11/26/2002 Puzzle in a Pear Tree blooms

November 26, 2002.  The fourth novel in Parnell Hall's Puzzle Lady series was published on this date.

“If you want a well-plotted mystery… try Parnell Hall’s A Puzzle in a Pear Tree. This delightful series is a throwback to the frothy detective puzzlers of the 1930s and 1040s [which] helped make reading mysteries fun.” – Otto Penzler, New York Sun

2/17/1920 Adam Hall is born

February 17, 1920.  Like any good spy writer, Adam Hall was born under an alias.  All right, he was born  with the name Trevor Dudley-Smith, and changed it to Elleston Trevor.  It was under that name he wrote The Flight of the Phoenix, which has been filmed twice. 

But in our field he is best known for the books he wrote as Adam Hall, about a spy named Quiller.  The first one The Quiller Memorandum, won the Edgar for best mystery  novel.  It was filmed in 1966.    Among his other pseudonyms was Simon Rattray, whose books featured an amateur detective named Hugh Bishop.