Monday, February 23, 2026
Bitter Tea and Mystery: Murder of a Lady: Anthony Wynne
Bitter Tea and Mystery: Murder of a Lady: Anthony Wynne: Description from the back of the book: Duchlan Castle is a gloomy, forbidding place in the Scottish Highlands. Late one night the body of ...
Aubrey Nye Hamilton Reviews: The End of the Sahara by Said Khatibi
The End of
the Sahara is set in the late summer and early autumn of 1988 in and around
the central Algerian city of Bou Saada. It tells of multiple crimes, both
significant and petty, but the focal point is the murder of Zakia Zaghouani,
the young and attractive singer at the Hotel Sahara. Zaza had many admirers and
others were jealous of her successes. In addition, her family was appalled at
her refusal to lead a conventional Muslim life.
Written by Said
Khatibi, who grew up in Bou Saada, the narrative incorporates a backdrop of local
corruption, administrative incompetence, and wrenching deprivation. The memory
of the Algerian War of Independence, which Algeria waged against France from
1954 to 1962, is still strong but the governance structure that replaced French
rule has not been successful. With little water, food, or electricity, the
country’s long-suffering residents finally rose in a mass protest a few days
after the end of this book with devastating results.
The author’s
note at the beginning of the book states that “It is a tribute to the more than
five hundred people who died fighting for freedom on October 5, 1988, and to
women who fought on this day and every day, resisting a violent patriarchal
system that aims to control them.”
Originally published
in Arabic as Nihayat Al-Sahra by Hachette Antoine, Beirut, in 2022, the
book won the Sheikh Zayed Book Award in the Young Author category in 2023. The original
text has been translated beautifully by Alexander Elinson, Associate Professor
of Arabic at Hunter College in New York, for publication by Bitter Lemon Press
of London. Bitter Lemon Press has an impressive catalog of crime fiction in
translation from all parts of the world. Their finalist designation for the
2025 Crime Writers’ Association Publisher’s Dagger recognizes Bitter Lemon
Press’s efforts to deliver quality books in English from uncommon sources.
Interestingly,
we never hear from the victim directly. We only know what others thought of her
and their experiences with her. About six narrators explain individually what
they knew of the singer and the events leading up to her death and perhaps
twice that many characters support the story; keeping track of who is who can
be challenging. A helpful roster of characters is found at the end of the book.
With only
minimal knowledge of Algeria’s history, I realized I was missing the subtext of
the story as I read. An article by M. Lynx Qualey in ArabLit was most
helpful in that regard: Looking
for Ghosts: On Said Khatibi’s ‘End of the Sahara’. I recommend a review of
this essay before beginning the book.
Kirkus
starred review.
·
Publisher: Bitter Lemon Press
·
Publication date: March 24, 2026
·
Language: English
·
Print length: 336 pages
·
ISBN-10: 1916725228
·
ISBN-13: 978-1916725225
Amazon
Associate Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/4cb3USB
Aubrey Nye Hamilton ©2026
Aubrey Hamilton is a former librarian who works on Federal It projects by day and reads mysteries at night.
Sunday, February 22, 2026
Mystery Fanfare: Writing Beyond The Fields You Know: Guest Post by Christopher Huang
Mystery Fanfare: Writing Beyond The Fields You Know: Guest Post by ...: Letterbox. Gosh-darn, bloomin’ letterboxes. It’s a bit too late to change this, I’m afraid, but apparently I have allowed a little hint t...
Little Big Crimes: Hard Luck Penny, by Scott McKinnon
Little Big Crimes: Hard Luck Penny, by Scott McKinnon: "Hard Luck Penny," by Scott McKinnon, in The Yard, February 15, 2026. I think this is the first time a first story made my best-...
SleuthSayers: Grabbing the Third Rail
SleuthSayers: Grabbing the Third Rail: There are a lot of good reasons not to talk about politics in my column here. It's not really what SleuthSayers is about, first of all....
Beneath the Stains of Time: The Leopard Died Too (1957) by Nigel Brent
Beneath the Stains of Time: The Leopard Died Too (1957) by Nigel Brent: "Nigel Brent," a pseudonym of Cecil Gordon Eugene Wimhurst, is one of those obscure, practically forgotten writers who published a...
