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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 (http://seniorlearn.org/forum/index.php?board=27.0)
Our Favorite Old Mystery Writers (http://www.seniornet.org/php/default.php?PageID=8402")
Fantastic Fiction (http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk)
Stop You're Killing Me (http://www.stopyourekillingme.com)
Discussion Leaders: BillH (Leyube@aol.com) and JoanK (jkraft@socal.rr.com)
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Welcome, welcome, all mystery lovers. It’s great to have a mystery corner, where we can discuss the mysteries we love with friends old and new. Here we just come in whenever we feel like it and talk about the mysteries we’re reading: share impressions with others who have read them, and give new reading ideas to those who haven’t.
Our leader, Bill, is leading the month-long in-depth discussion of “The Hound of the Baskervilles”, the first such discussion on our new site. Conan Doyle and Sherlock Holmes lead the way again, as they have often done in the mystery genre. Look for the link in the heading above.
Meanwhile, I’m holding the fort til he gets back. Did any of you get some new mysteries for Christmas? Which are deliciously mysterious and which should be shot on the spot? I have a bunch of new (to me) authors on my “to read” pile, and will let you know if there are any real “finds”. What have YOU discovered?
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Isn't it wonderful to find old/new friends??? ;D
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Hi JoanK & MaryZ. Yes, it is. I’m really glad to see this site open, as this is where you can always find good ideas for new mysteries to read, as well as comments about unread and not-so-new.
I got a Jonathan Kellerman (Alex Delaware) for Christmas – Bones, which is one of his later ones. I have not read many of his books. His Obsession is also on my shelf, unread. Guess I’d better read that one first.
And I also got Blind Submission, a first novel by Debra Ginsberg, which combines “intrigue, romance, and a touch of mystery.” It is about the publishing industry and a mysterious manuscript. She has written non-fiction, including Waiting: the true confessions of a waitress.
My f2f group picked 2009 titles last month and will read an early J. A. Jance, Desert Heat, her first in the Joanna Brady series. I have not kept up with all of her later titles, but have always liked Joanna Brady and the J.P. Beaumont series. Hasn’t she started another series too – Ali Reynolds?
This same f2f group will also read Sinners and Saints by Eileen Dreyer, another author that I’m unfamiliar with. We wanted a holiday mystery for our December read and picked Midnight Clear by Kathy Trocheck, no. 7 in the Callahan Garrity series. My opinion – skip that one. It left most of us cold.
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I'm hurrying to finish J.A.Jance's 2008 Cruel Intent - an Ali Reynolds story. We're heading out of town midmorning, and I have to get this back to the library on the way out of town. ;)
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WELCOME, WELCOME, MARYZ and PEDLIN. I've only read a few of Jance: I don't know why: I like her. Sorry to hear that the latest Trochek isn't good: I've always liked her.
Our f2f is reading "The Art Thief" by Noah Charney this month and "Murder at the Gardner" by Jane Langton (sp?)next month. This should be interesting, as they both deal with art theft, but couldn't be more different if they tried. A quick description would be that "The Art Thief" deals with the technique of art and art theft and "Murder at the Gardner" deals with the passions that art arouses, and how it affects our lives.
Langton wrote about an art theft at the Gardner museum in Boston before the actual art theft occurred. I've often wondered if the book inspired the theft.
Charney writes briefly about the same theft, but deals mainly with imaginary ones. The author is an expert on art theft, not a writer: his long explanations of how such thefts work are interesting to me, but make the plot drag. Langton is one of my favorites, with her almost musical style, drawings and love of the paintings, and clumsy detective. We'll see which the group prefers.
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ohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh!!!! I have missed you guys...every time I'd finish a Mystery book I'd start to go and post on SN and. :( :(
I'm not going to stay on long right now but will be back later. Would it be ok to post some of the books I've read since we last talked? Hope all is well with everyone and that your Holidays were blessed, safe and peaceful...I'm so excited about this I can't stand it!!!!!
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I just had Ray return to the library a very good book. It was a great read. Cold Pursuit by Carla Neggers. Now I am reading Rain Fall by Barry Eisler. It is a thriller set in Japan.
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HOORAY! Hi all!
I think i must have read all the Diane Mott Davidson "Goldilocks catering service" mysteries that my library has. I again picked up one that i was sure i hadn't read and discovered that YES i had read it as i began reading. And YES, i do TRY to keep a list of the books i've read so i don't find myself doing that often, but i guess i read this one before i started writing everything down. It was the first of the Goldilocks series.
I've found myself looking for less serious reading the last few months - the cozy mysteries have been just right - too much stress in my real life to want to read about other peoples' stress................jean
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This is my first post to Mystery Corner. I used to drop in on the old discussions but never posted. I just finished Careless in Red by Elizabeth George, her latest, and I enjoyed reading it much more than her previous two books. This one was not harrowing like those were. And I also just read P. D. James's latest, The Private Patient. She has gotten better and better, and I love her books. Gone is the cheap psychologizing she indulged in at first, and I find it a great pleasure to follow her leisurely pace and hate to finish them. My previous favorites were Death in Holy Orders and The Lighthouse.
(Tried to Italicize the titles but was not successful. I'll learn)
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Zulema, is Careless in Red a Lynley and Havers book? I've always liked Elizabeth George, but have not been able to get back into them since she killed off you know who.
JoanK, I really enjoy Jane Langton, most of them anyway. There was a recent one where Mary Kelly, who usually doesn't have much of a part, really disappointed me, but all of the others are great. Can't think of the title, but I really enjoyed the one where a group of church members were rebuilding or installing an organ.
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It's great to find other mystery lovers.
Jean...I'm at the same point you are about not wanting to read of others' problems. We have some very serious health issues in our family, and I simply need a lot of "escape" to a world of non-stress for a bit.
I've never read a J.A. Jance...somehow I thought they were westerns or something...geez...my brain has gone on me, I think.
I, too, have read all the Mott Davidson books...and like the later ones since she's off the constant "Jerk" thing. I also like the Hannah Swenson mysteries...very light..but fun by Joanna Fluke.
We're here at South Padre Island, TX, for a couple months and have a delightful little Library Reading Room, supplied from the Library in Port Isabel. What a delight it is. For a whole $5.00 a nonresident like me can, for FIVE YEARS, check out books and use their wireless internet.
jane
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Jean, I'm reading Diane Mott Davidson's, SWEET REVENGE, right now but I'm finding I'm disappointed. I wonder if DMD has used all of the plot twists and turns that she can possibly think of? It seems to me that each new book just repeats an earlier one and I'm not enjoying her as much as I once did. Perhaps it is me, but I also find the same thing with Janet Evanovich. Just finished her FEARLESS FOURTEEN and found that I didn't enjoy it as much either. Am I getting jaded? Or perhaps I'm ready to move away from the lighter mysteries for awhile. I recently read Donna Leon's SUFFER THE CHILDREN and I'm not yet disappointed in her books. I always enjoy Commissario Brunetti and the descriptions of the streets, shops, and canals of Venice.
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Mysteries,, the staff of life for me. I have been experimenting with all sorts of new authors for me.. A completely different turn for me.. James Swain.. I think his first book was "The Grifter". He writes of a completely different world.. His hero was a policeman and private investigator who deals in fraud in the gambling world. Each of the books thus far focusses on the many ways they cheat in a casino..Absolutely riveting from my point of view. Who knew?? I had only heard of card counting, but oh my that is petty compared to this series.. Not cozy.. occasional violence and a litt le ( very little) romance..
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Checking in.
I have The Private Patient by P.D. James from the library, which I haven't started yet. I'm planning on do that this morning, or I was, until I was directed to this site and now I'm busy catching up. N
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Oh my, what a treat awaited me this morning! (yes, it is still morning here). All my friends, old and new have found us. Hooray!
A special welcome to new friends (new to ME friends, I should say). ZULEMA: so glad you posted. I'm delighted to hear about the new Elizabeth George. I like her a lot, but stopped reading her because I always felt exhausted at the end of her books! I'll be sure to get this one. NLHOME: so glad you're here. Let us know about The Private Patient.
And old friends: STEPH, PHYLL, JANE, JEAN, GINNYANN, PEACE. WOW.
JEAN and JANE: I read cozies when I'm under stress, too. (And eat chocolate-- but that's another story). And I'm not smart enough to make a list of books I've read -- I'm always coming home from the library with books I've already read. Worse, I don't make lists of the books you recommend. I get to the library and think: what was that neat-sounding book we were discussing? Of course I don't remember. Example: what was that book about a Jewish policeman in Iceland? I want to read it, but can't remember?
GINNY ANN: Cold Pursuit will be first on the list I'm now resolved to make.
JANE and STEPH: I'm off and on with Davidson too.Is "The Grifter" the basis of the movie with (the late-sob) Paul Newman?
PEACE: of course you can tell us what you've been reading. Intellegant minds want to know.
PEDLIN: I felt as you do about Mary Kelly in Murder in Venice. It dampened what was otherwise a good story. Can't remember the name of the Organ one, but Fantastic Fiction (linked in the heading) will tell you. Go to any authors name to get a complete list of their books in order, sometimes with descriptions. It also tells you which have new books out.
Whew -- this post is WAAAY too long!
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Before the holidays i had read James Patterson's Beach House and it held my attention and was o.k. I also read Lisa Scottoline's Daddy's Girl. I think it came before she started the series of the women's law firm. Some of her later ones had gotten more gory - i prefer that author's just tell me that some one was killed and w/ what, but not how the body looked and what had been removed, etc. :o ............maybe that's one of the things i like about the "cozies," they aren't so graphic.................I will read more of both authors...................jean
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According to Fantastic Fiction, "Daddys Girl" is late (2007). Scottoline has a new one coming out in April.
Apparantly, she's written a whole bunch of stuff besides her women lawyer novels. Check it out.
As part Italian, I think sahe's at her best when she uses her Italian heritage in her books.
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Hi Everyone,
So good to get a list of good mysteries to read.
I also like cozies, and I like a well written mystery that holds me to the end. I don't particularly care for "descriptive gore" nor do I like the kind of mystery with a "stalker" hiding and watching the victim. Gives me the creeps. I have an over-active imagination, I guess.
South Padre Island sounds like heaven right now. Enjoy yourself, Jane.
I'm going to the library tomorrow and must pick up a J. A. Jance mystery. I love P.D. James and will see if they have Private Patient.
So nice to see so many familiar names.
Evelyn
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Hi, EVELYN. Nice to see you, too.
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I'm heading to the Library tomorrow too...to return two Julie Garwood's I read this weekend...Slow Burn and then the following one..Shadow Dance. I will also look for J.A. Jance.
jane
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Wow.. I have no idea whether the Paul Newman movie was from the book, but I dont think so. Joank..The Yiddish Policeman.. is in Alaska. It was turned into an enclave after Israel failed. Written by Michael Chabon.. I am reading it, but very slowly. It is sort of hard to follow.. But Chabon is an intricate writer. I prefer his wife.. Ayelet Waldman.. She writes light funny mysteries about a Mommy...
I like Lisa Scottoline because she has a corgi.. And of course Corgi lovers do unite..
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I read my first book by Carla Neggars while we were lost from one another. It's called "Waterfall." Boy, it's a good mystery. I want to read more of her books.
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Hats!!! So good to see you here. I have been thinking about you and hoping that you would post soon.
I am reading PD James Private Patient right now.
I have the lastest Elizabeth George. I have to have large print and that book is so heavy that I cannot even hold it to read it. I did start it but it seems to be a slow go for me. I usually like her books but the one where Lynley's wife was murdered almost got me. I could not put it down but was so depressed when I finished it.
Joan Grimes
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Jane - i love Julie Garwood's mysteries. I will put those 2 on my TBR list.
I read a fun new author - to me - before the holidays, Gar Haywood, an Af-Amer'n author who - in this book, and i think there are others - wrote about a retired couple who travels the country in their rv, mostly visiting their children and run into murders along the way. This one was located in Washington, D.C. It was titled "Bad News TRavels FAst" and was fun to read. I will look for more of his.
This seems to be my time to pick up books i've read before - must be fuzzy brain from too much sugar and fat over the holidays ;D. I mentioned that i picked up a Diane Davidson that i'd read before and last night i started a Philip Craig and said "Shoot! i read this one!!!" .............I must put my OCD in high gear and make SURE i write down every book i read before returning it to the library. It's such a disappointment when i think i've got a good read and then find out i've already had that good read............LOL..........jean
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HATS!!! Great to see you! Another book for my list.
And Joan G. Welcome!
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Hi JoanK, JoanGrimes and all,
Reading Elizabeth George is one of my reading New Year resolutions. I hope I can keep it. I have heard about "Private Patient" by P.D. James. Is it good?
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I want to chime in.
I really enjoyed PD James Patient.
Since I like to read "Around the World" I came across an Irish detective author and have one that is new to our library and he has quite a few. I do like his writing ; this one is set in County Donegal with all manner of interesting Irish characters. The Dust of Death. Paul Charles. This is the first in his Inspector Starrett Mysteries.
Link: Paul Charles works
(http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/c/paul-charles/)
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JoanK, I am so appreciative of you co leading this while I'm busy with The Hound of the Baskervilles. I do hope you stay on as co leader you enrich all discussions with your posts.
I just found out to day that Mystery is open again. THREE CHEERS!! However, I must be excused for my tardy realization this was open once again because between The Hound…. and physical therapy for my back I have been very busy.
I see most of the Mystery lovers are here again and I'm so happy for that.
By the way if any of you folks are still interested in The Hound of The Baskervilles. (Sherlock Holmes, you know). Here's a link to the discussion.
http://seniorlearn.org/forum/index.php?topic=56.0
Bill H
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I'm still smiling that the Mystery Books discussion is back :) ;D 8) :D
I do keep a llist of books that I read...of course I do leave some out!! But here are some that I've read since the SN discussions departed (but hopefully will someday return)
*The Ever Running Man by Marcia Muller - she rarely disappoints and she didn't with this one - intriguing story - good, crisp writing, never overdone
*The Other Side of Silence by Bill Pronzine - Marcia Muller's husband - man finds woman near death in Death Valley from an attempted suicide - her story leads him to Las egas and a search for her missing/kidnapped? son - interesting ending, but the right one - always ready for another of his books
*The Murder Notebook by Jonathan Santlofer - unique book - author is also an artist and tehr are wonderful sketches in the book relating to the story - main character is a forensics sketch artist - story is great, characters are "human" - fascinating read
*Night Work by Steve Hamilton - good story - main character is a Probation Officer with a cop for a best friend..of course! some uexpected twists and turns with an unexpected murder (at least for me..I never ead any clues in these books!)
*Chasing Darkness by Robert Crais - liked this one - the book doesn't shout at you just goes along slowly weaving the story with the main character, Elvis Cole, a P.I. of course! with an ex cop friend..of course! have read others of his and he doesn't disappoint
*Singularity by Kathryn Casey - A Texas Ranger Profiler Sarah Armstrong works with FBI agents and local police to find a serial killer - quite a climax involving Armstrong's daughter - the author also writes true crime as well
*Parallel Lies by Ridley Pearson - man's family is killed by train and he seeks revenge against the railroad - I like Ridley Pearson and will always read his books - this one was long on train info, sometimes too much and too detailed and the last part dragged - interesting, thought - provoking ending
*Cry Dance by Kurt Mitchell - BIA agent (Cherokee) working with novice FBI agent (Modoc) recommended by someone from the old Mystery Books discussion - not bad but Tony Hillerman does it so much better
Well, that's it for now - one of the residents in my apartment complex gave me a whole bag of books, most of them mysteries so I'm in heaven!
I know this has nothing to do with books but I don't know where else to ask or turn. Since the discussions departed I've been terribly worried about one of the participants, Bobbie Gould. She wasn't in the books discussion but maybe someone here knows her or how to contact her. Would appreciate it.
Glad to be back and to see all my mystery book friends agaiin..as I said, I can't stop smiling about this!
Prop up those pillows and read..then sleep well.
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Peace - Bobby posts on the fibromyalgia site on seniors and friends site. I think she posted on page 8 last and here is a link..........it sounds like she's having a bad time. ...............jean
http://www.seniorsandfriends.org/index.php?topic=194.140
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Mabel: thank you so much for the link to Bobbie; I guess I'm a bit confused. Are other discussion groups available at this link? First I've heard of this one. Thanks again; I will go there now.
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Marj,
Thanks for the new author's name. I've never heard of Paul Charles. I like finding and reading new authors along with the tried and true.
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I recently read P.D. James' The Private Patient and Jeffery Cohen's Some Like It Hot Buttered. Now I'm reading You have the right to remain Puzzled by Parnell Hall. Cora reminds me of Agatha Raisin. Camel Club awaits.
MaryE
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I have the new Elizabeth George on my list. I got so upset with the death, then I hated the next book and never finished it. Maybe she is back on track? A new Robert Crais.. that is on my list. I do like him. There is also a new Michael Connelly out.
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I liked the new Elizabeth George book. Can't think of the name. And I agree about the the last two, they were disappointing.
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Maeve/MaryE, if you’re reading Parnell Hall’s puzzle mysteries, look to see who made the puzzle. Our dear Manny M from Latin class constructs puzzles for the NY Times and Wall Street Journal, and he did one for a recent Parnell Hall, but I don’t know the title.
So many good books listed here. I’m glad to see my library has The Private Patient, and Ridley Pearson’s Parallel Lies, but only a much older Haywood (1994.) I’ll have to track that newer one down as I really like Washington DC mysteries. (Really miss Margaret Truman.)
Books Into Movies (http://seniorlearn.org/forum/index.php?topic=77.0) is now open. Do drop in and tell us what you think of this current crop of films that are based on the book. Or maybe you’ve found a sleeper on DVD. We’d like to hear about that, too.
I'm glad to hear the new Elizabeth George is an improvement over her other recent ones.
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MARGV: WELCOME! So good to see you here. I really miss RUBBISH, don't you?
Thanks for the kind words, BILL, but we await your return. Meanwhile, we're having a blast in "Hound of the Baskervilles". Those of you who haven't tried it yet, c'mon over. The book is online, so you don't have to get it.
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PEACE: what a fiest of books. Thanks! I didn't realize that Pronzini was still writing -- he's uneven, but his best are very good. Have you read the one that he and Muller wrote together?
Seniornet's Manny (Manny Novotsky -- the guy in the scotch beret on our home page) wrote the puzzes for several of the Puzzle Lady books, including (I'm almost sure) "You have the right to remain puzzled". he also frequently has puzzles in the NY Times. My puzzle-pal and I work the NYT puzzle every day, and always cheer when it's a "Manny". His are easier than many, but lots of fun, and full of outrageous puns. If you don't groan at least once, it's not a Manny. (He's more subdued in the "Puzzle Lady" puzzles, unfortunately).
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Hi back, JoanK.
Yup - I miss Rubbish. Wish we could have it here. Good for the brain.
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(http://seniorlearn.org/bookclubs/graphics/mysterytitlejd.jpg)
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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 (http://seniorlearn.org/forum/index.php?board=27.0)
Our Favorite Old Mystery Writers (http://www.seniornet.org/php/default.php?PageID=8402")
Fantastic Fiction (http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk)
Stop You're Killing Me (http://www.stopyourekillingme.com)
Discussion Leaders: BillH (Leyube@aol.com) and JoanK (jkraft@socal.rr.com)
Yes, Manny did the puzzles. A note in the front of the book says he played the part of the killer in Stalking the Puzzle Lady and victim in You have the right to remain Puzzled.
I enjoyed the book and will try to get some more from the library.
MaryE
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I just started Margaret Truman's "Murder Inside the Beltway", which I believe may be her last book since she passed away at the age of 83 about a year ago. I looked her up on Wikipedia and she wrote 23 books in the Capital Crimes series. I have only read one or two of her other books.
Recently I read the new Vince Flynn book called "Extreme Measure". I think I have read about all of his books as he is a good writer and his character is a CIA agent.
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Still reading the Yiddish Policeman story by Chabon.. Not a straightforward writer at all. I honestly think I need a scorecard and possibly a yiddish dictionary.. Hmm. Still it is interesting.
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I've made an addition to my list of the new Parnell Hall puzzle mystery and the new Margaret Truman. I've enjoyed her books in the past. I don't believe I've ever read any of Vince Flynn or Chabon.
Thanks for the suggestions...
jane
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I've enjoyed the Truman mysteries and the Elliot Roosevelt mysteries - his are especially fun because i'm always wondering if the "real" characters he protrays were really like the characters in his books - re: Churchill, Joe Kennedy, ER, - there was a really good one that portrayed a young Ensign JFK...............jean
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Hi, people!
First, Manny last name is Nosowsky, and his puzzles were not easy at all generally, very good themeless with very few black squares.
Now, I think we were all disappointed at Mary Kelly's behavior in the Venice book, but Langton has written wonderful books, and of course, she made Mary do that. Elizabeth George's Careless in Red is a Linley and Havers book and a relief from the previous two. It's different and not depressing I read the one where you know who gets shot, and that one was heavy reading before that happens, and the next, What Came Before He shot Her, I simply could not read. It's a social treatise of the lower depths, horrendously depressing.
I have just read The Likeness, by Tana French, fascinating. I couldn't put it down, and it's a big book which I read in three days. Takes place in Ireland It could be a suspense book where you worry every minute, and I wouldn't like that, but it starts with a Prologue which tells one she survived. Very well written.
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didn't know that Pronzini and Muller co-authored a book; will have to check it out. And...I too miss Margaret Truman. Found one more book to add to my long list that I posted earlier: Shell Game by Sarah R. Shaber, a Professor Simon Shaw Mystery. Shaw is a Professor and forensic historian. Nothing exciting about this book, it just goes along it's way but I did like it. Professor gets involved in solving the death of a colleague.
Just started one titled Fleshmarket Alley by Ian Rankin. The title makes it sound much more provacative than it is! Apparently Rankin is the #1 Mystery in Britian...says so right on the jacket! first of his I've read...like many British stuff, it just goes along, building little by little. It's a big book, 561 pages in paperback, so I'll be a while. I'm liking it so far. Anyone read any of his stuff? He has a long list of books, with Detective John Rebus. What a name to choose for a detective! will keep reading and let you know.
I post here and I keep smiling because it is just so good to be able to do so.
Sleep well everyone...ok to fall asleep with that book resting on your chest!
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I believe that Pronzoni and Muller are married to each other.. Could be wrong of course.
Still struggling along with Chabon.
Have lots of books to read. Birthday and Christmas and my swap club keeps me in good shape.. Plus two gift certificates to Amazon.. hooray
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I finished "Murder And The First Lady" by Elliott Roosevelt last night. I loved every word of it. I would like to read the whole series. There are other famous political figures in the book too: Lyndon Johnson, Lady Bird, Herbert Hoover, President Taft's son is mentioned. One name I didn't recognize is Martin Dies. I think he headed the Committee of UnAmerican Activities. His name completely went over my head.
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Hats, never heard of him either. I read at least one or two of theElliot Roosevelt stuff. I think I liked Margaret Truman more. Funny, her Dad had his heart on her being a singer, but in the end, she was a very special detective story writer and got all sorts of acclaim for it.
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Martin Dies was a US Congressman from Texas - and on the USHouse version of the UnAmerican Activities Committee. Here's a link....
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Dies,_Jr.
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I have read all of Janet Evanovich's 14 books and have laughed out loud many, many times while reading them, but a friend gave me the 14th one on cd's and i have been listening to them in the car. I have been laughing on the way to the bank, on the way to the yarn store, on the way to the grocery store, to pick up my grandson at school - have to turn it off then, some of the language is too old for a six-yr-old.................there is just something much funnier about hearing the book read. The reader is excellent and has about 8 voices she uses for all the characters................I figure i'm adding years to my life from all the laughing i'm doing..............."reading" can be beneficial in so many ways............ ;) ..................jean
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Thank you, Maryz.
