The Island of Adventure
by Enid Blyton (Macmillan, 1944); audiobook read by Thomas Judd (Bolinda, 2021)
Blyton spends far too long on the pre-adventure, holiday-atmosphere buildup. While the children are slow to cotton on, the danger does at last manifest (and with a harder edge). Memorable mostly for Kiki the parrot and Philip and Dinah’s bickering sibling relationship.
Money in the Morgue
by Ngaio Marsh & Stella Duffy (Collins Crime Club, 2018)
The murder mystery is astutely handled. Inspector Alleyn appears earlier than usual and the entire affair takes place over the course of one night, adding a sense of urgency. The espionage angle is less convincing—perhaps explaining why Marsh abandoned the work-in-progress?
Antidote to Venom
by Freeman Wills Crofts (Hodder and Stoughton, 1938)
audiobook read by Gordon Griffin (Soundings, 2015)
A remarkably long and tedious book. Crofts spends the first half establishing the unlikable viewpoint character and his motivation for murder. Even once this occurs, Inspector French is held back until the final third. No suspense, let alone mystery, just utter banality.
The Poisoned Chocolates Case
by Anthony Berkeley (Collins, 1929)
audiobook read by Gordon Griffin (Isis, 2017)
Berkeley employs a Detectives Club scenario to take a sly dig at the mystery genre, proffering several very plausible solutions to a murder by poisoning. While the protagonists aren’t as amusing as he seems to think, this remains a very good read.
The Secret of Spiggy Holes
by Enid Blyton (Basil Blackwell, 1940) [reprinted Armada, 1965]
![Book cover: “The Secret of Spiggy Holes” by Enid Blyton (Basil Blackwell, 1940) [reprinted Armada, 1965]](https://www.derelictspacesheep.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Blyton_Secret-Spiggy-Holes.jpg)
Predating the Barney Mysteries but very much in keeping, distinguished only by the absence of any animal companion, and a return to the Secret Island (from the children’s previous adventure). The cover blurb anticipates reader fretfulness by giving away the entire plot.
Very Good, Jeeves
by P.G. Wodehouse (Doubleday, Doran, 1930)
audiobook read by Jonathan Cecil (Blackstone, 2011)
Wodehouse give the impression he could dash off a Jeeves & Wooster story between breakfast and elevenses, and would happily do so should ever he feel himself wanting for joie de vivre. Jonathan Cecil gives perfect voice to the frivolous restorative fizz.
It Shouldn’t Happen to a Vet
by James Herriot (Michael Joseph, 1972)
audiobook read by Nicholas Ralph (Macmillan, 2020) [as part of “All Creatures Great and Small”]
![Book cover: “It Shouldn’t Happen to a Vet” by James Herriot (Michael Joseph, 1972); review of the audiobook read by Nicholas Ralph (Macmillan, 2020) [as part of “All Creatures Great and Small”]](https://www.derelictspacesheep.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/Herriot_It-Shouldnt-Happen-to-a-Vet.jpg)
The second book carries on much as the first, only with more attention paid to Herriot’s personal life. The sense of an awkward, not-quite-funny romantic comedy trying to break through detracts a little from the quirky, back-of-beyond comedy already plying its trade.
A Pony in the Luggage
by Gunnel Linde
trans. Anne Parker; ill. Richard Kennedy (J. M. Dent & Sons, 1968) [Puffin, 1972]
![Book cover: “A Pony in the Luggage” by Gunnel Linde; trans. Anne Parker; ill. Richard Kennedy (J. M. Dent & Sons, 1968) [Puffin, 1972]](https://www.derelictspacesheep.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/Linde_Pony-in-the-Luggage.jpg)
Two Swedish children win a pony while holidaying in Copenhagen, and try to smuggle it home. Linde captures not only the protagonists’ unassailable child logic but also an offhandedly droll understatedness of expression. Kennedy’s jittery illustrations are very much in the spirit.
Doctor Who: The Abominable Snowmen
by Mervyn Haisman & Henry Lincoln
dir. Gerald Blake (BBC, 1967/2022)
The animation is serviceable (the yeti in fact look slightly less cuddly in cartoon form!) but the original story is terribly ponderous and presents vast chunks of ‘dead’ time where there is neither dialogue nor incidental music to offset the visual limitations.
The Creature in the Dark
by Robert Westall (Penguin, 1988)
audiobook read by Richard Aspel (Bolinda, 2021)
Marketed as horror but actually an historical middle-grade set in rural England during the Second World War. Cleverly rendered, in that the dark vibes come as much from the young protagonist’s fear of his abusive father as from the creature killing livestock.