Review: The Adventures of Max Spitzkopf by Jonas Kreppel

Synopsis: Max Spitzkopf, the Yiddish Sherlock Holmes, “heads the famous Viennese detective bureau Blitz . . . He’s bold as a lion and takes the wildest risks.” Meet Max Spitzkopf: legendary private eye, undefeated foe of villains, and passionate defender of the Jewish people. No matter how hopeless or dangerous the case, when “the investigatory profession’s greatest artist” is summoned, justice is assured. Aided by his trusty assistant, Fuchs, super-sleuth Spitzkopf deploys equal parts physical bravery and intellectual ingenuity— not to mention a knack for stealthy disguise—to unpick evil conspiracies, outwit the canniest of criminals, and restore moral order to the world.

Giving a unique twist to a beloved literary genre, this complete collection of the fifteen Spitzkopf mysteries is also a vibrant testament to Jewish life, in all its variety, during the last years of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Reading the tales, with every iota of their linguistic verve and historical charm preserved in Mikhl Yashinsky’s translation, it’s easy to see why the young Isaac Bashevis Singer thought them “masterpieces.”

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Highly engaging collection of fifteen short stories featuring a Jewish detective, written in the style of Conan Doyle's "Sherlock Holmes". The stories are set in and around Vienna in the 1920s, and deal with issues pertaining to the Jewish community and their dealings with those who are outside it.

Max Spitzkopf is a well respected (licensed) detective, and is accompanied by his Watson - Hermann Fuchs - who always seems to get himself into one scrape after another, resulting in a bash on the head, imprisonment and escape. Spitzkopf is inundated with cases from the seemingly banal to issues of national importance. As Spitzkopf bemoaned to Fuchs: “I would need at least ten heads, along with twenty eyes, twenty ears, and twenty pairs of hands and feet, to take on all of the cases these people wish to drop into my lap.”

Themes dealt with include religious bigotry, racism, murder, revenge, persecution, marriage, gang violence, espionage, forged wills, kidnappings, disappearing persons, - so if you have read your Holmes, you will feel at home with Spitzkopf. Like Holmes, Spitzkopf makes use of his assistants to do the leg-work, dons disguises himself, and throws out red herrings when on the trial of his mark. All cases are solved when the detective takes centre stage to unveil the villains and lay the matter to rest. And the villains always receive their dues.

Each of the stories follows in sequence and this is indicated by references at the beginning of the next tale. They are each in turn set out with a number of small chapters. As Yashinsky points out in his introduction, the stories of Spitzkopf were originally written as fifteen ".. pulp-fiction pamphlets that told his stories and cost only twenty Austrian heller for each shabby little shocker of thrity-two pages, published in Kraków around 1908."

I welcomed the opportunity to explore and savour a new detective series and highly recommend investing some time with Spitzkopf, the Yiddish Sherlock Holmes.

Fictional sleuth Sam Spade will be back in 2026

From AP News:

The story of one of the great fictional sleuths, Dashiell Hammett‘s Sam Spade, will be continued by prize-winning crime writer Max Allan Collins.

The publisher Hard Case Crime announced Thursday that Collins’ “The Return of the Maltese Falcon” will be released in January 2026, when the Hammett classic featuring Spade, “The Maltese Falcon,” enters the public domain. “The Maltese Falcon,” published in 1930 and known to movie fans for the 1941 adaptation starring Humphrey Bogart, is widely regarded as a model for the hard-boiled detective novel.

According to Hard Case Crime, Collins’ new book will bring back Spade and Joel Cairo among other Hammett characters, and “a mysterious new femme fatale.” Collins, whose “Road to Perdition” was adapted into a film starring Tom Hanks and Paul Newman, has a long history of working with famous literary detectives. He took over the Dick Tracy comic strip in the late 1970s after creator Chester Gould retired, and he was later authorized to continue Mickey Spillane’s Mike Hammer series.

Review: A Prentender's Murder by Christopher Huang

Synopsis: The year is 1925. A labyrinth of roads and rails spirals out from the bones of a nearly forgotten settlement. Londinium. Once the far-flung edge of the vast Roman Empire, it is now the seat of a greater one.

Few have given more for the Empire than Colonel Hadrian Russell. Robbed of his four sons by the Great War, he now holds court as the acting president of the Britannia, a prestigious soldiers-only club in London. But when the Colonel is shot and thrown out the club’s front window, it seems the shadows of the Great War may extend further than previously thought.

