Lighting The Pipes

Throughout the first World War, acclaimed novelist W. Somerset Maugham worked for British Intelligence in Switzerland. Under cover as a writer, Maugham used his knowledge of travel, languages and culture to great effect, infiltrating high society and common folk alike in his job of greasing the wheels of espionage. A decade later, Maugham fictionalized his experiences in this book, a pseudo-autobiographical account of his time on the continent. Brimming with intrigue and colourful supporting characters, the linked stories of "Ashenden" are skillfully controlled narrative glimpses of war-time spycraft by a figure who's been there and done it. Fast Facts @ 2:00; Summaries @ 28:00; PIPES @ 1:35:00

Happy New Year! Our survey of John Gardner's continuation novels carries on with a chat over his third effort. If, like many, you buy into the belief that a Bond's third outing is his best ("Goldfinger", "The Spy Who Loved Me", "Skyfall".... Fleming, too, wrote "Moonraker" third) then Gardner should be stretching comfortably by now. "Icebreaker" sees 007 unite with an inter-agency operation in Finland to thwart a fascist terrorist group. Join us as we explore Gardner's world of snowmobiles, double agents and smoked salmon fireside chats.

Our final episode of 2024 looks back on an entertaining year of reading for the show. We also present our rankings for each text covered and share in the challenge of our first holiday Sherlock quiz!

It's Christmas at Gorston Hall and the Lee family is preparing to welcome family home for the holidays at the behest of grizzled, mischievous patriarch, Simeon. But when the guests arrive, bringing all their baggage in tow, a brutal murder amplifies family conflict to a breaking point. In this year's holiday read, LTP mulls wine and conversation over Hercule Poirot and one of Agatha Christie's most celebrated locked room mysteries.

Despite first appearing on the scene in 1928's "Meet the Tiger", author Leslie Charteris promoted this volume from 1930 as the proper introduction of Simon Templar, aka "The Saint". Across three novellas ("The Man Who Was Clever", "The Policeman with Wings" and "The Lawless Lady") his dandified crime-buster makes his literary debut here, taking on London gangsters, outsmarting dwarfish diamond thieves and navigating round a ring of high-seas scam artists. So polish your halos and brogues, its time for close and classy combat with Simon Templar!Fast facts (5:45), "The Man Who Was Clever" (26:30), "The Policeman With Wings" (1:08), "The Lawless Lady" (1:44:20).

Scott Henderson is facing execution for a murder he didn't commit and the countdown clock is ticking. His only chance of reversing fortune rests in a close friend's ability to scour New York's grimy nightlife and locate the anonymous woman who can prove he wasn't at the crime scene. Such are the opening stakes in Cornell Woolrich's pulp thriller, "Phantom Lady", the focus of our latest review. Demonic drugs, fever dream rhythms and even an orange pumpkin hat - what could be more Halloween than that! Thrills and chills abound in this twisty, influential noir.

In his second continuation novel, John Gardner returns Bond to the USA and reunites readers with some canonical staples. Motivated by a recent spate of airline hijackings with potential SPECTRE links, Bond is sent by M to investigate an ice-cream magnate from Texas whose guarded compound and general milieu reeks of suspicion. But the decision to resurrect Fleming's narrative ghosts comes with hefty responsibilities and there's a thin line between successful fan-service and ephemeral tokenism. Join us as we go down the literary gunbarrel for another LTP 007 and discuss the finer points of Gardner's sophomore effort!

Richard Vine's debut novel transports readers to the sharp, seedy world of Manhattan art shows, broken hearts and criminal enterprise. What starts as helping out a murder investigation soon becomes much more for art-dealer (and friend of victim) Jackson Wyeth. "SoHo Sins" is crafted by Vine with a knowing pen, one that is encouraged by a wealth of career experience in the art game and inspired by the busted-up detective narrators of noirs gone by. LTP is excited to be back and kick-starting a new round of reviews with this 2016 entry from Richard Vine and Hard Case Crime.

Who killed Dimitrios Makrupoulos? That’s what obsessive mystery writer Charles Latimer is eager to find out in Eric Ambler’s classic thriller from 1939. As he racks up European passport stamps in pursuit of an answer, the dark and criminal underbelly of a continent in flux is exposed to him, offering Latimer much more than fodder for his next novel. Join LTP as Josh and Scott give chase and explore both author and novel. Fast facts @ 8:50; Summary @ 27:15; Pipes @ 44:30

Our look at the post-Fleming world of 007 continues with "Licence Renewed", John Gardner's inaugural outing and the first James Bond novel of the 1980s. An ousted nuclear scientist with a Braveheart complex seeks revenge in this spy adventure. From fixed horse races and holographic bedrooms to night-driving and devilish highland games, we portion out the narrative goods and take focus down the literary gun-barrel.

Artistry and imagination ran in the bloodline of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's family. His father, Charles, was driven by powerful appetites and ambitions that aptly reflected the Victorian spirit and would come to greatly influence his son. However, his personal life and mental health were marked by persistent struggle. From his advantaged start in London to his tumultuous adult years in Edinburgh to his final days in Dumfries, we step off the beaten track in this special episode for a sojourn through the life and legacy of Charles Altamont Doyle.

