SIMON GREEN – Hawk and Fisher. Ace, paperback original; 1st printing, September 1990. Reprinted in Swords of Haven: The Adventures of Hawk & Fisher, an omnibus edition containing the first three books in the series; see below. Penguin/Roc, July 1999; trade ppbk, June 2006.

   It is quite remarkable how you can come across the most interesting sorts of things when you least expect them. No one looking for the best locked room mystery written in 1990 (I wager to say) would ever in their right mind pick this book up to read — looking as it does as the latest variation of the Conan-based fantasy-action series that clog the science fiction shelves in every Waldenbooks store in the country.

   Hawk and Fisher (male and female, and married to each other) are two captains of the guard in the dark city of Haven, on some unknown world at some unknown time, where magic works, and vampires, werewolves and succubi abound. (He has a patch over one eye, and she wears a shirt that exposes an ample amount of bosom, as well illustrated on the front cover.)

   They are both tough, and even more remarkably, they are both honest, a rarity in Haven.

   After disposing of a particularly bothersome vampire, they are asked to investigate the stabbing of an important reformist councilor in his locked bedroom. The crime could not have been committed by a magical spell, as first suspected, as the dead man wore an amulet about his neck designed especially to ward off such attacks.

   Being a reformist in local politics means that the victim had many enemies, but the only ones who could have killed him are trapped in the house with him. Thus what this resembles, in perverse but strangely believable fashion, is an exceptionally good isolated county manor caper, complete with false trails, red herrings, and fine old-fashioned detective work.

   The solution to the crime, reasonably intricate, is meticulously worked out as well. I can’t see any flaws in the story, which certainly triggered all the right responses in me. I don’t know how easy it will be for you to get your hands on a copy, but since several more in the series have appeared in the meantime, it’s possible Ace may have kept them all in print. Highly recommended.

   And from later on, from the same issue of Mystery*File:

SIMON GREEN – Winner Takes All. Ace, paperback original; 1st printing, January 1991.

   The second in Green’s “Hawk & Fisher” series. The first, Hawk & Fisher, was an extremely pleasant surprise — a well-written locked room mystery taking place in a world of pure fantasy.

   This new adventure of the two married members of the Guards is pure politics, however, as election time is nearing. Lots of swords, lots of evil sorcery, lots of action. Entertaining, but still a disappointment in not living up to expectations.

       The Hawk & Fisher series:

Hawk & Fisher. Ace, September 1990.
Hawk & Fisher: Winner Takes All. Ace, January 1991.
Hawk & Fisher: The God Killer. Ace, June 1991.

Hawk & Fisher: Wolf in the Fold. Ace, September 1991
Hawk & Fisher: Guard Against Dishonor. Ace, December 1991.
Hawk & Fisher: The Bones of Haven. Ace, March 1992.

   The six books were reprinted in two omnibus editions. The first is so mentioned above. The second grouping of three titles was entitled Guards of Haven, Penguin/Roc, ppbk, November 1999; trade ppbk, June 2007.

Editorial Comments:   The artwork is so finely detailed it does not show up well in normal-sized images; hence the blow-up, as you see!

   Also, George Kelley has just reviewed the two omnibus editions of Hawk & Fisher books on his blog. You can read his comments by following this link.

ALAN BRADLEY – The Weed That Strings the Hangman’s Bag. Delacorte Press, hardcover, March 2010. Trade paperback: Bantam, December 2010.

Genre:   Traditional mystery. Leading character:   Flavia de Luce, 2nd in series. Setting:   England, 1950s.

First Sentence:   I was lying dead in the churchyard.

    Ten-year-old Flavia de Luce is ignored by her father, and continually set upon by her sisters. To compensate, she has her grandfather’s old laboratory, where she indulges her love of chemistry and skill with poisons, her bicycle, Gladys, and her skill at solving puzzles.

