Dave's Fiction Warehouse

O ne little-discussed provision of the pandemic relief bill is that all ad copy and commentary must begin with the words “during these uncertain times.” So. During these uncertain times, I’ve been reading a lot of Agatha Christie. I got the idea after my favorite podcast host, Phoebe Judge, decided to read a chapter a day of Christie’s first book, “The Mysterious Affair at Styles.” I’d read most of Christie’s work in my teens and 20s, but I hadn’t read this one. And I’ve been a fan of Phoebe Judge’s “Criminal” podcast for the last few years. Something about an old-fashioned drawing-room mystery delivered in Phoebe’s lovely, measured tones: It’s a comfort. You know, during these uncertain times.  Agatha Christie was at the height of her powers between the end of the Great War and the start of the Cold one. Then her distinctive style — the intricate plots, the clever dialog, the overabundance of red herrings — gave way to a wave of gritty noir populated mainly by mobsters, psychopath...

T oo soon for Halloween? No way! Not when Costco and Walmart are already jam-packed with Christmas crap on October 1. I wanted to mention a podcast I’ve been enjoying in the run-up to All Hallow’s Eve: “ Spooked .” Every Thursday, the podcast features regular people talking about eerie stuff that has happened to them. You know, spectral visitors and phantom hitchhikers and an assortment of unexplained phenomena. Some of it is obvious bullshit, sure, but I do not discriminate. The best part of the show is host Glynn Washington setting the stage with strange occurences from his own childhood. I love this kind of thing. Yes, I’ll admit that a number of episodes seem suspiciously similar to well-known works of horror fiction. But somehow, hearing the stories narrated by ordinary people makes them more compelling. The episodes remind me of when I was a kid, sitting around listening to the adults in my family talk about eerie occurrences. I had an uncle who subscribed to Fate magazine . He k...