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let me test it and see if i did it right.............o.k.!.................i wasn't sure what was going to happen, but it worked......................Oh! That's kind of eerie, it shows up everyplace.......................aaaggghhh!....................jean
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Hi, Hats!
Jean, it does seem like magic doesn't it?!? You're lookin' good, though! ::)
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Zulema: thanks for the correction on Manny's name: I can't even spell my own name, much less anyone elses.
I didn't say Manny's puzzles were "easy", just easier than some of the NYT puzzle creators. There's one guy (whose name I won't mention): if I get three words in his puzzleI think I'm a genius!!! Grrr! The puzzles are graded from easiest on Monday to hardest on Saturday, but even so, there's a lot of variation on a given day of the week. (of course, not being able to spell doesn't help).
The "puzzle lady" puzzles give clues (partly filled in grids) as you go along and the answer at the end.
Haven't struck any gold on my library picks yet. But I've got some to go.
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I've always been a Margaret Truman fan. Don't know how I overlooked this last one -- was it published after her death? Anyway, now I've got it on hold at the library. Thanks for that info, Larry.
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pedln, I think the book was published after her death as she died in January and the book was published sometime during 2008.
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I can't wait to read the Margaret Truman mysteries. I have those books on my list. :)
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I am another Stephanie Plum fan and love to read it and then listen to it.. She is one of the few authors who make me laugh out loud. Amazing how many female authors try to copy the style, but dont quite get it right.
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I guess I need to give Evanovich (SP?) another try. I started one of her years ago...and just couldn't get into it. Do I need to start with 1...or is there a better one to begin with???
jane
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jane, my whole family and our group at the beach LOVE Evanovich. I've never been able to get into them either. :-\
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So glad to know that I'm not alone. I can't get into Evanovich either. Mary
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I have never been able to get into Evanovich either. Isn't it great to have a place to talk about books and our likes and dislikes.
Evelyn
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Whew...then, maybe, it's not me??? ;D
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jane - Well, of course not. It couldn't possibly be US.
I've just finished a new J.A.Jance (Ali Reynolds) book. I like Jance's books, but this is my least favorite of her three protagonists. I wish she'd go back to one of the other two. I've just started the 2008 David Baldacci, Divine Justice. I do enjoy his books.
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I recently reread Evanovich's One for the Money and was surprised by how violent it was. Maybe one of her later books would be better to start with. However, I loved them all.
MaryE
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I love Evanovitch, but she is violent. She knows right where my funny-bone is. But the ones that aren't about Stephanie Plum aren't nearly as good. So trying her start with a Plum.
I like the fact that she numbers them. Publishers make it hard to tell which is the first in a series, by listing books alphabetically, instead of in publishing order. I'm often reduced to looking inside the book for publishing date. (but Fantastic Fiction will tell you).
I have to catch up on Truman. Haven't read her books for years although I like them. Having lived and worked in DC most of my life, I'm sort of familiar with her settings.
I forgot to report on my f2f club's experience with "The Art Thief". Most found it too heavy, and that it dragged. But I would read another for the info about art and how art thieves work. I like books that explain some technical area.
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I would love to discuss The Private Patient. I just finished it and think it well worth discussing.
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glad to hear that there's another Margaret Truman book to read...I've read all the Capitol mystery series and loved them all, except one...can't remember the title but she went to Cuba with this one and I just didn't care for it like I did all the others. As for Evanovich, well, I just can't get into her books. Tried a couple upon the recommendation of a former co-worker and 2 was enough. Think I'm up to date with Grafton; always felt she got better with each book but the last one kinda tested that for me; was too long, too word, too full of air between happenings! but, I await the next letter of the alphabet anyway.
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The Art Thief reminds of another mystery writer who isn't heavy -- Aaron Elkins. It's been a while since I've read any by him, but one of this main characters works for the Seattle Art Museum and gets called on to solve disappearances, etc. His other character, I believe, is an anthropologist.
I've never read an Evanovitch. Just haven't had time.
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I was so sad to hear of Tony Hillerman's death. I loved his books. I just finished Margaret Coel's new book"Blood Memory" which, I believe, is going to be a new series for her. I've always enjoyed her Wind River Reservation mysteries with Father John O'Malley and Vicky Holden.
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I l ove Stephanie Plum, but dont like Evanovich other stuff. Too close to romance type things, which I am not fond of.
I have never been fond of Ellis Petrers, Brother Caedfel, but have gotten a audio tape of an early one.. I hope that listening will be different. The reader is spectacular, so that helps.
I loved the reader in the early Plums,,, but they changed to someone else.. She is OK,, but does not have that hard North Jersey accent, the first reader did.
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Tony Hillerman was a real loss. I like Coel's Wind River reservation mysteries too. What is the new one about?
I love Peters' Brother Cadfael books, (and her modern mysteries as well). I read Cadfael when I was still working and commuting on the subway (the Metro in Washington -- Hillerman has a scene where Jim Chee is in Washington, riding the Metro. Everyone is staring at him -- I can just see it: we pale desk workers staring at this lanky tanned Indian. It makes me chuckle. I would have looked up from brother Cadfael to stare).
I would start a new Cadfael with the Monday morning commute, rationing the pages so it would last the ten trips and I would find out "whodunnit" on Friday coming home from work. Gave added meaning to TGIF.
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I'm about half way through Stephanie Barron's latest title A Flaw in the Blood. This is not a Jane Austin mystery but the setting is still Victorian England - with Queen Victoria a central figure - taking place at the time of Albert's death. One thread is women and the medical profession at that time. This book just came out in paperback. An interesting read. Mary
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Got to get that one!
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I made a note of the Stephanie Barron. Sounds interesting. I have read most of a small series of a midwife in NY who partners with a policeman.. Set, I believe at the turn of the century. Interesting series..
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Someone asked about reading Evanovich's books in order, it isn't necessary, but it helps to have the background of each. I agree that her non-Plum books are not nearly as good, there's just something about the cast of characters in her "numbered" books that fit together and make for a great scenario. I read one non-numbered book that had Plum, Lulu and Grandma and had Atlantic City as a large part of the story, but not Ranger or much of the rest of the characters and it didn't hold my interest at all. I don't remember the name of the book. ......some of what appeals to me is that i live in NJ and know Trenton and the Chambersburg section and can "hear" the dialects and that makes it funnier, i guess. When Grandma Mazur is portrayed i just see Bea Arthur's mother on Golden Girls and she makes me laugh just thinking about her. .........In the first book Grandma's described as wearing spandex bike pants and high top sneakers, a la Stephanie, and that's the picture that comes to mind unless she's described in another outfit, which she often is..............and her obsession w/ funerals cracks me up. ................i'm smiling while typing this statement.......................yes, there are violent scenes in her books, which i am usually not crazy about in other books, but she weaves in the humor w/ the violence and i can handle it because i'm usually laughing at that moment or 60 seconds later...............jean
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STEPH: I know that series, but blank on the author's name. The books are named after places (like an American Anne Perry).
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JoanK.. yes that is the series and I do enjoy it. My notes on what I read tend to get out of hand. I keep authors lists instead.
I am in the last 100 pages of Yiddish Policeman and finally in love. The plot winds and twists. He is the most determined policeman in the world and I have no idea on earth where we are going.. Aha.. my favorite way to be.
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(http://seniorlearn.org/bookclubs/graphics/mysterytitlejd.jpg)
| ____(http://seniorlearn.org/bookclubs/graphics/smokinggun.gif)____ | ____(http://seniorlearn.org/bookclubs/graphics/mysteryoutline.jpg)____ | ____(http://seniorlearn.org/bookclubs/graphics/mystbloodyknife1.jpg)____ |
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 (http://seniorlearn.org/forum/index.php?board=27.0)
Our Favorite Old Mystery Writers (http://www.seniornet.org/php/default.php?PageID=8402")
Fantastic Fiction (http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk)
Stop You're Killing Me (http://www.stopyourekillingme.com)
Discussion Leaders: BillH (Leyube@aol.com) and JoanK (jkraft@socal.rr.com)
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Thank you, Pedlin, for putting in the heading. When we get to post 120, if someone notices, could you save it for the heading?
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Finished the Yiddish Policeman.. What a fun and silly book.. Learned a lot about yiddish,, jewish customs and wild tomfoolery.. Now for something entirely different as they say.
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I just finished The Camel Club, now I have to look for the next one.
MaryE
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Started reading the new Alex Kava.. This one is a serial killer and it is moving along at a great clip. There are continuing characters as well as the heroine.
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Hooray! The Mystery Group is back!
I've read a couple of good ones recently (none were "cozies.")
THE FINDER by Colin Harrison. A thriller on my top ten for 2008. Very good writing that kept me turning pages.
WHISKEY REBELS by David Liss. An excellent historical mystery. Many of the characters were real people -- I looked them up in Wikipedia. Fun to read more about them.
A RED DEATH by Walter Mosley. The first book of Mosley's I've read, and this was very good. The best part is Easy Rawlin's relationships with all the other characters, his feelings of guilt, and his caring for others. I will read more of Mosley's stuff.
I also liked Elizabeth George's CARELESS IN RED (I forget what is relevant about the title). Could have been shorter, tho' IMO. And I liked P.D. James' THE PRIVATE PATIENT. Just wish Adam Dalgliesh had more of a sense of humor.
Peace -- Thanks for your list! I like your taste in mysteries!
MaryE -- I love David Baldacci's Camel Club mysteries!
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I am Having trouble reading "Careless in Red" because I have the large print edition and it is so very heavy that I cannot hold it to read.
Joan Grimes
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Re;Marjifay and Walter Mosley. I had the pleasure of meeting Walter Mosely once at a mystery book fair. It was when he was first started to publish..Might have been Devil in a Blue Dress.
The Easy Rawlins series are good to read in chronological order.
Any fans of George Pelicanos here. His stories take place in Wash DC and are quite intriguing.Characterization takes precedence over plot.Pelicanos is a fine writer and I believe that he did some writing for the Sopranos series. Again,if you want to try his stuff,it's best to start in chronological order.
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I will wait on Careless in Red until it hits paper. She generally writes long long books. I just want her to get back on track.
I just started the Ann Purser.. Lois is doing something on Sunday. Book is downstairs and I am up, so the title has slipped the bounds of memory.
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MARGIFAY: glad you found us. A great list of books -- so many books, so little time (sigh).
I couldn't get into SeniorLearn yesterday. Did anyone else have trouble?
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PIKE: sounds like a good tip. Thanks for warning us to read them in order. I went into Fantastic Fiction to see which is the first Pelacanos book. He has three series (i.e. series with three different detectives). You can see which is the first in each series here:
http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/ (http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/)
I notice he has a library of new books coming out!
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marjifay, glad to hear you liked the Whiskey Rebels. I enjoyed Liss’s Coffee Trader, and look forward to Whiskey Rebels when time permits.
Those Camel Club mysteries sound good, too. I’ve been looking at the summaries in our library’s online catalog. Do you need to read them in any order?
I’m finishing up one of Carolyn Hart’s Henrie O mysteries – Set Sail to Murder – a light easy mystery set on a cruise ship, which now has me wanting to follow the same route, from Copenhagen to Helsinki, with other stops on the way. I’d never heard of Tallinn in Estonia, supposedly the most medieval city in Europe.
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pedin, re David Baldacci's Camel Club series, I'd recommend reading them in order, especially don't read STONE COLD before you've read one or both of the first two. The order is THE CAMEL CLUB, THE COLLECTORS, STONE COLD, and DIVINE JUSTICE. I was just checking StopYoureKillingMe.com and hadn't realized the fourth book had been published. Great! Now I have another to read.
Haven't read any Carolyn Hart books. Will have to try SET SAIL FOR MURDER. Read the summary at Amazon, and it looks good. Thanks.
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pedin, I haven't been to Copenhagen, but I've been to Helsinki, Finland and Tallin, Estonia. Don't remember a lot about either of them, as we just stopped for a short while on our way to Russia. I do remember how much the Estonians said they disliked the Russians. And I
remember the interesting buildings there. We heard a large choir of adults singing beautiful music outdoors, practicing for a contest. I guess they are big on choirs in that part of the world.
And I remember the food we had at a hotel (don't remember the name) in Helsinki. It was just fabulous -- the most delicious brunch I've ever eaten, anywhere, and I've traveled quite a bit.
Hope you get to go there. And if you do, go on to St. Petersburg. Just a wonderful, lovely old city.
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Aha.. Sorrow on Sunday is the
Ann Purser book. It is good, although moving slower than most of her stuff.
A lovely medieval village? We were in Rothenberg, Germany just before Christmas at the Christmas markets and it is lovely.. A walled village with the wall intact. All sorts of beautiful old buildings.. People still living in them.. If you get to Germany, go see it. Lovely lovely place.
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Just finished reading Ruth Rendell "The Water's Lovely" I like her although the books are sometimes way past strange. This one was full of unlovely characters.. Bad triumphs, crooks win and the only ones I like died.. Hmm.. but it was an interesting read.. Just full of people you hope you never meet.
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I couldn't get into SeniorLearn yesterday. Did anyone else have trouble?
JoanK, I was able to get on in the morning, but not the rest of the day.
Pedlin, I highly recommend the Camel Club series and the order that Marjifay posted is best.
I also vastly enjoyed the REPAIRMAN JACK series by Paul F. Wilson. And the JACK REACHER series by Lee Child.
You can use THE STOP YOUR KILLING ME link in the heading to find the order listing of these series .
I suppose the above series of novels are my favorites
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I couldn't find F. Paul Wilson in "Stop Your Killing Me. However, he is listed in Fantastic Fiction.
http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/w/f-paul-wilson/
The RepairmanJack series begins with THE TOMB. This is really way-out
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Bill:
F. Paul Wilson is listed under StopYoureKillingMe.com. Are you sure you looked under "Authors?"
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Marjifay, your right. I looked under characters. Went back and looked under authors and there he was.
Most of the RepairmanJack novels are listed.
I got another RepairmanJack to day, "Bloodline." This is the one after "Harbringers" but the one before his "By the Sword."
Can't wait to get started on "Bloodline." but I must finish "Orbit," by John J. Nance. Now, Nance writes a first rate suspense novel. I loved his "Saving Cascadia." His "Orbit" takes the reader on a space venture.
I'm so glad you caught that mistake Marjifay I hope I didn't mislead anyone.
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I haven't been doing any reading the last few days -- too absorbed in watching the inaugaration. Now, its back to life as usual (i.e. a good mystery).
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Currently I'm reading a Robert Barnard (British author) mystery A Cry From the Dark. Set in England ; in sections the novelist character Bettina brings in her childhood in Australia.
I read mysteries by or set in other countries than the USA.
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I enjoy English mysteries. I haven't read any by Robert Barnard. Thanks for the suggestion.
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I just finished an Ann Purser.. Sorrow on Sundays. She is English and writes about small towns. Lovely atmosphere.
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I just put "The Quiet Game" on hold. It's my first Greg Iles. I think Judy Laird recommended it or someone else.
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I am starting on a mystery that is based on drink names. The detective ( female) is called Jack Daniels. I had listened to one of the authors book on audio tape, so get this second one to read. A bit violent on the first one, we shall see about this one. They are written by a man and it shows in his depiction of the heroine.
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Steph,
Who is the author? Does "Whiskey Sour" go with that series?
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I recall starting Whiskey Sour, but I don't remember if I finished it. :-\ I'm wondering if it was what you mentioned, Steph...the author's depiction of a female that didn't work for me? Or maybe I finished it and forgot about this series. [This happens a lot to me! :D]
The 'net lists 5 titles by J. A. Konrath
1. Whiskey Sour [Jack Daniels Mystery Series Book 1]
2. Bloody Mary [Jack Daniels Mystery Series Book 2]
3. Rusty Nail: [Jacqueline Jack Daniels Mystery -Book 3]
4. Dirty Martini [Jack Daniels Mystery Series Book 4]
5. Fuzzy Navel [Jack Daniels Mystery Series Book 5]
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Jane,
Thanks.
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Did you read Whiskey Sour, hats? Did you like "Jack" Daniels?
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Hi, everyone!
Yiddish Policemen ... by Chabon was quite a challenge, but I would not call it silly as someone posted a few days ago.
I'd call it postmodern fiction, implying a plot that does not flow in a linear way. But it is too serious about the plight of the Jews to be a funny book. It's a shock to me to think of a world without the state of Israel. I put off reading it for a year because of the mixed reviews, but now that I've finished it, I think it is a minor masterpiece ... as well as rather weird.
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MarjV, I'm reading "A Cry From the Dark" by Robert Barnard, and it is interesting. The library has a number of his books so I got several others.
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No, I had never heard of the titles. I wrote the title down on my library list.
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Whiskey Sour was the one I listened to and Rusty Nail is the one I have on by table next to my chair. I got involved in a non fiction about WWII, Poland and Jews and have not started it yet. I knew he had a small series and that they were drink names.
I see someone liked the Chabon book more than I did. I agree on the post modern, but I also love a good story and that wandered a bit through some odd places.
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Jeepers, I thought I was signed on here, but finally realized the Mystery Corner wasn't turning up when I requested '..new replies to your posts'. Look at all I've already missed!
Well, I'm here now. Hi, everybody. Good to see you. (In a manner of speaking.) (Or writing.)
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BABI: hi! Great you got here.
I had the same experience. "Mystery Corner didn't show up under "new replies" for two days. I finally thought "That can't be right, and checked -- there were plenty of new messages. I'm wondering : maybe when it goes to a new page, it loses the information that I've posted here. Be on the lookout, people. A day almost never goes by without a new message.
"a masterpiece but quirky hmm. I have to try that "Yiddish policeman". Thanks to my husband, my yiddish vocabulary is pretty good.
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Meanwhile, I'm reading a good first book. "Here's the Church, here's the Steeple" by Tempa Pagel. A modern women is trying to solve a mystery dating back to 1811 in a small New England town.
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marjifay I am reading the David Liss book now - found it a bit disjointed as compared to his other books but a fine read so far - I think of his work more as a historical novel though - interesting that you and others see it for the mystery.
have any of you read M.C. Beaton's A Spoonful of Poison the latest Agatha Raisin Mystery - I always wait till they go into the $6.99 paperbook size which Kissing Christmas Goodbye did just before the holidays - thought it was better written then her previous stories in the series - just the writing not necessarily the story line which I thought was a bit weaker - but fun just the same - a light quick read that always puts a smile on my face - she is so outrageous in such a proper part of the world it is always a hoot to read.
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Barb. I agree with you about THE WHISKEY REBELS being more a historical novel than a mystery. Can't remember now what the mystery was. I liked it for the history and the characters - made me want to read Ron Chernow's book on Alexander Hamilton. I like books that make me curious to know more about a real place or character.
Afraid I haven't read any of M.C. Beaton's books. If they are cozies, I just can't seem to get interested in the genre. I know lots of people love it, tho.' The only "light" mystery I read last year was THE THIN WOMAN by Dorothy Cannell, and loved it! She has a terrific sense of humor.
I've just started THE WOMAN WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO by Stieg Larsson. It's set in Sweden and written by a Swedish author. Some people have loved it, others not. I'll see.
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I cannot read Cannel for some reason. I love pretty much all mysteries. My husband is a fan of legal type mysteries and loves a good court trial.. so he reads only those. He also likes one that have to do with Wall Street.
Some cozies are funny and others are a bit too much. I do have some problems with some of the series romance writers who try for a cozy and end up being too much romance and not enough mystery.. I also generally stop reading any mystery that starts out with the most gorgeous woman in the world meeting the handsomest man.. Boo... Hiss
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I also generally stop reading any mystery that starts out with the most gorgeous woman in the world meeting the handsomest man
;) I have the same problem with 'romances', STEPH. Actually I have a number of problems with that genre, so I avoid them all. My favorite mysteries are the ones that allow me to try and figure out the solution. Which is why I read every Agatha Christie I could find.
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DITTO! ::) ...............jean
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i like mysteries and thrillers best because they go so quickly and don't take m;much effort. i cal them my GOOD JUNK so am delighted to ave so may good reviews to brouse. greetings to all most of you familiar old sn folk. I'm here too. Claire
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romances are all the same just change the names. thrillers are great some even sccare m for a while when finished, I like mysteries that teach me something about a field that is unfamiliar to me as in the works of kathy reich and others. with an anthropological twist. Tony Hillar indians too.
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Steph, I agree with your husband -- I love legal mysteries and also those dealing with Wall Street. Loved the Emma Lathen series about the investment banker hero. Too bad there aren't any more. I think one of the Emma Lathens ((a lawyer and a banker) died.
But I've picked up some good names here that I want to try -- Pelicanos, and Barnard -- A Cry in the Dark sounds good. The library was holding the latest Margaret Truman for me and I just got it -- Murder inside the Beltway. Now that should be a good way to pass a dreary COLD Sunday afternoon. Fix up a big bowl of popcorn. Heat some juice in the microwave.
And this evening I've got the best mystery from Netflix -- Five Days -- the second disc of a 5-day miniseries by HBO. But it's a British show -- Mama goes missing, then the two children also. Lots of characters, in-fighting with the press and the police. What fun.
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Pedln...I loved the Emma Lathen books, too, and one of the two authors did die in 1997, according to Wikipedia...
Emma Lathen is the pen name of two American businesswomen: an attorney Mary Jane Latsis (July 12, 1927 -October 29, 1997) and an economic analyst Martha Henissart (b. 1929),who received her B.A. in physics from Mount Holyoke College in 1950.
I thought one was a prof at Columbia, but I may have another author confused here.
jane
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I just finished reading The Dust of Death by Paul Charles.
I really enjoyed it on this cold, dreary Sunday. Thanks to whoever recommended it in December. I had a hold on it at the library and it came in Friday.
I also finished Brimstone a few days ago. I enjoyed that too. It is a departure from what I usually read and I plan to read more by these authors. For the chills up my spine, I guess.
Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child are new authors for me. Ginny put the list in order for us in December and I was able to check out the three books of the Diogenes Trilogy and plan to read the other two.
I agree, so many books, so little time.
Evelyn
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Jane, are you thinking of Carolyn Heilbrun, who wrote mysteries under the name of ????. Her character was an English professor at Columbia, Kate something.
Several years ago we discussed Helibrun's non-fiction book about living after sixty, and had fits when it was discovered she had committed suicide.
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Well, I have not been here in weeks, but just read everything since.
Tina,
I would love to discuss anything about P. D. James's The Private Patient, but I may not remember all the details.
Steph,
About Rendell's The Water's Lovely, I felt the same as you did. It is very well written, as usual, and I loved reading the book; but as you note, the nasties prevail, the good people die, and are we spoiling this book for everyone else by saying this?
One of my absolute favorites by Rendell was The Keys to the Street.
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Pedln...BINGO! Yes, that's she. I enjoyed her Kate Fansler mysteries, and like her character Kate, Ms. Heilbrun, who was then writing as Amanda Cross, was a professor of English (at Columbia).
Thanks! Now I can sleep tonight and not wait for the right name to float to the top of my brain! ;D
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HI, CLAIRE!! Glad to see tou as always!
JANE: I'm so glad you remembered Amanda Cross's name. It was driving me crazy that I couldn't remember it.
I haven't thought about Emma Lathan for years - my father introduced me to the books, and I think I've read them all. But worth checking Fantastic Fiction to see if I missed one.
I have some reason why I don't read Dorothy Cannell, either, but now I can't remember what it was.
I like cozies -- when I feel stressed out, I find them soothing. (and not necessarily trivial. After all, Agatha Chrisies are cozies). The weakness of the genre for me is that they can become so cozy that they become "cutsies" (ugh). And they accumulate continuing characters. That is part of their appeal, but the continuing characters can accumulate to the point where they take over and drown out the plot.