   In The Weed That Strings Flavia befriends a beloved BBC puppeteer, Rupert Porson, and his “assistant,” who are stranded with a broken-down fan. When Rupert is electrocuted during a performance of “Jack and the Beanstalk,” Flavia knows it was no accident and finds that Rupert’s claims of not knowing anyone in the area were less than truthful.

   Flavia de Luce has quickly become one of my favorite characters. At ten years old, she is still a young girl, albeit a brilliant one, with no friends, a father who ignores all his children, and two sisters who continually abuse her, both physically and emotionally.

   I was very pleased by a wonderful scene with Flavia’s Aunt Felicity. Flavia has the logic and observation skill of Sherlock Holmes and thinks of everything in terms of their chemical composition.

   Flavia is not the only wonderful character, however. Bradley has a gift for creating an ensemble of quirky, yet believable, characters. I particularly enjoy Dogger, the shell-shocked ex-WWII soldier with pre-cognitive abilities; Dieter, the German who became a prisoner of war after being shot down due to the Brontës; and Inspector Hewitt, who takes Flavia seriously and realizes it is through her knowledge and access to people in the town that allowed the case to be solved.

   The story is a wonderful blend of science, music, art and literature, and is set at a very interesting time. World War II has ended, yet there are still issues of the aftermath. While television is coming into being, radio is still the prevalent household entertainment.

   It is the 1950s, yet the family feels more Victorian than modern. The story builds more slowly than the first book, The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie, and employs less humor, although it is still there.

   There is quite a long set-up to the murder, but it still has great impact when it happens. It reminds me a bit of Agatha Christie who liked to introduce all the characters in order to provide plenty of suspects prior to the murder.

   And, as often with Christie, I certainly did not identify the villain prior to it being revealed. This is not a “young adult” mystery, but a very good mystery whose protagonist happens to be a young adult. I am looking forward to Flavia’s next case.

Rating:   Very Good Plus.

The Flavia de Luce Series:

      The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie (2009)
      The Weed that Strings the Hangman’s Bag (2010)
      Seeds of Antiquity
      A Red Herring Without Mustard
      Death in Camera
      The Nasty Light of Day

Note:   Not all of these have publication dates; it is likely that most have not even been written yet.   Source: The Flavia de Luce website.

MEANS DAVIS – Murder Without Weapon. Harrison Smith & Robert Haas, hardcover, 1934.

   Memorial Hospital may be a fine place to visit. It is not a good idea to be one of its patients. One doctor thinks hot coffee and bromos induce sobriety. Another doctor also believes black coffee will straighten out a drunk, but he in addition employs a stomach pump that he just happens to have in his pocket while attending a funeral.

   (The stomach pump is an odd instrument, consisting of a long tube with an oval bulb at one end. The patient, or victim, swallows the end with the bulb. Shortly thereafter, by gravity or faith or something, the stomach contents gush forth through the tube.)

   The hospital’s physician-in-chief describes an aunt’s obsessive interest in her nephew as an Oedipus complex. Another doctor, an expatriate German, says, gutturally of course:

   He is preaching to the converted while holding on to the converted’s thighs, but it’s a good example of how a mystery author craftily contrives to subtly. convey information amid a somewhat mixed metaphor. The converted, by the way, is a nurse; when “she whispered, her nose, which was too long, and her lips, which were too full, contorted sensuously.”

   The author may mean “sensually”; then again, he may not. He may also know what he’s talking about; I don’t. Noses contorting sensuously or sensually are beyond my comprehension.

   This same doctor, something of a ladies’ or at least a nurses’ man, observes the heroine and, wouldn’t you know, mutters:

   Not satisfied with these M.D.’s, the author introduces, should any reader have unwisely reached this point, Timberlake Pitts, a lawyer so oleaginous that Uriah Heep would be forced to view him askance.

   And there is the heroine’s brother, a seldom-do-well whose “charm lay in the rapidity with which the pockets under his eyes could relax into silver-gray shadows.”

   Remember, I just report; don’t expect me to explain.

