Collection bound

One thing I would like to achieve during my lifetime is to collect all of Ngaio Marsh's 32 detective novels. I unashamedly call Ngaio Marsh my favourite author, and along with Raymond Chandler, Joseph Heller and Haruki Murakami, it is due to her amazing use of language. She uses some wonderfully obscure adjectives.
I am one who generally judges books by their cover. And I mean that literally. I try not to apply that phrase to people, but will stand by it when it comes to literature. There are some wonderful Ngaio Marsh covers, from the hand illustrated to the more boldy graphic as the editions move through from the 40's and 50's into the 60's. From the early 70's onwards, as photography was commonly used, the covers progressed steadily downhill.
So I am keeping my eyes peeled for striking covers that proudly proclaim the amazingness of the words which they contain. Above are some of the best. 

Lamb to the Slaughter

My task in today's Swedish class was a close reading of the Swedish translation of Roald Dahl's darkly comedic short story 'Lamb to the Slaughter' (1953), known in Swedish as 'Mysteriet med det Försvunna Mordvapnet' (The Mystery of the Vanished Murder Weapon).

The tale concerns a wife who bludgeons her policeman husband to death with a frozen leg of lamb, puts the lamb in the oven, establishes an alibi going to the grocery store to buy vegetables to accompany her roast, and proceeds to serve the murder weapon to the investigating officers.

After a fruitless search, the policemen bandy about possible locations of the murder weapon, while waiting to be served their dinner.

"It's probably right under our very noses."





Lamb to the Slaughter was adapted for television twice, first in 1958 as part of Alfred Hitchcock Presents, directed by the master of suspense himself, and starring Barbara Bel Geddes (Midge in Vertigo).

Another adaptation was included in Tales of the Unexpected, in 1979. Tales of the Unexpected was a collection of tales based on the short stories of Roald Dahl.

Grim Rieper

My costume for this halloween was Pauline Rieper/Parker, one half of the notorious Parker-Hulme teenage murdering duo, found guilty in Christchurch, New Zealand, in 1954 for the murder of Pauline's mother, thus providing the basis for Peter Jackson's 1994 film Heavenly Creatures.
Together they created an elaborate fantasy realm, 'The Fourth World', and hoped to sell their epic tales of adventure for adaptation to Hollywood films.
Pauline is best remembered for her detailed diaries, hatred of Orson Welles, and her love of Mario Lanza and Juliet Hulme.
Pauline's mother was viewed as the one stumbling block in the two girls' relationship, as both sets of parents began fearing the friendship bordered on homosexuality, and had decided complete separation was the only way to cure this 'mental illness'. Pauline and Juliet reasoned the only way they could be assured of staying together would be to bludgeon Mrs Rieper with half a brick in a stocking in a secluded part of Victoria Park.


Excerpts from Pauline's diaries:

We have decided how sad it is for other people that they
cannot appreciate our genius . . .
. . . but we hope the book will help them to do so a
little, though no one could fully appreciate us.

To think that so much could happen in so little time,
caused by so few. A terrible tragedy has occurred . . .

Mother woke me this morning and started lecturing me
before I was properly awake, which I thought was somewhat unfair. She
has brought up the worst possible threat now. She said that if my
health did not prove I could never see the Hulmes again. The thought is
too dreadful. Life would be unbearable without Deborah . . .

I rang Deborah immediately as I had to tell someone
sympathetic how I loathed Mother.

One thing Deborah and I are sticking to: through
everything, we sink or swim together.

Anger against Mother boiled up inside me as it is she who
is one of the main obstacle in my path. Suddenly a means of ridding
myself of this obstacle occurred to me. If she were to die . . .