Anthony Berkeley Cox's The Poisoned Chocolates Case (1929) returns to print today, courtesy of Felony and Mayhem Press.Journalist-critic and Detection Club secretary Cox (1893–1971) wrote many mystery works that feature his sleuth Roger Sheringham; other works of interest include "Holmes and the Dasher," a Sherlock Holmes parody in the style of P. G. Wodehouse (see Jugged Journalism, 1925), and the Detection Club's round-robin novels The Floating Admiral (1931) and Six Against the Yard (1936), in which Cox participated. His pseudonyms include Francis Iles (Before the Fact, Malice Aforethought).
A marvellous book by one of the great Golden Age writers.
ReplyDeleteMartin,
ReplyDeleteWhat do you think of Cox's work as Francis Iles?
Malice Aforethought I love, though it owes something to Payment Deferred, I think. Before the Fact - interesting, but excruciating protagonist. As for the Woman - very interesting, astonishingly under-estimated. All in all, the Iles books fascinate me, as does the fact that Cox gave up on the genre in a creative sense - something I could never imagine doing.
ReplyDelete