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Overture To Death
''Overture to Death'' is a detective novel by Ngaio Marsh; it is the eighth novel to feature Roderick Alleyn, and was first published in 1939. The plot concerns a murder during an amateur theatrical performance in a Dorset village, which Alleyn and his colleague Fox are dispatched from Scotland Yard to investigate and duly solve. The novel is a classic example of what crime writer Colin Watson termed "The Mayhem Parva School" of genteel English village murder mystery from the "Golden Age" between the world wars. Despite the ingeniously gruesome murder method, it is essentially a social comedy of manners, with the amusingly awful rivalry between two ageing spinster ladies to dominate their cosy little society of village, church and charitable affairs, each performing a favourite piano piece on every possible occasion, reminiscent of E F Benson's Mapp and Lucia novels of the same period. It is the third novel in which Alleyn's love interest, the painter Agatha Troy features. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
WikiProject Novels
A WikiProject, or Wikiproject, is a Wikimedia movement affinity group for contributors with shared goals. WikiProjects are prevalent within the largest wiki, Wikipedia, and exist to varying degrees within sister projects such as Wiktionary, Wikiquote, Wikidata, and Wikisource. They also exist in different languages, and translation of articles is a form of their collaboration. During the COVID-19 pandemic, CBS News noted the role of Wikipedia's WikiProject Medicine in maintaining the accuracy of articles related to the disease. Another WikiProject that has drawn attention is WikiProject Women Scientists, which was profiled by ''Smithsonian Magazine, Smithsonian'' for its efforts to improve coverage of women scientists which the profile noted had "helped increase the number of female scientists on Wikipedia from around 1,600 to over 5,000". On Wikipedia Some Wikipedia WikiProjects are substantial enough to engage in cooperative activities with outside organizations relevant t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Joanne Drayton
Joanne Drayton is a New Zealand art historian, biographer and nonfiction writer. Drayton graduated from the University of Canterbury, Christchurch in 1998 with a PhD on "Edith Collier: Her life and work (1885–1964)". She adapted her thesis for publication by the Canterbury University Press the following year with the same title. Drayton has tutored in art history at Whanganui Polytechnic and lectured at the Auckland University of Technology. In 2019 she was writer in residence at the University of Auckland. ''The Search for Anne Perry'' was reviewed by Kirkus and summarised as: "Occasionally uneven but a pleasure for Perry’s loyal fans and a book that is likely to win her some new ones as well". She won the 2019 General Non-Fiction Award at the Ockham New Zealand Book Awards The Ockham New Zealand Book Awards are literary awards presented annually in New Zealand. The awards began in 1996 as the merger of two literary awards events: the New Zealand Book Awards, which ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Robert Barnard
Robert Barnard (23 November 1936 – 19 September 2013) was an English crime writer, critic and lecturer. In addition to over 40 books published under his own name, he also published four books under the pseudonym Bernard Bastable. Life and work Robert Barnard was born on 23 November 1936 at Burnham-on-Crouch, Essex. He was educated at the Colchester Royal Grammar School and at Balliol College, Oxford. He spent five years (1961-1965) as an academic in the English Department at the University of New England, at Armidale, New South Wales, in Australia. His first crime novel, ''Death of an Old Goat'', was published in 1974. The novel was written while he was a lecturer at University of Tromsø in Norway. He went on to write more than 40 other books and numerous short stories. As "Bernard Bastable", he published two standalone novels and two alternate history books, featuring Wolfgang Mozart – who had here survived to old age – as a detective. Barnard was awarded t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Nine Tailors
''The Nine Tailors'' is a 1934 mystery novel by the British writer Dorothy L. Sayers, her ninth featuring Lord Peter Wimsey. The story is set in the Lincolnshire Fens, and revolves around a group of bell-ringers at the local parish church. The book has been described as Sayers' finest literary achievement, although not all critics were convinced by the mode of death, nor by the amount of technical campanology detail included. Plot Stranded after a car accident in the Fenland village of Fenchurch St. Paul on New Year's Eve, Lord Peter Wimsey helps ring a nine-hour peal on the church bells overnight after William Thoday, one of the ringers, is struck down with influenza. Lady Thorpe, wife of Sir Henry, the local squire, dies the next morning and Wimsey hears how the family had been blighted by the theft 20 years previously of a valuable emerald necklace which was never recovered. The family's then butler, Deacon, and his accomplice from London, Cranton, were convicted and impri ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dorothy L
Dorothy may refer to: * Dorothy (given name), a list of people with that name. Arts and entertainment Characters *Dorothy Gale Dorothy Gale is a fictional character created by American author L. Frank Baum as the protagonist in many of his ''Oz'' novels. She first appears in Baum's classic 1900 children's novel '' The Wonderful Wizard of Oz'' and reappears in most of it ..., protagonist of ''The Wonderful Wizard of Oz'' by L. Frank Baum * Ace (''Doctor Who'') or Dorothy, a character played by Sophie Aldred in ''Doctor Who'' *Dorothy, a goldfish on ''Sesame Street'' owned by Elmo *Dorothy the Dinosaur, a costumed green dinosaur who appears with '' The Wiggles'' * Dorothy (''MÄR''), a main character in ''MÄR'' *Dorothy Baxter, a main character on ''Hazel'' *Dorothy "Dottie" Turner, main character of '' Servant'' *Dorothy Michaels, Dustin Hoffman's character the movie '' Tootsie'' Film and television * ''Dorothy'' (TV series), 1979 American TV series * Dorothy Mills, a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Howard Haycraft
