Brad Friedman
@ahsweetmystery.bsky.social
Blogger and lifelong student of the mystery genre, seeking fellow devotees of classic crime in literature, film, and TV. Find me at ahsweetmystery.com
Death on the Nile, the penultimate entry in our Poirot Project is a cunning murder mystery, a romantic tragedy, and an epic travelogue. It is sublime. ahsweetmystery.com/2025/11/21/t...
THE POIROT PROJECT #14: Death on the Nile
“He was her man and he did her wrong . . .” Death on the Nile is my favorite Hercule Poirot novel. I ranked Five Little Pigs higher on my Top Ten Christies list, and it deserves its place there. Bu…
ahsweetmystery.com
November 21, 2025 at 4:50 PM
Death on the Nile, the penultimate entry in our Poirot Project is a cunning murder mystery, a romantic tragedy, and an epic travelogue. It is sublime. ahsweetmystery.com/2025/11/21/t...
It's nice to revisit Anthony Boucher after many years, but maybe this one works better as a Holmesian honorific than a murder mystery. ahsweetmystery.com/2025/11/20/d...
“Double, double, Doyle and trouble” – The Case of the Baker Street Irregulars
“In a way the orange seeds helped. They were the final touch of unreality. No one could feel the actual tragedy of death in a world where people drew dancing men for murder threats and sent dried o…
ahsweetmystery.com
November 20, 2025 at 10:10 PM
It's nice to revisit Anthony Boucher after many years, but maybe this one works better as a Holmesian honorific than a murder mystery. ahsweetmystery.com/2025/11/20/d...
It's our penultimate visit to the Perry Mason Menagerie, although this time the animals are metaphorical! ahsweetmystery.com/2025/11/17/m...
MASON IN THE MONKEY HOUSE, PART II: The Case of the Mythical Monkeys
Our penultimate visit to the Mason Menagerie also completes our extended stay in the Monkey House. Except here we’ll find no gorillas, grinning or otherwise; this time, the monkeys are purely metap…
ahsweetmystery.com
November 17, 2025 at 4:45 PM
It's our penultimate visit to the Perry Mason Menagerie, although this time the animals are metaphorical! ahsweetmystery.com/2025/11/17/m...
My honkaku journey continues with Kosuke Kindaichi in a pair of shorts, and it only adds to my confusion! ahsweetmystery.com/2025/11/12/m...
MAYHEM IN MINIATURE: Murder at the Black Cat Cafe
Ten years ago, English-speaking fans of the classic Japanese mystery fiction known as honkaku and shin honkaku would have been lucky to find one newly translated novel a year to enjoy. Nowadays, th…
ahsweetmystery.com
November 12, 2025 at 3:45 PM
My honkaku journey continues with Kosuke Kindaichi in a pair of shorts, and it only adds to my confusion! ahsweetmystery.com/2025/11/12/m...
The wait is over! The time is NOW!! Sergio, Nick and Brad draft the Top 13 Films Noirs of 1955!!! ahsweetmystery.com/2025/11/10/i...
“IT’S A HARD WORLD FOR LITTLE THINGS . . . ” The 1955 Film Noir Draft
It has been months in the making: Sergio Angelini, the Noir Master and host of the noir-centered podcast Tipping My Fedora, reached back seventy years and compiled a list of thirty-s…
ahsweetmystery.com
November 10, 2025 at 5:10 PM
The wait is over! The time is NOW!! Sergio, Nick and Brad draft the Top 13 Films Noirs of 1955!!! ahsweetmystery.com/2025/11/10/i...
In which Brad talks Hitchcock with the amazing @tippingmyfedora.bsky.social ahsweetmystery.com/2025/11/06/b...
BRAD DONS A FEDORA
Next week, you will all find out the results of the Noirvember ’55 draft being held this weekend with my friends, Sergio Angelini and Nick Cardillo. In a quick aside, if you can’t get e…
ahsweetmystery.com
November 6, 2025 at 6:47 PM
In which Brad talks Hitchcock with the amazing @tippingmyfedora.bsky.social ahsweetmystery.com/2025/11/06/b...
