List highlights: The “to read” list grows longer still...

I promise that the third and final section of the Mystery List will be coming within the next week.  It's been delayed just a bit because this has been a busy couple of weeks (more on that later), and I still need to track down more lovely cover images to share with you.

Meanwhile, just what I need—and no doubt just what you all need as well—are yet more intriguing, new (to me, at least) authors that I’m feeling compelled to check out.  Here are eleven from the most recent update to my Overwhelming List that particularly jumped out at me.  I’ve already written about one of these and have read books by two others which I’m hoping to write about here soon (you see how hard I work for you lovely readers?).

I’m always drawn to humorous writers—both the zany and the more subtly ironic—so it’s not surprising that the first of these authors I was drawn to was Margaret Hassett, whose Austen-esque Sallypark I already wrote about a while back.  (And I just happened to be looking today at Worldcat to check availability for Hassett's other three novels, and found that, wonder of wonders, someone currently has her final novel, Beezer's End, checked out from the Texas A&M University Library.  Could it be a reader of this blog?  Or has someone else discovered Hassett on his or her own?  Either way, I sense a kindred spirit in Texas!)

Along the same lines (perhaps) is CATHERINE GAYTON, who appears to have written only four novels and a collection of stories.  Gayton apparently specialized in romantic comedies set in the Victorian period, such as That Merry Affair (1945), Young Person (1947) and Poor Papa (1953), though Adeliza (1952) is set earlier, in the 1830s.  Is Gayton a “lost” Georgette Heyer?  Or merely a pale imitation?  There’s only one way to find out!

This update also included two writers who definitely seem to be on the zanier end of the spectrum.  I can’t wait to sample JOSEPHINE BLUMENFELD’s Pin a Rose on Me (1958), the “madcap” tale of “a middle-aged English woman's quest for independence.”  Apart from that novel, Blumenfeld apparently only published stories and sketches, all of them humorous and domestic in subject matter.  Could anything be more perfectly up my alley?  Well, we shall see.

And then there’s MARY DUNN, who seems to be a bit less obscure than most of the writers in this update.  She was a children’s author and travel writer, but seems to be best remembered for her creation of Lady Addle, a pretentious Edwardian precursor to Hyacinth Bucket, in Lady Addle Remembers (1936) and its sequels, including Lady Addle at Home (1945), The Memoirs of Mipsie (1947), and Round the Year with Lady Addle (1948).  I can’t resist.  Some of Dunn’s work has been reprinted in recent decades—have any of you already sampled her wares?

For a change of pace, there are also a couple of serious writers I feel I should check out in this update.  DOT ALLAN was the Scottish author of 10 novels, including Makeshift (1928), about the troubled adolescence of an aspiring writer, and Hunger March (1934), which explores class conflict in Depression-era Glasgow—both of which were reprinted by the Association for Scottish Literary Studies in 2010.  Allan’s other work includes Deepening River (1932), a saga about a Glasgow shipbuilding family, and three late novels which were reprinted in 2011 by Kennedy & Boyd—Mother of Millions (1953), The Passionate Sisters (1955), and Charity Begins at Home (1958).  Is this a proper revival of Allan's work, or merely a brief academic flirtation?

Then there’s ELIZA MARIAN BUTLER, who wrote as E. M. Butler, and who was suggested to me by Lisa Perry, who was also kind enough to forward to me a photo of the dust jacket of Silver Wings (1952), the second of Butler’s two novels.  Butler was better known as an academic who published scholarly studies of German literature and culture as well as biographies of Sheridan (1931) and Rilke (1941).  But after her retirement she published two novels with the Hogarth Press, Daylight in a Dream (1951) and Silver Wings.  Although they received mixed reviews, I am finding myself drawn to them.

Lisa Perry was also the one who suggested one of the two particularly intriguing mystery authors in my most recent update.  EDWARD CANDY was really Barbara Alison Neville and published three mysteries, as well as some intriguing non-mystery fiction.  Stay tuned for more about her in upcoming posts, and thanks again to Lisa for suggesting her.

And if my current Interlibrary Loans are successful, you’ll also be reading more about the other intriguing mystery writer I’ve just added to the list. As soon as I read a contemporary review of EILEEN HELEN CLEMENTS’ Cherry Harvest, I knew I had to track it down: “An amusing tale of mystery concerning a strange assortment of people heading to a country estate where they will be living during the duration of WWII but they have a lot of adjusting to do with each other and then there is the matter of the dead body.”  Need I say more?

I don’t know much about CONSTANCE RUTHERFORD except that she never lingered for long in one genre.  Of her six novels, The Lily Field (1933) is set during the Hundred Years War, The Forgotten Terror (1938) is an acclaimed mystery, Double Entry (1939) is about time travel and the seduction of the past, and The Door Without a Key (1948) is a psychological spy story.  But it’s Double Entry that is calling to me most seductively.  Described as an “[u]ncommon fiction about a girl living in a French Chateau who finds herself able to transport herself back to the 14th Century,” the book evokes Marghanita Laski’s The Victorian Chaise-Longue.  The review goes on to note that the girl’s time-travelling is then exploited by her archaeologist husband.  Now if only I can track down a copy…

A while back, Peggy Ann added another author to my TBR list with a post on HELEN W. PRYDE’s charming-sounding McFlannels series, about a working class Glasgow family.  These titles include The First Book of the McFlannels (1947), The McFlannels See it Through (1948), McFlannels United (1949), and McFlannel Family Affairs (1950).  Sadly, it looks like I’ll have my work cut out searching for them.