We conclude this summer's Sherlock Selects series with "The Devil's Foot", originally published in 1910 and presented later in Conan Doyle's "His Last Bow" collection. Highlighted by a dastardly villain with a vengeful, colonial mind, this story also features a drug-induced journey into the unknown which tests Holmes and Watson's friendship to the max! Edwardian adventure awaits you in this conversation, originally recorded in June of 2018.

Louise Penny's debut novel transports readers to the Eastern Townships of Quebec, Canada, and the fictitious village of Three Pines. The mysterious death of a retired teacher, Jane Neal, sends this secluded community into a fog of suspicion marked by the exhumation of buried secrets, insecurities and dark history. Working the case is Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, veteran of the Sûreté du Québec, whose peaceable personality puts him in good stead among the denizens of Three Pines. So pack your bag, readers, and book your B&B: visitors to the leafy lanes of "Still Life" can expect lessons in archery, antique furniture and amateur art! Fast Facts @4:00, Summary @19:30, Review from 43:30.

Josh's selection for this year's "Sherlock Selects" returns us to The Illustrious Client. Marked by the predatory exploits of a dastardly Baron, this later Conan Doyle story (1925) spins its archetypal threads of good vs. evil while promoting emergent themes in context of suffragette and female agency. Our chat, originally recorded in-person during the summer of 2018, has been trimmed down, tidied up and newly introduced here for our annual Summer Redux. Enjoy!

In this installment, Josh presents a clean line through the scandalous phlegm of HUAC and the red scare in Hollywood which served as backdrop for many great film noir productions, including 1948's "Force of Evil". Director Abraham Polonsky fills each frame with atmosphere and suggestive imagery to help convey themes of family conflict and corruption. Heralded still for its lyrical, razor-sharp script, "Force of Evil" has earned a place in the pantheon of film noir. John Garfield, Thomas Gomez and Beatrice Pearson star in this compelling thriller showcasing the rot of capitalist greed in the American underworld.

In this episode, our first in a new branch exploring the continuation novels of James Bond, we look down the literary gunbarrel at "Colonel Sun", written by Robert Markham (Kingsley Amis). Published four years after Ian Fleming's death, Markham's compelling adventure situates agent 007 in a new world of espionage. "Colonel Sun" comes on the heels of Amis's successful non-fiction character-piece, "The James Bond Dossier" and marks the first "official" 007 fiction of a new era. So, hop aboard the good ship LTP and brandish your shades and parasols - we're setting sail right now, straight for the Sun... Colonel Sun!

"Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again."Thus starts the troubled narrative of Daphne du Maurier's 1938 classic novel. Part mystery story, part Gothic romance, Rebecca manipulates features of both genres to impressive effect. It offers readers a haunting depiction of tormented characters in an eerily prescient country mansion. The novel follows our naive narrator as she tries to make sense of married life in the aristocracy, complete with a controlling housekeeper, destructive family secrets and more repressed baggage than you can comfortably carry! Bio & Context @ 4:55, Summary @ 25:15, Review @ 48:30

Kami Garcia's "Agent of Chaos" is one of two X-Files origin novels published in 2017. The story is set in 1979 and follows a 17 year-old Fox Mulder. A soon-to-be High School graduate, Mulder is struggling to negotiate the choppy waters of his parents' recent divorce as a spate of child abductions casts an anxious cloud over the D.C. area. Mulder grows obsessed when he starts to piece together evidence missed by the authorities and soon sees the case as a chance to make amends for the loss of his own sister, Samantha, five years earlier. Garcia's novel offers an engaging and decisive snapshot of Fox Mulder before his transition into adulthood and employment with the FBI.

Hjalmar Söderberg's compelling novel caused quite a stir in Europe when it was published in 1905. His protagonist - a restless, brooding doctor in Stockholm at the turn of the century - grows obsessive when a patient comes to him with a delicate problem. Written in loose epistolary fashion, the inner monologues of Doctor Glas juxtapose beautiful reflections on life and morality with odious thoughts and scheming about the local minister, Pastor Gregorius. Oh, and did we mention the patient was the Pastor's wife? Yeah, it's all to play for here and tragic love is the trophy. Söderberg's narrative has a lot to offer: great beauty, dark trauma and hectares of fertile Freduian farmland to map!

In this episode we travel to the Land of the Rising Sun where master detective Akechi Kogoro plays a game of cat and mouse with the titular Black Lizard, a femme fatale unlike we’ve encountered so far! Serialized at the height of Imperial Japan, before its ill-fated bid at Pacific supremacy, this twisted tale by Edogawa Rampo (the pseudonym of Taro Hirai) weaves a narrative of jewelery-theft and kidnap-come-torture. Channeling the spirits of Poe's disturbed imagination and Conan Doyle's straight-ahead pacing, Rampo delivers a lively, memorable read. So join us as we take on "The Black Lizard"!