What a pleasure to talk Hitchcock with Sergio!
Hitchock professed to dislike whodunits but made several: Spellbound (1945), To Catch a Thief (1955) and Psycho (1960) & more. Brad Friedman @ahsweetmystery.bsky.social joins me at Fedora to investigate.
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November 5, 2025 at 1:27 PM
What a pleasure to talk Hitchcock with Sergio!
Sergio Angelini invited me to chat with him about Hitchcock’s 1940 noirs . . . Part two!!
On Fedora today we're joined by Brad Friedman to consider three 1940s Noir Films by Alfred Hitchcock: the psychoanalytic romance, SPELLBOUND, spy drama NOTORIOUS and real time thriller, ROPE.
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Apple buff.ly/wDl4xnB
Spotify buff.ly/34bRrLu
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Podbean buff.ly/wk2LnPK
November 2, 2025 at 11:44 PM
Sergio Angelini invited me to chat with him about Hitchcock’s 1940 noirs . . . Part two!!
Here are the final three films under consideration for our upcoming draft of the top 13 films noirs of 1955. The draft is next week!! where will YOU be this Noirvember??https://ahsweetmystery.com/2025/10/30/noirvember-55-part-12/
NOIRVEMBER ’55, PART 12
At last we reach the final trio of films on our 36-title list of 1955 films noirs. What a ride it has been! A revisit to a few old favorites, a discovery of new delights . . . and a whole lot …
ahsweetmystery.com
October 30, 2025 at 3:43 PM
Here are the final three films under consideration for our upcoming draft of the top 13 films noirs of 1955. The draft is next week!! where will YOU be this Noirvember??https://ahsweetmystery.com/2025/10/30/noirvember-55-part-12/
More Celia Fremlin, and a gently spooky collection of stories perfect for the Halloween season, yet ironically supplied by my Secret Santa!! ahsweetmystery.com/2025/10/27/t...
‘TIS THE SEASON . . . FOR SPOOKY SANTA!
My annual Secret Santa book exchange is often a lesson in SUSPENSE!!!! That’s because most of the participants in our game live across the water, and you never know exactly when the package wi…
ahsweetmystery.com
October 27, 2025 at 2:19 PM
More Celia Fremlin, and a gently spooky collection of stories perfect for the Halloween season, yet ironically supplied by my Secret Santa!! ahsweetmystery.com/2025/10/27/t...
For lucky Number 13 of our Poirot Project, wouldn't you know? It's Hallowe'en Party! ahsweetmystery.com/2025/10/21/t...
THE POIROT PROJECT #13: Hallowe’en Party
“’Someone, you know, someone had shoved her head down into the water with the apples. Shoved her down and held her there, so that she was dead, of course. Drowned. Drowned. Just in a galvanize…
ahsweetmystery.com
October 21, 2025 at 2:33 PM
For lucky Number 13 of our Poirot Project, wouldn't you know? It's Hallowe'en Party! ahsweetmystery.com/2025/10/21/t...
No mean streets or dark alleys this time: the next three films in our upcoming Noirvember draft take place in a women's prison, the docks of San Francisco, and a lush island. The question: are they any good???
ahsweetmystery.com/2025/10/19/n...
ahsweetmystery.com/2025/10/19/n...
NOIRVEMBER ’55, PART 11
We’re coming close to the end of our 36-film list of films noir for our upcoming Noirvember draft. (Here’s the entire list.) And, as often happens when you reach the end, we’re finding ourselves at…
ahsweetmystery.com
October 19, 2025 at 6:10 PM
No mean streets or dark alleys this time: the next three films in our upcoming Noirvember draft take place in a women's prison, the docks of San Francisco, and a lush island. The question: are they any good???
ahsweetmystery.com/2025/10/19/n...
ahsweetmystery.com/2025/10/19/n...
We're in for two months of monkey business at the Perry Mason Menagerie! First stop finds Perry facing down a maddened gorilla! ahsweetmystery.com/2025/10/17/m...
