metalman

Reruns of the original Randall & Hopkirk (deceased) on Freeview channel 48 at 8 o'clock every night. Daft but classic.

Recently read: Raymond Chandler - Farewell my lovely. Philip Marlowe tracks down killer Moose Malloy, encountering a selection of other homicides along the way. Those offended by various terms in use in the 1940s for people of colour will probably want to avoid this one, because it's got most of them in. P. G. Wodehouse - Uneasy money. Penniless Lord Dawlish inherits a million, but not without complications in this early Wodehouse. He never fails to amuse, and this one's no exception. Roger Zelazny - To die in Italbar. Various people chase a man who is a walking pandemic across the galaxy for varying reasons. 70s SF that seems a bit dated now, but OK. Now reading: The Secret of High Eldersham by Miles Burton. Murderous goings on in an East Anglian village. Burton was a pseudonym of John Rhode and the Burton books are even more difficult to get hold of than the Rhode ones, but this one and one other (Death in the Tunnel) were reprinted a couple of years ago. Good so far.

Not really my sort of thing then, and sadly I can't see you getting much for them if I'm honest.

I still buy and play loads of CDs, don't really have time to watch DVDs though. If you can give us an indication of genre, I might be interested in buying the CDs.

If it's no different to when you drive, then you can expect the road planners to send you on the most convoluted detour they can come up with for no discernible reason, just like they do with cars.

I had my photo in it once, but I've hardly looked at a copy for years.

Read since my last post: Phoebe Atwood Taylor - Punch with care. Another sprightly mystery for Cape Cod detective Asey Mayo; good fun again, if a bit coincidence-stretching. Dell Shannon - Root of all evil Dell Shannon - Double bluff. Two early entries in the long series of police procedurals featuring Lt. Luis Mendoza. If you like Ed McBain's 87th precinct series, you'll like these too. A. Fielding - The Craig poisoning mystery. Inspector Pointer investigates in his usual methodical way. OK. Raymond Chandler - Trouble is my business. A selection of hard-boiled detectives go down a variety of mean streets. Typically Chandler really. James Hadley Chase - You'll be lonely when you're dead. Sort-of private eye Vic Malloy investigates a millionaire's wife and finds a rapidly escalating body count instead. Pacy. Erle Stanley Gardner - The case of the smoking chimney. Although Gardner created Perry Mason, this isn't a Mason story, but still has the same style. Now reading: E. R. Punshon - Death comes to Cambers. Punshon's series copper Bobby Owen progresses from constable to head of Scotland Yard but here he's only got as far as Sergeant when he investigates the bumping off of Lady Cambers at her country house. Took me a while to get into his style, but now I'm used to it it's not bad.

Just found this excellent bit of psychedelic rock on an old Classic Rock compilation. Sounds like the 60s but actually it's 2009.

UFO (the Gerry Anderson live action series) The Prisoner (60's original) A family at war

Recently read: Barbara Paul - But he was already dead when I got there. The author was inspired to write this by characters saying that in the Perry Mason TV series, and decided to take it to extremes by having all six suspects visit the murder scene and disarrange it in various ways. Good. Barbara Paul - Your eyelids are growing heavy. Woman is hypnotised into committing a crime. As far fetched as the above but again an entertaining read. Ruth Rendell - A sleeping life. A good Inspector Wexford mystery, though I'd worked it out way before the end for a change. Agatha Christie - The body in the library. Miss Marple investigates exactly that. T. P. Fielden - A quarter past dead. The third in the Judy Dimont series (see my previous post above) and again it was OK but overlong and too verbose. Think I might give up on this bloke for now. Robert A. Heinlein - The green hills of Earth. 1950s science fiction which now seems hopelessly dated but still a nostalgic read for anyone of my vintage. James Hadley Chase - Figure it out for yourself. Sort-of private eye Vic Malloy tackles a kidnapping, several murders and some drug smuggling. They may not be fashionable but I always find his books good page-turners. Now reading: John Rhode - Vegetable Duck. It's apparently a term for a stuffed marrow, which in this case is used to bump off a woman by virtue of being laced with digitalis. Another ingenious murder method in action. I can recommend The Hanging Woman by him from my last post too, but there's not much point recommending it since you stand almost no chance of finding a copy these days.

Hardly any charity shops have reopened yet though.

Duolingo seems to be one of the best regarded language learning sites.

Forged by Fire on Blaze this evening has got to be the most niche programme ever. Oh, and also the original Van der Valk with Barry Foster on Talking Pictures TV at 9pm on Friday. Knocks the spots off present day stuff, though it's interesting to see how many cigars and how much booze he consumes every episode!

