The Big Sleep is a crime novel from the iconic Raymond Chandler and was first published in 1939. It also introduced LA private detective Philip Marlowe to the literary landscape. A very successful film with Humphrey Bogart was released a few years later. This particular novel is considered the the crème de la crème of hard boiled detective fiction. Now that I read the novel, there is not much I can say to dispute that designation.

Philip Marlowe is a private eye barely scraping by the streets of the City of Angels. He is invited to meet with an elderly millionaire concerning an attempt to blackmail him due to a daughter’s indiscretion. Marlowe learns that the two daughters have some dangerous secrets. He also learns of a husband who has gone missing and a book dealer who is less than scrupulous. There are plenty of deadly dames, gangsters, and murder awaiting Marlowe’s pursuit.

Marlowe probably was a more intriguing character at the time of his inception. Chandler was a pretty straight down the middle kind of writer as far as prose, but he does know how to make compelling characters. I was already pretty familiar with the story have read many authors who sort of used Marlowe as a template. There are a few times that Chandler seems to take his time moving the story along, but the whole thing still works. Marlowe is a complicated protagonist with a strict code of ethics in some ways and still willing to bend a few societal rules. The story also does reflect the messiness of some life situations and not everything is resolved as neatly as some would expect or prefer.

And the improvised 2022 reading journey continues on with Christopher L Bennett’s Star Trek novel entitled Living Memory.

The First Doctor Adventures Volume Two contains two audio adventures from Big Finish Productions and stars David Bradley as the First Doctor, who was of course originated by the late William Hartnell. Bradley is joined by Claudia Grant, Jemma Powell, and Jamie Glover, who take on the roles of Susan, Barbara, and Ian, respectively. This was the cast of the docudrama that aired a few years ago entitled An Adventure In Time And Space. The set was directed by Big Finish stalwart Nicholas Briggs. Fans of the early years of Doctor Who are getting new stories with a new cast that resurrects the style of the early years of the series.

John Dorney starts this set off with The Invention of Death, which has Tracy Wiles and Michelle Morris making up the guest cast. The Doctor and his friends find a civilization that has no death. Not long after their arrival, one of the Ashtallahan citizens suddenly dies rather mysteriously. This story explores the notion of how death can be a motivator for societies to procreate and to create. Dorney creates a society with an androgynous species and who may be the most innocent of people ever encountered by the Doctor and his friends. Although it was unintentional, the TARDIS crew has apparently brought a corruption to this pleasant environment.

This took me a little while to find interesting, but that’s not unusual for the recreation of this particular era. David Bradley still manages to capture the spirt of Hartnell’s performance without an outright impersonation. Although there is an evil that must be confronted, there seems to not be an outright villain, which makes for a more interesting story. I don’t want to suggest that we make more stories without an evil mastermind lurking in the shadows, but I enjoy the complexity of not having one of these characters at times. That does tend lead to more scenes of philosophizing that could bog down the action. Dorney seems to navigate this well enough though. The post production is, of course, quite convincing. I rather enjoyed this story.

Unfortunately, I was a little less enthralled with Andrew Smith’s The Barbarians and the Samurai, which takes place in 19th century Japan, during the time when that nation was much more isolated from the rest of the globe. It actually is a rather interesting historical time, and I should perhaps read up more on Japan’s decision to be more secluded during that time. This one has a much larger guest cast that includes Dan Li, Andrew Wincott, Susan Hingley, and Christopher Naylor. The casting director has managed to find some Japanese actors for this, which does lend some authenticity to the play. I know most of the names I mentioned are English, but there the Japanese were actually represented quite nicely here. Well, I guess I can go ahead and mention Sadao Ueda and Jozef Aoki who do round out the guest cast. I am not usually too particular about who plays what on audio, but I do appreciate Big Finish’s efforts to match a performer’s ethnicity to the role when it matters. Since the story does take place in Japan, I rather think that matters here. From what I understand, the Japanese actors did give Smith credit for the historical accuracy.

Unfortunately, in spite of the of the intrigue of samurais and so forth, I had some trouble appreciating the pace of this story overall. It may just require another listen with closer attention, but there were just a few too many moments that dragged for me. The post production work was great, but I was not all that clear on what was going on during some of the action sequences, which is a common problem on audio plays of this sort. The cast performed well, as expected with Big Finish. Smith is a long-time writer for Doctor Who, going all the way back to the classic television series, but I felt this was a bit of a misfire for him. Like any writer, Smith deserves the opportunity to stretch and try new things in the series. He is not without some interesting ideas, and I have found plenty to admire in this contribution to the series overall. This particular story just didn’t hit the mark for me, but I still look forward to his continued participation in Big Finish.

