Reading Recommendations: Paretsky, MacDonald, Lee, Mead

Dear listeners,

The month of July has flown by and it's time for another book recommendation newsletter, in which I and Shedunnit production assistant Leandra offer you a peek into our personal reading experience while we are working on the podcast. You can catch up with the last edition here and share your own reading plans in the comments here.

Caroline Has Read: Women on the Case edited by Sara Paretsky

I picked up this 1996 short story anthology on the sale shelf at my local library and have really enjoyed dipping into it over the past few months. It features a thought-provoking introduction by Sara Paretsky that connects the tradition of women's crime writing back to Anna Katharine Green, Elizabeth Barrett Browning and beyond. It then presents 26 original pieces of short fiction by writers including Ruth Rendell, Elizabeth George, Antonia Fraser and others.

I particularly liked "The Baroness" by Amanda Cross, which is about art theft and told over the course of a dinner eaten at the House of Lords, but lots of the others were enjoyable too. Long-time listeners will know that I don't get the time to read much late twentieth/early twenty-first century crime fiction, so having these short pieces to dip into gave me a good dose of private detectives and first-person thrillers amid all of my golden age reading without having to commit to entire novels.

Caroline Will Read: The Rasp by Philip MacDonald

As part of my eternal quest not to do everything for Shedunnit at the very last minute, I am getting a little ahead with my reading for Green Penguin Book Club. This is the next-but-one title to appear in the series and the episode won't be coming your way until November, but having enjoyed reading MacDonald's The Rynox Mystery for the recent Death on Paper episode, I decided to get stuck into this one now. I understand that it features a former spy turned amateur detective investigating a murder at a country house, so all the early signs point to a good time!

Leandra Has Read: The Dallergut Dream Department Store by Mi-Ye Lee

I have read quite a few translations this summer, and my absolute favourite has been The Dallergut Dream Department Store, a cosy fantasy translated from Korean. The setting is a village hidden in our collective subconscious, and within that village there's a department store that sells dreams. Visitors both human and animal peruse the dreams on offer, some looking for a good night's rest to soothe their anxieties while others simply need an inspiring mid-day nap.

This book truly is a warm, comforting hug! It follows the adventures of Penny, a new hire who has so much to learn, as she and her coworkers bring joy, relief, and even closure to their dreaming customers. The cast of characters is filled with lovable and eccentric personalities, Dallergut himself in particular, and it was a therapeutic experience to read the backstories of the dreamers in need. I was most impressed with Mi-Ye Lee's narrative organisation of the novel, gradually progressing from sleep-depriving experiences like anxiety and new love to deep-tissue subjects like trauma and grief. It's a short yet moving read, and I am already itching to return to this dream world with the sequel, Return to the Dallergut Dream Department Store.

Leandra Will Read: The House at Devil's Neck by Tom Mead

Not long ago, author Tom Mead joined Caroline for her ongoing Green Penguin Book Club series. Together, they read and discussed The Four Just Men by Edgar Wallace. I was especially excited about this guest appearance because I am a huge fan of Mead's Joseph Spector series. Ever since I read Death and the Conjuror back in 2022, it has become a tradition to read the next instalment in the series each summer.

Joseph Spector is a retired magician whose skills on the stage transfer quite nicely to sleuthing and assisting Scotland Yard with impossible crimes. While the impossible crime isn't my go-to trope, Spector is a fascinating sleuth to follow, and I enjoy seeing so many elements from the golden age of detective fiction infused into these historical mysteries set in the 1930s. I am fortunate to have received an Advanced Reader's Copy for Mead's fourth book in the series, The House at Devil's Neck by Tom Mead, which was released this July in the US and is scheduled for release in the UK on 14 August. This is the blurb for the new book:

"When a seance at an isolated old hospital turns deadly, amateur sleuth Joseph Spector pits his knowledge of stage magic against the seemingly supernatural."

If that doesn't convince you to try this series, I am not sure what will!

That's what we've got coming up reading-wise. What are you planning to read this month? Let us know by replying directly or by leaving a comment to join the conversation with other readers. If you'd like to follow our reading adventures in between these posts, I (try to) publish monthly reading updates on my blog/newsletter and Leandra documents what she's reading on her YouTube channel.

Until next time,

Caroline

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