The Intermittent LRI Blog

Delighted to announce that, for the third time, Publisher’s Weekly has named one of LRI’s books in its Best Books of 201x, in the Mystery category.   This time it’s Paul Halter’s The Vampire Tree    http://best-books.publishersweekly.com/pw/best-books/2016/mystery#book/book-10   You can read the full review on the Reviews page

Previously Paul’s The Crimson Fog had made the the list in 2013 and Yukito Ajatsuji’s The Decagon House Murders in 2015.

And, to fill in the missing year, The Derek Smith Omnibus appeared in the Washington Post’s Top Fiction Books of 2014.

For the third year in a row,  teeny little LRI gets a review in the Washington Post alongside Penguin, Vintage, Pegasus and other major publishing houses. We must be doing something right!

https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/books/a-summer-book-list-like-no-other-michael-dirda-picks-10-hidden-gems/2016/07/27/094a80a8-4f6f-11e6-aa14-e0c1087f7583_story.html

The Moai Island Puzzle

Four stars from Crime Fiction Lover. Expect more soon.

The second conference organised by the British Library on Golden Age detective fiction was held on June 11, 2016. About 200 enthusiasts filled the cozy (so to speak) auditorium and were entertained for quite a full day (British Library 6_11_2016). All the presentations were relaxed and humorous and there was a very enjoyable atmosphere. An additional benefit was meeting people I had only corresponded with over the internet.

There was a lot of kidding about all the awards Martin Edwards’ has (deservedly) received for The Golden Age of Murder. Martin became president of The Detection Club recently and Taku Ashibe (seen below with moi ) was given a warm welcome as the representative of the Honkaku Mystery Writers of Japan, which has based itself on The Detection Club. Ashibe-san brought along a suitcase full of Japanese equivalents to all the books discussed throughout the day, an extremely generous gesture which was very well received.

A straw poll indicated interest in another conference in 2017 and I would encourage anyone  interested in the genre to attend

Publisher’s Weekly has just given Noel Vindry’s The Howling Beast a starred review. http://www.publishersweekly.com/978-1-530995080

. It is regarded as one of the masterpieces of French locked room detective fiction, and follows The House That Kills, which was also starred

Publisher’s Weekly starred review, the sixth since we started submitting our publications to  them:   http://www.publishersweekly.com/978-1-523935130

As of today, the following prices have been reduced:

The Invisible Circle and The Picture from the Past: tpb from $19.99 to $15.99 and e-book from $9.99 to 7.99

The Derek Smith Omnibus tpb from $29.99 tpb to $19.99 and e-book to $9.99

CADS HCH Review March 2016

This review of Hard Cheese appeared in issue #72 of Crime and Detective Stories (affectionately known as CADS to its readers, among the most sophisticated and knowledgeable around, present company excepted.) “The funniest book I’ve read in a long time” is hardly what you’d expect to read about a locked room mystery.

A new review from Crime Fiction Lover

Hard cheese

Paul Halter’s devilishly clever early novel (the first case on which Twist and Hurst worked together) involves a famous locked room author found dead in a locked room slumped over a piping hot meal.  https://theinvisibleevent.wordpress.com/2016/01/16/63