KRL Update
Up on KRL this week a review and giveaway of "The Devil in the Details" by Vicki Delany https://kingsriverlife.com/02/21/the-devil-in-the-details-by-vicki-delany/
And a review and ebook giveaway of "Devil's Gambit" by Jeri Westerson https://kingsriverlife.com/02/21/devils-gambit-by-jeri-westerson/
And a review and giveaway of a mystery with a supernatural twist, "Death and Other Occupational Hazards" by Veronika Dapunt, along with an interesting interview with Veronika https://kingsriverlife.com/02/21/death-and-other-occupational-hazards-by-veronika-dapunt/
Looking for something fun to watch? Up on KRL this week a review of the 5th season of "My Life is Murder" and the first season of "Art Detectives," both on Acorn TV https://kingsriverlife.com/02/21/my-life-is-murder-season-5-art-detectives/
Up during the week we posted another special midweek guest post, this one by mystery author Elaine Faber about writing and her new book "Black Cat and the Immigrant Child" https://kingsriverlife.com/02/18/the-framework-of-a-good-book/
Up on KRL News and Reviews this week we have a review and ebook giveaway of "Dog's Kitchen" by Neil Plakcy https://www.krlnews.com/2026/02/dogs-kitchen-by-neil-plakcy.html
And for those who enjoy fantasy with their mystery, we have a review and ebook giveaway of "Of Blood and Fire" by Keri Arthur https://www.krlnews.com/2026/02/of-blood-and-fire-drakkon-kin-trilogy.html
Happy reading,
Lorie
Guest Post: Excerpt from Ruth Snyder: The Real-Life Murderess Inspiring The Modern Femme Fatale by Justin L. Murphy
Please welcome author Justin L. Murphy to the blog today
as he shares an excerpt from his new book, Ruth Snyder: The Real-Life
Murderess Inspiring The Modern Femme Fatale.
Introduction
One Christmas, I received a collection entitled The
Four Novels of James M. Cain. It was an out-of-print item released in 1988,
purchased on Amazon, and consisted of the author’s classic works. Among them
were The Postman Always Rings Twice, Mildred Pierce, Double Indemnity, and
Serenade. I’ve also watched the film Body Heat, starring William Hurt and
Kathleen Turner, a few times.
A few nights after I watched the film again, I also
saw the 1946 adaptation of The Postman Always Rings Twice. When I earlier read
the novel, I felt Frank Chambers was an asshole for wanting Cora Papadakis to
take the rap for the murder of her husband, Nick. I noticed how much the story
resembled Body Heat. Both depicted a married woman and her male lover plotting
to kill her much older husband.
I dug around online to find any connections, and not
only were The Postman Always Rings Twice and Double Indemnity written by Cain,
but they were also based on the same real-life murder. In 1927, Ruth Snyder and
her lover, Henry Judd Gray, murdered her much older husband, Albert. These two
were executed at Sing Sing Prison in Ossining, New York. For almost a century,
this event and its participants affected the culture and helped shape true
crime and tabloid fodder in the modern era. It also helped form the hardboiled
crime genre and defined its visual counterpart, film noir.
My aim with this book is to examine the case, its
cultural influence, and the real-life family members it affected, despite their
choices to remain silent. I hope those who read this come away with a better
understanding of why Ruth Snyder and Henry Judd Gray committed this horrible
act and what drove them to murder her husband, Albert. Above all, learn and
examine the traces they leave behind, even a century later.
Regards,
Justin L. Murphy
A Writer Who Remains Curious
Chapter 1
The Art Editor and Telephone Operator First Meet
“Please excuse me.”
May Ruth Brown in the first conversation between her
and her future husband, Albert Schneider.
Albert Edward Schneider was born in Brooklyn, Kings
County, New York, on October 11, 1882, and was described as very intelligent
with a passion for sports and the outdoors. One of six siblings, he maintained
a close relationship with his mother, Mary Elizabeth Mealio Schneider, to the
point that he painted and papered her walls. The man often tanned as an adult
from hours of boating and fishing, which resulted from his love of the sea and
the wind blowing in his curly hair. He was also interested in bowling and
served as the art editor of Motor Boating Magazine, owned by William Randolph
Hearst.
He fell in love with and became engaged to Jessie
Guishard, even considering her the finest woman he ever met, but she contracted
pneumonia before they could marry. She passed away on November 21, 1912, and
Albert never got over her death. While working one day, he was irritated with a
telephone operator who wanted to call a manufacturer to ease the situation. He
spewed a great deal of harsh language at her expense, but soon regretted his
behavior and apologized in person within a few hours. It was love at first
sight between him and May Ruth Brown, the blonde-haired and blue-eyed
nineteen-year-old everyone called "Brownie.” She was born on 125th Street
in Manhattan on March 27, 1895. This woman quit school in the eighth grade, but
attended night classes in shorthand, typing, and stenography. Soon, he visited
her at work regularly. Albert offered her a reader and copyist job at his
magazine; two weeks later, she jumped at the chance. It paid better, and Ruth
quit the New York Telephone Company after two years.
