Sax Rohmer’s The Mystery of Fu-Manchu

Sax Rohmer (listen to the podcast of the earlier version of this review here) was obsessed with what he and the lower reaches of the pre-First World War popular British press used to call ‘the Yellow Peril’ (I hope you notice the inverted commas around that phrase). After the war, things began to get … Continue reading Sax Rohmer’s The Mystery of Fu-Manchu →

Three disappointments for the dud pile

I’ve had a bad run of books I didn't like and books read for work rather than pleasure recently, so all I can offer this week are these three pallid specimens. I’ll try to crank up my enthusiasm next week. It’s the end of term, holiday reading is beckoning, I have hopes of something marvellous waiting for … Continue reading Three disappointments for the dud pile →

Bad drugs and fast cars: Dorothy L Sayers’ Murder Must Advertise

Getting our knees wet in the sea of this mini-series on great detective classics, this podcast scripts catch-up from Why I Really Like This Book is about that perceptive novel about the advertising industry by Dorothy L Sayers, Murder Must Advertise (1933). This is a novel about office lives and 1930s high society, with a darkness underneath that comes from … Continue reading Bad drugs and fast cars: Dorothy L Sayers’ Murder Must Advertise →