Mystery Corner ~ 2

[marjifay]

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Pull up a comfortable chair and join us here to talk about mysteries and their authors.
 We love hearing what YOU enjoy and recommend!

Links:
The Hound of the Baskervilles
Our Favorite Old Mystery Writers
Fantastic Fiction
Stop You're Killing Me

Discussion Leaders:    BillH and JoanK   

DOOMSDAY BOOK is not what you'd call a funny book.  It is, as Babi, says very realistic  But I loved the wry, subtle humor of those at the university who sent the girl back to the Middle Ages, especially the thoughts of her professor, Mr. Dunworthy, and the goings on of the American bell ringers there on vacation with their awful music, the poor professor's assistant who has to deal with the Americans who insist on more lavatory paper in spite of the shortage, and much more.
It makes the sadness of the part set in the Middle Ages bearable.  I loved the book.

Marj  

[mrssherlock]

Marj:  I'd forgotten about the bellringers!  Willis can find a way to make life humorous in spite of the rigors of medieval life.

[Golden State Poppy]

I haven't been here for a while and I have missed you all.  I have a fascinating book to report on.  Julie Garwood's "Shadow Dance".

"With her beauty, Smarts and success as a high tech entrepreneur, Jordan Buchanan should be enjoying life to the hilt.  Instead she's watching her best friend get hitched, her family make headlines and her brother blazes through his BFI career with partner who scores with every woman he meets.  But for Jordan, everything changes when she is told a fantastic story sbout her family's ancient feud, dating back to midieval Scotland.  Suddenly, a woman who has spent more quality time with her laptop than any man is caught up in a lethal mystery...."

This a delightful book which is somewhere between a romance and a mystery.

[JoanK]

POPPY: welcome back!! That sounds like a good book --on to Amazon!

I have trouble putting down the historian. But it's not the Dracula info; she really reproduces the feeling of doing historical research, and it takes me ack to my University days in musty libraries. And she manages to make her characters visit all the major cities in Europe, and make you feel that you've been there too.
 

[JoanK]

"Americans who insist on more lavatory paper in spite of the shortage".

I admit I'm sensative to jokes about Americans and toilet paper. I admit we Yanks have pampered rear ends, but I lived for two years abroad with toilet paper like sandpaper. It's no fun.

[mabel1015j]

I read Shadow Dance about a decade ago and can't remember the particulars of the story, but do remember that i liked it. I like some of Garwood's books and  others not so much.

Sizzling Sixteen has slowed down considerably for me. Altho i still laugh at the characters, the behaviors are getting a little old. I don't know how Evanovich can freshen them up. I think maybe their stories are all told. Guess i'll have to look forward to the movies, altho i'm usually disappointed w/ movies made from books i've read and liked bcs i have a picture in my mind of how the characters look and act and that's not usually the way it happens on the screen.....................jean

[Steph]

Almost through the new Avery Andrews series book.. Southern lit as it is called. Still a bit staggering around,,but the author is settling into the series in this one. Also have a Kathy Reichs.. a number Bones.. and it seems interesting as well. I like her books, hate the tv show.

[JoanK]

Just finished Reich's "206 Bones" (I think that was the number. I like the books and the TV series (although the gruesome pictures always seem to come on when I'm eating).

I was a little disappointed in "Sizzling Sixteen" too. There didn't seem to be much to it.

[Steph]

Aha, I am sure you are right about the number..Hush my Mouth is a southern detective series. Avery Andrews is an attorney who has come home to a small town and is practicing law and sort of falling into mysteries. I have read two so far of hers. Interesting and slow paced. Sorry.. Cathy Pickens is the author.

[mrssherlock]

Susan Wittig Albert has a new series starting: Darling, Alabama, during the depression had a ladies gardening club, The Darling Dahlias, who find a treasure of silver buried under the town's cucumber tree.  More later.

Add my name to those on the list of Alafair Burke fans.  I've tried both her series, ADA in Portland, OR and a detective in NY City.  Loved them both.

[Steph]

I love Alafairs book and marvel that her Dad named a character (continuing) after her.. She writes quite differently than her Dad.

[FlaJean]

I read on Margaret Maron's web site that her new book coming out in 2011 is going to have Judge Deborah Knott meet Sigrid Harald (who was the New York detective in Maron's first series).  So many people have asked about Sigrid, I guess she finally decided to bring her back in some way.  I really liked that series.

[JoanK]

Steph:"She (Alafair Burke) writes quite differently than her Dad".

I know. I can't read her dad. He just leaves me sad.

[Steph]

I love James Lee.. He is the only violent author I read, but I have always loved all of his Louisiana books.. But you are right. They make me sad as well.. But they are so true underneath the violence.

[Frybabe]

I noticed a poster in the local Borders window the other day that says James Patterson has a new book being released in mid August called The Postcard Killers. The title is intriguing. I've never read Patterson.

