GUY FAWKES NIGHT MYSTERIES

Remember, remember! 
The fifth of November 

Another holiday, another list! We may not celebrate Guy Fawkes Night here in the U.S., but this popular U.K. holiday is celebrated in several countries around the world and appears in many crime fiction novels.

Guy Fawkes Night, also known as Bonfire Night, is an annual celebration, primarily in Great Britain, traditionally and usually held on the evening of November 5.  Festivities are centered on the use of fireworks and the lighting of bonfires.

Historically, the celebrations mark the anniversary of the failed Gunpowder Plot of November 5, 1605. Guy Fawkes Night originates from the Gunpowder Plot of 1605, the failed conspiracy by a group of provincial English Catholics to assassinate the Protestant King James I of England and replace him with a Catholic head of state. The survival of the king was first celebrated on 5 November 1605, after Guy Fawkes, left in charge of the gunpowder placed underneath the House of Lords, was discovered and arrested.

Traditionally, an effigy (or "guy") representing Fawkes is ritually burnt on the bonfire. In the weeks before bonfire night, children traditionally displayed the "guy" and requested a "penny for the guy" in order to raise funds with which to buy fireworks. This practice has diminished greatly, perhaps because it has been seen as begging, and also because children are not allowed to buy fireworks. In addition there are concerns that children might misuse the money. And another reason might be that Halloween is becoming more popular and replacing Guy Fawkes Night in many British communities.

FYI:
In Britain, there are several foods that are traditionally consumed on Bonfire Night:

Bangers and mash
Black treacle goods such as bonfire toffee
Toffee apples
Baked potatoes which are wrapped in aluminium foil and cooked in the bonfire or its embers
Black peas with vinegar
Potato pie with pickled red cabbage

Check out DyingforChocolate.com for an easy recipe for Guy Fawkes Night Chocolate Sparklers

Guy Fawkes Crime Fiction

The Wrong Boy by Cathy Ace
Murder on  Bonfire Night by Margaret Addison
Murder in the Mews by Agatha Christie
The Powder Treason by Michael Dax
Gunpowder Plot by Carola Dunn

Plain Murder by C.S. Forester
Bryant & May and the Burning Man by Christopher Fowler
V is for Vendetta by Alan Moore
A Demon in My View by Ruth Rendell
Skelton's Guide to Blazing Corpses by David Stafford

The Desperate Remedy: Henry Gresham and the Gunpowder Plot by Martin Stephen
The Progress of a Crime by Julian Symons
A Fearsome Doubt by Charles Todd 
The Mystery of Mr. Mock (aka The Corpse with the Floating Foot) by R.A. J Walling

Short Stories:

"The Singular Case of the Bandaged Bobby" by Andrew McAleer, Mystery Magazine, September 2024.   

Any titles missing? Let me know, so I can add to the list.

Cartoon of the Day: Dinner Invitation

 

Northern California Mysteries: Mystery Readers Journal (41:3) Fall 2025

Northern California I is now available. What a great issue--and not only because I live in NorCal. We've received wonderful articles, reviews, and author essays--so many that we are splitting this theme into two issues. We've left room for a few more articles and author essays. So if you didn't get around to contributing to Northern California Mysteries, you still have until November 10--a drop dead deadline!-- to send something. Send to janet @ mystery readers . org  Hope you enjoy Northern California I. 

Northern California Mysteries I

Volume 41, No. 3, Fall 2025

Available as a downloadable PDF.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ARTICLES

• The Campanile Murders: A Lost Berkeley Mystery by Randal S. Brandt

AUTHOR! AUTHOR!

• From Lake Tahoe to the Napa Valley by Rachele Baker
• Embedding Northern California with Murder, Mayhem, and Crime by Susan Alice Bickford
• Highway 49 Revisited by Taffy Cannon
• My NorCal Mystery Escapes by Kate Carlisle
• Sittin’ on the Dock of the Bay by Glenda Carroll
• Sam Spade Returns by Mark Coggins
• Silicon Valley Will Always Be the Valley of Heart’s Delight to Me by Ron Cook
• Infinite Variety and Inspiration by Janet Dawson
• You Live Where? by Maddie Day
• We Had One Once, but She Died by Michele Drier
• Indigenous Voices Calling by June Gillam
• Meredith Ryan Women’s Mystery Series by Thonie Hevron
• “Why Is a Rock Band like a Writing Desk?” by Claire Johnson
• Santa Cruz: Home to Linguine with Clam Sauce, Avocado Toast… and Murder by Leslie Karst
• Whose Humboldt County Is It, Anyway? by Maria Kelson
• Why Sacramento? by James L’Etoile
• Just a Small Town Duck… by Claudia Long
• The Many Faces of NorCal by Marcia Muller
• How the Screaming Got Started on Northern California’s Quietest Street by Christopher Null
• A San Francisco Tale—Bop City Swing by M.E. Proctor
• The Cities of San Francisco by Lev AC Rosen
• The Noble Grape by Diane Schaffer
• Creating Justice Bay by Patricia Smiley
• Humboldt County: Prohibition, Dinosaurs and a Thousand-Year Flood by Kelli Stanley
• Death, I Said: A Charlie Chan Mystery by John Swann
• Is It Pelican Point… or Bodega Bay? by Penny Warner
• Real Life to Reel Life NorCal Mysteries by William P. Wood