Howard Haycraft (July 25, 1905November 12, 1991) was an American writer, editor, and publisher. Haycraft was born on July 24, 1905, in Madelia, Minnesota, to Marie (Stelzer) and Julius Everett Haycraft. He received a bachelor's degree from the University of Minnesota in 1928. Haycraft began working at the H. W. Wilson Company in 1929 after a brief stint at the University of Minnesota Press. He was president of H. W. Wilson from 1953 to 1967 and chairman of its board of directors thereafter. At H. W. Wilson, Haycraft edited and contributed to reference works about writers and literature. He was fascinated by mysteries and detective fiction. His book ''Murder for Pleasure: The Life and Times of the Detective Story'' (1941)—described in a profile published that year as the "first full-length history and survey of police fiction"—laid out an early critical view of the mystery genre and its theory. ''Murder for Pleasure'' identifies the origins of detective fiction in the wor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Edmund Wilson
Edmund Wilson Jr. (May 8, 1895 – June 12, 1972) was an American writer and literary critic who explored Freudian and Marxist themes. He influenced many American authors, including F. Scott Fitzgerald, whose unfinished work he edited for publication. His scheme for a Library of America series of national classic works came to fruition through the efforts of Jason Epstein after Wilson's death. Early life Wilson was born in Red Bank, New Jersey. His parents were Edmund Wilson Sr., a lawyer who served as New Jersey Attorney General, and Helen Mather (née Kimball). Wilson attended The Hill School, a college preparatory boarding school in Pottstown, Pennsylvania, graduating in 1912. At Hill, Wilson served as the editor-in-chief of the school's literary magazine, ''The Record''. From 1912 to 1916, he was educated at Princeton University, where his friends included F. Scott Fitzgerald and war poet John Allan Wyeth. Wilson began his professional writing career as a reporter ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The New Yorker
''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues covering two-week spans. Although its reviews and events listings often focus on the cultural life of New York City, ''The New Yorker'' has a wide audience outside New York and is read internationally. It is well known for its illustrated and often topical covers, its commentaries on popular culture and eccentric American culture, its attention to modern fiction by the inclusion of short stories and literary reviews, its rigorous fact checking and copy editing, its journalism on politics and social issues, and its single-panel cartoons sprinkled throughout each issue. Overview and history ''The New Yorker'' was founded by Harold Ross and his wife Jane Grant, a ''New York Times'' reporter, and debuted on February 21, 1925. Ros ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jane Marple
Miss Marple is a fictional character in Agatha Christie's crime novels and short stories. Jane Marple lives in the village of St. Mary Mead and acts as an amateur consulting detective. Often characterized as an elderly spinster, she is one of Christie's best-known characters and has been portrayed numerous times on screen. Her first appearance was in a short story published in ''The Royal Magazine'' in December 1927, "The Tuesday Night Club", which later became the first chapter of ''The Thirteen Problems'' (1932). Her first appearance in a full-length novel was in ''The Murder at the Vicarage'' in 1930, and her last appearance was in ''Sleeping Murder'' in 1976. Origins The character of Miss Marple is based on friends of Christie's step grandmother/aunt (Margaret Miller, née West). Christie attributed the inspiration for the character to multiple sources, stating that Miss Marple was "the sort of old lady who would have been rather like some of my step grandmother's Ealing croni ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hercule Poirot
Hercule Poirot (, ) is a fictional Belgian detective created by British writer Agatha Christie. Poirot is one of Christie's most famous and long-running characters, appearing in 33 novels, two plays ('' Black Coffee'' and '' Alibi''), and more than 50 short stories published between 1920 and 1975. Poirot has been portrayed on radio, in film and on television by various actors, including Austin Trevor, John Moffatt, Albert Finney, Peter Ustinov, Ian Holm, Tony Randall, Alfred Molina, Orson Welles, David Suchet, Kenneth Branagh, and John Malkovich. Overview Influences Poirot's name was derived from two other fictional detectives of the time: Marie Belloc Lowndes' Hercule Popeau and Frank Howel Evans' Monsieur Poiret, a retired French police officer living in London. Evans' Jules Poiret "was small and rather heavyset, hardly more than five feet, but moved with his head held high. The most remarkable features of his head were the stiff military moustache. His appa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Agatha Christie
Dame Agatha Mary Clarissa Christie, Lady Mallowan, (; 15 September 1890 – 12 January 1976) was an English writer known for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections, particularly those revolving around fictional detectives Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple. She also wrote the world's longest-running play, the murder mystery ''The Mousetrap'', which has been performed in the West End theatre, West End since 1952. A writer during the "Golden Age of Detective Fiction", Christie has been called the "Queen of Crime". She also wrote six novels under the pseudonym Mary Westmacott. In 1971, she was made a Dame (DBE) by Queen Elizabeth II for her contributions to literature. ''Guinness World Records'' lists Christie as the best-selling fiction writer of all time, her novels having sold more than two billion copies. Christie was born into a wealthy upper middle class family in Torquay, Devon, and was largely home-schooled. She was initially an unsuccessful w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Albert Campion
Albert Campion is a fictional character in a series of detective novels and short stories by Margery Allingham. He first appeared as a supporting character in '' The Crime at Black Dudley'' (1929), an adventure story involving a ring of criminals, and would go on to feature in another 18 novels and over 20 short stories. Supposedly created as a parody of Dorothy L. Sayers' detective Lord Peter Wimsey, Campion established his own identity, and matured and developed as the series progressed. After Allingham's death her husband Philip Youngman Carter completed her last Campion book and wrote two more before his own death. Fictional biography Albert Campion is a pseudonym used by a man who was born in 1900 into a prominent British aristocratic family. Early novels hint that he was part of the Royal Family but this suggestion is dropped in later works. He was educated at Rugby School and the (fictitious) St. Ignatius' College, Cambridge (according to a mini-biography included in '' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