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I loved Emma Lathen and recently discoverd one of hers I had never read. Set mostly in Japan and Thatcher was up as always.
Both my husband and I have recently read The Last Templar.. We watched some of it( I think he watched all) last night on television. Boy had they changed it..Whew.. But I did like the book very much.
I like to learn about different cultures and places, so love mysteries that do so. Robert Parker makes you really get into Boston and Cambridge. Tony Hillerman explained Indian culture to me. Minette Walters,, parts of England and Elizabeth George, yet another side of England. In some books, I dont care who did it, but I do care why.. I even sometimes read books that cause me to wake up in the night.. Red Dragon for one.. and then there are mysteries that make me laugh.. Stephanie Plum,, no real villains or crimes that make sense, but fun.
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PEDLN, I like British shows, too, but many of them don't have closed captioning. Did the series 'Five Days' have the CC, do you remember?
Winsum...the Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child that Evelyn mentions have a lot
of anthropological and historical background in their books. I like that, too.
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Babi, I'm in your boat -- there have to be captions or subtitles or I sink. Yes, Five Days has both. I finished it last night and really enjoyed. (It was an HBO mini-series)
I'm glad you came up with Amanda Cross, Jane. I couldn't for the life of me remember Heilbron's pen name. "Fansler" just kind of floated by me last night.
Has anyone read any Eileen Dreyer mysteries. My f2f group will discuss Sinners and Saints in Feb. I'm reading it, enjoying it, but it doesn't seem to move very quickly. This is set in New Orleans and the author had this note in the paperback version -- that the hardback was published five days before Katrina hit. Unbelievable. And there are a lot of semi-jokes, tongue-in-cheek comments about hurricanes. In fact, the very opening is at someone's beginning-of-hurricane-season party -- an annual event!
Someone mentioned Dorothy Cannell -- I read something by her years ago -- how to kill your mother-in-law or some such. She is British, I think, but lives (or did) in Peoria.
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Oho!! This afternoon finished Scotland's Peter May's second Enzio MacLeod mystery - set in the wine country of France. Mr. May certainly can tell a convoluted tale. Think : bodies soaked in wine. Title: The Critic. Glad I read the first one initially. Sets the scene for the main character interactions.
Mippy: I agree. I thought YIDDISH was excellent.
Thanks for the Netflix "Five Days" idea.
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About Dorothy Cannell, I thought The Thin Woman was fantastically funny, interesting, and everything I could have wished, but I have tried and not been able to read any of her later books. And as for Peter May, I find his books do not hold my interest. When I put one down, I don't feel like going back to it. Robert Barnard I like very much, particularly his later books. There is usually a sympathetic main character in them and I find it a pleasure to spend time with him or her.
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Just finished an old Hamish McBeth. I use them for my waiting books.. I keep them in the car and use them for appointments, etc. You dont lose track and they are sort of predictable.
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HI all,
Steph, thanks for the comment about The Last Templar. I watched most of it, thought the second half was pretty uninspiring, and had decided not to read the book. So the book is better and worth reading?
Newly acquired and waiting to be read is Steve Berry's The Charlemagne Pursuit. I've read his The Amber Room and The Templar Legacy. I had a lot of fun with the latter, because I printed out maps to follow the travel and checked out the really neat website of Rennes-le-Chateau where a lot of the action takes place.
http://www.renneslechateau.com
Pedln mentioned Margaret Truman. Last week I was given her Murder on K Street. She has written more book than I thought. Murder on K Street is the last on the list, so can I assume that this is the last Capitol crime series book she wrote before she passed away?
There are also two of Ann Perry's William Monk series in the stack of books given to me. She sure is a prolific writer from the looks of it. Never read her works so I don't know to expect.
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I used to have a "wait" book, too. I always had a purse big enough to hold a small paperback, which was always with me. Unfortunately, the big purses weren't good for my arthritic shoulder. Now, I have to remember to carry a book.
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Joan - i only like "shoulder" bags, but my shoulders are so sloped now i have trouble keeping the strap on one shoulder, so i got a bag w/ a strap long enough to go over my head and the bag hangs to the other side, maybe that kind would be helpful for you to carry your book in and not hurt your shoulder..............jean
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JEAN: that's the way I always carried it, too. Actually, I can still fit a small paperback in my purse if I keep the other junk cleaned out of it. (sigh!)
FRYBABE: if one of your William Monk books is "Face of a Stranger", read that first. It's the first in the series and sets up the situation in the later books.
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FRYBABE: if one of your William Monk books is "Face of a Stranger", read that first. It's the first in the series and sets up the situation in the later books.
No Joan, I was given The Sins of the Wolf and Slaves of Obsession.
Oh, I think I forgot to mention earlier that I saw Joan Rivers on Fox and Friends. She has written two books. One is non-fiction about plastic surgery and the other is a work of fiction about murder at the Emmy Awards (I think I got the right awards show). If I remember correctly, she said that some of the things in the book revolving around the Emmys were based on actual events. Has anyone seen this book? Sorry, I didn't catch the title.
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I simply cannot imagine Joan Rivers writing anything worthwhile. I browsed through the autobiography a few years ago in a library.. Very self serving..
I loved The Last Templar and need to look him up for whatever else he has written. Sort of a type of DaVinci Code book.. Just did not get the promos that that one did.
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Thanks, PEDLN. I'm going to add "Five Days" to my Netflix queue.
"I thought The Thin Woman was fantastically funny, interesting, and everything I could have wished, but I have tried and not been able to read any of her books."
ZULEMA, I read a Dorothy Cannell book because someone here had recommended her as a humorous author. I guess I missed the funny one, because I wasn't sufficiently impressed to read any more of them.
FRYBABE, you are in for a treat. Ann Perry is a favorite of mine, and I watch for the books in both her series. Wouldn't miss them. Wm. Monk is one; Pitt is the other. They go way back, tho'. Must be fifteen or more in each series.
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Just finished Julie Garwood's Slow Burn. It was o.k. for these dreary winter days - fun.
I mentioned before that i was listening to Evanovich's "Fourteen" which i had read, but a friend gave me the cd's so i'm listening to them in the car - takes a while that way, but it entertains me while i'm running errands..........i didn't notice it so much when i read the book, but while listening i'm thinking that this has more profanity than her previous books...............i don't mind a little of that, but some how listening to it seems to make it stand out more...........hope she's not feeling a need to spice-up her books as she writes more and more of them................hope she backs off from that, her books are hilarious w/out that. I think that way about the comediens also. Bill Cosby is very funny w/out using the profanity and Eddie Murphy/ Richard Pryor, etc. were just as funny when they were on late night shows where they couldn't use profanity. (guess i'm showing my age w/ those examples, uh?) There's almost no stand-up person on the Comedy Channel who doesn't use profanity - or sexual situations - in their comedy - men or womn. Shows a lack of imagination and creativity .................jean
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i didn't notice it so much when i read the book, but while listening i'm thinking that this has more profanity than her previous books
And a little more graphic with the sex, I thought, Jean. I love Evanovich usuallly but "Fourteen" didn't seem as good as the others. Perhaps she is growing tired of her Stephanie Plum theme.
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I agree, Phyll. I really liked Evanovich's HIGH FIVE and PLUM LUCKY. But FEARLESS FOURTEEN, altho' it started out well, got just silly and not funny at all, IMO, about half way through. I laughed more reading Dorothy Cannell's THE THIN WOMAN. The best part of Evanovich's books are that grandmother -- a real kick!
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Too bad you don't have the first Monk, but the others can be read out of order. I notice from Fantastic Fiction a new Monk is coming out in March.
In fact, March seems to be when a number of mystery authors have new books coming out. Look for them!
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I always wait and buy the paperback on Evanovich.. Sorry to hear she is ramping up.. But then it is amazing the authors who do that. I used to like Laurell Hamilton..She had vampires and werewolves and complications and toughness, but she got deeper and deeper into sexual perversities and now I simply cannot read her at all.
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Evanovich's 'grandmother' really was a doozy, to use an old-fashioned phrase, wasn't she, Marjifay?
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I'm just beginning "Brimstone" by Preston and Child and I'm already intrigued. I may regret all the "spine chills" but I am hooked to keep on with it.
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I've started "Yiddish". I thought my Yiddish was good enough to catch all the jokes, but I was wrong. I do know that "Landsman" (the detective) is like paisano in Italian. It means a fellow Jew. And that "Lasker" (the victim) is a famous chess player. (The detective as a chess player should have caught that at once) It was clear that the author had a ball with all the names, but the rest I didn't get. I'll have to read it with google at hand, or give up.
I'm hoping the clue will be something about the chess game that was left -- in which case, I probably won't understand it.
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Phyll: I finished "Brimstone" last week, and really enjoyed it. I finished the second book in the trilogy "Dance of Death" last night. And will start the third "Wheel of Darkness" in the next couple of days. These books are different...well written, hard to put down. Hope you enjoy them.
Evelyn
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Correction: The third book in the Diogenes Triology is "Book of the Dead". I started "Wheel of Darkness" last night and realized I had skipped something somewhere, so went back and checked my library list and realized my error.
"Wheel of Darkness" also seems to be a good mystery. These books are very strange, interesting but strange.
Evelyn
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Correction: the detective in Yiddish did catch Lasker, the Chessmaster -- just hadn't mentioned it.
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I just started Daniel Silva's "The Most Unlikely Spy". Silva was recommended by someone here. So far, he is filling in background and establishing his characters, but I think I'm going to like it.
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wow, been a while since I posted here! between inauguration stuff and some health issues, well, I haven't been doing much reading. When I last posted, I think I said I was beginning a book by British Author Ian Rankin...title FLeshmarket Alley...not as erotic as it sounds...the "alley" is an area in Edinburgh where there are "adult" clubs with nude dancing and all the stuff that goes with it...The paperback is 561 pages long and I really should have finished it by now! But here I sit, on page 256. I read a page or two and then put it down. According to the jacket blurb this guy is the #1 mystery writer in Britain..a Wall Street Journal quote compares him to P.D. James and Ruth Rendell. So why can't I finish this thing?! British mysteries often plod but this just slogs so I guess I'll start something else and maybe come back later. How far do you folks read in a book before deciding it just isn't worth continuing? Just curious. Next, I'll go to my pile of "winter books" and see what I find! happy reading everyone..and,if it applies, keep warm.
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PEACE: I think this is the same guy my f2f mystery group read, though not the same book. I managed to finish it, only because I didn't want to let the group down, but it was a slog. Fans of his in the group assured me he is wonderful, and this was just a bad book, so I tried another one. Same thing!! To make it worse, he used the same "surprise" gimmick at the end. Sigh.
It's a good thing tastes vary. I tend to stick with books too long. A friend of mine has a "rule of 89". If the book hasn't grabbed you by page 89, forget it! (She never told me how she arrived at that number).
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I usually give a book a chapter before dropping it, unless the chapter is a James Patterson-sized one, then I'll give it about 50 pages. Maybe a little longer if it has been highly recommended by a friend or book reviewer I trust.
I just dropped Agatha Christie's THE SECRET OF CHIMNEY'S after less than a chapter, because the conversation was so silly I couldn't go on.
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I give up on a book when I discover that I don't really care what any of the characters are doing.
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MaryZ, either that, or I become so annoyed with the book that I throw it across the room. Fortunately, that doesn't happen too often. Much easier to throw if it's a paperback, of course.
MARJIFAY, I give an author a little more slack than that. I allow them a chapter or three to fill in background and establish their characters. Had to do that for the Daniel Silva book I'm reading now, but things are moving along nicely now. I just wish he wouldn't keep skipping around in time; that can get confusing. I have to stop and mentally place the latest bit chronologically in the story.
JOANK, did you ever ask your friend about the pg.89 checkpoint? I'm curious to know the answer to that one myself.
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I tend to give the author 100 pages to suck me in.. But occasionally.. Yiddish policeman was a good example, I slog through and discover that it grows on me.
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Mysteries/Thrillers I read over the holidays
An Orkney Murder - Alanna Knight
Brethren - Robyn Young
Blood Dancing - Jonathon Gash
Candle for a Corpse - Ann Granger
Act of Terror ( modern terrorism) Richard Woodman
The 6th Target - James Patterson
A Killing Karma - Geraldine Evans
The Ape Who Guards the Balance- Elizabeth Peters ( Mystery series about Egyptology in the days of the British Empire)
Carolyn
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Hi - This is my first post here. I really miss Rubbish. Maybe we can get it back?
However, I am a great mystery fan. I am almost finished John Dunning's "The Bookman's Wake" - really enjoying this and also had some education on book binding, fonts, paper and everything to do with book making, hand made books that is. Previously I read "The Third Secret" by Steve Berry. This was excellent also - couldn't put it down.
I had mentioned before I am great fan of Kerry Greenwood - she is an Australian Author - you can google her if you are interested - these books can be got in the States but they don't have them in Canada so I get them sent to me sometime - I have a complete collection of here books - about 17 of them - the latest "Murder on a Midsummer night". This is her website if you are interested.
http://www.phrynefisher.com/books.html
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Welcome, Alexan. I love John Dunning's books too, especially the Cliff Janeway series. I picked one up at the bargain table a while back -- The Sign of the Book -- but haven't had a chance to read it yet.
I'm not familiar with Kerry Greenwood that you mentioned, but will explore the website. She must be doing well, to have 17 of them under her belt. Sounds good.
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I checked our library for Kerry Greenwood and they have 9 of her books. I'll have to try one of them.
MaryE
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Babi, which book by Daniel Silva are you reading? I know his books have received good reviews. I've read only one, THE MESSENGER, a couple years ago and put it down after 100 pages. My notes say "too many difficult Arab names, hard to keep track of, and plot not very interesting."
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Kerry is a new author for me, have to look her up. I have read all of John Dunning and enjoyed most of them. I have a passion for Elizabeth Peters, who writes under several names. I really only like her Amelia Peabody ones though.
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Marjifay, I am reading "The Unlikely Spy", set in WWII England. It's the first of his I have read, so I can't compare it with any of his other books.
I have read a number of Eliz. George's books, but I've never picked up one featuring Amelia Peabody. I'd like to see what they are like. I'll have to run some checks thru' Fantastic Fiction and my library catalog.
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Babi, it's Elizabeth Peters that writes about the Amerlia Peabody character, not Elizabeth George. I don't care for Peters' writing, but I have read every Elizabeth George book and really like them.
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I have just started "Down among the dead men" by Lawrence Block - I think he is the one who writes the Burglar series also.
Further to Kerry Greenwood - I first met her with her character of Phryne Fisher - she also has another heroine called Corinna Chapman and these books are most entertaining also - There are 5 so far with that character and I have them all - some I got when I was in Australia in 2004 and the rest have been sent to me for birthdays and Christmas.
http://www.earthlydelights.net.au/
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:-[ Just realized "Down among the dead men" is a book written by Michael Hartland. I haven't read it. The title of the book I'm reading is "A Long line of dead men". The first title just popped into my head when I was writing. Possibly because of the sea chanty "Down among the dead men let him lie." Strange how our minds work!! :-[
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While prowling around on the internet i came across the name of Evan Hunter. I know him as the author of Blackboard Jungle and as a classmate of a woman from the Bronx that i taught with in the early 1960's. His name came up as Ed McBain (Evan Hunter), clicking on the link i discovered the man has written dozens and dozens of books under many names - who knew? Many of them seem to be mystery stories, particularly cop stories - one series is called "the 87th precinct novels." Other names were Matthew Hope, Richard Marsten and sev'l other names of one or two books each....................why do authors do that? He's also written children's books, short stories and screen plays - including "The Birds"!!!...............i found him on Bookreporter.com............ Have any of you read his books?............
A review of a triology of McBains gives a good idea of his style for 96th Precinct stories http://www.bookreporter.com/reviews/0743426665.asp
I think i have a whole new list of mystery books to read ??? ................. jean
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I think I've read every 87th Precinct book he published. Plus, some of his other series. As police procedurals, the 87th Precinct books are great. His characters grow on you and stay with you, and you can remember them long after the novels are finished.
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Ah -Tomereader - i was "modifying" as you were writing................see the link.........did you know he was "Evan Hunter?" jean
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ALEXAN: great to see you! I miss rubbish, too.
It's neat that Kerry Greenwood's site lets you read a selection from her book. I'll have to look for her.
I'm nervous because my f2f mystery club meets tonight after reading a book that I picked. I know they're all going to hate it! Usually, I avoid being the "book picker", chicken that I am, but I got backed into a corner. The book is "Murder at the Gardiner" by Jane Langton. I'll let you know how it goes.
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Yes, Jean, I knew that he was Evan Hunter - - almost from the beginning of reading his books. I think I read all the "Evan Hunter" books too (written under his own name).
Now, if I might. I know several of us here read Courtroom procedurals. The newest Richard North Patterson is "Conviction". I want to issue a warning to anyone who might consider reading it. Firstly, the book deals with a murder case, a very horrifying one, dealing with the killing of a 9 yr. old girl. The author does not pull any punches regarding how she died, and it will be upsetting to the majority of readers here. Secondly, it details how a capital murder/death penalty case goes through State Supreme courts/ (to be finished later...
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I like Richard North Patterson. He is a very good writer.
Carolyn
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Of course, MARJIFAY! :-[ I've made that same mistake before. I also prefer Elizabeth George, though I did read a few by Elizabeth Peters, before I got tired of them.
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I like both Elizabeths and have read most of them. I like the non burglar books that he wrote. They are fascinating. Ed McBain has done a small series, always with the names connected to nursery rhymes. Absolutley wonderfull. The lawyer is Matthew Hope..
Will tell myhusband about the Patterson. He loves court stuff.
Just finished "The Tentmaker" by Michelle Blake.. It has Lily Connor as an episcopal priest who gets involved with a strange parish indeed. Am looking for her others and have the second one coming from my swap club.. If anyone read the old Susan Howatch series on the Anglican church in England. This book reminded me of that to some degree. I never knew anything about the set up of the Episcopals or that they had monasteries. Very interesting book.
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...sorry I had to stop in the middle last night. Had important phone call.
Anyway, I was saying Secondly, it details how a capital murder/death penalty case goes through State Supreme courts and to the Supreme Court of the United States. There is much more infighting, jockeying for position than anyone would care to think about between the Courts and even the Judges in the courts. You really hope that no one you love ever has to go through this Appeals process.
Anyway, that's enough from me.
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RATS! No one liked Jane Langton. At best, people thought she was "all right". They thought she was dated. Made me feel really old (I am 20 years older than anyone else there).
What do you all think?
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To be honest nowdays when I read Agatha Christie and Ngaio Marsh I find them dated. When I was a young teen I read my grandmothers collection of mysteries and really enjoyed them at that stage in my life. Now when I have read so many modern mystery writers I do find Ngaio Marsh and Agatha Christie very dated. I guess people feel the same about other writers so don't feel bad Joan K.
Carolyn
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Welcome Alexan...glad to see you here and to read about what you are reading.
I, too, am an Ed McBain 87th Precinct fan, especially the ones with the Deafman. Excellent stories, characters, good tight writing. He is missed.
thanks everyone for all your input about when you decide not to continue a book...I just started Tami Hoag that I somehow missed, Ashes to Ashes..it's long, nearly 600 pages in paperback but so far so good.We shall see.
Off to read some more...take care all.
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Just finished "Shadows on the Ivy" by Lea Wait. This is a small series. The heroine is an antique print seller and a part time college professor. Interesting little series. I have read two of them in the past few months.
I have the newest Harlan Coben in hardcover and since Tim has finished it, I will start it. I generally do them in one huge gulp.. I do like him very much and am always amazed that I do. He is an interesting writer indeed.
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KIWILADY, I still enjoy the old mysteries; I just approach them with the same expectations I do any other 'period' piece. I enjoy books in old settings with people acting and reacting in the old ways. I confess there are aspects of the 'modern' way of life that I find unpleasant, so that can sometimes be a 'turn-off'.
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Joan, all I can say is that if your F2F group doesn't like "dated" mysteries, they are missing a lot of good ones! Agatha Christie, Dorothy Sayers (wonderful Lord Peter mysteries), Dorothy B. Hughes, Erle Stanley Gardner, Raymond Chandler, etc. etc. I have several of Jane Langton's Homer Kelly mysteries that I picked up at garage sales just because the titles sounded so interesting --Emily Dickinson is Dead,
The Transcendental Murder and others.-- but have never gotten around to reading. Now I will give them a read.
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There are some very good "period mysteries" they are written by late 20th century authors. I enjoy them. I have also begun reading mysteries and thrillers by foreign writers and have really enjoyed most of them.
Carolyn
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I have been listening to my very first Brother Cadfael on audio taapes at the gym and really like it. Must dig in and get a book or two to see if I like it as much.
The Harlen Coben is not my favorite of his.. The subject matter bothers me in this one.
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Love the Cadfael books and also enjoy watching them. They had a marvellous series on WNED not so long ago. Derek Jacobi is excellent in his portrayal of the character.
I've just been to the library we have in the building where I live. Just found another Dunning - The Bookman's promise. The first book I just finished was called the Bookman's wake. I am looking forward to starting this one.
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Steph: Just looking at the Harlan Coben site. Not sure which is the newest one you are reading. Is that "Hold tight"? I see there is a movie out "Tell no one" Don't go to the movie theatre though - at least it has been a long time since I did. I must try to get one of his from the library.
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Hi, Alexan, it's good to see you again. I agree with you, the Cadfael series with Derek Jacobi was excellent. My only complaint is that they tended to make them more violent than necessary.
I miss Rubbish too--not only for the game, but also for the odd bits of knowledge from some subjects, and the conversations we had in the process. A number of our Rubbish friends are here; maybe it'll start up again.
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Hi PatH: Hope the Rubbish will start again. A bit late, but A Happy New Year. Nice to hear from you too!
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Yes, the newest is Hold Tight. The obsession with posessing your childrens inner lives bothers me. I understand the reasoning, but I still am sad about children not having any inner privacy..
I also do not quite agree with the ending..
Since that one was heavy to me,, I am now reading.. P is for Peril for a lighter read. I never quite catch up with Kinsey, but pick them up at thrift shops, etc.
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Steph - Yes, I can empathize with the "inner privacy". I have not read the book as yet., but having been a victim of the loss of "inner privacy" I can understand your feelings on the subject.
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I think I am behind with Sue Grafton, too. Which is the latest one?
Anotrher author I can't keep up with is Anne Perry. She must put out three books a year. Just finished one of her Christmas books, "Christmas grace". There seem to be small books, using one of the continuing characters as a detective. This one features Emily, Pitt's sister-in-law. It is very slight, but perhaps worth reading for it's Irish seacoast background. And it benifits from being shorter -- I love Anne Perry, but they always have many pages of filler that could be eliminated.
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I think the latest Sue Grafton is "S". You could check amazon or your library or probably Grafton has a web site.
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Derek Jacobi is such a fine actor that he can apparently play any role convincingly. I was initially surprised at the choice of Jacobi to play Cadfael, since Cadfael had been a tough, burly soldier. Big and burly does not
describe Derek Jacobi. After the first show, however, if was happily willing to ignore that small discrepancy.
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Must try and see if the Brother Cadfael might be on DVD.. Hmm. I do like the audio version. He is certainly a clever monk indeed.
P is good and I had no idea what was happening. Still not quite sure who did what to whom..
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I can't keep up with you guys/gals. And JoanK, your F2F group is lacking something. What's not to like about Jane Langton and Homer Kelly. I loved Murder at the Gardner, my only regret that I never did get to actually visit the Gardner when we lived in Boston back when the children were little. Was just looking at some of the other Langton listings. I think I missed The Escher Twist and The Deserter -- Homer and Mary solve a Civil War mystery.