I had a somewhat mixed reaction to this set overall, but I am getting used to Bradley’s interpretation of this Doctor. Even if I sometimes was a little exasperated with the Hartnell era, I am very glad that it is still being represented in some way with Big Finish. Hartnell’s performance still started the whole journey, and his Doctor is one for which I have developed an affection in spite of the fluffed lines and odd chuckling.

The Best American Mystery and Suspense 2021 is a collection of short stories that caught the attention of Alafair Burke this past year. These stories appear in various publications and are collected in one volume. This apparently is quite an annual literary event.

So there are thirty stories here, so I will not make the attempt to break down each story. I will say that there are a few special ones that caught my attention. It starts off with Jenny Rhatt’s Return to India. Nikki Dolson’s Neighbors, Gar Anthony Haywood’s With Footnotes and References, and Wings Beating by Eliot Schrefer are three contenders for my favorite.

The collection is a great concept. The stories feature a variety of characters in a wide range of desperate circumstances. I think it will be interesting to peruse the selections each year. Of course, not every story captured my imagination equally. Burke does seem to have good taste in crime fiction overall. Of course, there is an attempt to diversify the ethnicity and background of writers and characters, but it seems to work well enough here.

Even if every story is the attention grabber, there is plenty of surprise to enjoy. It’s not a bad effort to celebrate short story writers.

Next up, I have seen the old movie with Bogart, so it’s time to read the novel. Philip Marlowe is doing his best to avoid The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler.

In the Electric Mist is a mystery film that was released in 2009. Tommy Lee Jones leads the way here as Sheriff Detective Dave Robicheaux. It is based on a novel by James Lee Burke with a screenplay written by Jerzy Kromolowski and Mary Olson-Kromolowski. Bertrand Tavernier serves as director. The cast includes John Goodman, Peter Sarsgaard, Mary Steenburgen, Ned Beatty, Justina Machado, and Pruitt Taylor Vince.

Dave Robicheaux is an investigator for the Iberia Parrish in Louisiana who learns of young prostitutes disappearing and then being found murdered. He also is haunted by memories of a murder of a young black man he witnessed as a child. Another decayed corpse is found that brings Robicheaux back to that rather unpleasant memory. He also has a reluctant encounter with a drunk Hollywood director and his actress girlfriend. Robicheaux finds his investigation somewhat hampered by these two Hollywood elites, however as a recovering alcoholic himself, he can’t quite leave the director to his own devices. There are former friends who are now enemies in the mix. There are mobsters lurking in the bayous. Not to mention, this all takes place in Louisiana, so the heat and stifling humidity isn’t likely to improve Robicheaux’s mood. One other interesting turn of events is that Robicheaux is having some conversations with a long dead Confederate general. A bit of a strange ghost story is added in here.

Yes, this all seems quite confusing and actually kind of is. Jones does manage to display his usual compelling presence. Robicheaux is a sharp and determined cop, but he gets a bit ruthless in this one. Goodman is also quite good as some sort of crime lord known as Baby Feet. Yeah, there are all kinds of peculiar monikers throughout this film.

It’s a decent enough movie, but there are times it seems a little muddled. I was not clear on the connection between the dead prostitutes and this forty year old murder witnessed by Robicheaux when he was a young lad. I might have to just read the book one day.

Probably mostly due to Tommy Lee’s presence, the film manages to be somewhat engaging, but it isn’t without its rough spots. I guess it leaves me with a mixed reaction with a leaning toward liking it for the most part.

The Lost Resort and Other Stories is a Doctor Who audio boxset released by Big Finish Productions and stars Peter Davison as the Doctor. He is joined in the TARDIS by Janet Fielding, Sarah Sutton, and George Watkins. Scott Handcock and Samuel Clemens share the director’s seat. There are three stories in this set. The Doctor, Tegan , and Nyssa are joined by the former Roman slave who has been partially converted in a Cybermen, known as Marc. Marc is of course an original creation of Big Finish.

AK Benedict wrote The Lost Resort, which has the TARDIS crew on a planetoid which contains a sanitarium with unusual temporal activity. The patients are little more than shadows, and a lost friend makes a sudden reappearance. The Doctor finds himself in a situation which will force him to make a heart wrenching choice.

