Author Topic: Mystery Corner ~ 2 (Read 907978 times)

FlaJean · « **Reply #8560 on:** December 27, 2018, 05:05:00 PM »

I guess i’ve Had a bit of nostalgia the last few months. I reread all my Harry Kemelman Rabbi Small books and then started on Dorothy Gilman’s Mrs. Pollifax mysteries. I did fill in with Albert’s latest Darling Alabama book about the Darling Dahlia’s garden club The Poinsettia Puzzle . This was the best of this series so far—-especially the ending.

mabel1015j · « **Reply #8561 on:** January 07, 2019, 04:12:50 PM »

Oh, I like Albert’s Dahlia series. I’ll have to look for that one.

Jean

PatH · « **Reply #8562 on:** January 08, 2019, 07:50:57 AM »

Flajean, you've given me some new rereading ideas. It's been some years since I last reread either Kemelman or Gilman; about time for both.

PatH · « **Reply #8563 on:** January 08, 2019, 09:54:40 AM »

I hate autocorrect. FlaJean, it turned your name into Flake an, and I didn't even notice it until now. If you saw it before I corrected it, I'm sorry.

PatH · « **Reply #8564 on:** January 08, 2019, 10:07:12 AM »

I first ran across Harry Kemelman long before he wrote the Rabbi Small stories, in a series of short stories in Ellery Queen's mystery magazine. They are essentially little logic puzzles, and the best one, The Nine Mile Walk, is a classic, often reprinted. Here it is.

http://www.101bananas.com/library2/ninemile.html

Yikes! It came out in 1947. Time flies when you're having fun.

FlaJean · « **Reply #8565 on:** January 09, 2019, 01:53:54 PM »

Pat, that was interesting!

FlaJean · « **Reply #8566 on:** February 18, 2019, 01:00:31 PM »

Donna Leon has a new Commissiario Guido Brunetti book in March “Unto Us a Son is Given”.

Tony Hillerman’s daughter, Anne Hillerman, published her 5th book which is due out in April. I purchased her first 3 books on my IPad Kindle app. They are just as good as her Dad’s book and I have enjoyed each one.

FlaJean · « **Reply #8567 on:** April 13, 2019, 12:48:43 PM »

I seem to be the only poster here! Anyway, I just finished Anne Hillerman’s latest “The Tale Tellers”. It was good and centered on the main characters of Lt. Leaphorn, Bernie and Chee. It started a little slow but sure had plenty of action before it was ended. This is the 5th of daughter Anne’s books and I bought them for my Kindle app.

Frybabe · « **Reply #8568 on:** April 13, 2019, 01:08:20 PM »

Hi FlaJean. Yes, the group as dwindled in most of the discussions. We all seem to congregate in The Library now.

I was so unimpressed with the mystery I finished a little over a week ago, that I forget the author's name and the series. It was the first of a wine centered mystery and the title was The Merlot Mystery or something close to that. I will give the author credit for lining up so many suspects and keeping me from guessing who did it until near the end. I just didn't like any of the characters.

Tomereader1 · « **Reply #8569 on:** April 13, 2019, 02:30:07 PM »

I still look in here, but without FlaJean and Frybabe, nobody seems to do "mysteries" anymore. I do. Noticed it had been almost two months since anyone posted here.
I'm reading, for my f2f book club, "Truth Be Told" by Hank Phillipi Ryan. She's a pretty good author, I enjoy her books. Sometimes get weary of her "staccato-type" presentation. I'm not sure she does this in everything she writes. I will be poking my head in here more often to see if anyone cares, LOL.

BarbStAubrey · « **Reply #8570 on:** April 13, 2019, 07:28:37 PM »

I think there are so few of us left that to coalesce in the library makes sense - in fact I can see a real plus, by sharing your reaction to the mystery books you are reading may induce others to read a mystery - I'm thinking of reading Celtic Empire (Dirk Pitt Adventure) by Clive Cussler which I think may be more fantasy and adventure but there is mystery as well. A very different story for me and only because I saw some posts talking about both fantasy and mysteries. So it may be a good thing to talk in the Library.

nlhome · « **Reply #8571 on:** April 15, 2019, 09:00:41 AM »

I mostly read mysteries. I just finished the latest by Donna Leon. I also read Special Circumstances by Sheldon Siegel, on a recommendation from my husband, who rarely suggests books for me. It was good. And now I am reading a bit of fluff, a mystery set in a library in a lighthouse in North Carolina. I can't remember the title, and it's on my tablet which is off in a different room.

I like the idea of having more than one discussion option, rather than everything in the Library. It's easy to get lost there.

BarbStAubrey · « **Reply #8572 on:** April 15, 2019, 11:53:04 AM »

aha good thought nlhome - the advantage of this discussion - if it ever gets too quiet though please remember the library. Looks like today the winter storm in Spring is not only in the northeast but would be affecting lighthouses along the Atlantic including North Carolina.

FlaJean · « **Reply #8573 on:** April 16, 2019, 12:49:21 PM »

Sheldon Siegel is a new author to me. I’ve got an Amanda Cross book to read and then a trip to the library. I’ll see if my library has any books by Siegel.

PatH · « **Reply #8574 on:** April 16, 2019, 03:45:34 PM »

Quote from: Frybabe on April 13, 2019, 01:08:20 PM

I was so unimpressed with the mystery I finished a little over a week ago, that I forget the author's name and the series. ............... I will give the author credit for lining up so many suspects and keeping me from guessing who did it until near the end. I just didn't like any of the characters.