Leftovers tonight, no dinner to fix. My neck hates the computer and the computer hates my neck. It's time to fix a cup of tea and get back into Margaret Truman's Murder inside the Beltway.
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(http://seniorlearn.org/bookclubs/graphics/mysterytitlejd.jpg)
| ____(http://seniorlearn.org/bookclubs/graphics/smokinggun.gif)____ | ____(http://seniorlearn.org/bookclubs/graphics/mysteryoutline.jpg)____ | ____(http://seniorlearn.org/bookclubs/graphics/mystbloodyknife1.jpg)____ |
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 (http://seniorlearn.org/forum/index.php?board=27.0)
Our Favorite Old Mystery Writers (http://www.seniornet.org/php/default.php?PageID=8402")
Fantastic Fiction (http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk)
Stop You're Killing Me (http://www.stopyourekillingme.com)
Discussion Leaders: BillH (Leyube@aol.com) and JoanK (jkraft@socal.rr.com)
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PEDLIN: thank you for those encouraging words. Yes, Langton is good. This is the group that won't read any mysteries by British authors because they're too hard to understand. Langton is different: they probably couldn't adjust to her style.
"The Escher Twist" was really disappointing -- not nearly as good as her earlier ones. Quite a disappointment, since I love the artist Escher. I didn't know about "The deserter" Have to run out and get a copy.
(I was wondering why whoever was supposed to do it hadn't posted a heading. Then I remembered that "whoever" would be me. Sigh. If you catch the beginning of a page, save me a space, plese.
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I have always like Jane Langton, but know she is considered quite old fashioned. I finished P for Peril and was puzzled by the lack of a point.. Seems like the bad guys were winning and she simply didnt care.. Strange.
My next mystery laid out if Alex Kava.. I like her and this is a non series one of hers.
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I just found out that this group is active so I am glad to be here. I just read "The Chatham School Affair" by Thomas H. Cook. It was excellent. It was about a boys school in 1926 and when two teachers fell in love the scandal destroyed the school. It is written from the point of view of the boy whose father was the headmaster of the school.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_H._Cook
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POPPY: GOOD TO SEE YOU. I miss the California discussion. How are you?
I read "The Chatham School Affair", too and I agree. It was really excellant.
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Thomas Cook sounds familiar, but I dont think I've read any of those. He certainly is a prolific writer. I'm going to check our library online right now to see if we have any.
Back again -- lots of Thomas Cook, no Chatham School Affair.
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I hated the Alex Kava...."One False Move" So sad, I like her Maggie books.. Oh well. win some,lose some.. I am reading an older Denise Swanson.. A cozy but fun..
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I'm having trouble getting into the latest(?) Laura Lippmann, "Another Thing to Fall". Usually I like Lippman, and her love for Baltimore (everyone I've ever met from Baltimore loves it), even though I lived 40 miles away and spent most of my time in Baltimore being lost.
This is about the movie industry in Baltimore -- since my son worked as an extra in many of the movies mentioned you'd think I'd be interested. But, now that she's written a "psychological" mystery, she seems to think she can combine a "psychological" with her usual "tough gal". It doesn't work, at least for me.
Maybe I just don't like the movie industry. Now I've lived in the suburbs of LA fore two years and haven't gone anywhere near Hollywood or the studios.
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HI, Joan. I miss the California discussion group, Too. Perhaps we could start one.
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Joan said, Maybe I just don't like the movie industry. Now I've lived in the suburbs of LA fore two years and haven't gone anywhere near Hollywood or the studios.
Yes Joan, me too. Actually there's not much to see in Hollywood but a
bunch of "weirdos," anymore, altho' they are "spiffing" the place up a bit finally. Since moving to Southern California (Orange County), in the 1950s, I've seen more movie stars in Las Vegas.
Poppy said, "I miss the California discussion group too. Perhaps we can start one.
I'm game!
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"...I spent most of my time in Baltimore being lost. "
I got a good grin from that one, JOAN. ;)
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I have not read the newest Laura Lippman and I love her stuff. Is this one of her series or one of the stand alone.
Finished off Q from the Grafton series. Now I am almost up to date. All I need to do is R..Kinsey is sometimes fun.. I liked Q, but dont really understand why she is so anti family or her own.. Strange.
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STEPH: I hate to tell you, but Grafton is up to T.
http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/g/sue-grafton/ (http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/g/sue-grafton/)
Hey, she's only 7 years younger than I am. How dare she look that young!
The Lippman I'm reading is one of her Tess Monahan(?) series. I usually like them too.
I don't think there are enough of us Californians to keep a site going (sigh). It's a shame we're so spread out.
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Just finished Murder of a Pink Elephant by Denist Swanson.. She writes about Scumble River and is fun.. Light reading, noone is perfect and she really does capture small town life.
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Just popping to see what is going on here. I am reading a Dick Frances book at the moment "To the hilt" - it's not quite my favourite, but I've got into it so far. I think someone mentioned that if the book didn't get them in the first 100 pages, they just dropped it. I don't even go as far as 100 pages - it's got to be immediate or I don't go on.
I enjoy Grafton also - I was up-to-date with her about a couple of years ago - have to try again.
One of my favourites is Ian Rankin. I bought a copy of his "Naming of the Dead" and recently read "Exit Music" both are very good - as the name implies "Exit music" means his "exit" or retirement from the police force - I was looking on his web site and he said he wasn't sure if that would be the last of the Rebus character - I hope not.
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I am reading Michelle Blake's "Tentmaker", which someone here recommended. I'm finding it refreshing to have a heroine who is intelligent, liberal, ..and also firm in her faith.
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Babi, I recommended the Tentmaker and am now reading her second book. I do like our heroine very much and agree it is nice to find someone who has deep and abiding faith and doubts at the same time. Interesting indeed.
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I'm presently reading books by Robert Barnett. A very good author. The ones I have been reading are not series but different and interesting characters stories.
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Finished the Dick Francis book - I enjoyed it and really got into it.
My daughter-in-law used to work for Random House when she was living here - they are now resident in Australia - at that time when she was here she used to get books from Random House and I had quite a collection - I've had them for about 8 years now and there were several of P.D.James - She had never been a favourite of mine, but since I was stuck for something to read on hand I've started one of her books. "Skull beneath the skin". I am quite enjoying it. I expect everybody who writes here will have read her books.
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STEPH, I have long been of the opinion that God does not mind 'doubts'. Hopefully, the questions they raise lead people to dig deeper for the truth, and emerge stronger than before.
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I have given up on the book, "The Association" by Bentley Little. Apparently he fancies himself another Stephen King. The Association is about a couple who move to rural Utah and they are hounded by the homeowners association in an effort to make the neighborhood safe. It is presumably written to build to a climax but I gave up on it before that.
Now I am reading one that is much easier on my psyche, Mary Higgins Clark's "I'll be seeing you" which I find quite easy to read and non-threatening. This is about a man who is supposedly killed in an auto accident that sends the car into a river. His daughter begins getting signs from him that he is still alive. The authorities, who have decided he is still alive and running from debts, have hired a psychic who says that he is dead. It is definitely the type of mystery that I prefer, although Mary HIggins Clark has not been one of my favorites before but it is such a relief after the darkness of "The Association" that I am viewing her more kindly.
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Connie, now I don't feel so bad about giving up on a book. This week I gave up on Maxine Hong Kingston's Warrior Woman. I am back to catching up on the Mrs. Murphy murder mystery series (Rita Mae Brown). I am up to Murder on the Prowl.
Mary Higgins Clark. You know, I remember reading a bunch of what I would call romance/mystery (gothic?) novels when I was in high school that were written by that name or close to it. Now I am curious. Think I will go look her up. There is another Clark writing now. Carol, I think. For some reason I have a very uneducated notion that they are related. Off to Google.
ok, I am back already. The Clark (or Clarke) I remember reading must not have been this one. The Fantastic Fiction site only lists one book in 1960 and nothing again until 1975. However, Mary is the mother of daughter writer Carol.
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finally, finally finished Ashes to Ashes by Tami Hoag; I'm trying to decide if she wanted to write a mystery or a romance novel...and crammed a ton of both into a nearly 600page paperback book! I usually like her but, well, this one was ok but not her best. fairly decent story and characters but it somehow fell flat; too many musings from the 2 main characters; one or two would have been just fine. now am reading one by Nancy Taylor Rosenberg. Am selecting from my "winter pile"...books I buy at yard sales during the summer and set aside for winter reading whenI don't want to go to the library (even tho it's only a block and a half away!). I read the last Grafton and thought it was ok, not up to her usual. I think I said before that I just couldnt get into an Ian Rankin book, tho I did love the name he chose for his detective,
Rebus.
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Tami Hoag is unreadable to me. I tried several times, I think too too close to romance.. Since I owned a used book store, I can also say that she did in fact write romance first.
I like P.D. James, but have learned to only read one and then go off somewhere else for a while. She is very dense.
I collect books from all over and stack them up. Old hangover from 10 years in New England and needing cabin fever books.. I hit thrift shops, used book store, sales, and then Amazon on line. Also belong to a paperback swap club, so I do manage to have a lot of books hanging around at any given moment.
I once read an intersting book written by a Catholic nun.. She was writing about Doubt.. She truly felt that it was the way to deeper faith,, but hard on the true religious. Then after Mother Theresa died, I read where she had sunk into deep doubts and felt abandoned so much of her life.. Amazing..
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STEPH: I agree with you about Tami Houg. But a lot of people like her. Luckily, there are different tastes.
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I have just finished "Ill be seeing you". It was very satisfying. It had a surprise ending but brought all of the elements together. She essentially had two mysteries that intertwined.
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I've only read one by Tami Hoag -- Ashes to Ashes -- and found it repetive and boring. IMO, she ranks along with Sandra Brown and J.D. Robb. Too much romance, and too little mystery, not good writing. No thanks
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Well, there you go. Some of Tami Hoag's books did include a romance, but I thought it was at least well done. Others of hers I didn't care for. I read J. D. ROBB for a while, and consider her a good writer, but got really tired of the constant sex scenes and stopped reading her books. Sandra Brown I was never interested in even starting.
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Sandra Brown and Danielle Steele.. Popular authors I simply cannot read.
J.D. Robb.. my guilty pleasure. I just skip all the stupid too violent sex stuff..
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Just found this interesting book -
Blood and Ice by Robert Masello
"Blood and Ice is a riotous mix of history, cryogenics, vampirism, and a chilling adventure set in the Antarctic."
Seems to combine mystery and Sci Fi
I am going to see if I can get it from my library.
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I have begun reading "Cold Water Burning" by John Straley. He writes about Sitka, Alaska. I enjoy his description of the people. I will want to read more by him. The cover says "Straley's done the impossible: He's reinvented the Private Eye novel".
His web site: http://www.johnstraley.com/
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Oh wow. I am going to look for Robert Masello. My kind of lunatic. I have read a lot of Straley. A very interesting writer. I got most of his books when we were inAlaska several years ago and have not seen them since. I suspect Amazon may have them.
There are a couple of wonderful writers that write maybe one or two books and then boom.. never again that I can find. Drives me nuts.. Virginia Swift is good. She has written several, but not in the last few years.
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Tried to get a copy of this from my library, but they don't even have this author in their catalogue? The name is Robert Massello. I found this book in a new e-newsletter from Random House called "Blood on the page" so it must be just published. You can maybe google for Blood on the page and get monthly copies. I'll keep trying to find it - as you say maybe look in Amazon.
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Just looked in Amazon - this book will not be available till Feb.24/09 - that's why it's not in my library. My library doesn't even seem to have this author, but since I had the wrong spelling maybe I can check again. I had the spelling of the name wrong - it is Masello as you say Steph.
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You may find this site interesting:
http://www.ask.com/bar?q=Robert+Masello&page=1&qsrc=2417&zoom=&ab=0&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.robertmasello.com%2F
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Found him in my swap club online.. He has been writing a long time indeed. Seems to like semi horror books.. Hmm..
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John Straley's mysteries sound very good, Poppy. They certainly get good reviews at Amazon, Inc. I've never heard of him, but will try one very soon. Thanks.
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Poppy - i frequently give up on a book i am not in the mood for at that point. I remember reading "I'll Be Seeing YOu" sometime ago and that i liked it. I haven't read a Mary or Carol book lately. I think i had had my share of them and needed a rest for a while. I did the same w/ J.D. Robb. I think i might be ready for all 3 of them again soon, but i have so many on my tbr list, suggestions from you all, that i may put them off for a while and try only new authors.
I think Evanovich has spoiled me. I recently picked up a book that had a blurp by Sue Grafton saying that it was "double the fun" because it was written by twins...............i was half-way thru and said "this is not a funny book," and put it back in the bag to take back to the library................jean
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Poppy, I had heard of John Strahley, but haven't read anything by him and didn't know that his books were set in Sitka. About ten years ago I spent two weeks there with a church mission group doing volunteer work at Sheldon Jackson college. The school is now closed, due to financial problems. I've been thinking about the school, wondering what they will do with all those buildings whose color is officially, according to the paint label, Sheldon Jackson brown. It's a shame they had to close.
Sitka has a lot to offer with its strong Russian influence, those wonderful Russian women dancers, the totem poles, the raptor center, the fish hatcheries and the salmon plants. I'll have to definitely put Strahley on my to read list. Do they need to be read in order?
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I think Strahey is better read in sequence, because he does in fact change a bit over time. But it is not that important. I loved Sitka.. such an interesting walkable town.
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(http://seniorlearn.org/bookclubs/graphics/mysterytitlejd.jpg)
| ____(http://seniorlearn.org/bookclubs/graphics/smokinggun.gif)____ | ____(http://seniorlearn.org/bookclubs/graphics/mysteryoutline.jpg)____ | ____(http://seniorlearn.org/bookclubs/graphics/mystbloodyknife1.jpg)____ |
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 (http://seniorlearn.org/forum/index.php?board=27.0)
Our Favorite Old Mystery Writers (http://www.seniornet.org/php/default.php?PageID=8402")
Fantastic Fiction (http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk)
Stop You're Killing Me (http://www.stopyourekillingme.com)
Discussion Leaders: BillH (Leyube@aol.com) and JoanK (jkraft@socal.rr.com)
I gave up on my f2f book club's selection for next week -- "Sacred" by Dennis LeHane. He's the author who wrote "Mystic River", an excellent, but depressing, book. This one is much different, cruder and needlessly and stupidly violent, at least at the beginning. No time for it! It was written 4 years before "Mystic-- he seems to have learned a lot in that time.
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I love Lehane, but he writes all over the place. Sacred was one of ( I think) four books about the partnership. Then he did Mystic and then Shutter Island ( talk about strange) and have not yet read the newest one. Still I really like him
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I just picked up my first Rick Riordan book The Widower's Two Step and have just started it, the first 20 pages are quite good...............jean
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I have read several Riordan.. Sort of neat.. very western.
I am reading one of Parkers new one.. This one is not a Spencer, but the police chief.. I have problems with his obsession with his ex wife, but the story is interesting.
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A lover of mysteries and I go back FAR when I read Mary Roberts Rinehart's The Circular Staircase when I was about ten ...a Sunday afternoon , the family away, and by evening I had spooked myself , left the book at home and went next door to visit neighbors....In a box of books from my husbands aunt I found THe Swimming Pool be the same author and am reading it now...( a cataract surgery two weeks ago allows that pleasure) the first pages seem so innocent but there is something in her writing that hints of things to come....
I love the newer authors as well but in many I find the events too specific ...and the language the same....I have a new Dick Francis waiting for me and some others I bought in anticipation of reading again....HOORAY FOR MYSTERY ,...
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Mary Robert Rinehart.. Oh me, I think she may have been my first mystery writer, other than Nancy Drew.. I loved her. She is old fashioned, but still fun to read.
Finished the Parker, Excellent. I am now reading one of Ayelet Waldmans Nursery type mysteries. She is funny as can be.
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I hadn't thought of Mary Roberts Rinehart for years. When I was a child, I loved a series of hers with "Tish" as a detective. Tish and her friends were senior (or maybe middle aged-- they seemed "old" to me as a child) who solved mysteries and got into hilareous situations: unusual in 1911 when she started the series. I wonder what they would sound lijke today. I'll have to see if I can find some.
Does anyone else remember them?
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I am reading Ruth Rendell's "Not in the Flesh". Just found it on a new book shelf in one of the Libraries where I live. Published in 2007 and is an Inspector Wexford mystery. I'll finish it before dinner - I'd forgotten how much I liked her books.
JuliaK
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I enjoyed Not in the Flesh too. I thought it was very good.
The first mystery I ever read was one in the Sir Henry Merrivale series by Carter Dickson ( John Dickson Carr). I loved it. I was very young when I read it. The next one was by Ngiao Marsh and I loved it too. I think I read everything that either of those authors ever wrote. I had two Aunts who were mystery novel fans and they got me started on reading them.
Joan Grimes
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I did love Ngaio Marsh. She presented me with a brand new world. I lived out of town and the town was a small one..I only knew my farm school and classmates and church mates.. So reading opened so many new doors for me.
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I am just getting online after an AOL problem and a new computer. I have two books to report on: one I liked and one I didn't. The one I didn't care for was "Disordered Minds" by Minette Walters. She spent so much time quoting from a Psychological Book that I couldn't wade through it.
The one I did like was "The Ghost" by Robert Harris. It is about a ghost writer to the former British prime minister. It is authentic since the author was a ghost writer for Tony Blair, according to wikipedia. Regardless of your politics, it is interesting and exciting. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Harris_(novelist)
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Just finished my second Lilly book. She is an ordained Episcopal priest in the Anglo Episcopal family. She is quite interesting in her own way. Solves a mystery or two, but also delves into religon or her versions. An interesting writer indeed. OOPs.. Michelle Blake is the author
and this one was The Book of Light.
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Poppy: glad you're back. I find Minette Walters heavy going too, although she is a good writer. The Harris book sounds interesting. Is it a mystery?
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F-i-n-a-l-l-y finished Interest of Justice by Nancy Taylor Rosenberg - I've read some of hers before but this one just plodded along..what's with all the sex stuff in these mysteries, i.e. the last Tami Hoag I read...sure they have sex but I don't need 3-4 pages of sex on the hood of a car on a bluff overlooking the ocean! no mystery there!! well, I'm off to see what's in my "winter pile" for my next selection - winter here in SW Michigan - 5 above tonite, 10 tomorrow nite...March is definitely coming in like a lion - take care all - curl up with a good book and enjoy
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Just started Bye Bye Love.. which is written by Virginia Swift. She is an interesting writer.. Writes about Wyoming.... college professors....and honky tonk. Hows that for a different sort of book.. Heroine is called Mustang Sally.
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Mustang Sally, I like that name. I bet she's a wild one. Steph, I have "Tentmaker." The book you recommended earlier. I think it's the first in the series. I just haven't had time to read it.
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I have now finished "The Ghost" and it was one of the most exciting books I have ever read. It was hard to come to the end of it because I was so emotionally involved with the writer. He was ghosting a book for a former prime minister and became accidentally involved in a plot to kill him. I won't give away the ending but it was a shocker.
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Mustang Sally sounds great. So does "Ghost".
Peace: I had the same trouble with Rosenberg. Why it's supposed to be great to have sex in the most uncomfortable circumstances the author can imagine, I can't understand.
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Former romance writers seem inclined to do difficult sex or violent sex.. I like J.D. Robb, but mostly skip her version of sex.. Seems mostly way too violent to me.
I have read a second book in the series with The Tentmaker. Very interesting and tells a lot about the episcopal church..
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Maybe women writers like Robb and Rosenberg are trying to prove they can be just as sex-oriented as the male writers. I don't like it either, but apparently a large segment of the public does. I don't know about Rosenberg, but Robb's books are quite popular. I hope that is in spite of the inappropriate sex scenes, rather than because of them.
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Historical Romance and Paranormal romance and classic romance have all had a strong sexual element for years. Since I owned a used book store, I would be invited to several conventions for Romance Writers. They even have seminars on how to introduce sex.. Seems there is a formula.
Still working with Mustang Sally. Interesting book. Wyoming is an interesting state. We were there last year in the RV.. Nice to visit.. No way would I want to live there.
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There's a formula for how to introduce sex? Good grief!
Robb is another pseudonym of romance writer Nora Roberts, so of course there would be a lot of sex in it.
I'm reading the new Evanovitch "between the numbers" : "Plum Spooky". Not her best, but she's found a new way to get one of her automobiles trashed.
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Evanovich is another of my guilty passions.. She makes me laugh out loud, but I still really only like the numbered ones. The inbetween are not quite as good.
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but she's found a new way to get one of her automobiles trashed
I got a good grin out of that one, JOANK. Do tell me how this one was done.
:D
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I got half way thru the Riodan book and was bored, so i took it back to the library........that's happened a lot for me lately. I don't know if it's me and i've decided i don't need to read something that's not grabbing me, or i am needing more and better stimulus at this time.
I did pick up a Gillian Roberts (something about Blue Blood, it's upstairs and i've forgotten the exact title) and i'm liking it very well. I'm more than half way thru it. I put her on my list because someone here had recommended her. Thanks, i think i'm going to have 10 or 12 good books to read.
Steph - i also only really like the numbered Evanovich books, but i have read some of the others, just hoping they will get better. Joan and Babi - don't you just love the continuing scenario of the destroyed cars? ................jean
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Hi-
I'm jumping in here because I too love a mystery.
I made a list from some of your suggestions Thanks.. Although I have only read the last twenty or so posts I'd like to suggest an author that you may not have come across. He has written seven books and after reading the first I was hooked.
The author's name is Colin Cotterill. He is British and a lecturer in a Thai University.
The hero of the books is a 72 year old medical examiner named Dr. Siri Paiboun who , with the help of his nurse solves the mysteries he encounters in his work. The action takes us all over Laos, a small communist country between Thailand and Vietnam. The medicine is extremely primitive and the Doctor needs a lot of moxy to solve the cases.
Start with the first one "The Coroner's Lunch" since it does an in depth intro to the characters. The books are written with a great sense of humor and warmth.
Jude
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JUDE: WELCOME, WELCOME! I loved "The Coroner's Lunch". Thanks for reminding me. I meant to get the next one (Thirty three teeth?).
mabel: I like Gillian Roberts, too. But I recommended her to someone here, and they didn't like her. She is a high school teacher in Philly, and problems of teens are always interwoven with the mystery. Only flaw: if a kid had a problem, it was always the parent's fault. Sometimes it's true, of course, but not always.
BABI: should I tell you how the car was trashed? OK, but anyone who doesn't want to know skip the end of this post.
A bunch of raccoons holed up inside it and messed it all up with their natural functions.
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Hi Jude - I must get the "Coroner's Lunch" sounds interesting.
I am currently reading a P.D. James which has been on my shelf since 1999 - my daughter-in-law worked for Random House as an editor at that time and she brought home several books which was one of the perks for working at Random House in Toronto.
I hadn't been too keen on P.D. James, but had run out of reading material so I thought after having 3 of P.D. James books on my shelf for all those years I'd try it. This one is Devises and Desires - I am enjoying it.
I had been reading several of Lee Child's book - I had just finished Nothing to Lose (A Jack Reacher mystery - I just can't put them down - I have read "The Hard Way" and "Bad Luck and Trouble". Having finished "Nothing to Lose" I had "Nothing to read" - so that's why I picked up the P.D. James.
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I l ike P.D. James, but dont like Lee Childs.. Jack Reacher does not reach me.. Oh well. I am reading a Lauri King.. Hard to read and impossible to put down. Starts with Viet Nam and how it affects t he man and now he is just past being a bum and trying to rehab himself. He will eventually according to the jacket rescue abused children. I love Lauri, but this one is a toughie.
