RogerBW's Blog

Another Thin Man (1939) 31 October 2023

1939 mystery-comedy, dir. W. S. van Dyke, William Powell, Myrna Loy: IMDb / allmovie. Everyone wanted the old man dead.

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Killer's Choice, Ed McBain 30 October 2023

1957 police procedural, fifth in the 87th Precinct series. The beautiful redhead is gunned down in a liquor store. But everyone who knew her seems to have had a motive.

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The Weekly Challenge 240: Building Acronyms 29 October 2023

I’ve been doing the Weekly Challenges. The latest involved substrings and array mapping. (Note that this ends today.)

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After the Thin Man (1936) 28 October 2023

1936 mystery-comedy, dir. W. S. van Dyke, William Powell, Myrna Loy: IMDb / allmovie. The husband has deserted his wife, and she wants to track him down.

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The Hellfire Rebellion, Simon Hawke 27 October 2023

1990 SF, tenth of its series. It's 1765 in Boston, and the Sons of Liberty are being threatened by a headless horseman.

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The Thin Man (1934) 26 October 2023

1934 mystery-comedy, dir. W. S. van Dyke, William Powell, Myrna Loy: IMDb / allmovie. Turns out life doesn't have to end at marriage.

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Gravity of a Distant Sun, R. E. Stearns 25 October 2023

2020 SF, third and of its series. Adda and Iridian have been captured by the law, and the rogue AIs are still out there and trying to manipulate them…

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Big Trouble in Little China 24 October 2023 - 2 comments

1986 martial arts fantasy, dir. John Carpenter, Kurt Russell, Kim Cattrall: IMDb / allmovie. Jack Burton doesn't care about immortal sorcerers and demon kings, he just wants his truck back.

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Night Ferry To Death, Patricia Moyes 23 October 2023

1985 mystery, seventeenth in the series about Superintendent Henry Tibbett. Returning from Amsterdam, Henry and Emmy can't get a cabin on the night ferry, and end up having to rough it in seats. In the morning, one of their fellow travellers has been murdered…

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The Weekly Challenge 239: Same and Consistent 22 October 2023

I’ve been doing the Weekly Challenges. The latest involved joining strings and matching characters. (Note that this ends today.)

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Essen 2023 21 October 2023 - 4 comments

It's still the highlight of the boardgaming year, and I'm still going.

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Translation State, Ann Leckie 20 October 2023 - 1 comment

2023 SF, set in the same universe as the Imperial Radch series but not in Radchaai space. Three people get involved in the mystery of a Presger Translator who went missing hundreds of years ago.

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Thirsty Meeples September 2023 19 October 2023

Back to the boardgame café.

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The Long and Short Of It, Jodi Taylor 18 October 2023

2017 science fiction anthology collecting stories in the Chronicles of St Mary's series (time travel).

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The Birds (1963) 17 October 2023 - 4 comments

1963 thriller/horror, dir. Alfred Hitchcock, Tippi Hedren, Rod Taylor: IMDb / allmovie. The spoiled socialite goes to the small seaside town to track down her latest potential conquest…

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Faro's Daughter, Georgette Heyer 16 October 2023

1941 Regency-adjacent romance. Deb Grantham, though of good birth, has ended up as a faro-dealer in her aunt's gaming house. She's taking what amusement she can from stringing along several beaux, while refusing any serious entanglements. But one of them is the wealthy young Lord Mablethorpe, and his mother, terrified by the idea of his making an unsuitable marriage, sends her nephew, man-of-the-world Mr Ravenscar, to buy her off…

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The Weekly Challenge 238: Running Persistence 15 October 2023

I’ve been doing the Weekly Challenges. The latest involved cumulative sums and complicated sorts. (Note that this ends today.)

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North by Northwest (1959) 14 October 2023

1959 thriller, dir. Alfred Hitchcock, Cary Grant, Eva Marie Saint: IMDb / allmovie. The ordinary man is suddenly thrown into Cool Spy World.

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Mage-Provocateur, Glynn Stewart 13 October 2023 - 1 comment

2018 SF, second of its sub-series. David Rice is still being hunted by people trying for the bounty posted by the crime lord he killed. Fortunately his covert-ops backers want those guys taken off the table too.

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Marlow Board Games 18 September 2023 12 October 2023

This Meetup-based boardgames group continues.

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Summer in Orcus, T Kingfisher 11 October 2023

2017 fantasy, first released as a web serial. When Baba Yaga's house walks into Summer's back yard, she sets off on an adventure…

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Vertigo (1958) 10 October 2023

1958 psychological drama, dir. Alfred Hitchcock, James Stewart, Kim Novak: IMDb / allmovie. Obsession is not good for you.

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I Shall Not Want, Julia Spencer-Fleming 09 October 2023

2008 mystery (modern police procedural plus amateur), sixth in its series. Police chief Van Alstyne is still working through grief over his dead wife. But he still has to be the police chief.

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The Weekly Challenge 237: Seize Greatness 08 October 2023

I’ve been doing the Weekly Challenges. The latest involved date calculations and didn't involve array permutations. (Note that this ends today.)

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Marlow Board Games 5 September 2023 07 October 2023

This Meetup-based boardgames group continues.

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The Burning Page, Genevieve Cogman 06 October 2023

2016 alternate-world fantasy, third of its series. The Library is under attack!

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The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948) 05 October 2023

1948 psychological adventure, dir. John Huston, Humphrey Bogart, Walter Huston: IMDb / allmovie. Gold fever takes men in strange ways.

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The Belle of Belgrave Square, Mimi Matthews 04 October 2023

2022 Victorian romance. Julia Wychwood suffers from professionally invalid parents and crippling shyness, and her only escape has been to rely on her friends and to pretend illness herself. But her friends are away for a crucial few days, and her parents are forcing her to socialise. Meanwhile Captain Jasper Blunt, notoriously cruel hero of the siege of Sebastopol, rumoured to have a string of bastards and a haunted estate in Yorkshire, is looking for a rich wife…

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ZatuCon 2023 03 October 2023

ZatuCon is a small boardgaming event run by Zatu Games for whom I write occasional blog posts. It's open to the public as well as to Zatu bloggers.

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Where Old Bones Lie, Ann Granger 02 October 2023

1993 mystery, fifth of Granger's novels of Chief Inspector Alan Markby and non-detective Meredith Mitchell. Meredith's asked to help out her nervous friend Ursula on an archaeological dig when a bunch of new age travellers set up nearby, but what Ursula's really concerned about is whether her obsessive ex (also on the dig) may have murdered his wife…

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The Weekly Challenge 236: Change for the Machines 01 October 2023

I’ve been doing the Weekly Challenges. The latest involved calculating change and finding loops. (Note that this ends today.)

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