And finally, a perhaps rather inexplicable addition to this list.  Sometimes I operate by instinct alone when I’m attracted to a particular author.  And sometimes, truth be told, my instincts are a bit wonky.  But I can only say that, despite finding no significant information about them at all, I am quite attracted to the early novels of EDITH BRILL, who later became much better known for her books about the culture and history of the Cotswolds.  I know nothing at all about The Mink Coat (1930), New Bed (1931), Heart Alone (1933), Three Maids of Islington (1933), or London Ladies (1934), but I can’t help feeling there is something for me in them.  Am I wrong?

Hope you enjoy the list and come across some new discoveries of your own!

DOT ALLAN (1892-1964) Scottish author of 10 novels; Hunger March (1934), explores class in Glasgow during the Depression; Makeshift (1928) is about the troubled adolescence of an aspiring writer; other titles are The Deans (1929), Deepening River (1932), and John Mathew, Papermaker (1948). Front flap of Josephine Blumenfeld's See Me Dance the Polka

JOSEPHINE [SALIE] BLUMENFELD (1903-1982) (married name Bott) Wife of Pan Books founder Alan Bott; known for anecdotes such as those in Shrimps for Tea (1930), Heat of the Sun (1948), and See Me Dance the Polka (1962), Blumenfeld wrote at least one novel, Pin a Rose on Me (1958), the “madcap” tale of “a middle-aged English woman's quest for independence.”

EDITH BRILL (1899-????) (married name Timperley) Probably best remembered now for various books about the culture and history of the Cotswolds, Brill makes my list because of five novels published in the 1930s—The Mink Coat (1930), New Bed (1931), Heart Alone (1933), Three Maids of Islington (1933), and London Ladies (1934). Eliza Marian Butler

ELIZA MARIAN BUTLER (1885-1959) (aka E. M. Butler) Best known for her scholarly studies of German literature and culture and biographies of Sheridan (1931) and Rilke (1941), after her retirement from academia Butler published two short novels, Daylight in a Dream (1951) and Silver Wings (1952); her memoir, Paper Boats, appeared in 1959. Clearly even the publisher of this reprint was fooled by "Mr." Candy's pseudonym

EDWARD CANDY (1925-1993) (pseudonym of Barbara Alison Neville, née Boodson) Medical professional and author of 12 novels, including three mysteries—Which Doctor (1953), Bones of Contention (1954), and Words for Murder Perhaps (1971); non-mysteries include A Lady's Hand (1959), Parents' Day (1967), Doctor Amadeus (1969), and Scene Changing (1977).

EILEEN HELEN CLEMENTS (1905-1993) (married name Hunter) Author of nearly two dozen mystery thrillers from just before WWII until the 1960s; her titles include Let Him Die (1939), Perhaps a Little Danger (1942), Weathercock (1949), Over and Done With (1952), Discord in the Air (1955), Uncommon Cold (1958), and Honey for the Marshall (1960).

MARY DUNN (1900-1958) Children’s author, travel writer, and humorist, best known for her creation of Lady Addle, a pretentious Edwardian precursor to Hyacinth Bucket, in Lady Addle Remembers (1936) and its sequels; her travel series began with We Go to Paris in 1951.

CATHERINE GAYTON (dates unknown) More research needed; intriguing author of four novels and a collection of stories; Gayton specialized in romantic comedies set in the Victorian period, such as That Merry Affair (1945), Young Person (1947) and Poor Papa (1953), though Adeliza (1952) is set earlier, in the 1830s.

MARGARET HASSETT (c1898-????) (pseudonym of Kathleen Daly) Author of four novels of the 1930s and 1940s, which appear to be humorous family tales—Sallypark (1945), about three daughters carrying on love affairs behind their strict father’s back, Beezer's End (1949), a sequel to Educating Elizabeth (1937), and Next to These Ladies (1940).

HELEN W[ATT]. PRYDE (1902-1955) (née Renfrew) Peggy Ann wrote about this one; author of a series of novels based on a radio series featuring the McFlannels, a working class Glasgow family, including The First Book of the McFlannels (1947), The McFlannels See it Through (1948), McFlannels United (1949), and McFlannel Family Affairs (1950). Can you tell that I'm already a fan of Eileen Helen Clements' covers?

CONSTANCE RUTHERFORD (c1887-1961) Author of only six novels which display impressive versatility—The Lily Field (1933) is set during the Hundred Years War, The Forgotten Terror (1938) is an acclaimed mystery, Double Entry (1939) is about time travel and the seduction of the past, and The Door Without a Key (1948) is a psychological spy story.  Whew!