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I got this book via George Bellairs Literary Estate and Agora Books to review. I have enjoyed quite a few of Bellairs books and especially Chief Inspector Littlejohn. This is however not in the Littlejohn series, and I missed him and Sergeant Cromwell. The story takes place in Swarebridge during WW2, where two murders are committed. The senior deacon of the chapel of Zion is giving his annual performance as leader in follow-the-leader at the  Anniversary Tea Party. He falls through a trapdoor and is stabbed to death. The sympathetic Superintendent Nankivell is head of the investigation, but before he succeeds in finding the murderer, another murder is committed. I found the description of people in the community very good  and often very funny, and Bellairs i s also a master at creating the sometimes claustrophobic atmosphere in the close religious society of Zion. The plot was a bit weak and not very exciting.

Agora Books has put focus on uncrowned, female  writers from The Golden Age of Detective Fiction. This resulted in me getting Answer in the Negative to review. Henrietta Hamilton was an English writer known for her stories about amateur sleuths Sally and Johnny Helder. I haven’t been able to find much about the writer but she is the author of: The Two Hundred Ghosts (1956) Death at One Blow (1957) Answer in the Negative (1959) A Night to Die (1959) In Answer in the Negative the archive assistant at National Press Archives - Frank Morningside - has been the receiver of poison pen letters and practical jokes. At first not so bad, but it evolves and gets nasty. That makes his superior Toby call on his friends for help. His friends are the married couple and amateur sleuths Sally and Johnny Helder. Johnny reluctantly offers to help and they start inquiries at the archive pretending to be researchers. While investigating two murders take place before Johnn...

It has been too time consuming to make all blog  posts both in Danish and English but if you are interested in patterns for dishcloths, you can find them on my Danish blog: https://madoghobbymm.blogspot.com/ On the Danish blog you can find more than 100  different patterns and new patterns are still added. All my dish cloths are knitted with cotton 8/4 on needles number 3 r = knit     v = purl     karklud = dish cloth     slå op = cast on       masker = stitches  pinde = rows     luk af = bind off When you look at the pattern (mønster),  you have to remember that all uneven rows start in the right side of the diagram and X=purl and ▢= knit. All equal rows start in the left side of the diagram and X=knit and ▢=purl. If you have any questions please don't hesitate to ask.

From Crime Classics I was lucky to be sent a free copy of Michal Innes book The Long Farewell. It is number 17 in the Sir John Appleby series. The story starts in Italy, where Appleby and his wife are on vacation . He visits one of his acquaintances - Lewis Packford - who for a period of time lives at the Garda. He is a literary detective and very interested in Shakespeare and on the verge of new discoveries. They have long  discussions on litterature and Appleby tries to find out what it is Lewis is on to, but with no succes. After dinner they part, and it is the last time Appleby sees him alive. Later back in England he attends Lewis' funeral and speaks with his lawyer Mr Rood. Rood is not satisfied with the verdict of suicide, and asks Appleby to look into the matter. This takes Appleby to Lewis' home - Urchins. Here he finds a mixed bag of scholars, collectors two wives and a brother all with a possible motive for murder. As always in the company of Appleby you are ...

From George Bellairs Literary Estate I was fortunate to receive number 24 in the Chief Inspector Littlejohn series to review on Amazon. (e-book via NetGalley) This is one of my favorite English Crime series, and it was a very nice read. Inspector Littlejohn and  his wife Letty are on vacation at the French Riviera. The vacation comes to an abrupt halt when a compatriot is murdered  nearby. Alderman Dawson is stabbed to death and Littlejohn is asked to help the French police. Dawson was on a coach tour along with other residents from Bolchester. Dawson had been in the maquis during the war, fell in love with a woman and betrayed the group. The murder could be revenge from wartime or the murderer could be one of the participants in the bus tour. To find out more about the group  and the victim, Littlejohn has to go back to England and visit Bolchester, While he is away other murders take place. I enjoyed reading it - nice French settings around Cannes, and interesti...

I recently discovered three authors of classic English crime novels of which I am a huge fan. It is Michael Innes, George Bellairs and Edmund Crispin. I have already read quite a number with great pleasure and it was a real treat to be given this novel to review. It got it from Crime Classics to download via NetGalley. This novel  is number 16 in The Sir Appleby series . David Henchman is a student attending a reading party supervised by old Pettifor. He goes for a days outing and sees a smoke on top of Knack Tor. He climbs to the top and finds a dead body very shortly after he has heard a shot. This results in a thrilling run for his life and at some point Appleby appears in the story. Telling more about the plot would be a spoiler. It is a very well told and exciting story with plenty of action, humor and suspense. I really enjoyed it.

From Crime Classics Review Club I have been lucky to receive a collection of short stories by Margery Allingham. It is a collection of very different short stories. Some are  crime stories, other  ghost / super natural stories, and then  again  some are essays. Some of the stories bring a revisit with Allingham's famous detective: Albert Campion and that is always enjoyable. One of these stories I had read previously: The Man with the Sack, as it also occurs in Campion at Christmas (The Case of the Man with the Sack). The book starts with a short article about the writer and is followed by a tribute to her and her work written by another of the great classic crime writers:  Agatha Christie The tribute is well deserved, and this is a collection of very well written short stories all worth reading.