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Jude, thanks for your recommendation of THE CORONER'S LUNCH by Colin Cottreill. I've had this on my TBR list for sometime now.
Have you read P.D. James' CHILDREN OF MEN? This was a very different one for her -- a sort of science fiction. I liked it and I don't usually care for science fiction. The plot centers on an England in the future, ruled by a dictator. No children have been born for 18 years because men have become infertile, and humankind is on the verge of becoming extinct. This was made into a good 2006 movie.
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Eww! I wonder if it is possible to really clean up a car after that! :o
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Hi
I have read most of PD James. Didn't know she wrote a science fiction book. Not my usual genre.
I really like Elizabeth George. Especially the book called:
"In Pursuit of the Proper Sinner". For a mystery it is quite profound.
Has anyone else read and liked this book?
Jude
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I didn't know P.D. James had written Sci Fi - I must get it. As I mentioned I am reading Devices and Desires at the moment. Surprised that I am enjoying it - as I said P.D. James hadn't appealed to me.
Guess Lee Child is an acquired taste. Very gruesome in some parts. But his Reacher character does appeal to me.
Yes, I did read Elizabeth George - In pursuit of the proper sinner. I have a copy of this in my personal "library". My son and daughter-in-law gave it to me for my birthday several years ago. I think it was also televised at one time. It wasn't a book I would have got for myself, but did enjoy it - I love getting books as gifts.
I mentioned a while ago that I had a full collection of all the books of Kerry Greenwood - an Australian author. Most of them have been sent as birthday gifts from my son and daughter-in-law. They live in Australia and Greenwood is an Australian author which I can't get in Canada. Greenwood is a mystery writer. I really enjoy her books. If you have not heard of her take a look at her internet site:
http://www.phrynefisher.com/books.html
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Has anyone read any of Louise Penny's books - she has a great web site http://www.louisepenny.com/
and her A Fatal Grace (Three Pines Mysteries, No. 2) won in 2007 the Agatha Award which is the award for Best mysteries without explicit sex, excessive gore, or gratuitous violence. http://www.bookawardsonline.com/agathas.html
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I've read three Colin Cotterill's on medical examiner named Dr. Siri Paiboun. I believe he has another one coming out this summer, perhaps? I really enjoyed those books.
Just finished Rita Mae Brown's book "Santa Clawed". I know--it was a Christmas book, but I liked it.
McCall Smith has another book coming out about the No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency called "Tea Time for the Traditionally Built". Our library has it on order and it should be in this summer. I already have my name on the reserve list.
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I've read two of Penny's books (all my library has) and liked them a lot.
A new Ladies No. 1 Detective agency? I can't wait. I've seen ads that HBO is going to have a series based on them. It's ALMOST enough to make me get HBO.
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Greetings -
Just picked up Laura Child's new Tea Shop Mystery - Oolong Dead. Tenth in her series - reads like the others - a nice break from the ice and snow. I know the robins and mourning doves are back - have heard - not seen - so spring is on the way. The weather maker just hasn't been notified yet. Mary
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I like SciFi, and I like P.D. James, but I really didn't like "The Children of Men".
I didn't like the premise of the story, and found it very slow and dull.
I've found most of Elizabeth George's books to be more profound than the general run of mysteries, JUDE. If you want to read more of her books, it woul be worth your while to go back and start at the beginning. You gradually learn more and more about the main characters.
'..award for Best mysteries without explicit sex, excessive gore, or gratuitous violence.'
Is that the actual award category, BARB? If so, how wonderful! I'll definitely have to check into Ms. Penny.
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A Fatal Grace (Three Pines Mysteries, No. 2) won in 2007 the Agatha Award which is the award for Best mysteries without explicit sex, excessive gore, or gratuitous violence.
Thanks, Barb. I will look into getting this book for my Mom. She has been known to walk out of movies with too much of say, and swearing. She doesn't like swearig
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Flajean
Thanks for the heads up about the new Mma Ramotswe book. I am also looking forward to the HBO series that starts on March 29th (West Coast). I usually buy the books and when I and my husband finish them I pass them on to a friend or
family member. I read that a movie is in the works as well.
Another favorite mystery writer of mine is Jonathan Kellerman. Although his latest books aren't as good as his first ones I still find them exciting and well written.
Jude
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(http://seniorlearn.org/bookclubs/graphics/mysterytitlejd.jpg)
| ____(http://seniorlearn.org/bookclubs/graphics/smokinggun.gif)____ | ____(http://seniorlearn.org/bookclubs/graphics/mysteryoutline.jpg)____ | ____(http://seniorlearn.org/bookclubs/graphics/mystbloodyknife1.jpg)____ |
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 (http://seniorlearn.org/forum/index.php?board=27.0)
Our Favorite Old Mystery Writers (http://www.seniornet.org/php/default.php?PageID=8402")
Fantastic Fiction (http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk)
Stop You're Killing Me (http://www.stopyourekillingme.com)
Discussion Leaders: BillH (Leyube@aol.com) and JoanK (jkraft@socal.rr.com)
Loved the Gillian Robts' book "The Bluest Blood" - will be reading more of hers. Part of the attraction is that i live 12 mi from Center City PHila and recognize many of the details, including her comment in this book that it was "first Friday" which is a night when the restaurants, galleries and shops have something special going on and it's fun to stroll the streets of Center City to see what's happening.....................her characters also include bits and pieces of history or trivia about the city and its environs..........in this book she commented about Fairmount Park and the fact that it was named by Ben Franklin's comment that "this was a fair mount for a park." I think it is the largest open space park in any city in the country - another one of things we have to thank Ben for..........jean
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I am enjoying "A Free Man of Color" by Barbara Hambly. The story takes place in New Orleans. The main character is Benjamin January. He is a doctor and a musician.
http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/h/barbara-hambly/free-man-of-color.htm (http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/h/barbara-hambly/free-man-of-color.htm)
These are the other books in the series.
http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/search/?searchfor=book&keywords=benjamin+january (http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/search/?searchfor=book&keywords=benjamin+january)
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I love Elizabeth George except for the last one excusing the boy who killled Helen.. That was not a fun book and never finished it. Otherwise, I have read them all. I was way too fond of Helen to want her dead..
Louise Penny.. new author , must look her up.
Still working away at the Lauri King.. The man helps in the child abuse network, rescuing women and children from abusers.. Very difficult to read, but worth it.
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I want to read the Elizabeth George series. I try to avoid reading what happens in the last book. Everybody talks about that book forgetting some of us haven't begun the series yet.
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Hats - that series sounds interesting, are the time-frames historical or contemporary?...................jean
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Mabel,
They are Historical mysteries. The Free Man of Color takes place during the 1830's.
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thanks, i'll check those out at the library.............jean
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Yes, here again is the link to the Agatha Award for Best mysteries without explicit sex, excessive gore, or gratuitous violence
http://www.bookawardsonline.com/agathas.html
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I am currently reading a book by Michael Connelly, who is an author who I always enjoy. "Angels Flight" is a tram system in Los Angeles with two trams that go up and down a hill. It is also about the fear of race riots after the Rodney King riots. A lawyer, who has sued the LA police many times is about to do it again when he is killed on Angels Flight. It is feared that a cop did it and threatens to set the rioting off again. Hieronymus Bosch is the hero who is afraid he is losing his wife because of his police work. Well worth a read, IMO.
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There is another series about a free man of color in New Orleans before the civil War, but I can't remember the author or the titles. Does anyone else? It's a fascinating background, with freed slaves, Creoles, french, Westerners, and Southerners mingling. The freed slaves were constantly in danger of being (illegally) returned to slavery, but in the meanwhile were able to acheive amazing things.
I berlieve the Agatha is awarded by "Sisters in Crime". A friend and I once tried to attend their convention, but were told it was sold out: that you had to register a year in advance.
The tea shop series sounds interesting. So does "Angel Flight". Not asy reading, but interesting.
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Barbara Hambly wrote a series about a free man of color. Quite interesting. I have read most of them. Actually Anne Rice wrote way way back a really good book on people of color and their lives.. Now to remember the name. I read it quite a long time ago.
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BarbaraStAubrey
Thanks for the website of the Agatha Award. I wrote down some of the winning titles and plan to use my gift certificate to Barnes and Noble to acquire them. Received it in Dec.Couldn't decide what to spend it on.
I was happy to see that Anne Perry is a nominee for the prize. She wrote a five book series on WW 1 which was just amazing. My library carries those books but not her mysteries.
The five book series, though not a mystery, is an depth look at the lives of four adult siblings and their different experiences during this war. It is really an in depth and exciting look at how war changes people.
Jude
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Time for a light break.. Soo am reading a Denise Swanson. I like this series. Her heroine is funny and mother ridden and altogether a neat character.. Murder of a Chocolate Covered Cherry.. which seems to be the latest.
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I don't know the series. It sounds good.
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I am reading Elizabeth George - In pursuit of the proper sinner - it's an old one - I don't think I wanted to know that Helen was killed off later. As was said not all of us have read the latest books.
I haven't read much of George - this one was a large print edition which has been on my shelf since 2004. I am going over some of the stuff on my shelves - like the P.D. James George has been on my shelves for quite a while and I'm just getting round to them.
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Sorry Alexan. We spent a lot of time discussing Elizabeth George in the old senior net and I had honestly forgotten that someone might not have read that one. Enjoy her anyway.She is an excellent writer.
I just started something that someone here mentioned. It is a mystery set in Storyville.. the old red light section of New Orleans. Absolutely fascinating. Mystery... historical... and a complicate social argument.. all wrapped in one. Excellent.
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Yes, Elizabeth George's mysteries are very good -- especially the ones with Sgt. Barbara Havers and her boss, Insp. Thomas Lynley. Havers is a real kick--I love her! This is the only series of which I've read every one. And I do think it's best to read them in order if you can.
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I agree that Elizabeth George is one of those,, read in order authors. People change and grow in her books. I love Havers as well. She keeps shooting herself in the foot though in social activities..
I am reading David Fulmer.... Chsing the Devils Tail.. A perfectly wonderful book about Storyville in its jazz heyday.. A mystery among other things.
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I finished "Free Man of Color" by Barbara Hambly. I really enjoyed it. I feel as though I've just come back from Mardi Gras. No, I've never really been to Mardi Gras. Anyway, the mystery plot and the setting are wonderful.
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There is a PBS series with Inspector Lynley and Barbara Havers.
In my opinion it's not as good as the books. The actress who plays Barbara is excellent but the Lynley character is good only in the first episodes and then seems to falter. Still, fun to watch.
I bought three books by (mystery) award winning authors , whom I haven't read, for a trip we are taking in ten days. Won't read them till then:
Murder with Peacocks by Donna Andrews
The Cruelest Month by Louise Penny
Traitors Gate by Anne Perry (Read her non- mystery novels)
Jude
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I have found that usually movies and TV series are not as good as the books.
I receive a e-mail newsletter from Bantam -Dell people called "Blood on the Page" - it's quite interesting with the latest mysteries.
This current newsletter features Barry Eisler "Fault Line" - Excerpt from Chapter one:
"The last thing Richard Hilzoy thought before the bullet entered his brain was, ‘Things are really looking up.’”
You can google if you want to subscribe to this newsletter.
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I just finished "The Big Picture" by Douglas Kennedy. It is part of a four book edition of Reader's Digest Condensed books. It is written by the murderer who kills someone by accident and then the rest of the book is about the cover-up. It is one of the few time I have found myself rooting for the killer. It has a satisfactory ending, however. He is punished in a different way than I would have thought.
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Poppy, what year of Reader's Digest Condensed Books? Is it recent? I have many older ones, but no newer ones.
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JUDE: you managed to pick up three of my favorite authors. Let us know how you like them.
POPPY:They still makr Readers Digest condensed books? I used to devour them when I was a kid.
Speaking of poppies, I posted some pictures of California poppies in poetry, and the Easterners were astonished at their beauty. I never saw a poppy till I moved to California. I didn't even know what they were.
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Donna Andrews is truly a funny write. Know you will enjoy the Peacocks one. I have read it.
Barbara Hambly wrote quite a lot of books with this continuing character. Some are more fun than others. Finished the one I have been reading. David Fulmer writes of New Orleans and Storyville and people of color..Interesting writer.
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JUDE, I haven't read the first two, but you'll find the Anne Perry book excellent, IMO.
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Holy Cow! Our library has 92 publications by Anne Perry. However, they have none by Louise Perry. I've put Andrews on my TBR list, need a laugh.......................jean
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Mabel
Your Library hasn't got Louise PERRY because her name is Louise PENNY as in "A Penny for your thoughts"'.
However Anne Perry may so rich and famous by now that she might throw a penny our way if we asked nicely and if our thoughts about her were really, really nice.
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hahaha - yes, of course, i just went from Anne to Louise and didn't pay attention..........thanks for catching my wondering/wandering brain..............jean
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http://www.marciamuller.com/
I am reading one of her Sharon McCone mysteries, "Leave a Message for Willie". I am not sure of I read her books years ago or not, but this one was published in 1984. I find it most interesting. It is set in San Francisco where she works as a PI. Her web site says her hobby is building miniature buildings so she has built one of the All Sould Legal Clinic and her home which she describes in her books. She is happily married and now lives in Sonoma County.
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I like Sharon much more than Kinsey of the detectives in California. Marcia Muller is married to another mystery writer.. I like her mysteries a lot. They have a nice atmosphere to them.. Sharon grows up and changes throughout the series.
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Marcia Muller really has the title of "Founding Mother" of the "tough gal" mysteries -- she did it first, and everyone else, including Grafton, imitated her. I really like the early ones, but lately It seems to me she has lost her way. She had to abandon that 60's-70's atmosphere -- it's dated now, but when she did the charm of the books went with it IMO.
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The Readers Digest book was published in 1997, volume 6. It contains four books, "Pretend you don't see her" by Mary Higgins Clark, "A place to call home" by Deborah Smith, "Chromosone 6" by Rob in Cook, "The Big Picture" by douglas Kennedy. I ordered it from Amazon for $.01 since I only order used books and then pay $3.99 for the shipping so I assume that bookstore they farm it out to makes their money.
I find that I am panicked when I don't have anything to read so I am relieved to get two in the mail today. I am finishing up the one by Marcia Muller, "Leave a message for Willie".
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Alexan, I just finished an older P.D. James – Original Sin, all about the goings-on at the Peverell House Publishing. The film version was on PBS several years ago. I enjoyed it, but haven’t read much of her works.
I used to really like Elizabeth George and had read all her books up until ---- the disaster hit. I can’t remember the titles of all of them, but I especially enjoyed the one where Havers went to the seashore and got involved with her little neighbor girl. At one time I had hopes for the PBS productions of her books, but now I think they are sooooooooooo bad.
Do you all miss Colin Dexter – and Inspector Morse, along with John Thaw? There’s something about the British mystery writers (I know – E. George is not British) that seems to give their books a bit more depth.
have found that usually movies and TV series are not as good as the books.
from Alexan
That’s often the case, but I’ve never been disappointed with an Inspector Morse film that was based on the book.
JoanK, had not heard of Gillian Roberts before, but I’m a sucker for school teacher mysteries, so will sure have to give her a try. And our library has several.
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I am listening to P.D. James, "Private Patient" on audio books. It is very entertaining. I put the regular book on hold Jan 5, and am to No. 6 on the list. Then the other day I walked into the library and saw the audio book on the shelf.
The book is 15hours long. It is really good. I like P.D. James.
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Pedln: I saw the Morse series on TV - He wasn't my favourite character for some reason - couldn't really take to him at all. I was really depressed with the last one I saw a long time ago in which Morse has a heart attack and dies. It was very drawn out and boring. (Sorry, I know I had been agreeing with the statement that I hadn't really wanted to know that Helen had died and there I go saying that Morse died. Hope nobody was upset.)
Of the TV series I have seen my favourite is "A touch of Frost". I really like that character. Author R.D.Wingfield.
I haven't finished the Elizabeth George I am reading - I am enjoying that one - "In pursuit of the proper sinner".
I am going to get another Steven Berry from the library after I've finished this one. I mentioned I had read "The third secret" .
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Alexan, funny you should mention The Third Secret. I just started reading it today. :)
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I found a notice in "Bookpage" that Walter Mosley is launching a new series. The first one, "The Long Fall is scheduled to be out in March. The new series is set in N.Y., and stars a boxer-turned-PI. Well, he should certainly be able to defend himself well in a fight. ::)
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I like most English mystery writers, not all, but most of them. Its actually hard to remember that E. George is not English. She really has the people down to a science. We have english friends and it is always surprising to me that they have a certain attitude about certain classes in England. And... of course the famous thing years ago, when I first met them. I was invited to have a cup of t ea.. She offered me milk, which startled me and I said, no just lemon and then out of the pot came a snarling black stuff.. Whew.. She laughed and said she loved fierce tea.. From then on.. it was milk in it and lots of it.
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I didn't even realize that George wasn't British until recently. Probably a Brit could tell at once?
Steph: ha ha on the tea. (I love "snarling black stuff"). But we yanks get our revenge. Here, if you ask for cream in your tea, you're likely to get both tea AND lemon. Nicely curdled.
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I am Scottish born and bred - I live in Canada though - The Scots are also keen on "a wee cup of tea". I don't make mine "fierce" - I also prefer lemon, but it always surprised my mother who lived all her life in Scotland and only visited Canada about twice, that I would not take milk in my tea.
People tend to think of the British Isles as being "England" - I always make sure that it is known that I am from Scotland. There are subtle cultural differences between the English and the Scots.
I didn't know Elizabeth George wasn't English, but she spends her time between the States and London. Her books certainly have the flavour of an English writer. I always look for the spelling of such words as flavour, honour etc. These are currently being marked as being in error as I type them.
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P.S.
I found it interesting the mention of "class" conscience.
Yes, The English are very "class" conscious. It is also prevalent in Scotland to a lesser extent. Our famous Scottish poet Rabbie (Robert) Burns was very much against class distinction. His poem "A man's a man for all that" shows his disregard for social standing and his strong feelings to the real character of people as being more important. His lines from another of his works says "If we could see ourselves as others see us it would from many a blunder free us". These are lines from his poem "To a louse" - if you are interested you can google it and read the whole poem. There is some translation needed for some Scottish words.
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Just finished a truly unusual book.. Sort of a mystery, a ghost story and a lovely narrative about certain types of people. Jennifer McMahon.. "Promise not to tell". I liked it. I think it was her first since she was not really accomplished in transitions, but the story was worth while. Anyone else tried it??
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I like most English mystery writers, not all, but most of them. Its actually hard to remember that E. George is not English. She really has the people down to a science. We have english friends and it is always surprising to me that they have a certain attitude about certain classes in England. And... of course the famous thing years ago, when I first met them. I was invited to have a cup of t ea.. She offered me milk, which startled me and I said, no just lemon and then out of the pot came a snarling black stuff.. Whew.. She laughed and said she loved fierce tea.. From then on.. it was milk in it and lots of it.
Thanks to all the comments about Elizabeth George I cannot wait to read some of her books. I am partial to British ( and apparently British -appearing books). I'd welcome any others that readers might recommend. I am sorry my favorite British series all seem to be finished on TV.
Am I missing any good ones still running?
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"Subtle cultural differences", ALEXAN? You surprise me. I have always thought of the Scots, the English and the Irish as all quite unique people and cultures. And I'm familiar with both the lines you quoted from Robbie (Rabbie?) Burns. I've always enjoyed his poems.
I like ghost stories, too, STEPH, though it's been a long time since I read a good one. I'll check out McMahon. Thank you.
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Babi - Yes, they are unique as you say - however a great many people consider England as being the whole of the British Isle. In this day and age the differences are "subtle" and not so apparent as in bye-gone days. I am amused that they have made a movie called "The stone of Destiny" - I remember when it was stolen many years ago. This was a great bone of contention between England and Scotland.
Sandy - My favourite British author of mysteries is Ian Rankin. His detective character called Rebus is located in Edinburgh. His mysteries show the Scottish heritage and culture. You may enjoy his books - some of which have been televised.
The last one I read was called "Exit Music". I'd start with one of his earlier books - Knots and crosses.
http://www.ianrankin.net/
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"Promise Not to Tell" sounds good. I'll put it on my impossibly long list of books to read.
Another very different author who tries to give the flavor of Edinburgh is Alexander McCall Smith in his series that are not "The Ladies No. 1 Detective Agency". These are mysteries, but the mystery is so slight, you might not even notice it. His Edenburgh is very different from Rankin's, as most of his characters are upper class intellectuals. They have a different voce than "Ladies" and are an aquired taste -- I didn't like them at first, but now I do.
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Babi - Yes, they are unique as you say - however a great many people consider England as being the whole of the British Isle. In this day and age the differences are "subtle" and not so apparent as in bye-gone days. I am amused that they have made a movie called "The stone of Destiny" - I remember when it was stolen many years ago. This was a great bone of contention between England and Scotland.
Sandy - My favourite British author of mysteries is Ian Rankin. His detective character called Rebus is located in Edinburgh. His mysteries show the Scottish heritage and culture. You may enjoy his books - some of which have been televised.
The last one I read was called "Exit Music". I'd start with one of his earlier books - Knots and crosses.
http://www.ianrankin.net/
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I read the link about Ian Rankin. I plan to read one of his books in the future. I hope that Amazon has them among used books.
I read the last of the four books in the readers digest book, "A Place to Call Home" by Deborah Smith. I had put off reading it because I thought it would be just another romance. To my surprise, it moved me to tears. It is about an Irish family that settled in Georgia. The narrator, Claire, fell in love with Roan Sullivan but when she was age 10 and he was 15. He left due to circumstance beyond her control but because her parents didn't approve of him.
To quote: "I planned to be the kind of southern lady who talked to her tomato plants and brought sweaters for her cats. I'd be deliberately peculiar. I'd wear bright red lipstick and tell embarrassing true stories about my family, and people would say, 'I heard she was a litttle funny, if you know what I mean.'".
Anyway, after two decades of being apart, they met again when she was in the hospital recovering after an accident. She thought she had halucinated since he wasn't there when she woke up and no one else saw him.
"Roanie Sullivan has never had a home. Claire Maloney has always had one...a home rooted in the Georgia Mountairns, nourished by a large and caring family. Yet when their paths crass as children, their friendship is instant. And the ties that bind then are strong enough to last a lifetime."
Needless to say, I plan to read more of her books.
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Another British writer whose books escape genre labels is Joann Harris, author of Chocolat, Coastlines, and Five Quarters of the Orange. While they may all be touched with problems, you probably would not call them mysteries. But the one I'm reading now, Gentlemen and Players, is a mystery of sorts -- set in a contempory day school for well-heeled boys. A main character has come from out of the past, bent on seeking revenge and destroying the school in secret and subtle ways, no matter what the consequences may be. But no one knows who this person is, and neither do we.
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Ran out of reading material late on Sunday - Finished Elizabeth George's "In Pursuit of the Proper Sinner". Can't remember who it was that said she liked the one in which Barbara got into trouble on the North Sea by saving her neighbour's child's life. This is the book following that one. Barbara gets demoted unjustifiably for her actions and the story surrounds that event. I enjoyed it.
Having nothing to read I went to our in-house library which is very limited - I've picked up a book by Stuart Woods called "The short forever". It's very light reading - quite entertaining, but not up to Eliz. George and definitely not up to Ian Rankin.
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Sandy - Just been informed by a friend that the TVO (TV Ontario Canada) is starting an Ian Rankin mystery on Monday - The Falls. You were asking about British series on TV.
http://www.tvo.org/TVO/WebObjects/TVO.woa?schedule?1237197600000
Also on BBCC (BBC Canada) they are doing Dalziel and Pascoe it is on a 11 p.m. on a Sunday. Don't know if you can get that TV Channel.