[mrssherlock]

Susan Wittig Albert's newest series is situated in Darling, Alabama, 80 miles north of my hometown, Mobile.  The ladies garden club calls itself Dahlias after its founding member Dahlia Blackstrone, who left her home to the group in her will.  Everyone who is anyone in this 1930 small town is a member and they share observations from their positions as:  librarian, diner owners and telephone operators, beautician, Mayor's wife, wife of the owner of the town bank. etc.  Miss Marple would be right at home here.  Life is slow-paced this May as the club takes possession of its new clubhouse and neglected showplace garden.  A telephone call reporting a prison break, heard by all the party-line subscribers, sets into motion a series of events whic must rely on the Dahlias for solution.  Fun, gentle, change of pace. great sense of place  (dirt roads).The Darling Dahlias and the Cucumber Tree 

PS:  The cucumber tree is a magnolia (m. acuminata) whose fruit looks like a red cucumber.  http://tinyurl.com/cucumbertree

[FlaJean]

Mrssherlock, "The Darling Dahlias" sounds really good.  Hope my library has a copy.

[FlaJean]

The library does have a copy, but I'll have to wait a while.  I'm #8 on the reserve list.  Albert is a popular author at our library.  I've read her latest books in the China Bayles and Beatrix Potter series.  Enjoy them both.

[Steph]

I love the China Bayles series, so will try the Dahlias.. James Patterson seems to have some sort of writing corporation. All of these co authors and putting out book after book in rapid succession. Gave up reading him.. Too much like a pattern.

[Babi]

 My favorite Wittig series, at present, is the Beatrix Potter books. They
seem so true to their setting.  Except, of course, animals don't truly talk.  The new series sounds good; I'll mention it at my library.

[mrssherlock]

Lisa Gardner has, up-to-now, flown below my radar  and when I started The Third Victim and leasrned that the main focus was a school shooting i was not encouraged to continue to read.  That I did complete the book has given me another author to follow (my TBR list is too long to count, no matter how fast i read there's always another book or two to add each time I login to SL).  That the locale of the story is my beloved oregon seaside is a definite plus.  this is book 2 in a series so I'm ordering book 1  ASAP.  http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/g/lisa-gardner/

[serenesheila]

I finally gave up on "Potter's Field", by Patricia Cromwell.  It was grizily from the beginning.  About half way through, it became too technologically for me!  So, it is now in my trash.

Think I will check out the "Dalia Darlings".  I am looking for an enjoyable mystery series.  Not too much gore, and definitely not techno logically challenging.  I love my computer, but do not want to know more than how to do a search, and email.
Any suggestions?

Sheila

[Steph]

This latest Kathy Reichs about 206 bones is a bit on the "Poor Me" theme. The world seems to be against her.. Makes you wonder if she has run out of things to say in bookis and likes her TV series more. It is so different from the books.

[JoanK]

I'm back home, after leaving while my home was tented for termites. Of course, I came home with a mystery: a Victoria Thompson (Murder on Bank Street) that I thought I hadn't read. But I notice the copyright is 2008. I hope I haven't read it. I hate it when I buy a book I've read.

[marcie]

I'm glad I'm not alone in buying books I already have--or starting to read a book that sounds very familiar--but not knowing for sure if I've read it until I'm far into it!

[Frybabe]

Funny you should mention buying books you already have. I am afraid I going to do the same eventually. In fact, I suspect I bought a second copy of The Martian Chronicles. I say I think because I couldn't find the first. I finally found that one, but now my 2nd copy is AWOL.

My sister and I were discussing the problem earlier today. She intends on making an inventory of her books so she can check it before buying. I thought it rather amusing only because she has far fewer books than I. It's sounds like a good idea though.

[marcie]

I do have lists for certain authors. A whole inventory is something I've thought about but haven't dedicated the time. I too have lots of books. It sure would come in handy. For anyone who does have an inventory, do you have it on a blackberry or similar technology or do you have paper lists?

[Gumtree]

I've often thought of cataloging my library but it is simply too daunting a task.  I mentioned the idea to my son who thought it would be great and suggested that I catalogued his books too and that if I did that I should include my other son's library as well. Then he added the rider that cross referencing the three collections would be handy as we'd then have a comprehensive data base. H'mmm

I think I'd rather spend the time reading a few good books instead!

I did catalogue our music collection CDs DVDs and the old black vinyls and have found that to be invaluable. While I was doing that I found duplicate copies of quite a few items - same music, same performers which was somewhat annoying. I undertook to list the music after my son was burgled and lost all his CDs - I saw then how long he spent trying to recall exactly what had been stolen for the insurance claim. It does take time but once it's done ....

