Söndag morgon

I want to know how to live; and the Rev. —— only tells me that I've "got to die." I want to know how to manage with to-day; and the Rev. —— only speculates about what may or what may not be in eternity. I want to be soothed, and helped, and propped, and comforted; and the Rev. —— tries to scare me with an "angry God," and a "sure damnation." I want earnestness in the pulpit; and instead, I find the Rev. —— drawling lazily, "And the Lud Ged said unto Adam."

I want to know what the Rev. —— is talking about; instead—half of the time, I am convinced—he don't even know that himself.

       från ”Ginger-Snaps

Sunday Morning 2015

 by Ellen Dreibelbis 

Precis så här har jag tillbringat denna söndagmorgon.

Fanny Fern är alltid lika nöjsam att återvända till — men i dag nöjer jag mig med att läsa ett kort stycke, ”Sunday in the Village”

ur  hennes ”Ginger-Snaps”.

Se’n ägnar jag mig åt Cyril Hare (pseudonym för (Francis Pettigrew). Det är i det närmaste ett år sedan jag upptäckte honom — och skrev ett kort inlägg om det.

Ända sedan dess har jag tänkt titta lite närmare på hans skriveriet, men nätets utbud av böcker är stort, och andra böcker har fångat mitt intresse. Men nu har turen kommit till ”Best Detective Stories of Cyril Hare”, från 1959.

   Jag tänker att noveller kan vara lagom munsbitar så här en söndag — lagom för att ge mig ett hum om det är någon idé att hugga in på en längre bok. (Och det visar sig vara en mycket god idé).

På nätet och hittar jag den här presentationen av boken.

These thirty stories, selected and introduced by fellow crime writer and lawyer Michael Gilbert, are a terrific introduction to Cyril Hare’s inventive and clever Golden Age detective fiction, which often turns on an ingenious use of the law.

Born in 1900, Hare was a barrister and judge and only began writing at the age of thirty-six. Some of his first short stories were published in Punch and he went on to write nine novels including his most famous, Tragedy at Law.

Two of the stories in this collection feature Francis Pettigrew, a barrister and amateur detective who appeared in several of Hare’s novels and was perhaps his best-loved creation.

‘Dazzlingly ingenious.’ Sunday Times

‘Of Cyril Hare’s detective stories my only complaint is, that they are too infrequent.’ Tatler

‘A master of the short story.’ Spectator

‘Neat, taut and sufficiently dipped in irony to give a sharp tang to the quirks of love and life.’ Glasgow Herald