Mysteries & Music - Gladys Mitchell

For many years I was a devoted fan of the “Mystery!” series on PBS. The majority of the episodes were based on Brit period books.  

The Mrs. Bradley Mysteries were based on books by Gladys Mitchell. She started writing them in the late ‘20s and continued on into the ‘80s. A couple were published posthumously after she died in 1983.

I had never heard of her or her books until I watched the episodes shown on PBS. Unfortunately, only a handful of episodes were shown here in the US. The series ran for 2 seasons in the UK, and it’s very difficult to get them on DVD for an affordable price. Diana Rigg played the part of Mrs. Bradley and was superb.

I was so taken with this series that I started looking for books by Ms. Mitchell. Very hard to find, since they were mostly all out of print. I have found some on Barnes & Noble, but again, they’re a bit pricey. I did find 3 in a used bookstore, and enjoyed them immensely. I still keep an eagle eye out whenever I’m near a used bookstore, and hope to add to my collection.

Another thing I loved about “Mystery!” was the music. Most of the individual series had wonderful theme music. The theme for the Mrs. Bradley Mysteries was the cute ‘20s song, “You’re the Cream in my Coffee” by Henderson, DeSylva and Brown. There are many different versions of this on youtube, but here’s a good one: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sD8gbG5-Hbw

Take a listen, sit back and dream of a different time.