This is a pretty decent story. The Doctor has to make amends with his companions after abandoning them temporarily. It took a bit for me to understand what was going on. The cast seem to take on this story with accustomed enthusiasm. I sort of like this Doctor having to face some emotional consequences of some of his recent antics. Not everyone is as alive as they appear, and that sort of appeals to my sense of the macabre. This is likely the best in the set.

Time for a bit of American history in Sarah Ward’s The Perils of Nellie Bly. Nellie Bly was one of a few female journalists in the nineteenth century. She was best known for an exposure of the mistreatment of mental patients at that time and for an effort to beat the record of fictional character Phileas Fogg in his efforts to travel the world. The TARDIS lands on the RMS Oceanic where Nellie Bly is expecting to complete her journey, but a saboteur is nearby. The Doctor and his companions are enmeshed in another situation where they have to preserve the flow of history.

I do appreciate an introduction to a historical figure that seems little known these days. Sydney Feder does well in the title role. This episode seemed a bit bland overall though. The stakes were not all that compelling. The performances are fine, as expected. This just wasn’t the most memorable of episodes this time. I could probably find something a bit more to appreciate about it once I replay it, but I’m not holding my breath.

Martin Waites closes this set with Nightmare of the Daleks. Nicholas Briggs is once again shouting into the voice modulator as the Daleks are now invading dreams. This time, not everyone makes it back to the TARDIS.

This was better than the second story, but upon further reflection, Benedict takes the Kanelis Appreciation Award.

Overall, this whole collection is worth getting. Even Nellie Bly has some merit even if it wasn’t a personal favorite. Davison doesn’t quite sound like he did on the television program forty years ago, but he is still the Fifth Doctor. I wouldn’t mind if the writers would tone Tegan down just a little bit. I think I liked her more in the television series than what Big Finish writers do with her at times. That’s very unusual since I think most of the other characters benefitted from the attentions of Big Finish. Still, Janet Fielding is an important part of the Fifth Doctor era, and I certainly don’t want her to stop participating. Sarah Sutton continues to impress with how little her voice has changed in almost four decades though. She keeps Nyssa very recognizable on audio. I am not sure that the character of Marc was written all that well. It is vey easy to forget that he is from Ancient Rome. His speech seems a little too modern for me to buy into his background. Watkins is the nephew of Peter Davison and is talented enough as an actor, but I am not sure Marc was written all that convincingly.

As mentioned before, I still found plenty to appreciate. Doctor Who is a very flawed, muddled series in a lot of ways, but the overall journey still brings some joy and fires up the imagination. This particular collection certainly continues in that vein.

The Sign of Four was the second novel to feature Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes and has been adapted to the screen a few times. I recently watched the version that first premiered in 1983 and starred Ian Richardson as Holmes with David Healy taking on the role of Dr. Watson. Desmond Davis directed this version in which the screenplay was written by Charles Edward Pogue. Cheri Lungh, Thorley Walters, Richard Heffer, and Clive Merrison are included in the cast.

A young woman arrives on the doorstep of 221 B Baker Street and explains that she is about the learn the fate of her long lost father. She explains that for many years, a valuable pearl would appear from an unknown benefactor. Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson are asked to accompany her to this unusual meeting. They soon learn of a lost treasure, and it seems they have murderous competition in their search for answers. Holmes has to rely on a dog and the Baker Street Irregulars to find the scent that will lead him to his most unusual adversaries.

This is one of my favorite Sherlock Holmes stories, but this is not my favorite adaptation. Richardson does fairly well as Holmes, but there was nothing especially notable in his presentation. I found the viewing experience to be rather bland. Healy’s version of Watson is about as equally forgettable. Richardson did look close to how Holmes was often described in the original works. I suppose that’s something.

No one was notably wretched in their performance, but there was not anyone who stood out. It’s hard to overshadow a character like Sherlock Holmes, but Richardson should have stood out more. This version was a basic letdown and not worthy of much more comment.

All Flesh Is Grass is a Doctor Who novel written by Una McCormack and is part of the saga entitled Time Lord Victorious. Yes, three Doctors come together to face the Daleks and Vampires during the Dark Times before the existence of the Time Lords.

The Tenth Doctor is about to eradicate Death from the cosmos and alter the universe’s history irreparably. Two of his previous incarnations have shown up to stop him. The Ninth Doctor has joined the ancient enemies of the Time Lords, the Vampires. The Eighth Doctor is the company of Daleks. The Tenth Doctor is about to break all of the rules to spare the universe chaos and death. As well meaning as that sounds, that could bring catastrophic consequences that even the Time Lord Victorious may not anticipate.