You're presumably right but it still doesn't strike me as quite right without some attempt being made to trace the original owner first.

I know, but they may have unavoidable reasons for that - they may have suffered some injury or illness and then when they recover they find all their stuff has been flogged off as well. I just wonder how long they give it before auctioning it all.

I always feel sorry for the people who owned the storage locker originally.

Recently read: John Rhode - The Motor Rally Mystery. Another good Rhode detective story from the 1930s which would horrify modern day motoring organisations! John Rhode - Death at Breakfast. Another good one with an ingenious murder method. Recently reprinted so more available than most of his. John Scalzi - Agent to the Stars. His first book, in which a Hollywood agent is put in charge of PR for aliens who look like globs of snot. Even more so than his other books, a fast paced amusing romp. T P Fielden - The Riviera Express T P Fielden - Resort to Murder. First two of a series featuring reporter sleuth Judy Dimont in late 1950s Torquay. OK but a bit verbose overall. Agatha Christie - Mrs McGinty's Dead. Poirot unravels a case from almost nothing. One of her better ones. Anna Kavan - A Bright Green Field. Hallucinatory, strange, surreal short stories by the author of the cult post-apocalypse novel Ice. Anthony Abbot - The Murder of the Night Club Lady. One of his breathless Thatcher Colt detective stories from the 1930s. I like these, just wish they were more readily available. Just started: John Rhode - The Hanging Woman.

I'm in two minds on this one - on the one hand the place is a complete eyesore at the moment and something needs doing to it, but on the other hand lots of new houses means the countryside parts of it and the footpaths might be lost too, not to mention the prospect of loads more cars coming down to Malin Bridge every day. I guess the bottom line is that the only way the site is going to get cleared up at all is by developing it as either houses or industrial units. What do the people who don't want it to be housing think ought to happen to it instead?

There appears to be nothing on the SCC page linked in the original post to suggest that these are only temporary measures and will be reversed at any point in the future.

Just read: I hate the Internet by Jarett Kobek. Less a novel, more a 280-page rant about modern life but relatively amusing. Murder on the links by Agatha Christie. The second outing for Hercule Poirot from 1923. One, two, buckle my shoe by Agatha Christie. Another Poirot book but a bit later this time (1940) Now I'm in the middle of Dr. Goodwood's Locum by John Rhode which is so far proving much better than the last one of his I read.

Recently read: Going, going, gone by Phoebe Atwood Taylor. Antique dealer found dead in old trunk sold at auction. Genial Cape Cod detective Asey Mayo solves the case. Enjoyable enough though it seemed to rely excessively on Mayo being in the right place at the right time to observe various characters' actions. Jeeves and the wedding bells by Sebastian Faulks. It takes courage to write a Wodehouse novel because you know you're going to cop a load of flak however good a job you make of it, and I must admit I opened it with some trepidation, but actually it's not a bad effort. The lake house by John Rhode. Didn't find this one of his most gripping ones, but it was OK. Maske: Thaery by Jack Vance. A typical piece of Vance world-building in the Gaean Reach from the mid-70s. If you've read any Jack Vance, you'll know what to expect. Now I'm reading Finish me off by Hillary Waugh. One of the masters of the police procedural in my view, especially with books like Jigsaw and Last seen wearing.

Can't stick him, and he's on every programme on the BBC in the same way that the equally talentless and irritating Josh Widdicombe is on every programme on Channel 4 and Dave.

Just read: My Brother's Killer by D. M. Devine. Another really good mystery by the underrated D. M. Devine (aka Dominic Devine; he used each name for about half his total output). Reprinted a few years ago in the Arcturus Crime Classics series, most of which are well worth reading. Now reading: Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell. Not often I venture out of genre fiction into something more literary, but I'm rather enjoying this one - cleverly done and very well written.

Currently half way through The Davidson Case by John Rhode. This is quite an early outing for his series detective Dr. Priestley, as shown by the fact that he does actually go and do some investigating himself rather than letting the police do all the hard work and then coming up with the solution, and also by the fact that Supt. Hanslet isn't Supt. yet, just Chief Inspector. So far so good though. Just read: Mystery at Olympia by John Rhode - a mid-period Rhode with an ingenious (if decidedly iffy) murder method. Was reprinted a couple of years ago so more easily obtainable than most of his others. The Exploits of Arsene Lupin by Maurice Leblanc - Lupin was a Raffles-like gentleman thief in numerous books by Leblanc. Very enjoyable.