Wednesday, May 1, 2013

A Golden Summer

After the last two months living in the lands of Mitfords and Kenya, I came to realize how much I adore the 1920s. I mean, not just a little, but like, an all out passion for the period from fashion to personalities to literature. Sadly, I still do not have a time machine or Tardis, no matter how hard one wishes, it just doesn't seem to work! But luckily there is a far cheaper way to time travel, and that's by reading. Books can transport us to anywhere and anywhen. Therefore I decided that this summer I wanted to live in the 1920s, and subsequently picked out all my reading material and realized that this was going to be really fun. Now I only have to get myself a gramophone, some cool clothes and lots of booze and I'll be set.

But, on top of my love of the 1920s, I have a love of mysteries. As it so happens, the 1920s were known in literature as the "Golden Age of Detection." This was when many of the "Queens of Crime" first published, from Agatha Christie to Dorothy L. Sayers, this time period brought about a thriving of the whodunnit. So it was never a lack of choices for my reading, more a who to cull with this embarrassment of riches... I have devised a nice little list containing some of the luminaries of the day, but I have gone beyond this into modern mystery writers too. Because there is a distinct trend for current writers to set their mysteries during this golden age. From Jacqueline Winspear to Carola Dunn, many modern writers are just as enraptured with the 20s as I am! Then to go even further, there are modern writers who have writers from the Golden Age as their crime solving protagonists, all set in the Golden Age! In other words, such fun! Therefore I say, let us start this "Golden Summer" off right with a giveaway!

The Prizes*:
1st Prize: A gorgeous hardcover facsimile edition of Agatha Christie's second novel, The Secret Adversary. This is one of those swoon worthy editions that are being released that are made to look exactly like the original books, but without the hefty price tag of buying a true first edition.

*For the first time in awhile I'm doing incentivized prizes. I've been looking at that side bar and seeing somewhere around 300 followers for awhile now... all of you I love and adore, as you'll see below, you get more entries... but I'd like to bump it up this summer. So the more people who join, the more prizes in the pot. I break 350, another prize gets added, if I break 400 another prize. You get the picture, for every 50 people who sign up to follow little old me, more mystery goodness goes into the swag bag. So let's get going, sign up those friends and family!

The Rules:
1. Open to EVERYONE (for clarification, this means international too), just because you haven't been following me all along doesn't mean you don't matter, you just get more entries and prizes if you prove you love me by following.

2. Please make sure I have a way to contact you if your name is drawn, either your blogger profile or a link to your website/blog or you could even include your email address with your comment(s) or email me.

3. Contest ends Monday, September 30th at 11:59PM CST

4. How to enter: Just comment in the space below!

5. And for those addicted to getting extra entries:

  • +1 for answering the question: Who is your favorite crime solver? Poirot? Marple? Someone more modern like Castle? Yes, tv crime fighters count too!
  • +2 for becoming a follower
  • +10 if you are already a follower
  • +10 for each time you advertise this contest - blog post, sidebar, twitter (please @eliza_lefebvre), etc. (but you only get credit for the first post, so tweet all you like, and I thank you for it, but you'll only get the +10 once). Also please leave a link! There's a handy code on the side for your sidebars!
  • +25 if you comment on any of the posts during the Golden Summer, with something other than "I hope I win" or a variation thereof.
Good luck!

8 comments:

I'm so excited! Thank you for this fantastic bookish event! :D I love mysteries and my favorite crime solver is Miss Marple.

+10 if you are already a follower

Can't wait to read all the interesting posts!

Love books, mystery, smart women. So this is a good fit. BTW-noticed your watching list. Hope you saw The Bletchley Circle - probably did, given your profile of Rachael Stirling. Those four fab women are probably my fave crime solvers of the moment, though on TV rather than book. Looking forward to the 2nd TBC series and keeping tabs @ www.facebook.com/TheBletchleyCircleWatchers . Will look up Family Tree from your list -- new to me.

Bletchley Circle was AMAZING! When it ended my first thought was, they better make a season two (thankfully they are!) Family Tree is so fun. It's by Christopher Guest who did Waiting for Guffman and Spinal Tap and Best in Show. It's about a young man, played by The IT Crowd's Chris O'Dowd, and his search for his heritage. The best part is the actress who plays his sister has a monkey puppet that is always talking back to people.

Family Tree sounds like good stuff, then. Enjoy O'Dowd. Thanks, will look it up! -Lara
www.facebook.com/TheBletchleyCircleWatchers

I am so glad that it is open internationally too. I love Agatha Christie..you can see that by surfing my link www.shaletrjimmy.blogspot.com...
I get +10 as I am already a follower. Though I like Miss Marple, I am an ardent fan of Poirot.

I will be o cloud nine, if I won....
my email id is shalet.shalet@gmail.com

The twenties is my favorite time period and Maisie Dobbs is my favorite crime solver. I'm a new follower and glad I found your blog (through a Facebook post). My email is abbrown47@gmail.com. My first (unpublished)mystery novel, set in the Chicago area in 1926, features a former Orphan Train rider.

Sounds interesting Caryquilter, and I too love me some Maisie Dobbs!

That's tough! I watch for new books in several series. Maisie Dobbs, Joe Sandilands, Ian Rutledge (still worried about his shell shock), Dandy Gilver, Her Royal Spyness,John Madden, Jack Haldean, and of course not new series, Lord Peter Wimsey. And that is just the 20's and 30's. I've probably left someone out. The time period is so interesting; the Great War wiped out a generation of young men and changed everyone's lives in huge ways. How you gonna keep them down on the farm. . . That applied to almost everyone who served their countries in civilian or military ways.
I will have to start reading your blog daily, Miss Eliza. Love mysteries!
patdupuy@yahoo.com

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