Tag Archives: yellowthread street

Out of Nowhere, by William Marshall

Posted on December 30, 2017 by pete

William Marshall’s Yellowthread Street mysteries are typically composed as multiple investigations happening in parallel, with one or two subplots being resolved in a way that is relevant to the main story thread. This in itself is nothing unusual, but the … Continue reading →

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Road Show, by William Marshall

Posted on December 27, 2017 by pete

William Marshall’s Yellowthread Street mysteries are known for interleaving scenes of rather shocking violence with a fair amount of humorous exchanges among the detectives of the titular detective agency. I have found that the best parts often arise from the … Continue reading →

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War Machine, by William Marshall

Posted on December 14, 2017 by pete

The Battle of Hong Kong (December 8-25, 1941) began only a few hours after the attack on Pearl Harbor. To Americans, the colony’s fall on “Black Christmas” and subsequent occupation by the Japanese are obscure events compared to other battles … Continue reading →

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Sci Fi, by William Marshall

Posted on December 9, 2017 by pete

William Marshall’s Yellowthread Street series of detective novels are known for their humor, violence and nearly frenetic pace. Besides the debut Yellowthread Street, I thought The Hatchet Man delivered strongly on all three elements, while Skulduggery benefitted from a more … Continue reading →

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Skulduggery, by William Marshall

Posted on November 28, 2017 by pete

Skeletons washing ashore make for intriguing mysteries: they have a story to tell, but the truth of their origins are a cloudy mixture of time, culture and circumstance. The bodies of fishermen found in Japan indicate desperate searches for food … Continue reading →

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Thin Air, by William Marshall

Posted on November 25, 2017 by pete

The 1970s were a big decade for airline-disaster dramas, from the movie Airport in 1970 to its ultimate parody Airplane in 1980. The 1977 William Marshall book Thin Air looks like an attempt to tap the healthy audience for airborne suspense, … Continue reading →

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Gelignite, by William Marshall

Posted on November 24, 2017 by pete

When reading genre paperbacks from the middle 20th century, it’s important to heed the context in which they were written. Otherwise, we’re preoccupied by what would be unforgivable insensitivity, pervasive sexism, by today’s continually evolving internet standards.* That said, a … Continue reading →

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The Hatchet Man, by William Marshall

Posted on November 22, 2017 by pete

The Hatchet Man (1976) is the second mystery in the Yellowthread Street series by the Australian writer William Marshall. It follows up on the wonderfully chaotic Yellowthread Street (1975), a book recommended to me by my mother about a year … Continue reading →

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