MASON MONKEY BUSINESS, PT. 1: The Case of the Grinning Gorilla
Della to Perry: “Well, you certainly took a button and sewed a vest on it!” On my journey through the Perry Mason Menagerie, I approached the Hall of Monkeys with some trepidation. Part of thi…
ahsweetmystery.com
October 17, 2025 at 3:21 PM
We're in for two months of monkey business at the Perry Mason Menagerie! First stop finds Perry facing down a maddened gorilla! ahsweetmystery.com/2025/10/17/m...
In which Brad hops aboard the Freeman Wills Crofts train for the first time . . . and his journey is delayed. ahsweetmystery.com/2025/10/13/b...
BOOK CLUB IS FRENCH-IFIED: The Affair at Little Wokeham
The spirits of R. Austin Freeman and Baroness Orczy and E. C. Bentley may eternally wonder why the year 1920 is used to mark the start of the Golden Age of Detection, since they had been publishing…
ahsweetmystery.com
October 13, 2025 at 4:41 PM
In which Brad hops aboard the Freeman Wills Crofts train for the first time . . . and his journey is delayed. ahsweetmystery.com/2025/10/13/b...
October brings the final batch of films before Sergio, Nick and I draft the Top 13 Films Noirs of 1955. Here are the first three. ahsweetmystery.com/2025/10/09/n...
NOIRVEMBER ’55, PART TEN
We’re only a month away from our draft of the Top 13 Films Noirs of 1955. I’m busy compiling my list, and I’m sure my co-drafters Sergio Angelini and Nick Cardillo are doing the same…
ahsweetmystery.com
October 9, 2025 at 6:31 PM
October brings the final batch of films before Sergio, Nick and I draft the Top 13 Films Noirs of 1955. Here are the first three. ahsweetmystery.com/2025/10/09/n...
@janicehallett.bsky.social's latest novel, The Killer Question, is a delight, full of twists and laughs! Plus, it inspired me to create my own Monday pub quiz!! (This one's strictly for mystery fans!) ahsweetmystery.com/2025/10/06/p...
PLAYING THE GAME, PART TWO: The Killer Question (Plus, Ah Sweet Mystery’s Monday Pub Quiz!!!)
And now to open the second box . . . “I’m flattered our quiz means so much to you – it means a lot to me, as you know – but perhaps enjoy it for what it is, an entertaining evenin…
ahsweetmystery.com
October 6, 2025 at 2:48 PM
@janicehallett.bsky.social's latest novel, The Killer Question, is a delight, full of twists and laughs! Plus, it inspired me to create my own Monday pub quiz!! (This one's strictly for mystery fans!) ahsweetmystery.com/2025/10/06/p...
PLAYING THE GAME, PART I: You're the Detective: The Creeping Hand Murder, a Solve-It-Yourself Mystery ahsweetmystery.com/2025/10/03/p...
PLAYING THE GAME, PART I: You’re the Detective: The Creeping Hand Murder, a Solve-It-Yourself Mystery
Having just read about The Murder Game, I was eager to play it. Nowadays, I’ll admit that I tend to read mysteries more passively, allowing the twists and turns of a puzzle to wash over m…
ahsweetmystery.com
October 3, 2025 at 3:18 PM
PLAYING THE GAME, PART I: You're the Detective: The Creeping Hand Murder, a Solve-It-Yourself Mystery ahsweetmystery.com/2025/10/03/p...
Part historical survey, part ludic analysis, John Curran's The Murder Game is an essential addition to the mystery lover's bookshelf. ahsweetmystery.com/2025/09/29/l...
LUCID, LUDIC AND WELL-CLUED: The Murder Game, by John Curran
Recently, I shared photos with you as evidence of my wall to wall to wall to wall assortment of mystery books. Interspersed amongst the novels and plays and story collections are books&nb…
ahsweetmystery.com
September 29, 2025 at 1:16 PM
Part historical survey, part ludic analysis, John Curran's The Murder Game is an essential addition to the mystery lover's bookshelf. ahsweetmystery.com/2025/09/29/l...