   Max Higgins, whom many of you will recall from The Hospital Murders (1934), a book I really want to read after I recover from this one, is in Memorial Hospital with a kidney problem. The hospital authorities ask him to investigate. Since he cannot leave the hospital, he calls in his assistant.

   The reason I bought Murder Without Weapon was the chapter titled “Snod Smooty Starts Snooping.” Snod is something of a Saul Panzer, only more talented:

   Actually, it is only when Snod is around that the novel becomes semi-interesting. When asked what he’s been doing recently, he replies that he has been involved in prison work. Asked what he discovered, he says: “Usual thing. Perversion and pellagra. Result: Riots.'”

   When I once read a mystery that had a shark as the murder weapon — no, nothing so mundane as the shark eating the victim — I thought I could no longer be surprised by any murderous device. Means Davis did astonish me here with a unique, I would hazard, method of inducing death, or possibly insanity, though it would seem to work only with elderly ladies who have weak hearts and with young ladies who are neurasthenic.

   Luckily it’s a weapon bloody difficult to find and employ.

   Plot? With all of the above, you want a plot, too? There’s just no satisfying some readers. Well, an elderly lady dies in the hospital after screaming three times and saying, “Vi’s eyes.” And then the heroine sees eyes and screams for 15 minutes and is put away in the same hospital. And then another elderly lady dies in the hospital with a look of awful horror on her face, a look that any sensible reader had long before she got the idea.

Bibliographic Notes:   As Bill pointed out in his review, Max Higgins appeared in one other detective novel by Means Davis, that being The Hospital Murders, 1934, also published by Smith & Haas. He did not mention a third mystery by the author, that being The Chess Murders (Random House, 1937).

   A fact that Bill did not know, or he would have used a different pronoun in referring to the author, is that Means Davis was the pen name of Augusta Tucker Townsend, 1904-1999.

   An online obituary notice for Mrs. Townsend tells us more about her:

[UPDATE] 06-16-10.   I’ve found copies of all three books for sale online, and the first has already arrived. I’ve just added the cover image of The Hospital Murders; the others will be included as soon as they get here.

[UPDATE #2] 06-25-10.   As you see, I now have cover images for all three books. All three that I ordered arrived in due course, and all three had jackets, even though I did not pay more than $20 for any one of them, including shipping. That the jackets are somewhat the worse for wear is not worth mentioning.

LORI ARMSTRONG – No Mercy. Pocket, hardcover, January 2010. Paperback reprint: November 2010.

Genre:   Suspense. Leading characters:   Mercy Gunderson, 1st in series. Setting:   South Dakota.

First Sentence: In the arid summer heat on prairie rangeland, a dead body doesn’t so much rot as it becomes petrified.

   Recovering from her wounds received in Iraq, Army sharpshooter Mercy Gunderson returns to the South Dakota ranch, left to her by her father. Her homecoming isn’t a restful one.

   Mercy’s sister and nephew have problems of their own, and she is being pressured to sell the ranch. The body of a young Indian boy is found on her property and his mother wants Mercy to find who killed him. Another death occurs and Mercy, feeling there is no one she can trust, sets out against escalating violence to find a killer.

   Reading a new-to-you author is a bit of a crapshoot; sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. Sadly, this was one of the latter.

   First, there is a portent on page 22: “…I doubted my life could get more complicated or out of my control. Famous last words.” It’s a mystery! Of course things will get out of control. The foreshadowing is completely unnecessary. I might not have even minded so much had the author left off the last three words “Famous last words.”

   Next we have the characters. There is very little character development in the true sense. We receive pieces of background information on some of the characters, but none of them ever feel real to me.

   Mercy is supposed to be a highly trained sniper who was good at her job because she can disassociate her emotions from the task. We never see that. She, and many of the characters, vacillate between being tough to being completely pliant.

   She is the daughter of a former sheriff and spent over 20 years in the military, but I never had a feeling of a code of honor with her, particularly when she did something completely illegal.

   The plot was a case study in “fabula interruptus.” Whether with the scenes of suspense or sex, Armstrong takes you to the point where the circumstances become intense and then backs away. It feels as though she doesn’t know how to follow through and complete those scenes so she doesn’t; she fades to black and picks the story back up later. This isn’t a regency romance, after all.

