December 10, 2013

Cocktail Talk: The Punch and Judy Murders

punch-judyInterestingly, much like Rex Stout (who I just Cocktail Talked below), I haven’t read a lot of Carter Dickson, even though his mysteries fall into some areas I like inhabiting. Example A: his Sir Henry Merrivale mysteries, of which The Punch and Judy Murders is one. They’re full of twists, take place in Jolly Old England, and have a main mystery-solver who is quirky and overweight. I’m for all of those things! But I still haven’t read much of Mr. Dickson. But this book was fairly rapid, had a good ending, and some memorable moments. Perhaps none as much as when one of the characters shows up with a tray of delicious drinks.

Charters handed round some admirable gin fizzes. A little of his old sharpness, his old doggedness, had come back when he had begun to outline his facts. He sat down on the veranda rail, his arms folded and his hands cradled under bony elbows.

— Carter Dickson, The Punch and Judy Murders

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