They dated often, as Albert wanted to get her in bed,
but premarital sex was looked down upon in the 1920s. Ruth was the daughter of
old-fashioned Scandinavian parents, Harry Sorenson of Norway and Josephine I.
Anderson of Sweden, and hoped to remain a virgin until the night she married.
He proposed, and Ruth accepted. Her European heritage was ironic, as there were
claims she wanted Albert to Americanize his name to “Snyder,” as “Schneider”
sounded too German. Her father was a sailor who became a carpenter and changed
his name to Brown for similar reasons. Other sources disputed that Albert did
this of his own free will, and his application for military service in World
War I also listed his last name as Snyder a decade earlier.
She longed for the finer things in life, a contrast to
her frugal upbringing with her parents and a brother, Andrew, born on October
17, 1889, in Norway. During her childhood, several items she wanted couldn't be
afforded. A blonde-haired doll, a Shetland pony, a wristwatch, a white bedroom
set, or a party dress. Ruth passed by the storefront window to see the doll
each day and was upset when someone else bought it. Her parents also couldn't
afford to take in plays at the theater.
However, Harry and Josephine Brown spent money on
Ruth's medical procedures since she had seizures due to epilepsy. The
six-year-old girl underwent intestinal surgery before her appendix was removed
a few years later, and the botched operation left her with internal issues. Her
family attended the Methodist Episcopal Church, and she was raised to pray each
night before bed, but her faith wasn't strong. The girl even questioned the
existence of God. She also had no high academic achievements in school or career
goals.
Ruth desired marriage and got it with Albert. She was
a housewife who cleaned, sewed, and cooked. Her wish was that he would provide
“the good life,” not the humdrum existence of her immigrant parents. After they
married in 1915, she realized she and her husband were two different people. He
was introverted, deaf in one ear, and preferred conversations about artwork and
books. He wanted to sit back and smoke a pipe while in a smoking jacket and
slippers. She desired to socialize, play bridge, flirt, and dance at
speakeasies like the flappers who emerged during the Jazz Age. The extrovert
also never took to his main passions, sailing and hiking, but instead wanted to
see movies.
Not only did his in-depth conversations bore her, but
Albert compared Ruth to his dead love each time she turned around. He sported a
necktie pin with the initials J.G., named his sailboat “the Jessie G.,"
and had an entire photo album featuring pictures of the beloved he lost on
vacations they took. He topped this off by hanging her portrait in the living
room. She was angry and took it down. This led to many arguments between the
couple as he wanted it back up. At her insistence, his boat was renamed
"Ruth.”
Ruth soon learned she was pregnant, although Albert
didn't want to be a father. He was even more upset that it was a daughter.
Lorraine Snyder was born on November 15, 1917. This further drove a wedge
between them, as she became a devoted mother while Albert grumbled at the sound
of a baby's cry early in the morning. He also detested the smells of diapers
and how she ruined her body after childbirth, though some claim she agreed with
him on that matter.
As things progressed, he spent more time on his boat
or tinkering with his Buick while Ruth tended to the child. He allowed her to
spend eighty-five dollars of his paycheck, one hundred and fifteen dollars a
week, to teach her how to pay their bills and save money, but she blew every
penny. By some accounts, he subjected them to emotional and physical abuse if
she didn’t keep house the way he wanted.
The couple moved to an apartment in Brooklyn and then
a larger one in the Bronx after Lorraine was born. Once Albert got a promotion
at Motor Boating Magazine, they settled into a muted pink two-and-a-half-story
house with green trim in the Queen's Village section of Queens in 1923. A
driveway to its right led to a rear garage, not far from a birdfeeder made from
a saucepan and a pole. Five-year-old Lorraine often filled the pan and awaited
them. Sure enough, Jessie Guishard's portrait was installed in the new living
room. While Ruth sewed curtains, slipcovers, and clothes for herself and
Lorraine, her mother Josephine soon moved in to care for the grandchild.
