going to write about FiestyPants and BoyBlue, but I can’t really find the words.
When I get stressed, I read. I was reading on my new Kindle, and I had downloaded who knows how long ago a book called The Daffodil Mystery.* Which was not, actually, very fun, but glancing through my old kindle books I found The Illustrated Bulldog Drummond Chronicles. (The first two are .99 together if you’re interested.) They are so so much fun.
They’re 1 part adventure, 1 part Lord Peter Whimsey, and 1 part pure whimsy. The books don’t take themselves seriously, but when you’re writing for the fun of it, the fun comes through the pages (or the screen). I liked it so much I’m tempted to get the print copy (of the ones I already read.). Plus, don’t get me wrong, the writing is good. There were several times when I laughed out loud or stopped to admire the writing. The dialogue-ing, especially is brilliant Yes, I said brilliant about a character named Bulldog. But, bravo, dude.
Brav-freaking-o. Having written dialogue, I know how hard that is.
I loved the books. Obviously. You can tell by the cover art that they’re old pulp mysteries. Who the heck cares? It isn’t take itself seriously, and you shouldn’t take it seriously either. But if you want, brain candy. This is the way to go.
Plus the books are set in between the world wars in a time that linked so many things. There were so many of the old style stereotypes fading away. And so many things that draw my mind to the Trollope books or the Gaskell books. These guys are the children and grandchildren of those writers and, therefore, characters. It’s interesting to see people writing in their own time a few generations apart and how society has changed. Especially from the over-the-top novelist standpoint.
Again, they’re super fun. These books, like Dashiel Hammet’s Nick and Nora book, spewed a series of movies.
This is Nick and Nora.
This is Bulldog. In the book series, he’s super ugly. Clearly Hollywood couldn’t find an
ugly and charming man to play the part.
I intend to gobble these movies up. I loved nearly everything about the first two books. The exciting thing about reading dead people? Their books are all out. NO WAITING, NO WAITING, NO WAITING. Though these ones bridge the copyrighted / out of copy right line. Meaning the first two are dirt cheap and the rest are more expensive(er). Whateves, though, I pay living authors for their books and the dead dude’s deserve to have their art enjoyed too.
The problem with loving the old authors though is that there aren’t very many people who are reading them, so it’s not like I can pop into Barnes and Noble to get the third. And I refuse to pay the same price for physical copy that I would for an ebook. These two, for some reason, are closer in range, so I opted to go physical.
I very much enjoyed these. I intend on reading them all. If you’ve read the old mysteries like Dorothy L. Sayers, The Mr and Mrs Smith books, Nick and Nora, etc, you might give Bulldog a roll.
~Amanda
*The most interesting part of The Daffodil Mystery was the Chinese character. There was this weird mix of stereotype and lack thereof. Old mysteries, like everything else, are showing the idea of their times. Don’t be surprised when those stereotypes are uncomfortable.
Amanda A. Allen 