With Ngaio Marsh's Nursing Home Murder and Ellen Wilkinson's Division Bell Mystery, both of which I finished in the past 10 days, I have blacked out my bingo card.

Many thanks to Moonlight Reader for creating such a wonderful card in response to my completely off-the-wall idea to track our Detection Club / Golden Age mystery reads this way!

While my bingo card may now be completed, my foray into the world of the Detection Club and Golden Age crime fiction is by far not over -- there are many more books and authors I'm planning to explore; some, but by far not all of them, as part of this year's Summer of Sherlock / 221B Baker Street and Beyond reading project.

The Squares / Chapters:

1. A New Era Dawns: Ernest Bramah - The Tales of Max Carrados;

Emmuska Orczy - The Old Man in the Corner

2. The Birth of the Golden Age: A.A. Milne - The Red House Mystery
3. The Great Detectives: Margery Allingham - The Crime at Black Dudley, Mystery Mile, Look to the Lady, Police at the Funeral, Sweet Danger, Death of a Ghost, Flowers for the Judge, The Case of the Late Pig, Dancers in Mourning, The Fashion in Shrouds, Traitor's Purse, and The Tiger in the Smoke;

Anthony Berkeley - The Poisoned Chocolates Case;

Patricia Wentworth - Miss Silver Intervenes, Latter End, The Watersplash, The Traveller Returns, Poison in the Pen, The Clock Strikes Twelve, The Alington Inheritance, The Gazebo, The Benevent Treasure, Anna Where Are You?, The Key, The Ivory Dagger, Out of the Past, The Silent Pool, The Catherine Wheel, and The Fingerprint;

Agatha Christie - Murder at the Vicarage

4. 'Play Up! Play Up! and Play the Game!': Freeman Wills Crofts - The Hog's Back Mystery;

Dennis Wheatley and J.G. Links - Murder off Miami;

Members of the Detection Club - The Floating Admiral

5. Miraculous Murders: Anthony Wynne - Murder of a Lady;

John Dickson Carr - The Hollow Man

6. Serpents in Eden: Agatha Christie - The Moving Finger;

John Bude - The Lake District Murder;

Patricia Wentworth - Poison in the Pen;

Miles Burton - The Secret of High Eldersham

7. Murder at the Manor: Mavis Doriel Hay - The Santa Klaus Murder;

Ethel Lina White - The Spiral Staircase (aka Some Must Watch);

Georgette Heyer - Penhallow

8. Capital Crimes: Mavis Doriel Hay - Murder Underground;

E.C.R. Lorac - Bats in the Belfry

9. Resorting to Murder: Dorothy L. Sayers - Five Red Herrings;

Agatha Christie - Death on the Nile

10. Making Fun of Murder: Edmund Crispin - The Moving Toyshop;

Alan Melville - Quick Curtain

11. Education, Education, Education: Mavis Doriel Hay - Death on the Cherwell
12. Playing Politics: Ngaio Marsh - The Nursing Home Murder
13. Scientific Enquiries: Christopher St. John Sprigg - Death of an Airman;

Freeman Wills Crofts - Mystery in the Channel

14. The Long Arm of the Law: Henry Wade - Lonely Magdalen
15. The Justice Game: Anthony Berkeley - Trial and Error;

Agatha Christie - Murder on the Orient Express
16. Multiplying Murders: Anthony Berkeley - The Silk Stocking Murders
17. The Psychology of Crime: Lynn Brock - Nightmare
18. Inverted Mysteries: Anne Meredith - Portrait of a Murderer

19. The Ironists: Anthony Rolls - Family Matters;

Anthony Berkeley - The Wychford Poisoning Case

20. Fiction from Fact: Josephine Tey - The Franchise Affair

21. Singletons: Ellen Wilkinson - The Division Bell Mystery
22. Across the Atlantic: Patricia Highsmith - The Talented Mr. Ripley;

Q. Patrick (Richard Wilson Webb and Hugh Wheeler) - File on Fenton and Farr;

Mary Roberts Rinehart - Locked Doors  and The Red Lamp

23. Cosmopolitan Crimes: Georges Simenon - Pietr le Letton (Pietr the Latvian)
24. The Way Ahead: Nicholas Blake - A Question of Proof

Free Square / Eric the Skull: Martin Edwards - The Golden Age of Murder

The book that started it all:

Martin Edwards - The Story of Classic Crime in 100 Books

The Detection Club Reading Lists:
The Story of Classic Crime in 100 Books: The "100 Books" Presented
The Story of Classic Crime in 100 Books: Other Books Mentioned, Chapters 1-5

The Story of Classic Crime in 100 Books: Other Books Mentioned, Chapters 6 & 7
The Story of Classic Crime in 100 Books: Other Books Mentioned, Chapters 8-10
The Story of Classic Crime in 100 Books: Other Books Mentioned, Chapters 11-15
The Story of Classic Crime in 100 Books: Other Books Mentioned, Chapters 16-20
The story of Classic Crime in 100 Books: Other Books Mentioned, Chapters 21-24

1. Brother Cadfael: A career change can hardly get any more radical than going from crusading soldier to herbalist monk (with a sideline of detection).

2. Captain Arthur Hastings: From soldier in WWI to London detective (of sorts) to cattle rancher in "the Argentine".

3. Washington Black: From child slave on a sugarcane plantation to explorer to painter (supporting himself by working as a delivery boy) to scientist and scientific illustrator -- all in the space of barely 20 years.

4. Mr. Lawrence Todhunter: From philantropist and occasional literary columnist to murderer (which btw is not a spoiler -- it's the book's explicit premise).

5. Ed Hunter: From printer's apprentice / assistant to amateur detective to "carnie".

Special mention:

Miss Maud Silver: From governess to private investigator.

// TA decides to pack light because, after all, she's only leaving for a 2-day business trip.  Then agonizes a half hour over which one of several 100 books on physical TBR to take on the trip. //

// Leaving home, finds book in mailbox that was delivered yesterday but which for reasons unknown she didn't immediately retrieve.  Pulls book out of envelope, discards envelope, and stuffs book into travel case. //

TA gets to airport:  "Oh, look, there's the book store I knew all the time would be there!"

// Buys four more books just because. //

Hmm.  The opening pages read unexpectedly timely.  Right now we seem to be sliding into typical Anthony Berkeley mode, which isn't necessarily a good sign.  But the premise and the introduction still hold the promise of more good things to come.

Reading this for the "Justice Game" square of the (inofficial) Detection Club Bingo.

I had heard of this murder before reading this book.

This book is great. Murphy's research is great. More importantly he places the murder in context, touching not just on the justice system of the time, but also on the role of maids of all work, class, publishing, and lawyers. It is a really great look at a case and totally well done.