Author Archives: dorothyjames

About dorothyjames

Welsh-American writer, German scholar, translator, traveller.

The Country Mysteries of Aaron Paul Lazar

Posted on September 8, 2011

Aaron Paul Lazar is an all-American writer of popular mysteries. He sometimes calls them country mysteries, and this goes some way towards describing them. Because I come from Britain and have many connections with Europe, I might wish to call … Continue reading →

Posted in country mystery, cozy mystery, murder mystery, review | Tagged , , | 3 Comments

Fallada’s Portrait of a Police Detective in Nazi Germany

Posted on July 29, 2011

Fallada’s 1946 novel, Jeder stirbt für sich allein  recently acquired best-seller status in the English-speaking world through the translation of Michael Hofmann in the new Melville House edition, Every Man Dies Alone.  It was based right after the war on … Continue reading →

Posted in detective fiction | Tagged , , , , | 4 Comments

Detecting Crime in a Police State: Fact and Fiction, Quotes

Posted on July 15, 2011

Reading William Ryan’s The Holy Thief and getting to know Captain Alexei Dmitriyevich Korolev of the Moscow Criminal Investigation Division set me to thinking about the role of a police detective in a totalitarian state, often called a “police state.” … Continue reading →

Posted in detective fiction, quotations | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

Interview with Frank Tallis

Posted on July 11, 2011

Frank Tallis is a clinical psychologist and an expert in obsessional states. He is the author of “A Death in Vienna,” “Vienna Blood,” “Fatal Lies” and “Vienna Secrets,” as well as seven non-fiction books on psychology and two previous novels, … Continue reading →

Posted in historical fiction, psychoanalytic detective novels, Vienna mysteries | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Review of Frank Tallis’s “Vienna Twilight”

Posted on July 5, 2011

Viennese mysteries are close to my heart, and Tallis is surely the master of Viennese mystery. He writes historical, psychological thrillers—nothing cozy about him, despite the number of cakes that are consumed in the course of his novels.  They are … Continue reading →

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Interview with William Ryan

Posted on June 28, 2011

William Ryan, author of The Holy Thief, was born in London in 1965 and attended Trinity College, Dublin. He practiced briefly as a barrister before completing his master’s in creative writing at St. Andrews University. His work has appeared in … Continue reading →

Posted in historical fiction, murder mystery | Tagged , , , | 4 Comments

Story Behind The Mousetrap

Posted on June 16, 2011

Behind every murder mystery, like it or not, there is a murder, often fictional, sometimes real.  After reading my review of the Berlin Kriminaltheater performance of Agatha Christie’s “The Mousetrap,” Jessica Best, of CardiffRead, reporter for the South Wales Argus, … Continue reading →

Posted in Berlin theater, murder mystery, mystery play | Tagged , , | Leave a comment