This week I dug into one of Agatha Christie’s most iconic novels, Murder on the Orient Express which features that Belgian detective and his little grey cells, Hercule Poirot. Summoned back to London, Poirot must forgo a layover and board the Orient Express to make it to his next assignment. Unfortunately, the train car is…
Tag: detective
The Nice Guys (2016) – Shane Black
With the exception of The Predator, I love me some Shane Black. From the moment I first saw Lethal Weapon, I knew I had found a writer (and later a director) that I would enjoy following. Keeping in the vein of his other film, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, The Nice Guys plays with the detective…
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005) – Shane Black
Excluding The Predator (what the hell was that?) Shane Black has been one of my favorite Hollywood writers, and I was super-excited when it was announced he was getting into the director’s chair for Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. Set, like most of Black’s tales, at Christmas, this one is a slice of modern noir. Robert…
Star Trek: Picard – Rogue Elements (2021) – John Jackson Miller
The year is 2391, four years after the Romulan star was destroyed, and Simon & Schuster’s next entry in the Star Trek: Picard, is an enjoyable entry that mixes a lot of humor with a very noir detective story that ties back to one of the biggest events of the 23rd century. The longest of…
The Hardy Boys: The Missing Chums (1928/1962) – Franklin W. Dixon
Frank and Joe Hardy are back in their fourth adventure, The Missing Chums. This quick-paced, fast read book sees the brothers asked by the local Bayport P.D. to help investigate a local shantytown, while their father, Fenton, the renowned detective is called in to investigate a series of national bank robberies… and then there’s one…
Whispers Under Ground (2012) – Ben Aaronovitch
The third book in what has become known as the Rivers of London series takes Peter Grant beneath London in the next volume of the urban fantasy series. Working a murder case, while still hunting down the Faceless Man and his students, Grant, alongside Lesley, who has now joined the Folly (where they work from)…
The Hard Boys: The Tower Treasure (1927/1959) – Franklin W. Dixon
When I was a young boy in the late 70s, early 80s, I was devouring books at a variety of reading levels, and was delighted with the blue border hard cover editions of The Hardy Boys, I didn’t have them all, but I had a collection that would grow whenever I lacked anything else to…
The Murder at the Vicarage (1930) – Agatha Christie
It’s been a while since I’ve had a chance to check in on the writings of Agatha Christie, so I settled in to play a bit of the armchair (or lawnchair) detective as I enjoyed the first novel to introduce the other famous detective Christie was responsible for introducing to the world, Ms. Jane Marple,…
The Last Boy Scout (1991) – Tony Scott
Director Tony Scott teamed up with writer Shane Black to deliver a classic action film of the early 90s, The Last Boy Scout, with Bruce Willis and Damon Wayans teaming up on screen as a ex-Secret Service agent turned private detective, Joe Hallenbeck, and a former NFL all star, Jimmy Dix. When a client (played…
Never Send Flowers (1993) – John Gardner
James Bond is back, and while I’ve enjoyed Gardner’s efforts with Ian Fleming’s 007, with the minor exception of The Man From Barbarossa, this entry, his thirteenth (of sixteen) feels like a real stumble. It seems to want to be more in line with the cinematic 007, but without a solid story, or set pieces…
The Mind Reels 