One unfortunate side-effect of my unplanned blog theme change is that I lost the ability to have a sidebar packed with links. The bad news is that I have to start from scratch and reassemble this list from memory, so consider this a work in progress. The good news is that I have extra space now to work with, so you get what amounts to an annotated list. Lucky you!
Authors and Bloggers
Bev’s My Reader’s Block is a great web site, not only for book reviews and discovery, but also for the many different reading challenges she organizes each year. While I have been too busy with my studies these past few years to participate, I am looking forward to getting to take part again in the future!
My father, Graham Brack, writes several mystery series including a modern day procedural series set in the Czech Republic, and a historical series set in the Netherlands in the 17th century.
Brad delves deep into both vintage mystery fiction, and also vintage movies on his blog Ah, Sweet Mystery.
Martin Edwards’ blog, Do You Write Under Your Own Name, is packed with book recommendations for fans of vintage mysteries. One of the features to look out for is his Forgotten Friday posts that highlight obscure works, some deserving of rediscovery, others perhaps not. Always fascinating reading! He has a separate webpage for his own crime novels.
Dr. Curtis Evans, crime historian and author of several biographies of writers from the Golden Age, delves deep into the mystery genre at The Passing Tramp.
Nick Fuller’s The Grandest Game in the World is a great place to delve deeper into the bibliographies of some of your favorite Golden Age authors. One of the most fun features of this blog are the snippets of reviews from contemporary newspapers, showing how books were received on publication.
Fans of Gladys Mitchell will find Jason Half’s tribute site an invaluable resource. Jason also offers up thoughts on mystery fiction in general at his personal blog.
Kate Jackson, author of the British Library’s How to Survive a Classic Crime Novel, offers a superb mystery fiction blog, CrossExaminingCrime.
JJ is a huge impossible crime enthusiast so his blog, The Invisible Event, is a splendid resource for opinions on that subgenre, as well as Golden Age Detection more generally.
John’s blog, Countdown John’s Christie Journal, is a fantastic resource for digging into the references in Agatha’s books but they also offer a good selection of reviews of other vintage detective novels.
John Norris brings bookseller expertise and passion for out-of-print and vintage crime to his blog, Pretty Sinister Books. This is a fantastic place to expand your horizons and discover unknown and forgotten writers.
The Puzzle Doctor blogs about mysteries at In Search of the Classic Mystery. This blog is a great resource not only for vintage books, but for modern mysteries that seek to evoke or replicate the classic puzzle mystery.
The Rap Sheet is an essential round-up of news about crime fiction from around the world.
Raven Crime Reads is one of my go-to blogs for more recently published material, particularly translated mystery fiction.
While I am no dedicated follower of fashion, Moira Redmond’s Clothes in Books is a wonderful read. The posts here discuss how characters wear clothes in literature, using books as a window into history.
Sergio’s blog, Tipping My Fedora, is much-missed but remains an essential resource for mid-century crime fiction.
TomCat’s Beneath the Stains of Time covers a wide range of mystery fiction. Their blog is another good resource for impossible crime fiction (and they have a good selection of reviews of inverted mysteries too!).
Ho-Ling Wong, translator of Japanese mystery novels, has an excellent blog about mystery fiction. As you might expect, this should be your go to resource for Japanese mysteries.
Publishers
To come
Mysteries Ahoy! 