This is a classic film noir adaptation of the Raymond Chandler, Philip Marlowe novel Murder My Lovely. Marlowe is hired by a dangerous thug Moose Malloy, just out of prison, to look for his former girlfriend. Things start getting complicated from there because the former girlfriend does not want to be found, and soon Marlowe does not know who to trust.

Crooner Dick Powell plays Philip Marlowe in this film and rumor has it that his film depiction of Marlowe was Raymond Chandler's favorite. I found Powell to be more than up to the task. His interpretation of Marlowe is different from Bogart's but no less valid, and perhaps closer to the book version. Powell can snap off the witty dialog and comebacks that are a Marlowe trademark right up there with Bogart. Claire Trevor is excellent as the femme fatale who can wrap men around her finger. It's a shame that Dick Powell didn't play Marlowe in more movies, but don't miss him in this one.

Murder My Sweet, is available on DVD.

A man disappears at Scarhaven Keep. The squire of Scarhaven is acting funny. And somebody does not want outsiders investigating around the Keep or the Squire.

Scarhaven Keep (1922) is the second mystery novel I have read by J. S. Fletcher and both share a familiar pattern: young amateur detective as primary protagonist, assisted by 3 or four other characters acting as amateur detectives as needed, especially to make up for any shortcomings in abilities or knowledge the primary hero might have or because the hero cannot be in too places at once. Also throw in a dose of alarm and adventure in the story and have a young lady in distress for good measure.

Maybe this is a pattern.

That sounds critical of J. S. Fletcher, but the reality is, I still enjoyed this book as much as I did the other Fletcher book I reviewed here "The Middle of Things". Although I didn't think the plot twists were quite as well done in Scarhaven as they were in The Middle of Things. However the ending seemed a little abrupt and I was not quite satisfied with it. I got the feeling that the author did not know how to end the novel so he came up with a fait accompli and everybody just sort of went along with it. Still the characters, the setting, the adventure and the procedure of unraveling the mystery was entertaining enough for me. I'll read more Fletcher.

Scarhaven Keep is available free in ebook form.

Scarhaven Keep is also available in print a trade size book.

"Murder Crops Up" by Lora Roberts is the fifth book in a six book mystery series. Roberts has created a very sympathetic amateur detective in her Liz Sullivan character, who used to be a homeless person living out of her Volkswagen micro-bus.

Liz still has a large plot in the community gardens, where she raises vegetables to put food on the table. But things start getting bad, when the director of the community gardens turns up dead in a nearby plot. And then another person is found dead and the peacefulness of the gardens is disrupted as Liz tries to figure out who the killer is.

This is a good cozy, detective story, with excellent characterization. The author has done a great job of making the setting feel real too. I won't say the mystery is the most complex in the world, but it's the characters that drive this mystery. None of the books in the series has disappointed me yet.

Murder Crops Up by Lora Roberts is available as an ebook or as a print book.

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"The Middle of Things" (1922), by J. S. Fletcher, is an excellent public domain mystery ebook which is available for free from Manybooks.net.

The book features several amateur detectives acting together as they get caught up in this murder mystery. They include: a young man named "Viner", his matronly aunt and an elderly lawyer in a London setting. Viner discovers the body of his new neighbor while out for an evening walk and witnesses a man fleeing the scene. The police soon capture the suspect, but Viner becomes convinced that he did not commit the murder. Moreover, Viner and the murdered man's solicitor find out that a mystery surrounds the deceased, and the identity of the young lady who is his ward.

The character development is not particularly deep, but enough that you like the main protagonists. The plot has enough twists that it keeps you guessing about several plot threads. I did like the way the author established the setting and I enjoyed following along as these amateur sleuths attempted to unravel the mystery of the mans murder and the identity of his ward.