COLUMNS

• Mystery in Retrospect: Reviews, by LJ Roberts and Lucinda Surber
• Children’s Hour: Northern California Mysteries by Gay Toltl Kinman
• Real Crime in Northern California by Cathy Pickens
• From the Editor’s Desk by Janet A. Rudolph

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Subscribe now in order to be sure to receive all 4 issues for 2025: Themes: London II; Retail Sales; Northern California I; Northern California Mysteries II. 

If you're a PDF subscriber, you should have received download instructions. International subscribers will receive their issues within few weeks. 

PDF Contributor PDF copies went out today. 

Contributors: Thanks so much for your great articles, essays, and reviews!

Day of the Dead Crime Fiction

What holiday could be more fitting to Crime Fiction than El Dia de los Muertos: Day of the Dead? 

Día de los Muertos is celebrated every year on November 1st and 2nd. On these days, it is believed that the souls of the dead return to visit their living family members. Many people celebrate the holiday by visiting the graves of deceased loved ones and setting up altars with their favorite foods, drink, and photos.

Here's my updated list of Day of the Dead Crime Fiction. Be sure and check my Halloween Crime Fiction list for other mysteries that start on Halloween and include Day of the Dead. I've also added a short list of Day of the Dead episodes on some popular TV series, as well as some of my favorite Day of the Dead movies!

Let me know if I'm missing any titles/authors.

Day of the Dead Crime Fiction

Day of the Day by Victoria A. Brownworth

Day of the Dead by R. Allen Chappell

The Day of the Dead by John Creed
The Day of the Dead: The Autumn of Commissioner Ricciardi by Maurizio de Giovanni

Trick or Treason by Kathi Daley
Catering to the Dead by Kim Davis

A Cemetery, a Cannibal, and the Day of the Dead by CC Dragon 

Day of the Dead by Drew Golden

Days of the Dead by Barbara Hambly
Sugar Skull by Denise Hamilton
Dios De Los Muertos by Kent Harrington
The Wrong Goodbye by Chris Holm
Death Arts by Melanie Jackson
Day of the Dead by J.A. Jance
Depth of Winter by Craig Johnson
In Big Trouble by Laura Lippman

Devil's Kitchen by Clark Lohr
Weave Her Thread with Bones by Claudia Long
Day of the Dead by Manuel Luis Martinez
Secondhand Souls by Christopher Moore

Bread of the Dead by Ann Myers

Day of the Dead by Mark Roberts
The Day of the Dead by Bart Spicer

Children and YA:

Loulou and Pea and the Mural Mystery by Jill Diamond; Illustrations by Lesley Ramos

Ghosts by Raina Telgemeier  (Graphic Novel)

Cemetery Boys by Aidan Thomas

The Day of the Dead Mystery (The Boxcar Children Mysteries) by Gertrude Chandler Warner

Any titles missing?

***

Some Day of the Dead episodes on your favorite mystery TV series:

The Brokenwood Mysteries: Day of the Dead, Season 10, Episode 2.

Murder She Wrote: Day of the Dead, Season 8, Episode 19

Penny Dreadful: City of Angels, Day of the Dead, Episode 10

Death in Paradise: Murder on the Day of the Dead, Series 7, Episode 5

Movies:

I love to watch Coco on The Day of the Dead. It's not a mystery, but it's a fantastic animated film featuring the holiday!!

The James Bond movie Spectre opens with a great take on Mexico's Day of the Dead! 

The Book of Life, another great animated film, that takes place on the Day of the Dead.

What are your favorites?

 
 

Cartoon of the Day: Dog Trick or Treat

In case you don't understand....chocolate is poisonous to dogs.

Cartoon of the Day: Halloween Costume!