Lieutenant Eric Peterkin, newly installed secretary at the Britannia, finds himself thrust into the role of detective after Scotland Yard points fingers at friends he knows are innocent. But is the true murderer an unknown spy? Or a recently resurfaced friend of the Colonel’s dead sons? Or is it one of the Colonel’s four widowed daughters-in-law, who by all appearances paid him complete devotion?

Accusations from personal betrayal to wartime espionage mount among the suspects as Eric's investigation draws him back to scenes and sites of a war he’s sought to leave behind. From the greening fields of Flanders and the springtime streets of Paris to the sterile wards of a Swiss sanatorium, and back to the Britannia itself, Eric finds that even myths leave behind bones.

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Having read the first in the series - A Gentleman's Murder - I was eagerly awaiting the second, so was glad of an opportunity to finally read this.

This second book, follows on from the first - and there are a number of references made throughout this one so I do suggest reading "A Genteman's Murder" first. 

Set in the years immediately following WWI, the scene is again set in the Britannia Club, a club for returned soldiers only in London, where we find Peterkin is now Secretary. Against a backdrop of post traumatic stress and the horrors of the Great War", social change, identity and the emancipation of women, murder is once again committed within these hallowed walls.

Returning from Hong Kong and now seconded to Scotland Yard, Inspector Benedict Crane investigates - whilst Peterkin himself conducts his own postmortem of events and interviews those close to the victim, many of who are hiding their own secrets.

As an exploration into the effects of war on those who survived and returned, this is very empathically done - in addition to taking into account the impact of those who remained at the home front and suffered trauma and loss of a different kind.

The mystery of who and why the Colonel was killed was well-crafted, with witnesses and suspects alike coming under the scrutiny of both Peterkin and the Inspector - with both gaining a little more than their counterpart based on the interpersonal relationships. Peterkin is aided in his investigation by his sister Penny and best friend Avery, with a host of other characters providing their perspective (at times I found myself questioning their relevance).

But the past has a way of rearing its head, old secrets long forgotten or buried are coming to the fore ... but at what cost?

"... you do not want to be so lost in the past that you lose your present ..."

Where this lost me a little bit was the need to go "off site" - that is to France and Switzerland" where answers were not forthcoming - and to me this was really was merely an unnecessary diversion for the reader. In addition, in order to portray the societal changes and struggles, I felt the narrative went on a bit too long as there are a number of different elements to be explored before all are brought together.

All in all, another decent novel from Huang.

Review: Miss Winter In The Library With A Knife by Martin Edwards

Synopsis: Six down-on-their-luck people with links to the world of crime writing have been invited to play a game this Christmas by the mysterious Midwinter Trust. The challenge seems simple but ......

Solve the murder of a fictional crime writer in a remote but wonderfully atmospheric village in north Yorkshire to win a prize that will change your fortunes for good.

Six members of staff from the shadowy Trust are there to make sure everyone plays fair. The contestants have been meticulously vetted but you can never be too careful. And with the village about to be cut off by a snow storm, everyone needs to be extra vigilant. Midwinter can play tricks on people's minds…

The game is set – but playing fair isn't on everyone's Christmas list.

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"... the skill lies in diverting attention from what really matters, seducing the players with red herrings ..."

The narrative is in the form of journals, letters, tourist-like pamphlets, maps, floor-plans where the challenge to solve the mystery is between both reader and characters. If the reader is stuck, Martin provides a "clue finder" at the back of the book. It will remind some readers of the classic interactive crime books and of more recent versions such as "Cluedle" or "Murdle".

For me, this really needs to be visual - I think you need to see how things play out - a bit like the movie "Clue". I wasn't really a fan of this one nor its set up. The story line was great, the characters fine, the setting suitable, but ... I don't know ... the delivery just wasn't there for me. I felt like I needed to be watching rather than reading, if that makes sense.

Give it a go as Martin is the supreme classic crime novelist - and his curated anthologies are exceptional.

Review: The Return of Moriarty by Jack Anderson

Synopsis: After Professor Moriarty survives Reichenbach Falls and Sherlock Holmes dies, Moriarty finds himself caught up in a locked-room mystery Holmes couldn’t solve.  This time, it’s up to Moriarty to crack the mystery, perfect for fans of Sherlock Holmes ingenious retellings like the ones by Anthony Horowitz and Laurie R. King.

