Noirish Posted by John Grant on April 15, 2019

I try to make a point in my leisure reading of being haphazard: I pick up each new book as I stalk the shelves or prowl the library because I fancy it <i>in that moment</i> and not because it’s part of a series I’ve enjoyed before, or leads on from...   read more

Noirish Posted by John Grant on April 15, 2019

In the area of London’s Finsbury Park locally nicknamed Crappy, TV producer Alex Mercer and his 11-year-old son Max discover their neighbor, the enigmatic Bryce, electrocuted in his bathtub, victim of an apparent suicide. That would be horrific enough, but it emerges in fairly short order tha   read more

Noirish Posted by John Grant on April 12, 2019

A slight but enjoyable novel — often surprisingly amusing — that tells, through scores of usually very short chapters, about the relationship between hospital nurse Korede and her very beautiful younger sister Ayoola. The latter brings a whole new meaning to the term “drop-dead go   read more

Noirish Posted by John Grant on April 12, 2019

Albania, US / 90 minutes / color / Bardha, “Nickname”, Filmbuff Dir: Malik Bader Pr: Ele Bardha, Nickola Shreli Scr: Nickola Shreli Cine: Christos Moisides Cast: Nickola Shreli, Stivi Paskoski, Danijela Stajnfeld, Herion Mustafaraj, Maia Noni, Christian “Trick Trick” Mathis, Ava Simony, Myles Stephe   read more

Noirish Posted by John Grant on April 11, 2019

A few days ago I was assuming that Jane Harper’s superb The Lost Man would be the benchmark against which I’d compare the rest of my reading this year, but now, so soon, it has a rival in my affections. The irony is that Johan Theorin’s The Darkest Room has...   read more

Noirish Posted by John Grant on April 10, 2019

As someone who’s derived a great deal of pleasure from Ngaio Marsh’s work over the decades, I was desperately eager to enjoy this novel. Alas, I’m having difficulty gearing myself up to be even lukewarm about it. Alleyn is stuck in a New Zealand semi-military hospital in the midst   read more

Noirish Posted by John Grant on April 10, 2019

US / 71 minutes / color / ABC Dir: Sutton Roley Pr: Stan Shpetner Scr: Anthony Lawrence Cine: James Crabe Cast: Alex Dreier, Pat Hingle, Louise Latham, Steve Ihnat, Brenda Scott, Chris Robinson, Stefanie Powers, Richard Bull, Mark Tapscott, John Hillerman, William Bryant, John Alvin, Rod McCarey. T   read more

Noirish Posted by John Grant on April 7, 2019

Paris! A library! Frenchwomen! A locked-room mystery! How could there by a detective novel better designed for this particular seedy old reader? Oh, well . . . Hugo Marston is security head at the American Embassy in Paris; he also does some detectiving on the side with the friendly cooperation...   read more

Noirish Posted by John Grant on April 7, 2019

I hugely enjoyed Jane Harper’s first novel, The Dry, then enjoyed her second, Force of Nature, even more than that. I think her third, The Lost Man, somehow manages to be the best of the three. I’m awestruck by the talents of this UK/Australian author. The setting is the Australian...   read more

Noirish Posted by John Grant on April 7, 2019

I bought this book ten or fifteen years ago at a yard sale, a dime or so’s investment that I joyously thought would repay itself many times over through pissing off just about everyone I knew and held dear. Of course, it was only when I got my purchase home...   read more

Noirish Posted by John Grant on April 7, 2019

During my sojourn in the hospital I did at least manage to get a fair amount of reading done in between the delights of having needles, scalpels and bits of beeping hi tech poked into crannies I’d never before realized I possessed. The next few posts contain my brief notes...   read more

Noirish Posted by John Grant on April 7, 2019

I rather enjoy Lawrence Goldstone’s history-of-science mystery/thrillers, of which this is the third and (to date) last; the other two are The Anatomy of Deception (2008) and The Astronomer (2010). Clearly it’s incumbent upon Goldstone to write a few more of them, pronto. New York,   read more

Noirish Posted by John Grant on April 6, 2019

US / 99 minutes / color / Patriot, Saturn, FilmRise, Hannibal Dir: Johnny Martin Pr: Michael Mendelsohn, Nicolas Cage Scr: John Mankiewicz Story: Rape: A Love Story (2003) by Joyce Carol Oates Cine: David Stragmeister Cast: Nicolas Cage, Anna Hutchison, Talitha Bateman, Deborah Kara Unger, Don Johns   read more

Noirish Posted by John Grant on April 5, 2019

Some may have noticed that things have been a tad quiet around Chateau Noirish recently. The movie posts have been appearing (they’re currently lined up ready to post themselves until the middle of July), but I haven’t been replying to comments, posting book notes, etc. On the Monday of   read more

Noirish Posted by John Grant on April 3, 2019

US / 105 minutes / color / International Film Investors, Sham, Connelly, AVCO Embassy Dir: Ronald Neame Pr: Edie Landau, Ely Landau Scr: Brian Garfield, Bryan Forbes Story: Hopscotch (1975) by Brian Garfield Cine: Arthur Ibbetson Cast: Walter Matthau, Glenda Jackson, Sam Waterston, Herbert Lom, Ned   read more

Noirish Posted by John Grant on March 30, 2019

US / 60 minutes / bw / Republic Dir: George Blair Assoc Pr: William Lackey Scr: Gertrude Walker Story: Beth Brown, Gertrude Walker Cine: John MacBurnie Cast: Richard Denning, Audrey Long, John Eldredge, Hillary Brooke, Reed Hadley, Jonathan Hale, Roy Barcroft, Wilson Wood, William Tannen, Phillip Pi   read more

Noirish Posted by John Grant on March 27, 2019

Alice Thrift, intern at a major Boston hospital, is almost totally lacking in social skills — which means her bedside manner is appalling and she earns enemies easily. Her inability to read other people has the further consequence that she’s completely vulnerable to the smart-talking at   read more

Noirish Posted by John Grant on March 27, 2019

UK / 27 minutes / color / Eyeline, Scotia–Barber Dir: Gerry O’Hara Pr: Julian Holloway Scr: Julian Holloway, Gerry O’Hara Cine: Dudley Lovell Cast: Dorothy Tutin, Tom Bell, Ann Lynn, Vladek Sheybal, Freda Bamford, Glenna Forster Jones, Janet Waldron, Charmian Clarke, Julian Holloway, Bunny May, Shau   read more

Noirish Posted by John Grant on March 24, 2019

An enjoyable tale told by the SecUnit (security cyborg, designed for lethal force) assigned to a prospecting expedition investigating an unexplored planet. The team discover lethal animals that weren’t included in the advance reports and then other anomalies, which they put down to the cheapn   read more

Noirish Posted by John Grant on March 24, 2019

On the face of it, this has all the elements of what should have been a thriller tailor-made for me. Unfortunately, the plotting and the telling are a bit Dan Brown so that I came away from the novel sighing about missed opportunities. History records that Einstein spent the last...   read more