Thursday, January 9, 2014

There is a Return: Anita Blackmon's Adelaide Adams Mysteries Are Back

Adelaide Adams, one of the best "nosy spinster" mystery protagonists from the 1930s is back in print after seventy-five years.  Arkansas author Anita Blackmon's two Adelaide Adams detective novels, Murder a la Richelieu (1937) and There Is No Return (1938), have been reprinted by Coachwhip and are available through Amazon (by the way, if you are searching for Anita Blackmon by name on Amazon, note that she is NOT the author of the erotic novels by a modern author of the same name that are being offered on that website).

These are very enjoyable books by a very interesting woman (see my previous blog piece here).  If you enjoy Mary Roberts Rinehart, Mignon Eberhart and Leslie Ford, you should enjoy Anita Blackmon. In both books there is also a five-page introduction by me, which I adapted from my blog article.



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6 comments:

  1. Peggy AnnJanuary 9, 2014 at 7:56 PM

    Thanks, Curt, for the heads up! They both sound very good. I'll pass this on.

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    1. The Passing TrampJanuary 10, 2014 at 2:16 PM

      Thanks, Peggy Ann! Hope you enjoy. If you like Rinehart I think you will.

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  2. J F NorrisJanuary 10, 2014 at 8:03 AM

    Now here are a few I will buy! Murder á la Richelieu is ridiculously scarce. I've been wanting to read this ever since I read your review at Mystery*File and then another rave elsewhere by Diane Plumley. Thanks so much for bringing these back into print.

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    1. The Passing TrampJanuary 10, 2014 at 2:15 PM

      John, no kidding, I see one copy on ABE for like $650. Do hope you like them. What I like best of all is Blackmon's humorous attitude about the genre. You can tell she's having some fun with the conventions.

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  3. The Passing TrampJanuary 10, 2014 at 2:20 PM

    Incidentally, I've revised my own view of the second book upward since I reread it. Originally I begrudged the fact that it was not as humorous as the first, but I've come to appreciate the genuine creepiness. Bill Pronzini has read the second and enjoyed, I know. and Adelaide really is a great character, I think. I wish Blackmon had been able to do a third southern hotel murder!

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  4. YvetteJanuary 14, 2014 at 3:07 PM

    Thanks for the heads up from me as well. I've never heard of these books but a post at Peggy's blog brought me over to see what was what. I really do enjoy reading about nosy spinsters solving mysteries. Ha!

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