Langtail Press - Mystery Lovers Rejoice
 

I've just discovered this wonderful publishing house, which (in its own words):

Their current author list includes: Anthony Berkeley, Elizabeth Ferrars, Ellery Queen, Fredric Brown, Freeman Wills Crofts, Gavin Black, James Hadley Chase, Joan Fleming, John Dickson Carr, P M Hubbard, and Richard Hull.

Amazon offers Kindle and paperback editions.

Also - they welcome suggestions for additions to their catalog.

Check them out: http://www.langtailpress.com/

[No, I am not affiliated with this press in any way - I'm just tickled to find a source for these Golden Oldies].

49 of the titles are on Amazon US as e-books for $8 a piece. That's considerably better than $14.95 paper or £12 from Amazon UK ... but still a bit rich for works that have, arguably, more than "slipped out of print". Nonetheless, nice to find a publisher willing to make the effort to restore the works and acquire the appropriate rights (most are still in copyright although somewhat long in the tooth).

There was a brief discussion of the imprint on the Crime Fiction thread in late January.

Yay for Fredric Brown!


Don

I hope this press is aggressive in acquiring the publishing rights (at least ebook rights) to the older authors. So many Golden Age authors publishing rights are currently held by Rue Morgue press - which is stridently anti-ebook.

Thanks SensualPoet for the tip about the Crime Fiction thread.

I'm currently revelling in Elizabeth Ferrars - she was compared to Agatha Christie, especially for her intricate plotting, but her characters are more richly drawn.

I'm disappointed that they are not offering epubs!

Send them a message on their site - they welcome input from readers.

Thanks! Glad to see John Dickson Carr coming to ebooks at a reasonable price. I discovered him back in the 70s and read everything I could find by him and his alter ego.

The locked room mystery was one of my favorite genres and he was the best (that I know of anyway). I just ordered "He Who Whispers" and if it holds up (and I think it will; alas, many of my other old faves have not), I'll buy the rest of them.

The name is not familiar; I'm sure I've never read her work. I am toying with purchasing "Give a Corpse a Bad Name", the first of five Toby Dyke stories and written during WWII; or "I, Said the Fly" from 1945, a stand alone mystery which has a very Christie like title. There are probably worse ways to spend $8.

Recos?

I just finished Ferrars' "Enough to Kill a Horse" - wonderfully plotted - a new twist on the "Murder in the Country Village" genre. Now reading through her collection of short stories "Designs of Life" - also marvelously plotted & well written.
About to start the Toby Dyke series and whatever else is now available. Will report back as I read further!

I too have rediscovered John Dickson Carr/Carter Dickson - and they have held up well for me! I'm hugely enjoying these, as well as the Ellery Queen titles.

Ouch - Amazon UK are charging £8 apiece, which is a bit steep for books of this vintage. Most comparable books seem to sell in the £4-5 range.

I've just started "Give a Corpse a Bad Name" - it's reading like an Agatha Christie with some screwball comedy characters. Fun so far.

So how did the Elizabeth Ferrars titles work out? Good formatting of the ebook? Satisfying read by the time you got to the end?

The books are VERY well formatted & proof-read.

The Toby Dyke books are a bit odd - he's quite an oddball character with a sidekick George that does all the work ... sort of .... I think you will either like them or hate them .... they're growing on me.

The stand-alones are superb! "Enough to Kill a Horse" was a hoot - and a great mystery. I'll be continuing my odyssey through them. The Langtail website had an announcement that they would be adding quite a few more titles this year - of Ferrars and others!

Excellent and thank you. I will most definitely plop a couple of these onto my tbb&r list!