come for the section set in a nudist colony, stay for the Gladys Mitchell general madness, and two stories about missing books (this one is very hard to find...) Printer's Error, 1939 clothesinbooks.blogspot.com/2026/04/what...
There's a very rare Gladys Mitchell book on my blog now - Printer's Error, 1939, featuring a Nazi book and detecting in a nudist colony. And the story of how I finally came to read it clothesinbooks.blogspot.com/2026/04/what...
My new substack newsletter is out now - smuggling, jumble sales and the etiquette of murder. And the wide variety of comments from readers... clothesinbook.substack.com/p/etiquette-...
We still haven't finished with jumble and Sales of Work on the blog. I tracked down Miss Marple's contribution, found a rather cynical take on looking nice, and resurrected the double entendres in Angela Thirkell's fairground description clothesinbooks.blogspot.com/2026/04/baza...
We're so glad this recommendation lived up to the hype! It's a joy to see Apricot Sky get such a wonderful spotlight with your usual visual flair. Thank you so much for the support! 😍📖✨
A classic winner from my friends @Dean StreetPress: Apricot Sky by Ruby Ferguson. No jeopardy (it's not *Patricia Wentworth*), a lovely wedding in prospect. And we manage to bring in the Campbells, Hamlet and etiquette clothesinbooks.blogspot.com/2026/04/apri...
My blog readers are still talking about smuggling and related subjects in great depth, and not too late to join in, but - a new topic: a classic 1950s vintage mystery/spy thriller mashup, by the always-excellent Max Murray. Royal Bed for a Corpse clothesinbooks.blogspot.com/2026/04/roya...
Here's my new substack newsletter - with an emphasis on smugglers. There's been a big response to my appeal: Flash your lanterns, load up your ponies and bring out your smuggling scenes in books. And there's rooom for more clothesinbook.substack.com/p/smugglers-...
Always the way isnt it? I get nervous re-reading ancient favourites....
Sounds like good fun
Flash the lantern to attract my attention & bring out your smuggling scenes in books. Jamaica Inn (the handbook for both smuggling and women who like a bad boy) - Nancy Mitford, Kipling, Moonfleet, & back to Georgette Heyer. Which books did I miss? clothesinbooks.blogspot.com/2026/04/heyh...
If you think it's just another Regency romance, you're wrong: The Unknown Ajax is possibly Georgette Heyer's finest moment. there's a fabulous hero, a smuggling plot, and one of the greatest finales in any book.... clothesinbooks.blogspot.com/2026/04/the-...
More Ross Macdonald - this time the book that people see as the turning-point in is oeuvre: The Galton Case. I'm doing a lot of Ross Mac, because of the recent Tipping my Fedora podcast with Sergio Angelini clothesinbooks.blogspot.com/2026/04/the-...
Once queuing for ice cream at opera, and German chap asked me 'what is happening here, ice cream? Is it normal, is it nice?' I turned to chat, and realized it was the conductor of the opera. (Touring, extended stage meant he had to come out via auditorium)
Elizbeth Taylor-not-the-filmstar is such a great writer - In a Summer Season features a trully excellent jumble sale, and also a devastating but funny look at relationships and marriages... clothesinbooks.blogspot.com/2026/04/more...
New edition of my Substack newsletter today, with updates and links on the week's posts. Books on families... clothesinbook.substack.com/p/investigat...
Hard to choose the best. The Likeness haunts me
Tana French one of my favourite contemporary authors. She has a new book out, The Keeper, as good as all the previous ones. Small-town Ireland, serious corruption and violence, but full of good heartedness. French says the books are like Westerns... clothesinbooks.blogspot.com/2026/03/the-...
Sometimes I forget how good Elizabeth Bowen can be. Her Friends and Relations is full of secrets and allusions, very funny lines, two weddings and excellent clothes opportunities. What more could I want? clothesinbooks.blogspot.com/2026/03/frie...
More Ross Macdonald! after talking to Sergio Angelini @tippingmyfedora.bsky.social on his Tipping my Fedora podcast, I'm doing a post on The Ivory Grin - a very very good entry, a standout from the early years. And has some great clothes.... clothesinbooks.blogspot.com/2026/03/the-...
I have a new substack newsletter with the annoying detectives, the woman of substance, and more jumble sales clothesinbook.substack.com/p/the-big-is...
Utter bliss to read thank you so much @clothesinbooks.bsky.social
I made a list of Annoying Detectives in Fiction. I'm expecting a lot of additions and arguments - bring on your own pesky Investigators, your aggravating sleuths, your vexatious policemen. clothesinbooks.blogspot.com/2026/03/anno...
...the 'impossible' element is exactly that the weapon can't have been hidden in the usual way
After a few diversions, time for a classic blog entry on a Golden Age detective story: Anthony Berkeley's The Layton Court Mystery. Is it the first country-house-party mystery? @JIm Noy says so. Good fun, though I have issues. (and there are no clothes) clothesinbooks.blogspot.com/2026/03/the-...
Moira Redmond @clothesinbooks.bsky.social and I are celebrating Ross Macdonald's Lew Archer - but who is your favourite literary PI? Is it Hammer, Marlowe, McCone, Milhone, Poirot, Spade, Spenser or ..?
YouTube shorturl.at/Cj5rC
Apple buff.ly/wDl4xnB
Spotify buff.ly/34bRrLu
Podbean buff.ly/wk2LnPK
My piece for the i newspaper on Barbara Taylor Bradford's A Woman of Substance. A look back at Thatcher, and an era of male domination of book-reviewing - I wouldn't have been writing about this book for a national newspaper back in the day clothesinbooks.blogspot.com/2026/03/cult...
Very much so...
