Sunday, October 04, 2009

"Three" winners

Here are the winners of the Sept. 21 “Sign of the Three” competition, which asked readers to name books in which the number three figures prominently in the title or the story:

1) Fred, because a title like Wycliffe and the Three-Toed Pussy (W.J. Burley) cannot go unrecognized.

2) Kerrie, for the clever choice of Karen Slaughter's Triptych and for the sheer profusion of her suggestions.

3) Simona, for her nomination of Il mistero delle tre orchidee (The Mystery of the Three Orchids) and L'albergo delle tre rose (The Three Roses Hotel) by Augusto De Angelis. All I need now is for those novels by that intriguing Italian author to be translated into English.

4) Oh, what the hell. Elisabeth is the fourth winner for seeking the ancient Chinese roots of Robert van Gulik's Judge Dee mysteries and their narrative structure, in which the judge often works on three cases at a time.
Some miscellaneous facts about the competition:

1) At least three titles were nominated by more than one reader: Der Tee der drei alten Damen by Friedrich Glauser; Agatha Christie’s Three Act Tragedy; and Thirty-three Teeth by Colin Cotterill.

2) Nobody mentioned James Ellroy. Indeed, he never would have occurred to me had not an audience member at his Sept. 24 reading in Philadelphia asked Ellroy why so many of his novels revolve around groups of three men. But there it is, right on the back cover of The Cold Six Thousand, which I was reading at the time: "On November 22, 1963, three men converge in Dallas."
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Thanks to all who entered for your thought-provoking and reading-list-enlarging suggestions. If the winners will send a postal address to detectivesbeyondborders (at) earthlink (dot) net, I'll sent them their books. Indicate a preference of author, genre, country — anything you can think of — and I'll try to send something close to what you want.

© Peter Rozovsky 2009

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17 Comments:

Blogger Kerrie said...

Many thanks Peter. Half the pleasure of contests is winning, the other half is seeing what will arrive.

BTW I've told Michael Robotham he has to find you at Bouchercon. I expect a photo :-)

October 04, 2009  
Blogger Fred said...

Peter,

Thanks. Entering contests is fun, and winning adds to the fun.

As I had mentioned, the title was what got me reading Burley's Wycliff mysteries.

October 04, 2009  
Blogger Peter Rozovsky said...

Kerry, I can't say I've ever considered that second part of the pleasure of contests. Most often one knows what one will win, I think. I hope you like what you get, and thanks for entering.

October 04, 2009  
Blogger Peter Rozovsky said...

Fred, that title might get me reading them, too.

Thanks, and congratulations on your winning entry.

October 04, 2009  
Blogger Simona Carini said...

Thank you so much, Peter. It was a fun event. I do hope De Angelis gets translated into English.

October 04, 2009  
Blogger Kiwicraig said...

COngrats to all the winners! Thanks for running the competition Peter...

October 04, 2009  
Blogger Peter Rozovsky said...

You're welcome, Simona. This was a stimulating quiz, I'd say.

October 04, 2009  
Blogger Peter Rozovsky said...

You're welcome, Craig, and thanks for the kind words. Your embarrassment over having nominated-- but then, maybe I'd better not mention the title in question -- was a highlight.

October 04, 2009  
Blogger Peter Rozovsky said...

Simona, I forgot to mention that I, too, hope De Angelis makes it into English. His situation under Fascism of having to conceal things he wanted to write and, possibly, of saying them in ways that would escape the autorities' attention could be interesting.

His work might make interesting side-by-side reading with Carlo Lucarelli's.

October 04, 2009  
Blogger Dorte H said...

Congratulations to the winner, and thanks for hosting a fun competition :D

October 05, 2009  
Blogger Peter Rozovsky said...

You're welcome,and thanks for entering and for enlarging stock of non-English knowledge.

October 05, 2009  
Anonymous Elisabeth said...

Peter, thanks for running this contest. I didn't play along in hope of winning a prize but it is much appreciated! Like many of the detectives I read about, I enjoy the hunt more than the prize.

And thanks to Simona for bringing Augusto De Angelis into the "three" discussion. I look forward to reading the just-received" Il banchiere assassinato."

October 05, 2009  
Blogger Peter Rozovsky said...

You're quite welcome, and I am especially pleased that you found some of the other entries fruitful. Maybe I should run a contest whose prize will be books to three winners who agree to pass books on to three more people -- a nice way to get the world reading.

October 05, 2009  
Anonymous Elisabeth said...

That's a super idea! We all keep books we've enjoyed for reference and re-reading but I'm sure we also would like to pass on books to other like-minded readers.

October 05, 2009  
Blogger Peter Rozovsky said...

I was going to suggest this might be a nice way to clear overstuffed bookshelves, but of course it would only mean shifting the clutter.

October 05, 2009  
Anonymous Elisabeth said...

Books can't really be called clutter, can they?!

But, yes, I'm afraid for every book that goes out the door to the public library donation bin, we bring in 3 more...

It's Erasmus' "When I get a little money I buy books; and if any is left I buy food and clothes" at our house... (and perhaps yours and other readers' houses, too).

October 05, 2009  
Blogger Peter Rozovsky said...

Luiz Alfredo Garcia-Roza's Inspector Espinosa wages a constant battle to bring order to his collection of books. I gave up the battle long ago.

October 05, 2009  

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