of which my favorite -- and one of her absolute best -- is The Woman on the Roof. I also reviewed that back in 2016. A portion of the book is a scathing indictment against the poor treatment of mentally ill and highly neurotic people. You should pick up a copy of that one too.

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    2. My eLibrary has several of her books reprinted by Prologue but none of those you named! A pig in a poke it will be I guess!

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  3. Good to hear good things about the Nielsen title. It is working its way up my TBR pile steadily. Currently reading and enjoying A Case for Solomon at the moment. Also intrigued in your post to read about the Seeley title - I have yet to try anything by her. Do you think it would be my sort of thing?

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    1. The Listening House has a lot in common with the crime novels of Mignon Eberhart and Ethel Lina White — so yes, I do think it may be your sort of thing!

      I’ve read reviews at Amazon about A Case for Solomon and it seems to be the favorite so far of those who have been buying and enjoying the Terhune mystery novels. It’s being called ingenious! Bruce Graeme would be very happy. In retrospect (now that I’ve read seven books) it is definitely one of the top three for me. Ten Trails to Tyburn is out now but only as a digital book. Long story. Unsure when the books will be printed. But my favorite— A Case of Books—is coming out very soon. When my copies arrive there will be another Moonstone Press giveaway. Huzzah!

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    2. I think I have the Seeley books on my Christmas present wish list,so who knows I might get a copy of one of them soon.
      What are your other two favourite Graeme books?

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  4. The Nielsen you recommended is near the top of my to be read mountain(s) and look forward to reading it. In the UK, Amazon are threatening to stop accepting Visa card (an argument about card fees), so it may give me a chance to catch up as I have no intention of changing my credit card. I shall look into Mabel Seeley as you suggest. Eric Harding's Pray for the Dawn, my wife just finished it and says she really enjoyed it too (we both recently had to isolate due to Covid, both better now and not too bad during but we did have the jabs. My daughter has it now so she is off school isolating and watching Scooby Doo, happily she is not too ill, mainly mild headaches.). Thanks for all the suggestions and reviews. Wayne.

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    1. Makes me happy to hear that Pray for the Dawn is such a hit with everyone. Hope your family recovers fully. And we thought all that would be behind us this year at Christmas time. Be well!

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  5. I’ve ordered it. Shipping being what it is, I doubt your next week pick will be able to arrive by the holiday, but I do have another book or two to read. 🙂

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  6. Well, it is not a hit with me because of the inherent racism !

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    1. Helen Nielsen is hardly racist. There is a bigoted character in Sing Me A Murder, but he is obviously inserted into the story as an object of ridicule.

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    2. I was talking about Pray For The Dawn ! You stated that it is a hit with everyone.

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  7. Yes, here I am, tuned in (though not turned on nor dropped out) awaiting the next post!

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    1. You’re a day early. Part 2 will be up tomorrow, Dec18.

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