A Knife for Harry Dodd by George Bellairs This time I was given number 21 in the Chief Inspector Littlejohn mysteries from the George Bellairs Literary Estate for a review. It was a fine reunion with Littlejohn and Cromwell. The story takes place in rural England in the 1950s. Harry Dodd is stabbed on his way home from the pub. He is an unobtrusive man, who now lives with his mistress and her mother. The family forced a divorce after his digression and apart from his former wife there is no love lost between them. In the beginning Littlejohn and Cromwell have very little to go by, but gradually Harry's whereabouts unfolds and also who his enemies and friends are. More murders take place before they succeed in solving the crime. It is a very well told story with a good plot, which was difficult to guess. And as always a lot of fun characters. The teamwork between Littlejohn and Cromwell delightful - so jet another well written mystery by George Bellairs. I have prev...

The Return of Mr Campion by Margery Allingham. I really like to read books by Margery Allingham and have all her novels featuring detective Albert Campion, so it was quite a treat to receive this collection of short stories from Crime Classics Review Club. It is a collection of essays, detective stories featuring Campion, ghost stories and love stories. The essays are charming and interesting stories where Allingham writes about her work as a writer, how she became one and the art of mystery writing. We also learn about Albert Campions first appearance in a novel and his insistence on participating in following mysteries. In this collection Campion features in about half of the stories - in two of them only as a listener to Inspector Charlie Lukes narrations. It was a lovely reunion with Allingham and I especially enjoyed the short stories in which Campion took part.

This is number 29 in the Chief Inspector Littlejohn series. The story takes place on the Isle of Man. It is carnival  time in Douglas and during the parade an old man is stabbed to death . He is known as Uncle Fred. At the same time Littlejohn arrives on the island to visit his old friend Archdeacon Kinrade and Detective Inspector Knell asks him for help. It turns out that Uncle Fred has used different names throughout his life, but gradually his life, before he moved to the Bella Vista boarding house, unfolds. During the investigation of the crime, we get to know quite a lot of the island, and there are many lovely descriptions of places, nature, locals and their faith about "the little people". Bellairs really must have liked staying  there. You even want to go there yourself after reading the novel. It is a well-written story, enjoyable to read about the Isle of Man and the ever so sympathetic Chief Inspector Littlejohn . The plot is fin...

This is number31 in the  Littlejohn series. Samuel Cheever a broker and secondhand dealer with a bad reputation goes to France to buy antiques. He stays away for a long time and people begin to wonder what has become of him.  His wife doesn't seem to care much, bur when the local MP continually asks: What's Happened to Cheever, Littlejohn and Cromwell are sent to Francaster to investigate. Here Cromwell buys a miniature from Mrs. Cheever and it shows to be important in the investigation. When a set of false teeth found in an unidentified body at Etang de Vaccarés, Littlejohn and Cromwell travel to France. In order to solve  the case they go to different places in France - The Camargue with bulls, horses and gardians - Bresse with poultry - Dombes with it's many lakes - Provence. There are wonderful descriptions of the life, the food, the wine and the different regions.  It was a lovely revisit to France, Littlejohn and Cromwell as well as a well told murder my...

My collection of books (in Danish ) by Margery Allingham featuring Albert Campion. Well read 😀📗 Thanks to Crime Classics, Net Galley and Agora Books I was able to read 4 short stories from one of my favorite  writers of classical crime stories. The novels feature Albert Campion in three of the stories. Two are  crime stories and one is Christmas with his wife Amanda  and the dog, Poins. The last novel, Happy Christmas , is about a couple celebrating Christmas like Victorians and with the help of an old lady living at the top of the house. Margery Allingham is always delightful to read, so this was a real Christmas treat!

This will be the last post in English - at least for a while. It is rather time consuming to write the posts in both English and Danish, and as the Danish have the most viewings I will continue there. It has been great practice writing in English. I read a lot of English books, but my active vocabulary needed to improve. Should you be interested in my Danish blog , and if Google translate doesn't make sense you are welcome to comment on the Danish blog and I will try to be of help.

Cast on 60 stitches and knit 6 rows and then pattern. Remember to start and end all rows with 3 k . When the cloth has the desired length you knit 6 rows and bind off. Pattern: 1.row: 5 p, 1 k, 1 p, 1 k, 1 p, 1 k, 1 p, 1 k, 1 p, 5 k 2.row: 1 k, 5 p, 1 k, 1 p, 1 k, 1 p, 1 k, 1 p, 5 k, 1 p 3.row: 1 p, 1 k, 5 p, 1 k, 1 p, 1 k, 1 p, 5 k, 1 p, 1 k 4.row: 1 k, 1 p, 1 k, 5 p, 1 k, 1 p, 5 k, 1 p, 1 k, 1 p 5.row: 1 p, 1 k, 1 p, 1 k, 5 p, 5 k, 1 p, 1 k, 1 p, 1 k, 6.row: 1 k, 1 p, 1 k, 1 p, 5 k, 5 p, 1 k, 1 p, 1 k, 1 p, 7.row: 1 p, 1 k, 1 p, 5 k, 1 p, 1 k, 5 p, 1 k, 1 p, 1 k 8.row: 1 k, 1 p, 5 k, 1 p, 1 k, 1 p, 1 k, 5 p, 1 k, 1 p 9.row: 1 p, 5 k, 1 p, 1 k, 1 p, 1 k, 1 p, 1 k, 5 p, 1 k 10.row: 5 k, 1 p, 1 k, 1 p, 1 k, 1 p, 1 k, 1 p, 1 k, 5 p X X X X X X X X X 10 X X X X X X X X X 9 X X X X X X X X X 8 X X X X X X X X X 7 X X X X X X X X X 6 X X X X X X...