   I will give credit where it is due. Armstrong does establish a very good sense of place and, while elements of the climax were rather trite and predictable, the story still had some good suspense to it. While I did identify one villain very early in the story, there was a twist and second villain I didn’t see coming at all.

   In all, the problem comes down to the author’s overall writing style and voice. To say the author’s voice was erratic would be an understatement. Armstong employs humorous sarcasm, which I enjoyed to a point, but much of the dialogue is overly strident, and her writing, overall, lacks nuance; there are no shades of gray.

   I doubt I shall read more by Ms. Armstrong.

Rating:   Poor.

      Lori Armstrong’s PI Julie Collins series —

1. Blood Ties (2005)

2. Hallowed Ground (2006)    [profiled here ]
3. Shallow Grave (2007)
4. Snow Blind (2008)

      The Mercy Gunderson series —

1. No Mercy (2010)
2. Mercy Kill (2011)

QIU XIAOLONG – When Red Is Black. Soho Crime, hardcover, July 2004; trade paperback, August 2005.

Genre:   Police procedural. Leading characters:   Sergeant Yu & Inspector Chen Cao, 3rd in series. Setting:   Shanghai, China–Contemporary/1990s.

First Sentence: Detective Yu Guangming of the Shanghai Police Bureau stood alone, still reeling of the blow.

   Inspector Chen Cao is taking time off from his role with the police. He has been asked to translate a business proposal for a triad-related businessman. The proposal is for the construction of a new shopping/residential complex in Shanghai called the New World.

   Both the salary and the benefits are too good to resist, but Chen ultimately finds everything has strings.

   With Chen unavailable, Sgt. Yu must take charge of the newest investigation. Yin was a college teacher and novelist living in a tiny room in a multi-family house. While she wasn’t well liked, she kept to herself. With the house locked at night, was she murdered by a neighbor? If so, why did they ransack her room but not take her money?

   Qiu Xiaolong (pronounced “chew shao-long”) has become one of my favorite authors. He creates such a strong sense of place with wonderful descriptions, from the largest panorama to the smallest detail.

   The inclusion of both Chinese and western poetry is something I so appreciate and enjoy. Food plays such a significant role in China. Its inclusion is so well done and, even if some of the particular dishes may not appeal to my western palate, I always end up hungry while reading. There is one particular scene when Chen goes to a restaurant with 1930s European style serving supposedly western food which was very interesting.

   I learned so much about life during the Cultural Revolution; a period about which I know virtually nothing. It is interesting to read about the lasting impact on those who lived through it as well as the confusion of living in a rapidly changing China.

   I very much enjoy Qui’s characters. While I was glad Chen wasn’t completely absent from the scene, it was nice to have Yu and his wife, Peiqin, move to the forefront. Not only did I learn more about them and their lives, but saw all the major characters grow and develop as the book progressed.

   The plot is very effective. I find the difference in the style of questioning fascinating but the process of following the leads is the same in all cultures.

   My one criticism would be that the confession of the killer seemed abrupt, but that could be a cultural difference as well. I did think the ending was excellent. I highly recommend When Red is Black although, as always, I suggest starting the series at the beginning.

Rating:   Very Good.

The Inspector Chen series —

      1. Death of a Red Heroine (2000)

      2. A Loyal Character Dancer (2002)
      3. When Red Is Black (2004)
      4. A Case of Two Cities (2006)
      5. Red Mandarin Dress (2007)
      6. The Mao Case (2009)

      7. Years of Red Dust (forthcoming, 2010)

JOSEPH NATHENSON – The Library of Alex Brandt. Manor, paperback original, 1978.

   In spite of this cover blurb, angled above a devilish bloke in a stage magician’s outfit, gesturing at an open book and some skimpy laboratory paraphernalia, the novel owes almost nothing to Lovecraft and is another of those endless tales of a loony-bin psycho who has a hangup about the “woman-whore” and does something violent and bloody about it periodically.