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I never liked the African ones of Alexander McCall Smith, but the Edinburgh are sort of neat. Takes a while to get into the mood, but then they grow on you.
Since quite a few years ago, I was in the tourist business ( owned a shop outside of Disney), I will tell you that most shop owners feel they can tell the difference in the Brits ( generic in Disney for all English). I can spot an English to this day. Not sure just why, but I am about 90% right.. My favorite customers were Scots.. They have a lovely accent and the small town ones are gentle and kind.. Only person I ever heard use the term "wee thing" was a lovely older Scot gentleman. He was watching a little girl in our store who was on the wooden rocking horse. She loved it and since he was her Grandpa.. She got it.. I did laugh.
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When my Dad was a young man, he had Scots friend who traveled with him during the depression, working harvests. Dad said the workers would sit around a campfire at night, while John told stories in his rich Scots brogue, entrancing them all. Unfortunately, John's visitors permit had run out, and the immigration people showed up one day looking for him. Dad told John to go hide in the field (he was small enough to hide in the corn and not be seen), while he tried to convince immigration that John was long gone. They decided to take Dad in for further questioning, but when John saw them taking Dad away he thought they were arresting him. He came bursting out of the field hollering, "It's me you want".
Epilogue...many years later, Dad got a call from a Houston paper, wanting to know if he knew a John Clark. They had a letter from John, wanting to know if they could help him find his "tall Texas friend". Happy ending!
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My father's cousin married a Scotsman. Loved to hear that man talk.
I've tried watching one of the mysteries on TV that is from Scotland but I can't understand what they are saying. It's a combination of my not so good hearing and the accent. I am going to try and find one of Rankin's books. I think I'll like it.
MaryE
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Maeve, You sign your name as MaryE. If you don't mind my asking, does the E stand for Evelyn and is your name Mary Evelyn?
I'm asking because my name is Evelyn Mary, and I thought it might be a nice coincidence.
Evelyn
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BABI: what a lovely story.
MAEVE: I have the same trouble with some of the British shows on PBS.
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I love watching Craig Ferguson on the Late, Late Show on CBS. And i love his Scottish accent, plus the fact that he's funny and natural. I never watch David Letterman any more, he's so scripted and does the same bits over and over. Craig is so relaxed and i usually don't like silliness, but he does funny silliness. ........ maybe it's just the accent ;D ....................jean
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Jean, I like Craig Ferguson too. I keep meaning to get his book,
THE BRIDGE AND THE RIVER, which looks like an offbeat, but funny novel. Readers at Amazon give it good reviews.
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Evelyn, that's right. My name is Mary Evelyn. It was my mother's name also but she went by Evelyn and all my relatives used both of my names so we didn't get mixed up.
It is a nice coincidence.
MaryE
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I have a friend who is Maeve, but that is her name, not a nickname..
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well I just bought the ART THIEF for my Kindle which is the first book I had done so with and it ran out of battery while playing chapter three. There has been about twelve hours of learning time, some spent with the techi so it isn't strange.
it is costing me ten dollars. That is more than I would normally spend since I like used paperbacks, but I didn't have to go get it anywhere or find space on a shelf. so now it is charging and I well tend to business elsewhere.
it is a strange life with this thing. It takes longer to read a book and it costs more but it is also a case of INSTANT GRATIFICATION in acquiring it immediately after reading a sample.
this book has a lot of french in it and I don't speak French but how Do you say comsi comsa.
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winsum, you can read with the Kindle plugged in and charging. And, it's comme ci, comme ca - but we understood what you meant.
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Claire: let us know how the kindle goes as you continue to use it.
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mary thanks for correcting my unfrench. It was just a guess here anyway and . . . I love this book. it is a lesson in art history. did you suggest it or whoever did I owe you and it is worth the ten bucks but I think I'll use the kindle to sample books I can order for less. Ten bucks is pretty standard there although there are some for less. I read seven chapters and there are nineteen I think of this book.
still learning to use it had to get help today from the techie at amazon. but it's nice to have huge print when I want it.
claire
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Re Art Thief - it wasn't my recommendation, but I'll definitely look it up. Thanks.
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Can you go back later and reread a book on the Kindle? So many times when I've run out of new things to read I'll dig out a goodie from my past and reread it. That's the only reason I buy books anymore, if it is one that I'll want to reread.
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Yes, of course, Jackie. Once you buy it, it's yours. Even if you delete it from your Kindle, it's still registered to you with Amazon, and you can get it back anytime. I'm thinking I'll probably get a couple of those "oldies, but goodies", just to have for my own.
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That would work for poetry, too. My copy of Spoon River hasn't been touched for decades but one of these days I'll be in the mood for it. And Shakespeare. But I'm not sure how I would liike the electronic interface. Is it heavy to hold? Do you prop it up, like you can prop a book? Can you highlight or underline, make notes?
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Thanks, Winsummm for the recommendation of Art Thief. I am getting it on my Kindle right now. Can hardly wait to read it.
Joan G
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Jackie, it's quite light - and about the size of a trade paperback, but only 3/8" thick. I have a problem with my hands - holding heavy books and holding the pages open. That's really why I got the Kindle. I usually read in my recliner, and always had to prop up a book. The Kindle I can prop up, or hold - either way is okay. I don't know about underlining, but you can makes notes, or bookmark pages. I haven't done it, but I know those are available features.
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It's sounding better and better. My library has a program for electronic download for books, uses a microsoft Zune machine. I bought an Ipod just for audio books and couldn't use it, not compatible. The download is free, lasts 2 weeks then goes away.
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I don't think you can download books from your library to a Kindle, Jackie. There may be a way to download it to your computer and then to the Kindle, but I don't know about that. The only way I know - so far - is to buy books from Amazon. Having said that, our daughter sent me a site with books that you can download free to your computer, and then from there to a Kindle. I haven't tried that, though. It's http://www.feedbooks.com/
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The Art Thief might have been my recommendation. My f2f book club read it, and we all liked it. It's written by an expert in art theft, and you learn a lot about that and the art world. That's its strength (that and the clever solution): if you like character development, it's not your thing.
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The kindle is sounding better and better. I love the newspaper aspect. Our local paper is getting worse and worse. I think I would like the New York Times or the Washington Post for national news..
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I'm afraid I find our major local paper an embarassment. The front page seems more like the old 'Lifestyle' section, and the news is relevated to back pages. Needless to say, I don't subscribe. I check out the current news on-line instead.
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We will, I guess, always subscribe to the local paper and maybe Newsweek. John refuses to watch TV news, and gets his other news on-line (Wash.Post, and several international papers).
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My news comes from NPR and Newshour except for headlines on Yahoo. But I subscribe to local Salem and statewide Oregonian. Both have shrunk alarmingly which speaks of the slippery slope. Seattle Post Intelligencer and Denver Rocky Mountain News have both quit publishing. My former fav, SF Chronicle, is on the block. My family has read the Chron for 60 plus years, since we arrived in San Jose in 1943. I can't imagine a world without newspapers.
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Amen, Jackie!
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This is a great on-line magazine done so professionally it is amazing and today they have come out with an article that includes interviews about the demise of Newsprint.
http://flypmedia.com/issues/plus/03/#1/1
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(http://seniorlearn.org/bookclubs/graphics/mysterytitlejd.jpg)
| ____(http://seniorlearn.org/bookclubs/graphics/smokinggun.gif)____ | ____(http://seniorlearn.org/bookclubs/graphics/mysteryoutline.jpg)____ | ____(http://seniorlearn.org/bookclubs/graphics/mystbloodyknife1.jpg)____ |
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 (http://seniorlearn.org/forum/index.php?board=27.0)
Our Favorite Old Mystery Writers (http://www.seniornet.org/php/default.php?PageID=8402")
Fantastic Fiction (http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk)
Stop You're Killing Me (http://www.stopyourekillingme.com)
Discussion Leaders: BillH (Leyube@aol.com) and JoanK (jkraft@socal.rr.com)
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I'm embarassed to say I subscribe to the NY Times crossword puzzle online, but not to the newspaper. I get my news from PBS and the TV news channels. Right now, I'm staying up late to listen to the Congressional hearings on AIG and other financial issues.
Perhaps I am reacting to my husband, who read three or four newspapers a day. There were always stacks of the things lying around, needing to be dealt with. I always figured we would wind up like the Collier brothers, who were found in their apartment buried under stacks of newspapers.
But I'd gladly put up with that to have my husband back.
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We're proposing a discussion for May of "Three Cups of Tea". I've started the book, and had a hard time putting it down. It's the story of a "climbing bum", who got lost coming down from a failed attempt to climb K2, and wound up in a Pakistani village so small, it wasn't on the map. When he left, he promised he would come back and build a school. He wound up building over 100 schools for girls, in the area controlled by the Taliban.
If you're interested, come let us know in "Proposed discussions" or here:
http://seniorlearn.org/forum/index.php?board=57.0 (http://seniorlearn.org/forum/index.php?board=57.0)
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I am reading Beat The Reaper by Josh Bazell. The Library of Congress has it listed under 1 Physicians -- Fiction 2 Assassins -- Fiction 3 Organized Crime -- Fiction. I am really enjoying it.
http://www.hachettebookgroup.com/books_9780316032223.htm
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GinnyAnn: That is a popular book at my library; six holds on first of 9 copies returned.
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I have been reading about Kindles. They sound great. BUT when reading from it and having the battery die is not my idea of book reading. At the speed of newspapers dying, I hope all paper printed books and newspapers doesn't get lost in all the technical gizmos. I can't afford to but all of my books and depend on the library and book exchanges.
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Ginny Ann, I have had mine since about 1 March, and, after the initial charge, it has not needed recharging. There's an indicator as to how much charge is left, and you can use it while it's charging. I do turn it off when I'm not actually reading. There's no light in it, and that's what eats up a charge. The manual says a charge will last about 4 weeks with normal reading, and not being connected to their whispernet (for downloads). Anytime you turn it off, or leave a particular book, you go right back to where you left off when you come back to it. Plus it has "bookmarks" you can use.
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My husband and I have always been newspaper readers. This business of the shrinkage is hard. He watches a new channel as well, but they drive me nuts. They pick and pick and generally make rather large molehills out of very tiny grains of sand. Sigh..
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I thought this was an interesting run down on a book from the Oprah web site - her various guests evidently give her a list of seven of their favorite books and this was among the books suggested by Ben Affleck - it addresses the whole issue of media and print media is part of this problem.
Books That Made a Difference to Ben Affleck
Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media
By Edward S. Herman and Noam Chomsky
Noam Chomsky is one of the most widely read writers on American foreign policy in the world. I read Manufacturing Consent in high school and decided to do a report on it for my U.S. history class. The report was a disaster—it took me another 10 years to understand the book—but it provided a radical shift in my perception of how the world operated. Chomsky and Herman demonstrate that while we pride ourselves on a "free press," in truth we have a press that is actually quite self-censoring, and thus hardly free at all.
Most of the media, they explain, are big corporations subject to the same pressures of competition as other corporations, a hard economic fact that fatally undermines their ability either to report the news honestly or to comment on it fairly. Instead of aiming to tell the truth to the American people—so that responsible democratic decisions can be made—the big media are in business to sell audiences to advertisers and are far more concerned with pleasing their shareholders than with letting anything be said that may disrupt that process.
Although the First Amendment is on the books (and sadly, today it functions chiefly to be exploited by tabloid media), Chomsky, Herman, and many of the voices with dissenting views are never invited to appear on our TV screens, unless they can dance—or swap wives. As a result, despite the sanctimonious and self-satisfied chest-thumping of pundits and politicians about the "free press," our press remains narrowly restricted.
I'm grateful to the book for introducing me to Chomsky, a political analyst whose startling brilliance comes from speaking plainly and without compromise about matters that others would wrap in a mendacious fog. Along with Howard Zinn—whose book A People's History of the United States had a similar impact on my life—Chomsky is a writer I believe everyone should read. You will not agree with either of them all the time (I don't), but even when you disagree, you will find both men challenging your preconceptions, making you think, and generally leaving you smarter and more compassionate than when you found them.
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Sounds like a book I would want to read. Also interested in the People's History. While capitalism creates wealth, most of us forget that it is almost "zero sum". That is what accumulates in the pockets of the wealthy leaves the pockets of the poor. They "earn" their money, the others get entitlements.
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I never thought of Noam Chomsky as a political analyst. He is professor emeritus of Linguistics at MIT and among other things, a political activist.
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Just finished two books by authors suggested here.
"Dyer Consequences" by Maggie Sefton and "Ask the Cards a Question" by Marcia Muller. Enjoyed both, will read more, thanks for the suggestions..............jean
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I went from too few books to too many in a hurry. I'm usually reading two or three books at once, and I like at least onme to be a mystery, to balance "heavier" stuff. I was out of mysteries, went to the Library, and got four, then 4 books that I ordered so long ago, I'd forgotten, came in the mail.
The one I WANT to read first is :The Pemguin who knew too much" by Donna Andrews. But it's the only one that's the right size to use as my "purse book" -- that I carry with me to read when I get stuck somewhere. It's better suited than my current Grafton's "S is for Silence", because "Penguin" is funny. Who wants to read about suffering while waiting at the dentist?
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I also like to carry a book with me when I'm facing a long session in a waiting room. What especially pleases me is when the doctor takes an interest in what I'm reading! :)
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Award lists are good browsing places; I've found some good authors there. One I'm reading is Jefferson Bass, a writing team composed of Jon Jefferson and Dr. Bill Bass, of the famed Body Farm at U Tennessee. This is forensic anthropology at its source and the tales are fascinating
http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/b/jefferson-bass/
So much so that I'm reading Death's Acre, Bass' bio. Introduction is by Patricia Cornwell.
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Jackie, Bill Bass lives "up the road a piece" from us. We've read all his books - fiction and nonfiction. And we've heard both Bill Bass and Bill Jefferson speak at a local bookstore. We enjoy all his stuff. You will, too.
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News Flash! Carol Goodman, award winning author of The Night Villa, will attend our June discussion of her book.
If you like mystery mixed with mythology, cultural and religious history and intrigue then this is the story for you.
The novel is a multi layered mystery set in the exploration of an ancient Roman villa. Mrs. Goodman is a former Latin teacher who knows her stuff, and since we met with her in NYC, we know she is an incredibly responsive person. This will be "one for the Books.." Do join us June 1!
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If you like mystery mixed with mythology, cultural and religious history and intrigue then this is the story for you.
Oh, yeah, ALF! I do, I do!
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I like the Bass books and have read several. I have the last one in my to be read basket at home now.
Donna Andrews is funny.. The books are a hoot. I have read all of them except for the last one.s
Another funny author that you dont see much is Nancy Martin.. It is based in Philadelphia and is a very funny small series.
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I'll be looking forward to your insight, Babi.
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Announcement of the winner of the Lefty for the most humorous mystery of the year was an eyeopener for me. Humor in mysteries is hard to find so here in one place is not only a list of this year's humorous books but years past, also. Eureka! http://www.leftcoastcrime.org/2008/awards.html
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I didn't know there was an award for best humorous mystery. Hurray! But when I clicked on your link, I was told "the file does not exist at the specified location".
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Try this one: www.leftcoastcrime.org/2008/awards.htm
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I couldn't get in on the first link either, but i played around and got this list which looks like a good one too. I've printed it and the second list and will take them to the library w/ me...........hours and hours of great reading!!...........thanks for the tip Jackie...........jean
http://www.leftcoastcrime.org/history.html
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Great! I saw Donna Andrews was nominated.
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Thank you for the links to the Left Coast Crime awards. I would love to attend them but no chance.
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have always wanted to go to a Mystery writers convention. Alas not a writer, just a reader, but I would think it would be interesting.
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I am currently reading "Bone Yard" by Michelle Gignon. It is most intetresting and I am quite intrigued by it. Kelly Jones is an FBI special agent who is sent to investigate when bones are found along the Applachian Trail when the bones are found in Massachusettes and Vermont. It involves a serial killer and a copycat nemesis.
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Thanks for link, JACKIE. I jotted down a few winners. (Skipped the one who won for the best book cover. :) )
I think I need to get out all my 'jot downs' and combine them again. They get out of hand so quickly. :(
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Connie: I found Boneyard at my library but the author's name is Michelle Gagnon, not Gignon. Thanks for the recommendation.
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I am reading an Eyelet Waldman that is not part of her series. She also writes serious fiction about relationships. This one is not a mystery, but about the Mother child bonds and how it evolves.. It is making me think about how and what I would do to help my adult children.
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One of the deep pleasures of my life is that my adult children have become friends who like the same things and enjoy being together as adults. My own mother dies when I was 13, so I never got to know her as a person other than 'Mother'. I could only regret that aspect of her loss once I was old enough to know I missed out there.
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My Dad died in my middle 20's and I know that I always look at my children and regret he did not get to see them as adults. He revered education and the face that both my children and my brothers child all went to college and graduate school would have made him so happy.
I have sons and the relationship is somewhat different I suspect from mothers of daughters. My Mom also died when I was in my late 30's. We did not get to be friends. She was totally male oriented and after Dad died, had numerous boy friends..She never had much time or effort foreither me or my cousin, that she also raised.
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My sister had many men in her life. Seems like she could never let them go, they all hung around, all four husbands were at her funeral. A counselor told me that people like that can't exist without an other, it's like they have no reflection except in other's eyes, so she always stayed in a relationship until another man came along. How dreadful to have a mother like that. Steph, you must be very strong to have turned out so well.
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I had the chance to be friends with my mother as an adult, and didn't take it -- something I've always regretted. I realize with age how much alike we were. Thank goodness my children did not follow me in that: they are the two best friends I have.
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My friendship with my mother has been one of the best relationships of my life. I treasure it.
Joan Grimes
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My husband and I divorced when my four were teenagers. He married ang divorced again as did I. He died almost 20 years ago. However, my children have turned out well. My son is a college prof and my daughter just had a sci fi book published. I may be like the sister that you mentioned who couldn't go without a man in my life since I have had a lot of them including now.
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POPPY, what is the name of your daughter who just published the Sci-Fi book?
I'm a Sci-Fi fan as well as a mystery fan.
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I don't know what name she is using nor what the name of the book is since I haven't talked to her since the initial email. Her name is Marcia Ferrell.
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Oh Poppy do find out. I would love to see if we can find it. I am a big sci-fi fan.
My Mother did not feel complete without a man around. She also adored her son.. I must confess that I think I am stronger for the neglect. She did not hate me, I just wasnt terribly important unless she was ill or needed something. My brother never quite grew up. He went through wives and girlfriends and Momma. Always someone to bail him out.. He died a few years ago. I grieved for what he could have been, not what he was. My one and only nephew is a great joy. I love both of my sons and get along well with both daugter in laws.. One perhaps more than the other. I had grandchildren, one of each and realize recently that although I love both of them very much, my granddaughter holds my heart.. We are really close and email and exchange books. It gives both of us great joy.
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My daughters and I, each of whom has married and divorced one husband, often exclaim over my sweet, lively stepmother. She is able to find a male companion with the greatest of ease. After three marriages, twice widowed, she is now has a fourth companion and is more active and energetic than any of us! No mystery there at all. :D
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I am reading the Diane Mott Davidson in paperback ( latest one) and thus far, the poisonous child has not been much in evidence. Hooray.
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Thank heaven, Arch is beyond all that teenage whiny stuff...and the JRK is gone too...FINALLY.
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I've just finished Dana Stabenow's latest, Whisper to the Blood. It's pretty good. We always like her Kate Shugak books.
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I just finished it too, Mary, and I was not that impressed with it. Her earlier ones are much more interesting, with a lot less sex. In this one, it think they started 5 pages in!
I like the fact that Kate is on the Board and is taking part in her family of Aunties, and caring about the community. She's always cared, but just never wanted to "take part".
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wow, it has been absolutely forever since I've posted here; just caught up with several pages of posts and I'm just not going to try and remember who posted what! must confess that I haven't done much reading lately and not sure why. Health issues kinda have creeped in and sometimes life just takes over. I was reading from my "winter pile" of books..I buy them at yard sales in the summe and save them for winter days when I don't go to the library very often (even tho it's just at the end of my block!). I tried reading a book by Tim Green called The First 48. The jacket blurbs of course praise it to the skies; one of my favorite authors,Nelson DeMille says that Green is a genius. Well, I must have somehow missed that! the book to me was just plain stupid and the writing was stilted and..well, I finally gave up and put it in the pile to give away. I headed to the library the other day and took out 2 from the "new book" section. I just finished Conspirary of Silence by Martha Powers. Wasn't too bad. Somewhat predictable tho I must say I guessed the wrong person for the who-dun-it! Bit of romance in here but nowhere like the Tami Hoag stuff I've read lately...she just has to put in every detail of every sexual encounter. This was just a nice book, easy read and yes, I'd probably read another mystery by her. Think she also writes romance stuff under another name. Am going to start a John Sandford book tonite when I head for bed.
Does anyone get the on-line newsletter Stop You're Killing Me? I think it might have been someone here who turned me on to it. It's wonderful but there are so many books and authors that it's overwhelming. I want to read them all!
Happy reading and sleep well everyone
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PEACE, I finally started putting my 'notepad' on the toolbar before opening SeniorLearn. I sometimes find so many posts I want to reply to, that I can't remember them all or who said what. Now I just make a quick note on the notepad, and refer to it when I'm ready to reply. Such a help!
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I want to read the latest Stabenow. I do subscribe to her newsletter which is great fun. So Kate is becoming a grownup.. Hooray..
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Babi - can you explain "putting my notepd on my toolbar?" It sounds like something i could use, but i've been looking for "notepad" on my computer and haven't found it. .....................jean
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SWAN DIVE
(hc: Harper & Row, 1988; pb: Pocket, 1989 and 1991) -- Cuddy reluctantly becomes the bodyguard of a battered wife during her stormy divorce.
I can't decide whether I think this book is great or now. It is written in a spare style like Robert B. Parker.
As to sex, I enjoy it as part of the story and am glad that it is put in most books. I enjoy it from the man's point of view as well as the woman's.
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MABEL, my computer has a 'notepad'. Yours probably has one or something similar. Mine is located by clicking 'Start', 'Program', 'Accessories', then 'Notepad'. If your computer does not say 'Notepad', there may be something similar under Accessories.
Poppy, I have no objection to a reasonable amount of appropriate sex in a book. I just don't want the lascivious details; they make me feel like a voyeur.
Nor do I consider a romp every few pages reasonable or realistic.
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I use Wordpad a lot. You get to it the same way you find Notepad.
MaryE
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While cruising around on Amazon, I ran across the Dresden Files series by Jim Butcher. I remember watching a short lived TV series by that name. What I am wondering is if the book series spawned the TV series or vice versa. I am thinking about adding them to my to buy list. Has anyone read these?
BTW, putting the notepad or wordpad in the toolbar is a neat idea. Thanks for the tip.
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According to Internet Movie Data Base (IMDB) Butcher's books came first. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0486657/ I really, really enjoyed Butcher's other series, Codex Alera http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/b/jim-butcher/
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I keep a shortcut to WordPad on my desktop. It works for me, too.
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got it! Thanks all, especially BAbi............jean
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Reading Night Life.. an old Thomas Perry. I do enjoy him. He comes up with the darndest ideas.
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WOW! I've had this computer all these years, and never knew I had a notepad! I've found it. Now, how do I create a shortcut, or put it on my toolbar? (I have a Dell)?
Nor did I know that Stabenow has a newsletter. Got to get that!
Just finished Scene of Crime by Jill McGowan. It was interesting, but (like Christies Murder at the Vicarage) so complex you need a map and a timetable to keep track of it. Definitely not realistic: 6 or so suspects wandering in and out of the scene at the right (or wrong) time.
