Tag: mystery
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Helen Baxendale in Poirot, Marple, and P.D. James
Most non-UK viewers likely remember actor Helen Baxendale from her unfortunate role as Emily, the Englishwoman so unsuitably affianced to the appallingly selfish and immature Ross in Friends. David Schwimmer is a terrific actor, and I enjoy his portrayal of the worst person in the series: an academic who dates his student (oof–well past the…
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When Authors Tire of Their Characters (But Can’t Just Kill Them Off)
Holmes and Moriarty, 1893 illustration by Harry C. Edwards in McClure’s I’ve been enjoying Jeremy Brett as Sherlock Holmes in “The Final Problem.” That’s the one, you’ll recall, based on the famous story where Holmes is tossed over Switzerland’s Reichanbach Falls by Moriarty, his arch-nemesis. Watson is left to re-trace his steps and mourn his…
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Nancy Drew Enters the Public Domain
Ninety-five years after their original publication, the first four Nancy Drew novels (all published in 1930) have just entered the public domain in the United States. Without having glanced at them in more than four decades, I can still picture all of the covers and conjure up some plot details from The Secret of the…