With inexorable dread, we're inching ever closer to our Noirvember '55 draft!! Here are three more films for your consideration!! ahsweetmystery.com/2025/09/27/n...
NOIRVEMBER ’55, PART 9
As we turn to nine more films this month on our 36-film-list that will form the basis of my Noirvember ’55 Top 13 Films Noirs Draft, my own personal list of favorites is starting to take shape. I o…
ahsweetmystery.com
September 27, 2025 at 4:23 PM
With inexorable dread, we're inching ever closer to our Noirvember '55 draft!! Here are three more films for your consideration!! ahsweetmystery.com/2025/09/27/n...
Here are the answers to the Tenth Anniversary Great Big Gigantic Agatha Christie Quiz. You're welcome! ahsweetmystery.com/2025/09/24/t...
THE TENTH ANNIVERSARY GREAT BIG GIGANTIC AGATHA CHRISTIE QUIZ ANSWERS
Ten years ago on this very day, I posted for the first time. I promised you I would cover classic mysteries in every format – page, stage, and screen – and I made no bones about my adoration …
ahsweetmystery.com
September 24, 2025 at 2:56 PM
Here are the answers to the Tenth Anniversary Great Big Gigantic Agatha Christie Quiz. You're welcome! ahsweetmystery.com/2025/09/24/t...
The Poirot Project - fifteen titles in fifteen months - and I knew I had to get to this one sooner or later! ahsweetmystery.com/2025/09/21/t...
THE POIROT PROJECT #12: Elephants Can Remember
“’Elephants don’t forget,’ said Mrs. Oliver. ‘You know, a story children get brought up on? How someone, an Indian tailor, stuck a needle or something in an elephant’s tusk. No, Not a tusk, his tru…
ahsweetmystery.com
September 21, 2025 at 2:57 PM
The Poirot Project - fifteen titles in fifteen months - and I knew I had to get to this one sooner or later! ahsweetmystery.com/2025/09/21/t...
The Mason Menagerie dips into luxury this month, as Della cries, "Make mine mink!" and Perry wonders what it's all fur! ahsweetmystery.com/2025/09/17/t...
THE NIGHT THEY DROVE OLD DIXIE DOWN: The Case of the Moth-Eaten Mink
Over the past eight months, I’ve led you by the snout through the Perry Mason Menagerie to witness the hijinks of assorted household pets and various fowl (plus one foul but sleepy mosquito.) This …
ahsweetmystery.com
September 17, 2025 at 3:30 PM
The Mason Menagerie dips into luxury this month, as Della cries, "Make mine mink!" and Perry wonders what it's all fur! ahsweetmystery.com/2025/09/17/t...
Another first-time read of a brilliant author: Celia Fremlin's The Jealous One is incisive, suspenseful, and very funny. ahsweetmystery.com/2025/09/15/a...
A FRENZY OF ENVY: Celia Fremlin’s The Jealous One
We have given a lot of space here to the Queens of Crime. More and more, however I’ve been turning my attentions to the Duchesses of Domestic Suspense! To my great shame, I haven’t yet r…
ahsweetmystery.com
September 15, 2025 at 3:37 PM
Another first-time read of a brilliant author: Celia Fremlin's The Jealous One is incisive, suspenseful, and very funny. ahsweetmystery.com/2025/09/15/a...
To commemorate my tenth anniversary as a blogger, I present you with a gigantic Christie quiz! How much of an Agath-ologist are you?!? Can you identify thirty of my favorite quotations? ahsweetmystery.com/2025/09/13/t...
THE TENTH ANNIVERSARY GREAT BIG GIGANTIC AGATHA CHRISTIE QUIZ
Today marks the beginning of the annual Agatha Christie Festival in Torquay! While you read this, there are walks and teas and library events and detection galore going on all around Torquay and ne…
ahsweetmystery.com
September 13, 2025 at 3:53 PM
To commemorate my tenth anniversary as a blogger, I present you with a gigantic Christie quiz! How much of an Agath-ologist are you?!? Can you identify thirty of my favorite quotations? ahsweetmystery.com/2025/09/13/t...