Upon escaping from Reichenbach Falls, his empire in ruins, criminal mastermind James Moriarty takes the identity of wealthy inventor Hugo Strahm and embarks on a dark pilgrimage to the cliffside manor of Schloss Alber in Bavaria.

When medical student Clara Mendel returns to Schloss Alber, she finds her childhood home on the verge of ruin. A deadly feud over a priceless heirloom has thrown the Alber family into chaos while its walls play host to an unusual cast of characters – the obstinate Lord Alber, his strange and beleaguered children, their cantankerous butler, and of course, their mysterious new guest, "Hugo Strahm." When one of them is poisoned at dinner, it’s the first act in a spiraling criminal conspiracy, in which any and all of them are suspects.

Working with the sharp and inquisitive Clara, the former crime lord attempts to solve the mystery whilst trying to keep his true identity concealed. Yet despite taking on the role of detective, Moriarty does not share Sherlock Holmes’s methods, nor his interest in justice. Only one thing is certain, for James Moriarty, dying at the hands of Sherlock Holmes would have been an elegant end… The question of what comes next is far more complicated.

This cleverly plotted mystery is a faithful and inventive take on the Sherlock Holmes legacy, paying homage to Arthur Conan Doyle’s signature style while adding its own devious tricks to the story that is destined to become a must-read classic for Sherlock Holmes fans.

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As a huge fan of Conan Doyle's Holmes and Moriarty, I was eager to read this new mystery featuring Moriarty himself. And for the first part, I was intrigued and engaged as a series of journal entries and letters reveal that Moriarty did indeed survive after Reichenbach Falls in 1891 - these narratives explain this quite well, with each new narrator picking up where the previous one left off.

It is not until we meet our final main narrator in Clara Mendel and we reach our destination of Schloss Alber, that for me, events stagnate - characters become passe and even Moriarty himself is a bit wishy-washy. The actual mystery, was rather formulaic - just set in a different geographical location and timeline.

Whilst the use of a number of difference narratives does - at first - maintain a certain continuity, they actually begin to distract and detract from the mystery itself, bogging down the narrative to the point that I found myself wondering if the author was ever going to get to the point.

I was not a fan of this rendition of Moriarty, which was most likely one of the main reasons that this story just did not resonate - I would hardly describe it as a homage to Conan Doyle's own style nor being faithful to the Holmes legacy. One for the Holmes corpus ... I think not.

Review: The Art of a Lie by Laura Shepherd-Robinson

Synopsis: Following the murder of her husband in what looks like a violent street robbery, Hannah Cole is struggling to keep her head above water. Her confectionary shop on Piccadilly is barely turning a profit, her suppliers conspiring to put her out of business because they don’t like women in trade. Henry Fielding, the famous author-turned-magistrate, is threatening to confiscate the money in her husband’s bank account because he believes it might have been illicitly acquired. And even those who claim to be Hannah’s friends have darker intent.

Only William Devereux seems different. A friend of her late husband, Devereux helps Hannah unravel some of the mysteries surrounding his death. He also tells her about an Italian delicacy called iced cream, an innovation she is convinced will transform the fortunes of her shop. But their friendship opens Hannah to speculation and gossip and draws Henry Fielding’s attention her way, locking her into a battle of wits more devastating than anything she can imagine.

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Set in Georgian England, against the ice cream craze, this historical fiction mystery provides for two narrators - the widow Hannah Cole, and the friend of her late husband, William Devereux.

The alternating narrative allows the reader to witness events from these two viewpoints, as Hannah's husband's shady dealings are revealed, bringing her to the attention of local magistrate Henry Fielding. What the reader will have to decide is which of these two are Hannah's enemy, or something darker at work.

Whilst well researched to bring 18th century Georgian England to life, I found my attention wavering and my interest in both the characters, the narrative and the mystery itself dwindling as the pages passed by. 

This period of historical fiction is out of my usual reading comfort zone, but that really was not the reason for my lack of engagement as I am open to new settings, both geographically and time-wise. Can't specifically put my finger on it, but it just wasn't enough for me. I am sure others will feel differently and devour with this eagerness.