Frybabe, that reminds me of my attempt to read Maj Sjowall and Per Wahloo.

Spoiler alert:
The suspects were all totally unsympathetic (victim too), a third of the book was a side issue that turned out to be completely irrelevant, and the murderer turned out to be the only one who was sober enough at the time to do anything complicated.

FlaJean · « **Reply #8575 on:** April 22, 2019, 01:30:38 PM »

i went to the library to check books by Sheldon Siegel and left my cheat sheet at home and ended up with two books by Jeffrey Siger. Didn’t realize I had the wrong author until I got home. But are enjoying these two books. They are about a Greek detective in Greece. When I take these books back I’ll look for the intended Siegel books.

nlhome · « **Reply #8576 on:** April 22, 2019, 03:16:30 PM »

Serendipity.

Tomereader1 · « **Reply #8577 on:** April 24, 2019, 08:20:27 PM »

I am reading "The Winter People", which I feel is sort of a cross between The Thirteenth Tale and any Stephen King novel. I'm not quite sure whether I "like" the book or not, I don't usually like ghost stories/paranormal stories, but the writing in this one is really good, and it is holding my interest. I am 2/3's of the way through it. Oh, the author is Jennifer McMahon, she has written other books, the titles of which sound really good. It is a real twisty story, set in two time periods, present time and 1908, so I had to pay real close attention in the beginning, to which characters were in which time period.

PatH · « **Reply #8578 on:** April 25, 2019, 08:42:05 PM »

Tomereader, it sounds like The Winter People is worth the effort you have to put into it. If it's as twisty as The Thirteenth Tale, you're going to have fun following the turns.

BarbStAubrey · « **Reply #8579 on:** August 04, 2019, 01:29:39 PM »

Read an interesting light mystery - not exactly a cozy but not a major author - book called Cruel Winter by Sheila Connolly, who appears to be a prolific mystery writer - anyhow what I thought was interesting the entire story was built around a group stuck in a pub during an unusual storm discussing and having a sorta trial over a 20 year old murder - there were among the group the women everyone wanted to blame but there was no evidence to support to even bring her into a court room and one police officer who at the time was a young newbie - the others either lived nearby or had heard about the murder in the news or from the gossip that was the way of things.

I thought the premise was interesting to create a story about a murder that took place 20 years ago rather than the typical following the murder step by step as if in the past or a current murder.

PatH · « **Reply #8580 on:** August 04, 2019, 02:08:01 PM »

Sounds good, Barb.

FlaJean · « **Reply #8581 on:** August 05, 2019, 01:56:48 PM »

Form the New Book section at the library I found a new author to me! Just finished The Body in the Well by Martin Walker. An interesting story set in France featuring Bruno, the local police chief. Now I want to look for some of his earlier novels about Bruno.

I read my first P D James mystery—-Unnatural Causes—-interesting.

PatH · « **Reply #8582 on:** August 05, 2019, 04:51:21 PM »

I liked James' mysteries a lot. They vary a lot in quality though, and it's been long enough that I've forgotten which were the best. I remember liking Devices and Desires, also An Unsuitable Job for a Woman (in which Dalgliesh plays only a very small part). There were British movies of some of them, shown on PBS, which were quite good.

Never heard of Walker--sounds like my kind of thing.

FlaJean · « **Reply #8583 on:** August 26, 2019, 11:30:57 AM »

I’ve read Charles Belfoure’s The Paris Architect twice as I enjoyed it so much. It’s about Paris in World War II. Mr. Belfoure is a “real life” Architect in Baltimore, but the book is a story of how an architect who is concerned only about himself and his work is changed through his experiences.

I just finished Mr. Belfoure’s recent book (published in 2018) The Fallen Architect. It takes place in the early 1900s and about a terrible accident in a new building blaming the Architect. A really interesting mystery.

Frybabe · « **Reply #8584 on:** June 26, 2020, 06:37:49 AM »

Gosh, nobody has posted here in almost a year.

I just finished reading a murder mystery called Blackman's Coffin: A Sam Blackman Mystery by Mark de Castrique. The main character is a disabled vet who was, prior to losing part of a leg, was a military police investigator and the story is set in the Asheville, Black Mountain (VET hospital), and the Biltmore Forest, NC area. There are six in the series so far. Unfortunately, I can only find in my local library A Specter of Justice which is the fifth. I may have to make do with that, though I'd like to read the others. I like the main character.

Castrique has another series he calls Buryin' Barry which has seven books in it so far. This series is about a former cop turned undertaker. Castrique himself is an experienced broadcaster and producer, and has gained several awards, including an Emmy, for his work. His father was a funeral director.

PatH · « **Reply #8585 on:** June 26, 2020, 06:55:42 AM »

People have been talking about mysteries a bit in theLibrary, but not much. I never heard of de Castrique, but it’s JoanK who’s the fan.

nlhome · « **Reply #8586 on:** June 27, 2020, 02:44:55 PM »

Frybabe, thanks for the new author. Our library has one, our system has several (but no interlibrary loan right now), and Overdrive has one for sure.

JoanK · « **Reply #8587 on:** July 06, 2020, 04:27:56 PM »

FRY: thanks for the reference. I'm not familiar with him, and my library doesn't seem to have his books. Too bad.

I usually read "cozies", the lighter mysteries, often with women as the main characters. Think "Murder, she wrote." But they can get formulaic .
My

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Author Topic: Mystery Corner ~ 2 (Read 907978 times)