But I'd read more of hers. Half way between a procedural and a psycological -- she goes into the suspects' heads, so you always know a little more than the police, but not enough to solve it. One weakness -- she doesn't give you characters you can really care about.
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Doesn't this look enticing:
Suspicions of Mr Whicher (http://www.walkerbooks.com/books/catalog.php?key=716)
Or maybe somebody has already mentioned it - just ran across it now.
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Yes, MarjV, THE SUSPICIONS OF MR. WHICHER by Kate Summerscale does sound fascinating! It is to be read and discussed in a Yahoo book discussion group, Bookies Too, in June, and I'm looking forward to reading it with them.
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Nice Title.. Never heard of the author. So now Diane goes from the poisonous child to swigging expresso shots left and right.. Not sure I see where she is going with this one, but am not really interested either.
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One weakness -- she doesn't give you characters you can really care about.
A major weakness, IMO, JOAN. There is a Sci/Fi writer that I continue to read, though I don't consider him a good writer, because I like his characters and appreciate his imagination. I do wonder, tho', why his editors allow him to use those constant and repetitious adjectives!
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JoanK:
WOW! I've had this computer all these years, and never knew I had a notepad! I've found it. Now, how do I create a shortcut, or put it on my toolbar? (I have a Dell)?
I have VISTA....and I go to Start/Programs/Accessories and right click on NOTEPAD. My choice is then to PIN TO START MENU. It then appears on my START window at the top where I can open it easily. I also have WORDPAD there. [ I also have it dragged down in my quick launch toolbar at the bottom of my desktop window.
If you have XP, you may be able to right click on NOtepad or Wordpad ( a little fancier version of Notepad) and be able to create a shortcut. If that shortcut doesn't appear on your desktop, you may be able to click and drag the shortcut there...if it ends up in your accessories listing again.]
jane
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It worked. Thanks!
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thanks for asking the question about notepad/toolbar Joan - i got it too........jean
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Notebook is part of the Windows operating system and is on all computers that have Windows regardless of whose assembles it...in this case Dell. I have Windows Vista, the latest version of Windows operating system but have taught computers since it was Windows 3.1.
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Read Murder at Vassar by Elizabeth Taylor.........it was o.k. enjoyable. I'll read more of hers.............jean
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Hmm. The Davidson book is very scattered. I do wonder if she has run out of ideas or something. They have turned Goldie into an obsessed person who breaks laws, makes her husband ( a lawman) into a laughingstock with his peers and generally wreaks mayhem on all. Sad. Nice series originally.
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I think Diane Mott Davidson has perhaps run dry. Maybe it's time for her to let Goldie live happily ever after and begin a new series.
I think that happens often with authors. They have to let their characters grow and age...and unless there are others related to the original main character who can be the focus of other books, the characters just wither.
jane
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Just finished "The Penquin Who Knew Too MUch" by Donna Andrews. It was on the awards list for humorous mysteries. ................... it had some humor and one scene would be hilarious in a movie - zoo animals running everywhere in a backyard. But i didn't connect w/ the characters. I think someone mentioned that here in the last week. I tho't about putting it down a couple times. I didn't really care who commited the murder until about 2/3rds of the way thru and then it was just curiousity, not obsession.........lol.........maybe my expectations were too high, considering that it was an award winner, or maybe Evanovich has spoiled me for other "humorous" mysteries! ..................jean
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Mabel: IMHO Donna Andrews' books are very uneven. One can be hilarious and the next can be flat and lifeless. I'll still keep on reading until she totally runs out of steam.
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Jackie - that was my first Andrews, per your comment, i'll try another one........jean
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Andrews has her moments. Actually her Dad is a hoot.. She overcomplicates sometimes. But I adore Evanovich, but only the Plum stuff. She somehow hit the absolute right connections there.
I finished the Davidson and have decided to not buy her next. She simply made a mess of this one. In the end I did not even believe how complicated she made everything.
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JACKIE: I agree with you about Andrews: it seems as if every other book is hilarious. an every other one is flat. I just made "The Penguin Who Knew Too Much" my purse book, and it's perfect for that: I can pick it up for a few minutes wait at the doctors, laugh, and put it down again. JEAN: you might care for the peoplle more if you had followed them through the series, but not a lot. That's not Andrews strength.
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Very close to the end on the Thomas Perry book.. It is amazing what he does with characters.. A female serial killer.. really the original face changer.. This was pre Jane, who helps people disappear and you can see the direction of his thoughts. He is consumed with disappearing and life changing.. I love it.
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Laurie R King's The Touchstone is a non-series "thriller" which shows her developing deftness in characterization. Jazz-age Britain with a threat of a General Strike attracts a rogue FBI agent from America, a wannabe Machiavelli from some vague government agency, a blue blood Cleopatra dabbling in good works, a wounded war hero semi-hermit, all coming together in a stereotypical English country weekend. Sounds trite but King's touch is magic. Our sympathy shifts from one actor to another as she reveals their innermost needs. It is hard to put down.
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I am reading Jonathan Kellerman's "Over the Edge". It is exciting and interesting. I much prefer his books to his wife's. I cant get in to his web site this morning. I wonder why?
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I love Laurie King and read every single one. Will keep an eye out for the new one. I generally wait until they hit paperback status.. She is a wonderful writer who really makes me stop and think.
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Steph: I think you'll like this one.
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I have a book by Jeanne M. Dams waiting in the wings that looks interesting. It is "Death in Lacquer Red", which introduces "Hilda Johansson, a young Swedish woman working in the South Bend, Indiana home of the Studebaker famiy as the twentieth century begins". She is an Agatha Award winner.
Have any of you read any of her books? Her other 'sleuth' is Dorothy Martin.
She is new to me.
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I read the Jeanne Dams book a while back. It was OK, not a favorite , but not bad at all.
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Babi: I really enjoyed the Dams books. Dorothy is an American who lives in Britain in a charming house in the cathedral close (?). Nice mix of Yank + Brit. I've read them all. Seems like I read one of the Hilda books and liked it; don't know why I stopped at one.
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(http://seniorlearn.org/bookclubs/graphics/mysterytitlejd.jpg)
| ____(http://seniorlearn.org/bookclubs/graphics/smokinggun.gif)____ | ____(http://seniorlearn.org/bookclubs/graphics/mysteryoutline.jpg)____ | ____(http://seniorlearn.org/bookclubs/graphics/mystbloodyknife1.jpg)____ |
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 (http://seniorlearn.org/forum/index.php?board=27.0)
Our Favorite Old Mystery Writers (http://www.seniornet.org/php/default.php?PageID=8402")
Fantastic Fiction (http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk)
Stop You're Killing Me (http://www.stopyourekillingme.com)
Discussion Leaders: BillH (Leyube@aol.com) and JoanK (jkraft@socal.rr.com)
I haven't. Let us know if it's good.
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I haven't. Let us know if it's good.
I keep forgetting to watch for new pages to put in headings. If you catch one and post "save for heading", thanks.
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Greetings -
Just finished Susan Albert's new book - Wormwood. Change of place - setting a Shaker village. Two story lines - the present day and the past. Continues her emphasis on herbs. Well written. Enjoyable.
Have just started Carolyn Hart's new title Dare to Die. A continuation of her series, Death on Demand. Appears to be routine. Same characters and setting. Agatha the cat is still misbehaving.
Mary
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The Albert sounds very interesting.
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I like the Alpert books. She is quite good.. Learned a bunch about herbs as well from them. She and her husband write another series, but I tried one and really did not like amazing.. Totally different from when she writes alone.
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JACKIE, what is it about a cathedral close that draws me? From Trollope to Elizabeth Gouge's imaginative "The Blue Hills", I love the cathedral cleric settings. My kids actually gathered round and wanted to hear me read 'The Blue Hills'. Imagine!
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Sounds like The BLue Hillls should be on my list. Want a book that keeps you LOL all night? That's what I did as I read Dog On It by Spencer Quinn. Chet, the title dog, narrates and it is stream-of-consciousness dawg. As Chet and Bernie, his human, seek answers in the disappearance of 14-yr-old Madison, the laughs keep on coming. This is not your typical serial killer, or blood-and-gore, although there are off-stage acts of violence and several cliff-hangers (LOL) in the rich plot. Kept me guessing and laughing all the way through; though the bad guys' identity wasn't hidden, how it all comes out kept me hooked.
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Just finished Heat Lightning by John Sandford - his usual main character is Lucas Davenport and I love those books - now he has a new main man..well new to me, think this might be the 2nd or 3rd with Virgil Flowers who works with Lucas and who does appear infrequently throughout the book - excellent story line with plots going back to Vietnam in the mid 70's - liked this one a lot - will always read another of Sandfords book in a minute - off to the library tomorrow to get a few more - wish our library would let us take books out for a month but we can take them out for 2 weeks and the renew if we want - would be interested in what other libraries do
nite all and don't stay up too late reading...ah, well, go ahead and stay up!!
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Spencer Quinn sounds interesting. Have to look himup.
Yes, both my husband and I are John Sandford fans.. I like his new character as well.. We dont read or like the Kidd series however.
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A book that keeps me laughing....I'm all for that! I'll definitely look up Spencer Quinn, JACKIE. Thanks for the post.
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Our library system previously had a 2 week system, with one week for the books on the "New" shelf. A good while back they went to three (3) weeks for all books, I was thrilled with that. Last year they changed their on-line Operating Software, so when you reserve books, most of them can be renewed up to 99 times (I think this excludes some titles) DVD's can be kept for one week (I think). Their old on line system was good, but the new one is better! I can't thnk of the program name, but when I do I will let you all know, to mention to your library. (you may even have it already)
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99 times!
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My library lets you keep for three weeks, with one renewal. But paperbacks are on the honor system: take them, keep as long as want, and return, they don't log them. Perhaps they figure it costs more to keep track of them than replace them.
Went to the library yesterday, and there was Alpert's Wormwood amoung the new books. I'll start it as soon as I've finished "Team of Rivals".
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Picked up Nelson DeMille's The Gate House from the new book section today. lHuge book...one of those that's hard to hold up when reading in bed ::) ::) but, I'll manage. They also had Wally Lamb's new one which was equally as large...I'll let that one wait for a bit.
DVD's at our library can be kept for a week; don't know about paperbacks. Our library also has a book store run by the Friends of the Library; they have a great collection at wonderful prices; new hard covers for $1.00-$2.00...paperbacks usually 50 cents.
Our little town of less than 3,000 population has a wonderful library and it is truly appreciated by this community
Nite everyone...sleep well
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Sometimes small town libraries are the best. I remember one in New Hampshire that I loved.. However I quickly ran out of books to read there, since they really had best sellers and did not seem to get many mysteries at all. Thats when I started looking for used book stores.
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I always considered our library especially good for a small town. In the past year, tho', I have been saddened to see the increasing amount of empty shelf space. It is evident the library is not getting the strong support from the city that it once enjoyed. Another sign of the times, I suppose, but I was surprised at how many good books were in the 'Friends' book sale instead of on the library shelves.
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When I was paying for a book my cat ate, I asked if the library took donations. Not any longer was the reply. I can udnerstand the need to apply objective standards to what is lent in the name of the city/county but it is too bad that that a source has been cut off. Maybe libraries could have a fund drive, like PBS. I would be happy to pay a small annual fee. Very small.
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Jackie...do you mean $$ donations? Our little local library set up a Foundation so money can be donated there. Money just given to the Library cannot be put into the current budget, so it ends up going back to the city. Now people can leave money to the Library through the Foundation and we also have a "gifts and trust" account through the city that we can put donations into and that the city can't touch.
Book donations are either added to the collection or go to the Friends book sale which then buys stuff the Library needs and is also outside the city/county's hands.
jane
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We have moved often enough that I have seen a variety of ways that libraries are allowed to use donated books. The small town put them on the shelves if hardback and had racks for the paperback. They never put the paperbacks into the system, so you could return or not as you wanted.
In Massachusetts, all donations went to the used book area. We had a used book store in the basement of the library. I ran it for a while and when I was there, I made lists of things that sounded interesting and sent it up to the chief librarian. Occasionally he would come down and take a few to put in the permanent collection. We were a very high tech town and had some wonderful donations of high tech material.
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Reading my first Laura Childs book - Shades of Earl Grey. Enjoying, i'll read more of hers............jean
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Shades of Earl Grey is a great title. Tell us how you like it. Read one of Anne Perry's "quickie" Christmas mysteries last night, "Christmas Guest". Perfect when you want a short break from what you're reading. She takes one of her continueing characters from her long books, and makes them a detective in a novella. They assume you know the characters from the other books, though. This one had Emily and Charlotte's nasty "grandmama" as the main character.
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Libraries should be meeting the needs of the community. They are usually governed by boards - perhaps checking with the board would explain some of the policies. A good library director would be happy to have suggestions for books to add to the collection. If the library doesn't take donations, maybe the director doesn't have time or staff to sort through donated books. Library directors seem to have different perspectives about the books on their shelves - we've had one who kept culling the collection to keep only the middle, easily accessible shelves filled. She liked the neat, open look. Another uses every appropriate donation she can that fits within the goals of the collection. She has a volunteer who reviews donated books to see if, for example, they complete a series or add a seocnd copy of a popular book. Shelves are full, but circulation is up.
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Warning: Do not, I repeat, do not start to read The Jury Master by Robert Dugoni when you go to bed at night. I did and I didn't get a wink of sleep. The twists and turns in this plot went way, way beyond my imagination but were logically consistent.
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Is it a legal thriller. My husband does so love any of the legal thrillers and is running out of authors.
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I'm going to ask one of the librarians about their policy on donated books. There were so many good books in the recent Friends book sale, when many of the library shelves are empty. It seems a shame, and I'd like to know why they couldn't be kept.
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Steph: While it is about a lawyer it is not a courtroom drama like Kate Wilhelm's books. But it is a riproaring adventure tale.
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Steph, you mentioned that your husband liked legal thrillers and was running out of authors to read. Here is a list of legal thrillers from my TBR list, along with short summaries. (The abbreviation "L" means my library has them.) Maybe there are some he hasn't read:
CRUEL JUSTICE by William Bernhardt 4+, L (480 pp, 1996) Rec. in Mystery Lovers. 5th in series with Ben Kincaid, attorney in Tulsa, OK. Per Booklist, superb legal thriller. First in series is Primary Justice 3**.
KILLER HEAT by Linda Fairstein 4**, L (320 pp, March, 2008) Rec. by Ellen in Mystery Lovers. Per Pub. Wkly, her nail-biting 10th legal thriller with Alex Cooper, Manhattan ADA. Per Library Journal, a scorcher of a crime novel--her best yet.
LETHAL LEGACY by Linda Fairstein 4**, L (372 pp, 2009) Rec. by Janene in Mystery Lovers. Per PW, 11th legal thriller with Asst. DA Alexandra Cooper. An investigation leads her and her team into the dark depths of the NY Public Library in search of stolen items that certain bibliophiles and antique map enthusiasts would kill for. Full of fun info about the NY Public Library.
THE LEGAL LIMIT by Martin Clark 4+, L (352 pp, 2008) Rec. in 4MA. Per Washington Post, a compelling legal thriller -- complex story of a murder cover-up.
NO LESSER PLEA by Robert Tanenbaum. 4+, L (368 pp, 1988) First in the series with Karp and Clampi, district attorneys in 1970 New York City. Rec. in Mystery Lovers Book Club.
THE PARTNER by John Grisham 4**, L (366 pp, 1997) Rec. by an Amazon reader -- this is his favorite Grisham novel. He says Grisham's latest book, The Associate, is padded and reflects little of the talent who wrote The Partner. A young partner in a prominent Southern law firm with a beautiful wife, a new baby girl and a bright future, one winter night is trapped in his burning car. The casket they bury carries only ashes. A short distance away the young lawyer watches his own burial, then flees. A fortune was stolen from his ex-firm's offshore account. He runs, covering his tracks all the way, but now -- they've found him.
A QUESTION OF GUILT by Frances Fyfield 5**, L (224 pp) Her "Blood from Stone" rec. in 4MA. First in series with Helen West, a London prosecutor. Finalist in Agatha-Award 1989 for best first novel.
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Legal thrillers are addictive. There is the same fascination to me as in spy thrillers, it is all about mental games. David Rosenfelt is now on my list with Kate Wilhelm as one I grab, I don't care what it's about I just want to read it. Found this list of writers of the genre; many names new to me: http://library.ci.manchester.ct.us/ra/readlists/legalthrillers.html
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Manchester Library (see above) has compiled a list of genres called What Do I Read Next which is going to take me years to explore. See: http://library.ci.manchester.ct.us/ra/readnext.html
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ohhhhh Jackie, what a great list! Thanks for sharing. I'm going to suggest this to my library.........jean
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Thanks so much for that wonderful list, Jackie! You evidently have a great library/librarian. I've bookmarked the list.
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I did find the Robert Dugoni in my swap club so ordered it.
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Jackie, I just put a hold on Dugoni’s The Jury Master at the library. But I doubt I’ll follow y our advice, as bedtime is when I do most of my reading.
Speaking of advice and do’s and don’t, has anyone watched the movie Memento? I’ve had it here from Netflix for a couple weeks, but the advice I get is “don’t watch it alone.” And my friends say it doesn’t sound like something they want to watch.
Marjifay, I love the Linda Fairstein books. Haven’t read too many, so still have a long way to go there. Frances Fyfield sounds very familiar, but I don’t think I’ve read any of hers. What are some other titles?
I’ve enjoyed Scott Turow’s legal novels,too, but haven’t found him to be consistent in quality.
That is a great list, Jackie, and I’ve bookmarked it too.
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Margifay: thanks for that list of legal thrillers: I love them too.
And Jackie, I've bookmarked your list.
I admit, I've gotten into a rut -- read8ing the same authors all the time. These lists may pull me out of it.
Haven't read Wormwood about the Shakers yet. But that reminds me, there was a series of mysteries about a shaker community that I read several years ago. I can't for the life of me remember the author or titles, although I think they included the seasons ("A Shaker Spring"?) Does anyone else know them?
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It looks like all of us are bookmarking that site, JACKIE. I fairly drooled when
I saw it! :P Thank you very, very.
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Pedln, Memento is a terrific movie! It's been a while since I saw it, but I still remember it. Very well done.
I saw a film last week which was a great horror film (and I never watch that kind of movie!). It was titled "Slither" and so fascinating I couldn't stop watching. Good acting and subtle humor. I might even watch more by that director, James Gunn.
As to novels by Frances Fyfield, they were referred by someone who loved her books. I just haven't had time to read them. Have a lot on my plate right now... Orwell's 1984, BIRDS WITHOUT WINGS by Louis De Bernieres (wonderful book!), THE CHILD IN TIME by Ian McEwan, and Walter Mosley's new book, THE LONG FALL.
I saw Joan Rivers recently on a talk show pushing her new mystery book MURDER AT THE ACADEMY AWARDS which I might try to peek at. She can be funny at times. They asked her what she liked to read, and she replied "At my age, anything with large print!"
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I am another who bookmarked the list of legal thrillers.
I am currently reading on that I can't recommend because it is so hard to follow. It is "The Body of David Hayes" by Ridley Pearson. The wife had an affair years ago with David Hayes and it comes back to haunt her when he is released from prison. "a riveting novel about big-time embezzlement, Russian Mafiosi, and a misguided love affair in the past that threatens the lives of Seattle police lieutenant Leo Boldt and his wife, Elizabeth."
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I haven't read that one by Ridley Pearson, Poppy (The Body of David Hayes), and from what you say it doesn't sound too good. I did read one of Pearson's stand-alones a while back -- CUT AND RUN, which I thought was very good -- a thriller with a scaaary villain.
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I read the series on the shakers as well. Excellent.. Could it have been Deborah something..
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(http://seniorlearn.org/bookclubs/graphics/mysterytitlejd.jpg)
| ____(http://seniorlearn.org/bookclubs/graphics/smokinggun.gif)____ | ____(http://seniorlearn.org/bookclubs/graphics/mysteryoutline.jpg)____ | ____(http://seniorlearn.org/bookclubs/graphics/mystbloodyknife1.jpg)____ |
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 (http://seniorlearn.org/forum/index.php?board=27.0)
Our Favorite Old Mystery Writers (http://www.seniornet.org/php/default.php?PageID=8402")
Fantastic Fiction (http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk)
Stop You're Killing Me (http://www.stopyourekillingme.com)
Discussion Leaders: BillH (Leyube@aol.com) and JoanK (joankraft13@yahoo.com)
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Thanks for the list of legal thrillers, Margifay.
Thanks, Jackie, for the Manchester Library Readers list, I've bookmarked it.
Happy Easter everyone!!
The weather is cold and rainy here today in Arkansas. Not too many Easter bonnets around.
Evelyn
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Greetings -
While driving today I listened to an interview with the author Catherine O'Connell who has written two books - Well Read and Dead and Well Bred and Dead. Both are High Society Mystery Series. Has anyone read either of these books? Comments?? The setting of her books appears to be high society Chicago and maybe Aspen CO. The interviewer was rather "gushy" so I couldn't get a real handle on the books. O'Connell is doing book tours right now as the Well Read and Dead just came out in March of this year.
Just read the The Art Thief. Enjoyed it very much. Put to work the knowledge I gained from my History and Appreciation of Art class many years ago. Mary
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Never read the OConnel. I have read Nancy Martin, who does Philadelphia society.. They are fun.. Not a whole lot of mystery, but wonderful funny plots..
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I'm not familiar with O'Connell, either. I hope someone here has read her books, so we can get a 'book review'. :)
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The Suspicions of Mr. Whicherjis an engrossing study of a seminal murder in Britain in 1860. The Mr. Whicher in the title was one of only eight detectives at Scotland Yard. He was called in to solve the murder of a family which the locals couldn't do. A friend of Charles Dickens and the model of the detective in Wilkie Collins' The Woman in White Whicher reveals his methods and thoughts through original sources from that time. Historical mysteries have been an interest of mine and this is the real thing, not fiction but written in a narrative style that is sedate but captivating. http://www.amazon.com/Suspicions-Mr-Whicher-Victorian-Detective/dp/080271742X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1239632843&sr=8-1
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how did I miss Ridley Pearson novel?! He is one of my favorites..will have to check the library.
I'm doing something I thought I would never do; I'm returning a Nelson DeMille book to the library after only 100 pages being read :o :o :o
I love his books and have read almost all the fiction he's written. But this newest one, The Gate House, just leaves me cold. Nothing has happened, the smarmy jokes from one of the characters are too smarmy for me...I know this would be the way such a person would talk but, well, enough said. It just has left me cold. It is a huge book, nearly 700 pages and weighs a ton. So, off I go to tomorrow to see what I can find. Don't know where to start when I get in the library; I want to read everything. Wish me luck in finding something readable.
Maybe a Linda Farstein; have read a couple of hers and liked them.
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I have decided to revisit an old favorite.. The author is dead, but the books live on. Virginia Lanier started writing late in life and produced a small series of books about bloodhounds and their trainer in Georgia. A fascinating small town life with the dogs.. Fun.. If anyone likes strong women, dogs and interesting insights in bloodhound tracking.. here is a series for you.
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I like Linda Fairstein also, so I googled her to find out if she had a new book out and discovered this site http://www.lindafairstein.com/ There is a video interview about Lethal Legacy and a tour of the New York Library. It looks interesting.
MaryE
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I really miss Virginia Lanier. Her treatment of the dogs was endearing and her descriptions of the searches were thrilling.
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I picked up and am reading "As Dog is My Witness", which was recommended here. I am enjoying the author's wry sense of humor, though I find the whole premise of his investigating murders tenuous. He does have an atypical protagonist, though. A short, stay-at-home dad/writer who breaks off his investigations to be at home when the kids come back from school??