   What gives this Manor cheapie some interest is that the psycho is also a book collector and there are splendid thrift shop book hunting sequences. The first-person narrator also has a sense of humor and introduces a brutish chap to mumble an unforgettable line when he is asked by the narrator if he is looking for an S. S. Van Dine thriller:

   I rather suspect Mr. Nathenson of throwing in the gore to ensure the publication of a highly subversive book that may lure some of the incipient psychos who drool over it to experience the even more sexually exciting pleasures of the Book Hunt.

Editorial & Bibliographic Comments:   I have no cover image to go with this book, alas. When Walter sent me this review, earlier today, he said he wrote it in 1979, and “I didn’t keep a copy of the book, but if I had I would be inclined to reread it.”

   I suspect that this is the only review that Joseph Nathenson received for any of the four books credited to him in the Revised Crime Fiction IV, by Allen J. Hubin:

   He also wrote one New Age or sci-fi novel Deep, Very Deep Space: A Journey to the Infinite (Manor, 1978). He’s also generally considered to have been the author of Land of Dreams, a historical romance for Harlequin in 1995 under the byline of Cheryl St. John. (Other books by Cheryl St. John do not appear to have been by him.)

   A brief obituary notice can be found here: http://www.jewishjournal.com/obituaries/article/obituaries_20061020/

[UPDATE] 06-17-10.   A comment left by Cheryl St. John states that the book Land of Dreams is definitely one she wrote, not Mr. Nathenson.

L. R. WRIGHT – Sleep While I Sing. Penguin, US, paperback reprint, October 1987. Bantam Seal, Canada, pb, 1998. Hardcover edition: Viking, US, 1986.

Genre:   Traditional mystery/police procedural. Leading character:   Staff Sgt. Karl Alberg, 2nd in series. Setting:   Victoria, B.C., Canada.

First Sentence: The clearing lay fifty feet from the two-lane Sunshine Coast Highway.

   Staff Sergeant Karl Alberg, who never wears his uniform, is looking for the killer of an unknown woman whose throat was slit before her body was propped against a tree and her face washed.

   Alberg’s top suspect is a visiting actor, but there is a complication; he is currently dating the town’s librarian, Casandra Mitchell, to whom Alberg is attracted. But is the case on the right track?

   I read the first book in this series several years ago and don’t know why I’ve not been back as I really like Wright’s writing. She creates a wonderful sense of place with such evocative descriptions… “It [the rain] fell heavily, but meant no harm.”

   I so appreciate which an author’s voice causes you to stop and imagine. The characters are very interesting and very well drawn. Alberg is assured professionally, but much less so personally.

   The female characters are confident yet bemused by their reactions to the actor who is Ahlberg’s primary suspect. You get a real feel for each of the characters and with some very effective red herrings, it’s not easy to identify the killer.

   The plot is well constructed. The suspense and feeling of menace are created with subtlety but are very much in evidence. Subtle is the perfect word for Wright’s style.

   The plot unfolds piece-by-piece in a way that makes sense. This is a very good traditional mystery. It won’t be nearly so long until I read the next book in this series.

Rating:   Very Good.

       The Karl Alberg series —

1. The Suspect (1985)

2. Sleep While I Sing (1986)
3. A Chill Rain in January (1990)
4. Fall from Grace (1991)
5. Prized Possessions (1993)

6. A Touch of Panic (1994)
7. Mother Love (1995)
8. Strangers Among Us (1995)
9. Acts of Murder (1997)

EVE ZAREMBA – A Reason to Kill. PaperJacks, Canada, paperback original, 1978. Second Story Press, Canada, trade paperback, 1989.

   Even Zaremba’s first mystery surely represents one of the more unusual experiments with the female hard-boiled private eye. First of all, her heroine, Helen Keremos, is a Canadian. Second, she is a lesbian.

