I am once more participating in the April A To Z Blogging Challenge! For an explanation of this event, click here. Today is the day of the great Theme Reveal, and I am eager to reveal mine. It is to be a mystery, and every day in April (except Sundays)… Continue reading
In my last post, I asked my readers to spot all of the clues/mystery tropes/mystery genre conventions in the passage below. I said, rather mysteriously, that I counted between 12 and 16 of the things myself. I now present you with my own list of Clues, Tropes, and Genre Conventions. … Continue reading
In murder mysteries, there is generally a certain amount of text between the title page and the discovery of The First Corpse. This text usually Sets The Tone and Builds Tension. It is also Positively Salted With Clues; this is so that The Reader will Feel Like An Idiot later. … Continue reading
Lady Ermyntrude Coldfish Castle Dearest E, I say, you’ve jolly well got to drop whatever you are doing (probably something silly, like Higher Math, which is just the sort of thing that would appeal to your frivolous mind) and come here at once! Conjuro Te! If that is Latin, which… Continue reading
Hello! So, I hate writing book reviews. I am also not terribly good at writing them. So, I have decided not to clutter up the Internet with my book reviews. However, I do want to tell you about some of my favorite mystery writers, especially since many of my favorite… Continue reading
A Kind Of Teaser Visitors to this blog may or may not be aware that I also have a website, The Athertonian. The distinction between The Athertonian and Atherton’s Magic Vapour is slightly vague in my mind, and it is about to get even more difficult to tell the two… Continue reading
You Want To Tell Them. You Want To Tell Them ALL. They Think You Don’t Know, But You Do! You WILL Show Them. But How To Do It Without Being Caught? Why, Use A Polly’s Police-Proof Poison Pen, of course! Polly’s Pens are each lovingly hand-haunted by Spiritualistic Mediums. Each… Continue reading
The Mystery Section: An Open letter to Barnes and Noble, with painstakingly constructed visual aids Dear Barnes and Noble, I love mysteries. Therefore, when I found myself in a Barnes & Noble the other day, I naturally drifted over to the Mystery section. I had forgotten how useless this would… Continue reading
Zeppelin Z is for Zeppelin: A Poem Eleven Little Pleasure-Seekers On a Zeppelin One Got Vertigo, and Then There Were Ten Ten People Up Where The Air Is Fine; One Went Mad, and then There Were Nine. Nine Old Friends in the Hands of Fate; An Old Quarrel… Continue reading
Yacht Gentlemen! Do you sometimes Find It Necessary to have a Private Chat in Pleasant Surroundings With Someone Who May Or May Not Be Going Home Again? Do you find it Difficult to find a Venue for your Business Meetings? Are you getting tired of Disposing of Witnesses? Have you… Continue reading
