Mini mystery reviews

I have read only a few mysteries recently.

Till Death Do Us Part John Dickson Carr. Is Dick Markham's fiancée Lesley Grant a serial poisoner who committed a series of locked room murders? Another man is killed in the same way ... This is one of Carr's best books, from 1944. I did not solve it, or even get very close. 5/5

Chef Maurice and a Spot Of Truffle J. Lang. A modern cozy about a chef in the Cotswolds, a trufflehunting pig, and murder. It's often pretty funny, sometimes a bit cloying, and has an okay mystery. Somewhere between 3 and 4 out of 5. Several mystery bloggers liked it a lot.

An Elderly Lady Is Up To No Good H. Tursten. Maud is pushing 90, and she eliminates some annoyances in her life, by murdering them. Five stories. Droll, but the last two linked stories are a bit of a let down. Short. 3/5

Laura Vera Caspary. The basis of the famous movie, with Clifton Webb as Waldo Lydecker, and Gene Tierney in the title role. The movie is quite faithful to the book; Lydecker is big and fat in the book, but Webb catches him perfectly. There are several narrators in the book, but Waldo is most interesting.
The movie is better, see it first, but this is well worth reading. Cheap in Kindle. 4/5

Puzzle For Fools Patrick Quentin, 1936. The first of the Peter Duluth books, set in a psychiatric ward. Some of the characteristic QPQ humor, and some nice points in the solution, but it felt artificial and contrived to me. And not enough Iris, whom I usually image as Myrna Loy. I found this the least satisfactory QPQ so far. 3/5, just barely.

There's Trouble Brewing Nicholas Blake 1937. The third Nigel Strangeways. This is so obvious from the start that it makes all the investigation and theorizing tedious. I have liked other Blake books but not this one. 1/5.

The Reader is Warned Carter Dickson 1939. Can thoughts kill? Henry Merrivale thinks not, but bodies start dropping. This is one of Carr's most complex plots, and so other aspects of the story suffer a bit. It's easy to partly solve, but the core of the solution I missed, as does nearly everyone. 4/5  if you like complex puzzles. If Agatha Raisin is more your style, pick another Carr, like The Judas Window.