   But if the locale of Zaremba’s mystery is obvious, the sexual identification of her sleuth is not. Since Zaremba refrains from chronicling the amorous adventures of her detective, it is only her empathy with male gay characters and occasional name-calling by disgruntled straight men that give her sexual identity away.

   Keremos, who operates out of a second-floor walk-up in Vancouver’s Chinatown, is called in by an academic to trace his missing son, last seen in Toronto. With the help of a researcher friend named Alex, Keremos checks out the young man’s past as well as his friends and family — all suspects.

   These include his sculptor mother and her drunken lover; a boyhood friend and his masculinity-obsessed father; and an appealing bisexual hood on the edge of Toronto’s entertainment biz. Keremos concludes that Martin Milwell’s disappearance is somehow linked to his recent acknowledgment of his homosexuality, but she must still discover the how and why of his disappearance.

   The plot, which seems to be building to an obvious solution, has several twists to deliver before its unusual conclusion — one that turns the classic reenactment of the crime into an exercise in collective decision-making.

   Keremos’s cross-Canada trek tells us much about the country and its people as well.

   Tough, a navy veteran with plenty of street smarts, Keremos is nonetheless a sympathetic figure. When she takes on two thugs (after a few too many drinks), we may question the realism in the portrayal, but Keremos’ s macho antics are mild compared to most of her male fictional counterparts.

   The politics of Zaremba’ s novel, sexual and otherwise, is clearly recognizable as part of the Seventies. For her portrayal of a believable PI, hardboiled and female, Zaremba should be recognized as an early entry in a mystery trend of the Eighties — and very probably beyond.

         ———
   Reprinted with permission from 1001 Midnights, edited by Bill Pronzini & Marcia Muller and published by The Battered Silicon Dispatch Box, 2007.   Copyright © 1986, 2007 by the Pronzini-Muller Family Trust.

Editorial Comment:   As suggested in my comments following the preceding post, Helen Keremos may be the very first lesbian PI, at least as published by a major publisher (although semi-obscure one). It has been reprinted once, but apparently there’s never been a US edition. (PaperJacks books were generally distributed in this country, however.)

The Helen Keremos series —

     1. A Reason to Kill (1972)
     2. Work for a Million (1988)

     3. Beyond Hope (1988)
     4. Uneasy Lies (1990)
     5. The Butterfly Effect (1994)

     6. White Noise (1997)

Genre:   Historical mystery. Leading character:   Roger the Chapman, 1st in series. Setting:   England–Middle Ages/1522.

KATE SEDLEY – Death and the Chapman. Harper,US, reprint paperback, April 1994. Originally published by Collins Crime Club, UK, hardcover, 1991. Also: St. Martin’s Press, US, hc, 1992.

First Sentence:   In this year of our Lord 1552 I am an old man.

   Roger Chapman is 70 years old. As he approaches the last chapter of his life, he decides to write the memoirs of his years spent on the road as a peddler and solving mysteries.

   As a young 18-year old, Roger left the Benedictine monastery for the road with London being his objective. His first investigation is into the disappearance of two separate gentlemen and the servant of the second servant while their bags were left behind.

   Both men were carrying a good deal of money, but their bodies have never been found. At the same time, the Duke of Gloucester wishes to marry Lady Anne Neville; a marriage opposed by her late husband’s brother. Can Roger do a service to the Royal family?

   One of the main reasons I enjoy historical mysteries is that combination of learning and the puzzle. Richard of Gloucester was a figure with whom I was not familiar, yet he achieved positions of tremendous power and responsibility by the age of 19.

   I also had not known about “corpsing,” the recovery of bodies from the Thames, their clothing stripped to be sold and the bodies returned to the river. The most interesting element, however, is the character of Roger. Here we meet him both at the beginning of his years; very young and able to be shocked; and see a bit of him at the end of his years.

   As long as the later doesn’t too much portend the latter, the stories should hold and allow us to see the character develop over time. Sedley knows her period and know how to bring it alive to her reader. Her descriptions engage your senses; sight, sound and nearly smell.

