The Golden Slipper, and Other Problems for Violet Strange
by Anna Katharine Green (1915)
audiobook read by Shelly Frasier (Tantor, 2009) [as “Mystery Stories of Violet Strange”]
![Book cover: “The Golden Slipper, and Other Problems for Violet Strange” by Anna Katharine Green (1915); audiobook read by Shelly Frasier (Tantor, 2009) [as “Mystery Stories of Violet Strange”]](https://www.derelictspacesheep.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/Green_Mystery-Stories-of-Violet-Strange.jpg)
This collection of detective novelettes holds up quite well, though their virtue lies more in the refined telling than in the mystery element (which often relies on highly improbable concatenations) or denouements (which generally lack catharsis). Violet herself makes a memorable impression.
Nancy Wake: a Biography of our Greatest War Heroine
by Peter Fitzsimons (Harper Collins, 2001)
audiobook read by Stephanie Daniel (Bolinda, 2011)
A remarkable life, given a workmanlike, mostly diligent treatment. (While doing justice to Nancy herself, Fitzsimons abandons most of her contemporaries once they pass from her orbit.) Stephanie Daniel brings echoes of her Phryne Fisher narration, elevating the audiobook beyond its prose.
Squaring the Circle (the Story of Hipgnosis)
dir. Anton Corbijn (2022)
Feature-length documentary unpacking Storm Thorgerson and Aubrey Powell’s design partnership, plus the zeitgeist in which they created their iconic album covers. Suitably artistic (shot mainly in black-and-white, the better to emphasise bursts of colour) but rather perfunctory once it hits the 1980s.
In the Company of Sherlock Holmes: Stories Inspired by the Holmes Canon
ed. Laurie R. King & Leslie S. Klinger (Pegasus, 2014); audiobook read by various narrators (Blackstone, 2014)
A decidedly mixed bag, ranging from enjoyable pastiche through tenuously related meh efforts down to faux-clever, rather failed experimental narratives. John Lescroart’s “Dunkirk” is the pick of the bunch, albeit more a war story (plus elderly Sherlock) than a traditionally Holmesian piece.
The Professionals #11: Spy Probe
by Ken Blake (Sphere, 1981)
Kenneth Bulmer returns to the house pseudonym and churns out a two-story tie-in novelisation as lopsided as its predecessor (by Robert Holdstock). Very shoddy prose and the second episode is barely an afterthought, though the first is a diverting enough, action-packed instalment.
The Shifting Landscape
by Katherine Kovacic (Echo, 2020)
audiobook read by Casey Withoos (W. F. Howes, 2020)
The rural setting leads to a more substantive, higher-stakes mystery, albeit one deepened by the strategic overlooking of at least two obvious lines of inquiry. Withoos’ audiobook reading captures the Australian flavour, while Hogarth the Irish Wolfhound again brings plenty of heart.
Parting Breath
by Catherine Aird (Collins, 1977)
audiobook read by Robin Bailey (Audible, 2014)
The mystery is mostly a snooze-fest, unearthing itself to no great interest or enlightenment amidst the tangle of university life (laboriously depicted). The chief—indeed, only real—appeal lies in Sloan’s self-aware musings and stoically borne verbal exchanges with Crosby and Leeyes.
How to Train Your Dragon
dir. Dean DeBlois (2025)
So faithful is this live-action remake to the original animated film, it barely warrants review. Mason Thames (Hiccup) and Nico Parker (Astrid) do bring a certain something to their roles. The setting, oddly enough, is so exotic as to look slightly unreal.
Black Mirror: Black Museum
by Charlie Brooker; dir. Colm McCarthy (Netflix, 2017)
Black Museum follows the same formula as White Christmas, and explores similar technology (and horrific misuses thereof), artfully weaving its three parts into a denouement that sees Letitia Wright’s character transformed from passive consumer of story to active shaper. Confronting but cathartic!
Grace, Series 2
by Russell Lewis (ITV, 2022)
More assured, more tonally balanced than the first series. Grace emerges as something of an oddity amongst TV detectives, relying less on a distinct sense of character than on John Simm’s verisimilitudinous inhabiting thereof, adding gravitas to otherwise routine facets of investigation.