[Steph]

There are certain authors that I have troubles deciding if I have read or missed any of the books in a series. Others are so distinctive, that I know. My problem is my TBR pile is huge.. and I have bought a second one of those at some garage sale or used book sale. I simply cannot resist that sort of stuff. May I can catalog my TBR pile on the new IPAD. Will have to investigate

[Babi]

 The TBR pile will at least be much easier than trying to inventory all your hundreds of books, STEPH.  I wouldn't even attempt it.  I do have one advantage, tho'.  My library will, on request, keep a listing of all books checked out by their patrons.  If I'm not sure whether I've read
a book or not, they can at least check my list.  If I've checked it out
of that library before it will be on that list, at least.

[jeriron]

RE James Patterson

This is what I read he said when asked that question...He writes the "outline" for the book and then passes it on to another author to write the whole book. He does have a group of authors he works with.

Personally I always felt that he wasn't really writing all these books that keep comng out one after the other. I stopped spending money on those books awhile ago. I just felt he really wasn't doing the writing and it looks like that's true. They're selling because his name is on top and I bet he's getting the lions share of the proceeds.

[mabel1015j]

When my dgt got a new Blackberry at work, i inherited her Palm Pilot. The only thing I have on it after about 5 yrs is "books read" by author and "books to read" by category. (the best thing is i can download a list of a series of the authors and than read the books in sequence.)  I don't buy many fiction books, i rely on my library for those and i had had the experience of starting a book and thinking "uummm, this sounds familiar." So, i take the Palm to the library and check each book of an author i know i've read to see if i've read that book...................now, the curious think is I recently stopped at the library and didn't have the PP w/ me. I picked up Almost Paradise by Susan Issacs and started reading it that evening, nothing sounded familiar..................i later checked my "books read" and discovered i had it on my "read" list! I read the whole book - maybe, again - and didn't remember one bit of the story.................. ...........what a switch of an idea!.......................

Sheila - I don't know what you may have already read, but the Eliot Roosevelt mysteries are not gory, also Susan Albert, Diane Davidson, Jill Churchill, Carolyn Hart, Ann Ross's "Miss Julia" series and some of Linda Howard's books are mysteries and not gory. I guess all of these authors would be considered "cozy mysteries." I'm not  sure what the exact definition of cm's is..........................jean

[Frybabe]

Thanks for the comment about Patterson, Jeriron. To his credit, though, he shares his by line with his collaborators. There seem to be a lot of authors that do this kind of thing now. Even Arthur C. Clarke started sharing his writings in his later years. When I first saw someone else's name included on an ACC book, I thought "What the heck is THIS nonsense".  Well, I guess that is better than finding out that there never was a Caroline Keene. The Nancy Drew Mysteries that I loved as a child were all written by syndicate writers, Mildred Wirt being the first.

[JoanK]

"I mentioned the idea to my son who thought it would be great and suggested that I catalogued his books too and that if I did that I should include my other son's library as well. Then he added the rider that cross referencing the three collections would be handy as we'd then have a comprehensive data base."

That sounds like the sort of thing my daughter would suggest that I do. Yeah, right!

[JoanK]

The exact definition of a "cozy mystery"? A great question! I googled it, and here is the definition I found:

2) The Cozy. "A cozy mystery is a genre of story that supposes a benign universe. The murders are unsettling for the reader and characters, but as soon as the killer is found, everyone can get back to a decent and pleasant life. Politics and social change are not part of the plot. The story is a good, cozy dream, with just enough bad thrown in to make it interesting. Cozies usually involve a domestic crime, such as killing a relative for his or her money rather than shooting strangers. Often the mystery is solved by a gifted amateur who calls the suspects into the room and after a clever explanation, points to the guilty person. There is no graphic violence nor four-letter words. Death of the victim is usually instantaneous and the murder weapon is often a blunt instrument such as a candlestick or fireplace poker. Poison is sometimes used, but the victim never endures prolonged suffering. Cozies often take place in country houses or small towns and the characters just want to return to the simplicity, sanity and serenity of their former lives." ("Death on the Web: Articles Page: the Cozy Mystery" at http://personal.www.umich.edu/~kschwart/death/articles/cozy.html on June 16, 2003)

Do you all agree with this definition?

[Tomereader1]

Pretty much nails that one!  However, mostly the "body" is found by someone, after the fact and we are not subjected to the actual "murther". 

[mrssherlock]

Aha!  Colonel Mustard in the library with a candlestick!

[Tomereader1]

Gee, I loved playing that game - - Clue.  Used to play with my nieces and nephew on "game night".  I was eldest by a couple of years, but basically they were of an age with me, and we had more fun!  Almost every weekend would be a game night, where we would stay up all hours and play:  Clue, Monopoly, Rook, Old Maid, etc.  We'd always start Monopoly last because then we could stay up till the "wee hours" until that game was finished!

[Frybabe]

I've never played Clue, but I sure do like the movie.

[mabel1015j]

Thanks for checking on the definition, Joan........they nailed it, altho in the recent ones the suspects don't get "called into the room" so much.........jean