   In fact, there are points where the descriptions nearly overpower the plot. For a first book, the plot is well done although it does rely on some rather large coincidences. I do appreciate it when the author allows that coincidences do happen in life. There is some good suspense at the end, and a satisfying resolution. I did enjoy this book and I look forward to Roger’s next adventure.

Rating: Good Plus.

The “Roger the Chapman” series —

1. Death and the Chapman (1991)
2. The Plymouth Cloak (1992)
3. The Hanged Man (1993) aka The Weaver’s Tale (US)
4. The Holy Innocents (1994)

5. The Eve of Saint Hyacinth (1995)
6. The Wicked Winter (1995)

7. The Brothers of Glastonbury (1997)
8. The Weaver’s Inheritance (1998)
9. The Saint John’s Fern (1999)
10. The Goldsmith’s Daughter (2001)
11. The Lammas Feast (2002)
12. Nine Men Dancing (2003)
13. The Midsummer Rose (2004)

14. The Burgundian’s Tale (2005)
15. The Prodigal Son (2006)
16. The Three Kings of Cologne (2007)

17. The Green Man (2008)
18. The Dance of Death (2009)
19. Wheel of Fate (2010)

    This particular list of motion pictures was prompted by Walter Albert’s recent review of De Luxe Annie (1915), in which all of the heroine’s difficulties stem from being knocked unconscious early on and suffering from amnesia for the rest of the movie, or almost.

    In a comment that he left soon after the review appeared, David Vineyard wondered “where would suspense fiction and movies be without it?”

    “It” referring to the concept of amnesia, as practiced in the movies and crime fiction. Which of course triggered the obvious question from me to David. The rest of this post is his reply. Thanks, David!

             >>>

   Movies with an amnesia theme. This one could get pretty long fast, but I’ll try to restrain myself:

Street of Chance — Burgess Meredith. Based on Cornell Woolrich’s Black Curtain about a man with short term amnesia who thinks he may have committed a murder.

Female Fiends — Lex Barker. A writer and producer who wakes up with no memory and in the middle of a murderous plot; based on Q. Patrick’s Puzzle for Fiends.

Stage Fright — With Jane Wyman. Richard Todd’s character suffers partial amnesia involving the murder the police want him for.

No Man of Her Own — Barbara Stanwyck claims partial amnesia to cover lapses in her memory in pretending to be another woman; based on Woolrich’s I Married a Dead Man.

Mister Buddwing — James Garner. Based on the novel Buddwing by Even Hunter a man with amnesia stumbles from one woman in his life to the next trying to put together who he is.

36 Hours —James Garner again. German doctor Rod Taylor uses drugs to induce amnesia in order to get Garner to reveal the true site of the D-Day landings.

The Third Day — George Peppard. An obnoxious millionaire struggles to remember who is trying to kill him; based on Joseph Hayes’ novel.

Power of the Whistler — Richard Dix. An amnesiac tries to clear himself by regaining his memory.

The Manchurian Candidate — Frank Sinatra. An Army officer tries to combat drug induced memories implanted as part of a Chinese plot from Richard Condon’s novel.

Fear in the Night — Deforest Kelly. Jazz musician gets help from his cop brother-in-law Paul Kelly to recover marijuana induced memory loss and clear his name; based on Cornell Woolrich short ‘Marijuana’ and remade with Kevin McClory and Edward G. Robinson as Nightmare.

Phantom Lady — Alan Curtis man’s drink induced memory loss means his friends have to follow abstract clues from his flawed memory to save him from execution based on Cornell Woolrich novel.

Memento — Man who loses his memory every time he goes to sleep tries to solve the murder of his wife by leaving clues behind to follow each day.

Dark City — Rufus Sewell. A man with amnesia struggles to recall reality in clever noirish sf film based on a graphic novel.

The Matrix — Keanu Reeves. Man begins to see through the illusion he lives in.

Two in the Dark — Walter Abel . Female cabbie helps a man recall his memory as they race to solve a murder, remade with Tom Conway and Ann Rutherford and directed by Anthony Mann as Two O’Clock Courage.