This at last enabled her free-spirited daughter to
party, dance, and drink. She even earned the nickname, “Gay Tommie.” Friends
often said, "Ruth’s a lot of fun; let’s have her over, but Albert’s kind
of a stick.” She lunched on a smorgasbord buffet with a girlfriend at the
Swedish restaurant Henry's in 1925 when the thirty-two-year-old wife and mother
met a Corset and brassiere salesman named Henry Judd Gray, who wore glasses and
sported a chin cleft. Concerned about her weight since having a child, she asked
for his help, and fell in love on their second meeting. A phrase he used to
entice buyers in upstate department stores was, “Here’s a new line of bandeaux
we’re putting out.”
Born in Cortland, New York, on July 8, 1892, the
beloved son of Charles Beach and Margaret Ursula Carr Gray, he had an older
sister, also named Margaret. Like Albert Snyder, he bonded with his mother and
loved sports, like tennis and football. Like Ruth, his family was religious and
attended church, but cared little for education. Judd, as he preferred to be
called, left high school after two years thanks to a bout with pneumonia, while
some claimed he graduated. He worked with his father at a jewelry store, but he
soon found employment with the Ben Jolie Corset Company. A great guy who played
golf and bridge, and motorboated, also much like Ruth and Albert. He also loved
to drive his prized vehicle, served as a Red Cross volunteer during World War
I, and belonged to the Orange Lodge of Elks, as well as the Corset Salesmen of
the Empire Club.
He married his wife, Isabel Kallenbach, a shy woman
who stayed at home, after they had dated for several years when he was
twenty-two, and she was twenty-one. Many of his co-workers had no idea he was
married to her. Ironically enough, they wed in 1915, the same year as Albert
and Ruth Snyder. They attended a First Methodist Church, but some contended he
was Episcopalian, not too different from his secret lover and her parents. The
corset salesman was also involved in their Sunday school, and they resided in
East Orange, New Jersey. The two couples even had daughters at almost the same
age. Judd and Isabel's child, Jane, was born on August 25, 1916, in Albert's
birthplace of Brooklyn, Kings County, New York.
Justin L. Murphy ©2026
Justin L. Murphy has self-published numerous works of fiction and non-fiction through Amazon Kindle and Audible. His book Gene L. Coon: The Unsung Hero of Star Trek has been featured at events in Coon’s birthplace of Beatrice, Nebraska. Other books he has written and released include Jack Kirby: The Unsung Hero of Marvel, The Original Night Stalker: Portrait of A Killer, and Joseph James DeAngelo: His Reign of Terror Is Over. He enjoys Photography and sells his work through Adobe Stock and enters his photos in contests through Gurushots. He travels to Florida campgrounds with his mother and brother.
Saturday, February 21, 2026
SleuthSayers: February Stories
SleuthSayers: February Stories: As all short-story writers know (and if they don't, they soon learn), the stories you write and sell can then take quite a while to get ...
Bookblog of the Bristol Library: The Brownout Murders by Luke C. Jackson and Kelly Jackson, illustrated by Maya Graham
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Friday, February 20, 2026
In Reference to Murder: Friday's "Forgotten" Books: A Bleeding of the Innocents
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Jerry's House of Everything: FORGOTTEN BOOK: THE MOUSE ON THE MOON
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Thursday, February 19, 2026
Mystery Fanfare: LA TIMES BOOK PRIZES: Finalists -- Mystery/Thriller and more!
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Bookblog of the Bristol Library: Nevermore: Evan Warlow, Key Trilogy, Theo of Golden
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Thursday Treats: 2/19/2026
Welcome back to “Thursday Treats.” Thank you to everyone who commented here and elsewhere in support. Often times, it feels like anything I do does not matter. The support means a lot. So, thank you.
Enough jibber-jabber from me. On to the news….
The free to read e-zine, Yellow Mama,
has been updated with issue #114. It includes works by Pam Ebel, Shari Held, Joan
Leotta, J. M. Taylor, Ed Teja, John A. Tures, and Elizabeth Zelvin. The newly
redesigned website has a new look as well. You can read the issue for free at
their website. And, if you are on Facebook,
follow their Facebook page.
Frank Vatel’s short story, The Macaw, appears online at Revolution John. You can read it for free at the website.
Kings River Life Magazine publishes a lot of free to read short stories. Last weekend, Just Desserts, by Gregory Meece went up. It features the Summer Olympics and is a mystery. You can read it on the website for free.
Also, last weekend, the new issue of Black
Cat Weekly dropped. John M. Floyd’s short story, Mutiny in the County, is
featured on the cover of Issue 233. You can get the issue at the website.
M. E. Proctor, who has been a guest before on this blog and always has stuff coming out, has a tale in the inaugural issue of Dog Named Dog Press Quarterly Review. With her story, The Museum Girl, she joins a slew of authors in DNDP Quarterly: Issue 01. You can get the paperback issue on Amazon.