This is a rather interesting idea bringing together Doctors Eight, Nine, and Ten. McCormack is a prolific and competent writer. Brian, the Ood assassin, lends a hand. There are some space battles with Daleks as psychotic as ever. The Doctor even goes off the deep end for a while. The interaction between the Doctors is fairly entertaining and profound. This is a somewhat confusing entry because I am missing out on some of the other installments of this series. It had enough tension and action to keep me engaged.

Next up, I will be seeing if I agree with Alafair Burke in her selection of short stories as The Best American Mystery and Suspense 2021.

Memory Wall is a collection of stories by Anthony Doerr. It was first published in 2010. Various characters try to find ways to preserve memories.

I would often go through each story in an anthology if there is under half a dozen, but there are too many for me to be interested in attempting that. Also, I had a very hard time staying interested in any of the stories. That is more likely due to this not being my genre of preference. I can appreciate that Doerr likely has his fans. He has won some literary awards, so he likely has some talent. He also does not appear to have much trouble getting published.

Anyway, this attempt to expand my literary horizons was a bit of a bust, however I will continue the endeavor. I will suggest that Doerr likely will appeal to someone who appreciates a more sentimental and thoughtful type of tale, and he has solid credentials, so I will not discourage anyone from checking him out. My reservations have more to do with my own tastes than with any lack of ability on his part.

So I step back into more familiar territory a Doctor Who novel entitled All Flesh is Grass by Una McCormack, which is part of the Time Lord Victorious series.

Serpentine is the latest novel from Jonathan Kellerman to feature his best known protagonist, Dr. Alex Delaware. Detective Milo Sturgis will sometimes call in his best friend, Dr. Delaware to consult on his more unusual cases. of course, it looks like Sturgis is always needing Delaware’s guidance since that is the series focus. As readers, we are assured that Sturgis really does solve cases on his own. Anyway, I digress.

Sturgis is tasked with looking into a murder that occurred over thirty-five years over due to a wealthy socialite wanting some answers surrounding her mother’s demise. Milo isn’t that hopeful of a solution, however he notices some irregularities in the previous investigations. Milo and Delaware are somewhat surprised that they are starting to make some headway on piecing together what may have happened over three decades ago. They also find that someone is also very active in trying to misdirect them.

Kellerman has written too many books in this series to be that surprising, but he is still reliably diverting. The gimmick of a cold case being introduced is used well here. Sturgis and Delaware run into the usual sort of suspects that tend crop up the other books. It was fun to revisit these characters, however there is not much to make this particular addition to the series to stand out.

Time to take a break from crime fiction and indulge in an anthology written by Anthony Doerr. Memory Wall is the next one to pass under the reading lamp.

Dalek Universe 1 is a Doctor Who audio boxset starring David Tennant. It is a recent Big Finish Productions set directed by Ken Bentley. Tennant is joined by Jane Slavin and Joe Sims as Space Security Agents Anya Kingdom and Mark Seven. The Doctor has encountered them before in a previous incarnation. This time, they join him in a saga involving the Daleks. This set has three episodes.

John Dorney kicks off this set with Buying Time that contains a guest cast Gemma Whelan, Mark Gatiss, Juliet Aubrey, and Chris Jarman. Agent Anya Kingdom finds a crashed spaceship on a jungle planet. She meets up with a ruthless businesswoman and an android colleague. She also finds a displaced Time Lord. Predators are closing in, and the Doctor is without his TARDIS. The Doctor also may find his life ending earlier than he realizes. It’s not a bad start, but Dorney is one of the more reliable writers at Big Finish. Tennant returns with his usual energetic presence. Slavin and Sims also work well with this Doctor, but most everyone at Big Finish knows how to play well with others.

Dorney also introduces The Wrong Woman with a surprise regeneration. I was not sure I was going to appreciate this one with another surprise version of the Doctor, but it turns out to there is quite a clever twist going on here. This one turned out to be pretty entertaining and intriguing.

Andrew Smith wraps up the set with The House of Kingdom. Kevin McNally, Maria Teresa Creasey, and Nicholas Briggs comprise the guest cast here. Anya has a very uncomfortable reunion with her grandfather. The audience gets t find out a little more about her. The Mechanoids are also around as well. An attack on a space station around Neptune interrupts any possible reconciliation between the Kingdoms. Of course, a dangerous contagion can interrupt the lives of the Doctor and his companions. It was a good wrap on a promising new saga.

There is more to come with the Doctor lost during the Time War. I am in for the remainder of that ride unsurprisingly.