Mirage — Gregory Peck. A city-wide blackout triggers a crisis for a businessman whose life begins to unravel when nothing he remembers is real.

Blindfolded — Rock Hudson. A psychiatrist tries to help agent suffering from trauma induced memory loss but finds himself in a spy plot.

Who? — Elliot Gould. Investigators try to understand what happened to man with robot head; based on Algis Budrys’s novel.

Random Harvest — Ronald Colman. The granddaddy of them all, based on James Hilton’s novel.

Somewhere in the Night — John Hodiak. A private eye returns from the war with memory loss.

The Long Wait — Anthony Quinn. A man returns home with memory loss; based on Mickey Spillane novel.

Singapore — Fred MacMurray. A woman loses her memory and can’t remember the man who loved her. Remade as Istanbul with Errol Flynn.

As You Desire Me — Greta Garbo. A woman with amnesia returns to husband she doesn’t remember, from the Pirandello play.

Spellbound — Gregory Peck. Am amnesiac poses as a psychiatrist but becomes the patient; based on Francis Beeding’s The House of Dr. Edwards.

The Woman With No Name — Phyllis Calvert. A woman sufferis from amnesia.

The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes — Robert Stephens. A woman claims to have lost her memory and seeks help from Sherlock Holmes.

The Seven Percent Solution — Nicol Williamson. Sigmund Freud helps Sherlock Holmes recover repressed childhood memories so he can solve a case and cure himself of cocaine addiction.

Love Letters — Joseph Cotton. GI Cotton comes to England to meet Jennifer Jones whom he corresponded with who has lost her memory and may be in danger, with a screenplay by Ayn Rand.

I Love You Again — William Powell. Con man regains his memory and tries to save his new respectable life with wife Myrna Loy from his old pals in this screwball comedy.

Crossroads — William Powell. French diplomat must regain his memory to save himself.

Where Were You When the Lights Went Out? — Doris Day tries to remember what happened the night of the blackout when she had too much to drink.

The Witches — Joan Fontaine. A woman’s loss of memory puts her in danger from a coven of witches.

Carnival of Souls — Candace Hilligloss. A woman wanders around in weird haze.

Portrait of Jennie — Jennifer Jones. A young woman doesn’t know she is a ghost.

The Mummy’s Curse — Lon Chaney Jr. Young woman doesn’t recall she is 3000 years old; basically the plot of Blood on the Mummy’s Tomb and The Awakening; based on Bram Stoker’s Jewel of the Seven Stars.

The Black Angel — Dan Duryea. A man plays detective to help a woman clear her husband with surprising results; based on the Cornell Woolrich novel.

The Haunted Strangler — Boris Karloff. In retrospect mystery writer Boris should never have opened up the twenty year old murder case …

Hangover Square — Laird Cregar. A pianist and composer doesn’t quite remember what he gets up to when the music compels him; based on Patrick Hamilton’s play.

Suddenly Last Summer — Elizabeth Taylor. A psychiatrist tries to help young woman recall traumatic event while battling her over protective mother-in-law.

Landslide — Anthony Edwards. A man suffers selective memory loss after an accident.

The Bourne Identity — Matt Damon. A spy is hunted on all sides and doesn’t recall why.

The October Man — John Mills. A man with mental problems has to clear himself of murder and prove to himself he didn’t do it. Eric Ambler wrote the screenplay.

Knock on Wood — Danny Kaye. A ventriloquist who believes is dummy is talking to him suffers memory loss and personality changes as a result of plot by his analyst to use him in spy plot.

Highly Dangerous — Margaret Lockwood. A scientist on mission for the Secret Service is tortured and afterward thinks she is a famous radio secret agent from a popular children’s show. Screenplay by Eric Ambler.

Bewitched — Phyllis Thaxter. An early variation on multiple personalities as woman committed murder in her other persona.

Three Faces of Eve — Joanne Woodward. A woman doesn’t recall what she does in alternate personalities.

   Others?