Scott McKinnon announced that his tale, Hard Luck Penny, appears at The Yard: Crime Blog. You can read it for free here. After you do that, poke around the site for awhile and check out the other crime fiction reads. Year after year, they do good work.
I mentioned before that John A. Tures
has a story up at the new issue of Yellow Mama. His story, The Detainees,
appears online at Suddenly… And Without Warning. You can read it for free here.
Gary Phillips announced that his short story, The Man With the Golden Racket, appears in the recently released anthology, Tennis Noir: Crime Fiction Anthology. Published by Level Short, an imprint of Level Best Books, this appears to be the first book in a line of “Sports Noir” reads based on the Amazon listing for the book.
By the way, two other short stories in the book have been reviewed by Robert Lopresti at his Little Big Crimes blog in recent weeks. "The Summer Tournament," by Jason Starr was reviewed here and "The Right to Lose" by Wil Medearis was reviewed here.
Until next time….
Kevin R. Tipple ©2026
Wednesday, February 18, 2026
Mystery Fanfare: The Professor and the Prisoner: Guest Post by Andrew McAleer
Mystery Fanfare: The Professor and the Prisoner: Guest Post by Andr...: In the 1960s, Edgar winner John McAleer d idn’t spend his days in a maximum-security prison brooding. Instead, he masterminded a brilliant e...
Beneath the Stains of Time: Time Wants a Skeleton: C.M.B. vol. 9-10 by Motohiro Katou
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SleuthSayers: Pyramid Schemes
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Jerry's House of Everything: SHORT STORY WEDNESDAY: KID CARDULA
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Tuesday, February 17, 2026
Mystery Fanfare: CHINESE NEW YEAR MYSTERIES: Year of the Horse
Mystery Fanfare: CHINESE NEW YEAR MYSTERIES: Year of the Horse: 恭賀發財 Gung Hay Fat Choy! This is the Year of the Horse. To celebrate the Chinese New Year , I've updated my list of mysteries that take ...
SleuthSayers: Red Herrings Can Still Stink
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Jerry's House of Everything: ALFRED HITCHCOCK PRESENTS: BAD ACTOR (JANUARY 9, 1962)
Jerry's House of Everything: ALFRED HITCHCOCK PRESENTS: BAD ACTOR (JANUARY 9,...: We lost one of America's greatest actors this week. Even before his noted portrayal of Boo Radley in his first film, To Kill a Mocking...
Review: Diversion: A Probation Case Files Mystery by Cindy Goyette
Diversion: A Probation Case Files
Mystery
is the third book in the highly enjoyable series that began with Obey
All Laws. While you could start here, it would be best to read that
book and the second one, Early
Termination,
before embarking on this read. There are backstory and character development
aspects in this read that build on storylines of the previous books.
Pulled from very boring mandatory staff
training, Phoenix probation officer Casey Carson teams up with Betz, her
ex-husband and cop, to pay a visit to one Martin Phills as the read begins. He
is a murder suspect and hasn’t been on parole supervision long. Her plan is to tell
him she needs to conduct the usual home visit. Her home is that with his guard down,
Betz and his partner, Anita Moody can get the double murder suspect in custody
before he knows what hit him.
For Casey Carson, it is her last day
before she takes a vacation. Not that her time off is really going to be that
relaxing or even a vacation. She is going to go on a diversion program to
support her sister, Hope, on her new job. (What happened is just one of several
reasons to read the earlier books, so I am not telling you why.) the program is
aimed to help kids with issues better ways of getting high on life instead of
drugs and alcohol. They will be hiking in the mountains around Flagstaff and on
their own.
Because Martin Phillips is very much
armed at the time of custody, as well as his violently resisting arrest, it
should be easy to keep him in custody, regardless of how the murder
investigation pans out. She can go on vacation secure in the knowledge that everything
is handled.
It does not take long for everything on
the diversion program vacation has gone wrong in every way possible. Casey Carson,
Hope, and others face a lack of supplies, an out-of-control wildfire, and,
among other issues, a killer who wants what he wants and is stalking one of
them order to get it.
An interesting and fast-moving read, Diversion:
A Probation Case Files Mystery by Cindy Goyette is also a mighty good
book and well worth your time. This read is published by Level Best Books, as
are the earlier installments of the series.
Amazon Associate Purchase Link: ????????? The publisher still does not have this up at Amazon.
My digital ARC came by way of the author
with no expectation of a review.
Kevin R. Tipple ©2026
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