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Jackie, there are just not enough words to "thank you" for the Manchester read next site. I have printed out the category page to introduce to one of my f2f book groups, and maybe we can branch out to something new and different. I have made the site a "favorite" and will refer to it often. Thank you Jackie!
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Tome: You're welcome. That's how I felt when I found that site. It will be a treasure trove for me to go through those catalogs and find new books to read. Small return on all the good reads I've found here and on SeniorNet.
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I was able to watch the first episode on The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency on HBO, thanks to a friend. It was EXCELLENT! Usually, I don't like movies of books that I liked, but they got the main characters just right!! And the pictures of Africa really added a lot.
It's a shame it's on HBO, which many of us don't want to pay for. But eventually, netflix will have it -- look for it.
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My goodness, I missed this whole page when I posted. I just didn't look!! Thank you, Evelyn for saving the heading. I've been sunk in a mire of income tax forms for two days, and just emerged.
I've heard that 84% of individuals use a paid preparer. Maybe I should join them. But I used one last year for the first time, as I had an unusually complicated situation, and I caught him in three mistakes.
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JoanK, re taxes: Have you ever used AARP volunteer preparers or one of the other volunteer groups? They are trained, and if stumped will call on another volunteer. (I used to do it, but haven't for the past few years.) NOw I do mine, then take it to AARP, compare it, and let them file the return electronically, which they do for no charge. They don't do super complex business returns, but do handle most standard schedules except C, E, and F. And many have been doing taxes for years.
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Hi Pedlin: I agree that the AARP tax folks are wonderful; have used them for the last 3 years; one does the return and then another person comes and sits down and does the whole thing all over again, just as a double check. I wouldn't ordinarily file but when I do I qualify for a heat allowance from the state.
took my Nelson DeMille back to the library; one of the ladies there said she had heard from others that The Gate House was not his best effort. We expcet our favorites to be spot on every time but don't think that's possible..so I'll give him this one!
Picked up 3 more so we shall see. Just began one that my library friend above showed me; don't think it would win a Pulitzer but seems to be a nice easy read/mystery..and large print to boot. Think it's her first novel which I always like to read.
Nite everyone..sleep well
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Again i agree w/ Tomereader, in my thanks to Jackie for the Manchester list. I sent the "Dog's Life" list to a friend who is crazy about books w/ dog characters. She was a producer for a Philadelphia tv talk show for 20 years and had to read a lot of serious books as a preview of having the author on the show, or the topic to be discussed, so she's reading FUN stuff these days. She found many on the list that she had not read......................jean
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I was an AARP tax volunteer for several years and also a volunteer on the question and answer site they have. I do my own taxes now with Turbo Tax, which I love. We moved and this county does not have a very active AARP program in this end of it. I wont drive an hour each way to volunteer, so am no longer helping. Just too far to the Villages.
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Our Humorous short story for the month starts today - come on over and join us for our monthly 10 day discussion - and - the O'Henry story was made into a movie although I did not see it as a movie - like most of you we read it in school. I remember laughing along with the rest of the class. - Here is the link to "The Ransom of Red Chief" http://seniorlearn.org/forum/index.php?topic=436.0
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Reading one of the Bad Hair Day novels. Not sure I like the author. She keeps stumbling over the darndest clues.. Oh well.
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Nancy Kress writes SF so when I saw her name on the novel, Dogs, I assumed that it would be some stale (maybe( theme which she would twist to her own unique view. While it does have science at its core it is more of a thriller than s pace opera. Imagine that you have a darling 2-yr-old. As you are leaving for the day your mother-babysitter is holding the baby in her arms waving as you walk to your car. Suddenly a mastiff races toward the porch, leaps up the steps, and grabs your son's throat and holds on. You are a police officer, a man 6-feet of muscle, tremendously strong from the burst of adrenaline flooding your veins. You cannot pry the dogs jaws loose; only when you have emptied your gun into its body does it let go of your son's lifeless body.
This is just one of the many examples of beloved 4-pawed family pets who begin to fill the emergency room and the morgue with bite victims. The narrative is interrupted now and then with the mental ruminations of an unnamed observer. The action is centered on a female former FBI agent, recently widowed. She is thrust into the investigation when she begins to trace her Egyptian husband's last days and discovers a cryptic email in Arabic on his computer.
Kress more than fulfills my expectations. Though I am an animal lover I was entranced as I vicariously participated in the race to survive this menace.
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Oooh. I don't think I would like reading that at all, JACKIE. Opening the story with the slaughter of a 2-year old, by 'man's best friend', is much too chilling.
I'll pass on that one.
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Babi: Strangely it was not as chiilling as it sounds. The emphasis is on the human's perceptions, the dogs seem to be impersonal, almost robot-like. See stimulus - react. That is the power of Kress' writing. And the story doesn't open with the death of the baby. I just picked that one for its shock value. The story is about the collective reaction to the disastrous events as they unfold.
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Loving dogs the way I do. Think I will pass..There are some things I am not good at. I dont read Stephen King ( except for a few novellas) because of the hopelessness in his characters. I really do not like horror stories.. For some dumb reason, I like vampire stories though.. Hmm. as I think of it, that is extremely weird of me.
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STEPH, I think I stopped reading Stephen King because his horror was so real, so convincing, and it disturbed me because he could turn ordinary, everyday things and people into terrifying objects. I do better with 'scary' stories that don't hit too close to home. I suspect JACKIE's post about "Dogs" was one of
those that "hit too close to home' for us.
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I think you are right. It is the ordinary objects that are scary. I know that the original Red Dragon book by Thomas Harris(??) gave me nightmares for weeks. It was all about taking your pictures to be developed and he started hunting by seeing the developed pictures of happy families. Whew.. to this day, gives me the cold shivers.
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This is an interesting discussion about horror. Stephen King, yes I had to quit reading him, too. Like you, Steph, I enjoy the odd vampire story, Charlaine Harris, (have your tried her new series about the woman who can find bodies?) the Glass House series by Rachel Caine, the Mercedes Thompson series by Patricia Briggs. Then there is the apparent horror story in the middle like Dogs by Nancy Kress which isn't horrible despite the odd graphic depiction. At the other end of this continuum is The Zookeeper's Wife, by Diane ackerman,which depicts real life horrors in such a flat style that all menace is negated. King is too real to be enjoyable, Kress' suspends belief just enough to sustain suspense and Ackerman robs us of even the slightest frisson of ice down the spine.
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Brrr. I suppose you vampire-lovers are reading Stephanie Meyers? My daughter is addicted to her. I can take vampires or leave them.
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The only Stephanie Meyers book I've read, and enjoyed immensely, is The Host.
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My 13 year old granddaughter and I bought read the Stephenic Meyer. I do not consider her nearly as good as Charlaine Harris or Patricia Briggs or Laurell Hamilton.. But Kait loved her and I was anxious to encourage her reading for fun. Her reading teacher assigns certain books and makes lists and that was making Kait turned off about reading.. I wish teachers would think first.
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Besides the vampire books, Charlaine Harris has apparently written some light
mysteries taking place in Shakespeare, Arkansas. I came across them while
checking in books at the library. It seems to me I recall someone here mentioning a 'Shakespeare' mystery from this series. Has anyone else read them? I'm thinking about trying them when I finish with my present reading 'musts' for up-coming discussions.
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"Her reading teacher assigns certain books and makes lists and that was making Kait turned off about reading".
There are some people who are reading Nazis --- you have to read what THEY think you ought to read. I've had several run-ins with librarians who were like that. They don't realize the harm they do.
A bad English class can turn someone off reading for life. Reading books you don't understand, and then being called dumb because you can't answer obscure questions about them leaves people feeling they are too dumb to read. I'm not smart enough to know what makes the difference, but a GOOD English teacher manages to do just the opposite --- ENTITLE the children. The books we have are like this incredible legacy -- just as if we had inherited a billion dollars, we have each inherited the hearts and minds of thousands of people who have gone before us, there on a page for us to do what we want with -- laugh, cry, go to sleep, put on a pedestal, wrap the garbage with, whatever we want because it's all OURS!
Sorry I got started on this.
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Babi: Charlaine Harris is on my read-everything-they-write list. Her first series, being reissued now, is about Aurora Teagarden and should be read in order. http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/h/charlaine-harris/real-murders.htm
Nest she began to write about Lily Bard who lives in Shakespeare Arkansas. http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/h/charlaine-harris/shakespeares-landlord.htm
Her seires about Sookie, presently being televised on HBO as True Blood, started me off rather cautiously but Harris' talent and sense of humor kept me reading. http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/h/charlaine-harris/dead-until-dark.htm
I like her new series better than the vampires. This one features a woman with a unique side-effect of her encounter with a lightening strike. Harper Connelly has what you might call a strange job: she finds dead people. She can sense the final location of a person who's passed, and share their very last moment.
http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/h/charlaine-harris/grave-sight.htm
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I am with Jackie. Charlaine Harris is a favorite of mine.. I love the Shakespeare series. It says some very important things about how to handle things that are impossible to understand.
I like the newest series as well. She finds dead people and she and her step brother wander to do it. Harris has an ability to make you care about some truly unusual people.
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Well said, JoanK! I, for one, am glad you 'got started'.
JACKIE & STEPH, with an endorsement like that, how can I resist. I'll start with the 'Shakespeare' series I saw in my library, and take it from there.
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Still collecting the bloodhound book.. Have thus far found four in various used book stores and my swap club.
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I very rarely read Stephen King but I do think many do not give him enough credit for being a really good writer. He puts out so many books that it makes one wonder if any of them can be any good! well, they are but, they are just so-o scary...and I just can't get into vampires. However, I do like Dean Koontz and his stuff can get pretty hairy.
o
After my Nelson DeMille let down I took out 3 from the library new book section,. Just finished one called Moving is Murder, a Mom Zone Mystery by Sara Rosett. Air Force wife plays sleuth and helps solve series of murders. Author is an Air Force wife so some authenticity there. Packing/moving/unpacking tips at the end of each chapter kind of runied the flow of the book. Think author was aiming for a Mary Higgins Clark touch,....well,she has a very long way to go! fast read and truly a fair read. now I'm on to the next selection
take care all and sleep well, after falling asleep with a book on your chest ;D
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the best way to fall asleep.
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(http://seniorlearn.org/bookclubs/graphics/mysterytitlejd.jpg)
| ____(http://seniorlearn.org/bookclubs/graphics/smokinggun.gif)____ | ____(http://seniorlearn.org/bookclubs/graphics/mysteryoutline.jpg)____ | ____(http://seniorlearn.org/bookclubs/graphics/mystbloodyknife1.jpg)____ |
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 (http://seniorlearn.org/forum/index.php?board=27.0)
Our Favorite Old Mystery Writers (http://www.seniornet.org/php/default.php?PageID=8402")
Fantastic Fiction (http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk)
Stop You're Killing Me (http://www.stopyourekillingme.com)
Discussion Leaders: BillH (Leyube@aol.com) and JoanK (jkraft@socal.rr.com)
No books on my chest. My newest rescue corgi who is named "Gracie" would object. She has claimed the right to cuddle at night and then fall gently asleep. She was lost in the woods for no one knows how long. She suffers from terrible night terrors and cries and shudders in her sleep. I have found that cuddling her helps her and then when she cries out, I am very close and can tell her that all is well.
The sins committed on animals is sometimes beyond my imagination.
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Oh, PEACE, I definitely give Stephen King credit as a really good writer.
Anyone who can scare me with written words as he does is a master craftsman in his field. I just don't want to read books that leave me with nightmares!
STEPH, since getting cable and going digital, I have been watching
Animal Planet a lot. It is incredible some of the things you see there, but
it is so good to see those animals rescued, cleaned up, restored to health
and hopefully, homes found for them.
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I have been involved in Corgi rescue for quite a few years and have two rescues currently living with us. Rescues have so much love wrapped in them. Hard for them to share, but it is rewarding when they begin to trust again.
Started a semi western type mystery by Allana Martin. She writes in current day,, about a woman who runs a trading post down by the mexican border in Texas. They are interesting and quite unusual.
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I've just finished the first of the Charlaine Harris "Shakespeare" series, ie., "Shakespeare's Trollop". I'm ambivalent about it. The lead character, Lily Bard, is rather difficult to warm up to as she tends to isolate herself. This is gradually explained by her past history, but it does make it difficult to 'get involved'. I'm going to read the next one, because I think it will be worthwhile.
Harris makes Lily's involvement in a murder case much more reasonable than most of books of this type.
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Babi: According to Fantastic Fiction Shakespeare's Trollop is #4 in the series. #1 is Shakespeare's Landlord http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/h/charlaine-harris/shakespeares-landlord.htm This one probably sets the scene (it's been a long time since I read it) which may make Lily a more interesting and sympathetic character.
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Yes, Shakespeares Landlord sets the scene and so you understand Lilys pain and fear or committment. I did love the short series. Lily in the end is braver than I could be.
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Yes, I discovered that, to my chagrin, when I picked up what I thought was the second book and realized I had them all out of order. I'm accustomed, in picking up a book in a series, to find all the previous books in that series listed somewhere. The copy of "Shakespeare's Trollop" did not have such a listing, so
I assumed it was the first. Ah, well. It's not a major problem.
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They are being reprinted by a different publisher and he did it out of order, No idea why.
I am reading The Spellman file.. A really odd book. Supposed to be a mystery, but darned if I see why. It is interesting in a complicated sort of way. Lisa Lutz is the author.
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Finding the order of books in a series is a pain. Publishers WILL list them alphabetically in the front, rather than in time sequence. Many a time, I've stood in a bookstore reading the copyright dates on a series to find out which is the next one.
Of course if I was prepared, I'd have looked in Fantastic Fiction (link in the heading) -- they list an authors works by series and publicatin date. But I usually don't know, when I set out what I'm looking for.
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Our Library has taken to using a colored tape and putting the series number on the spine call no. It's a HUGE help. In the bookstore, I resort to the checking copyright dates, too, though some publishers do list the books in chronological order, but one's never sure.
I always end up looking in several places for authors I like. Sometimes the local catalogers will decide to put a favorite author in Fiction, sometimes in Mystery, sometimes in Romance. Bookstores who categorize seem to do the same thing. Whatever. I guess there's no perfect shelving solution...hence the need, as I tell others who complain to me about the same thing...that that's the reason for the "card catalog"...whether the old time version (if any of those still exist) or the computerized one.
jane
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Like jane, I use the library catalog to get the order of publication, and never hesitate to open the books to check on the back of the title page. You can usually get that information on amazon.com, too.
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And I really do appreciate the pb's that tell you right on the front cover,
Book I of the ______ Series. So helpful. Now if I could just sell the librarians on the idea of buying all of a series. It's so annoying to find they only have Book I and III!
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Finished the Spellman File.. Very unusual book. But there are three and I will look for the second one.
Yes, I do hate to make a mistake, read like #4 first and then have to retrack. I would love to have a number somewhere on the back of each book in a series.
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The more I read of Charlaine Harris (I'm reading some of the 'Shakespeare' series), the more I like her. I'm glad I followed up on the recommendations some of you made here. I intend to go on to more of her work. Thanks, y'all.
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Harris is a unusual writer. She writes in several genres and makes you want to read each one for a different reason. I like the Sookie series because Sookie is funny and honest and you feel it. Weird when you think she reads thoughts and likes vampires and werewolves, but she feels like someone you would like to know.
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Which Harris series was it that featured a woman who always knew where the body was buried...literally?
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Harris makes it easy for us. All the Harper Connelly stories have the word "Grave" in the title. There have been four so far. http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/h/charlaine-harris/
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I read the first three of the Charlaine Harris series with Harper Connelly, and I look forward to the fourth. Because there were no more in that series, I checked out A Fool and His Honey, one of the Autora Teagarden books by Harris. That was not what I expected, much more serious than I thought it would be. Our library only has one more in that series, so I will read that to see if I want to order any of the others.
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nlhome: I'm sorry you didn't like the Aurora Teagarden book. I began my reading of this author with that series and consumed them gladly as they can out. There's not much of Harris' sense of humor in them, true, but she is a talented author who can captivate me in many styles.
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Jackie, it wasn't so much that I didn't like it as that I expected it to be lighter - that's why I want to check out another to see if maybe I can like Aurora more. Our library has mostly the Sookie books, and I don't really enjoy that type, and none of the Shakespeare ones. Yet. I find that after I request some of those series that our library does not have, we then get some in - our library staff use requested books to help decide what to add to the collection. So, do you have a recommendation about the Shakespeare ones? Thanks. N
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Aurora was the first books published by Harris. She had not developed her sense of humor or would not let it peep out much in that series. Harper is an interesting woman and Harris is doing some interesting work with her. It is Sookie where Harris uses her sense of humor the most.
I am reading a very very cozy type.. Married to the Mop.. Not much plot, but sort of fun.
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Lily Bard, the housecleaner who lives in Shakespeare, is not very light either. LIly is seeking solace and finds it in her solitary occupation which allows for little interaction with her clients. Harris' subject is murder and its effects on the families and friends of the deceased. She has infected the Sookie series with whimsy but violence is at its heart. What I like about Harris is, first of all, it is about women who are flawed yet still act, however reluctantly, to deal with their problems. Secondly her lead characters have very distinct voices so that switching from one series to another is not like the same old story with only different names on the characters. Thirdly, I'm not sure why, I just like her books. Maybe it is that Lily, Aurora, Sookie and Harper are intelligent and it shows. There is never an instance of, why didn't she, why did she, etc.
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I'm really excited about the discussion of "Three Cups of Tea" that will be starting May 1: The book is non-fiction, but is so interesting, I couldn't put it down. It's an American climber who gets lost in a small Pakistan village. When he leaves, he promises to build them a school. Although he is almost penniless, he manages in the end to build over 200 schools for girls in Pakistan and Afganistan. How he does it is an inspiration to all of us.
Join the end of the prediscussion here:
http://seniorlearn.org/forum/index.php?topic=369.msg20784;topicseen#new (http://seniorlearn.org/forum/index.php?topic=369.msg20784;topicseen#new)
or wait for the discussion, May 1.
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Jackie, well put. I also feel that I just like Lily and Sookie and Roe and Harper. Harris has a gift for making her women into people I admire. They lift their heads and carry on. A valuable life trait in my estimation.
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Harris' 'Shakespeare' series could not be called 'light', by any means,
but they are well written and I have definitely become 'involved' with the
life of Lily Bard. Even if she does make me feel guilty about the poor
level of my housekeeping! (That's a side issue; don't worry about it. ;))
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Laurie King also wrote an excellent ( well lots of very good stuff) book called Folly about a woman who has been terribly damaged by life and how she copes.. Very good indeed.
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Folly, I haven't read that one in about three years, time to reread it. Speaking of Laurie R King the library notified me that her latest Mary Russell, The Language of Bees, is waiting for me. Hooray!
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just finished Double Minds by Terri Blackstock...didn't realize it when I picked up the book from the new book section but this is a Christian mystery...involved the Christian music business..main character is Parker James...secondary characters include her brothers Gibson and LesPaul...Daddy, a guitarist and alcoholic, named his kids after guitars!! nothing spectacular here but did like it and would read another..she has written several different series of books so want to start with number 1, if I can!!
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The VOTE IS ON! May 1 - May 5
After reading reviews of the nominated titles,
in the Suggestion Box (http://seniorlearn.org/forum/index.php?topic=309.40)- please vote for future Book Club Online discussions.
Thanks!
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Never read the OConnel. I have read Nancy Martin, who does Philadelphia society.. They are fun.. Not a whole lot of mystery, but wonderful funny plots..
I agree that Nancy Martin is so funny. I hope she writes many more about the three sisters.
I am now reading "The Princeton Murders" by Ann Waldron, I highly recommend it and the author. I see by the front of the book that she had written others with Princeton in the title. I will certainly check them out at Amazon.
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I just finished "Dead Girls Don't Wear Diamonds" by Nancy Martin. Easy, fun reading and since i live in South Jersey and know the PHila area, it adds to the fun. Am now reading one of the Amish stories, "Too Many Crooks Spoil the STew" by Tamar Myers. The beginning is a little slow, i hope it speeds up.................jean
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I like Nancy Martin too. Do the "Princeton" muders take place in Princeton, NJ? I spent a summer there once.
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Hi folks - haven't been in for such a long time. Hope this finds you all well. :)
I just finished a book by Jeffrey Archer. It wasn't exactly a mystery - but it was most enjoyable and I couldn't put it down. "A Prisoner of Birth". I've also been reading some Patricia Cornwell books.
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Good to have you back, ALEXAN. I hope you are well, too. I think I've read
something by Jeffrey Archer, but I don't remember what just now.
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Bbi, Jeffrey Archer wrote a book called "Cain and Able", which I thought was great!
Can someone please tell me the name of Laurie R. King's first book? I want to order it for my Kindle. Thanks!
Sheila
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Serenesheila: Laurie R. King’s fiction falls into three areas. First in the hearts of most readers comes Mary Russell, who met the retired Mr Sherlock Holmes in the winter of 1915 and became first his apprentice, then his partner. Starting with The Beekeeper’s Apprentice and continuing through The Language of Bees, Russell and Holmes move through the ’teens and ’twenties in amiable discord, challenging each other to ever greater feats of detection, traveling the world from Sussex to Simla.
And then there's King’s other series concerns San Francisco homicide inspector Kate Martinelli, her SFPD partner Al Hawkin, and her life partner Lee Cooper.
There the stand-alone novels - "A darker place" and historical novel "Touchstone"
But think you may want "The Beekeeper's Apprentice" which I think is the first one.
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ALEXAN, thank you for the info on Laurie R. King. I just tried to get "Beekeeper's Apprentice", but it isn't available for my Kindle. So, I ordered the other Beekeeper book that you mentioned. I will order the first one, in paperback if it is available.
Sheila
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Has anyone read the novels of Louise Penny? I just discovered them through another website I subscribe to with other book lovers. They are mysteries, in a way sort of cozy, but not smarmy in any way. Set in Three Pines, a picturesque village in Quebec, the lead detective is Inspector Armand Gamache. First book in the series is "Still Life"; then "A Fatal Grace". Excellently written and you learn about the characters who live in the village as the investigation moves on. I highly recommend these books.
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Tomereader: I love the Penny mysteries. I've read the same two you have, they are the only two my library had. Got to look for some more.
I also like Laurie King, especially her series about Sherlock Holmes' wife. She had managed to create a character who uis believable a Holmes' wife.
I like the other series, too. Note that the detective is gay: if it makes you uncomfortable to read about gay relationships, you might want to skip those.
I haven't had good luck with my reading lately. My f2f mystery group meets tonight to discuss "Leather Maiden" by Joe Lansdale. We had read an earlier one we liked, "The Hollow". But "leather Maiden" is definately a waste of time. He tries to do a "tough guy" in a middle class suburban setting, and it doesn't work at all. Without the "mean streets", it just sounds silly. And there are parts that are much too gruesome for me.
Then I picked up a Mary Dahiem "Viagra Falls". I usually like her, but I couldn't get into this one at all. 100 pages into the book, there not only hasn't been a murder, there is only one character, except for the continuing ones. Perhaps she's going to kill off her husband's ex. No loss, but there's only one suspect.
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JoanK - I find that gay relationships sometimes make the characters more interesting. I have no objection whatsoever to them.
One of Patricia Cornwell's characters has a "same sex partner". The niece of her main character Kay Scarpeto, the coroner has a same sex partner.
I am trying to get hold of Masello's "Blood and Ice" - I think it is just a new publication - my library doesn't have it (yet).
I've just place a hold on a book by Arnaldur Indriðason, called Arctic Chill - I'll know in the first chapter if I like it or not. It was among one of the new titles in my library.
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P.S. Louise Penny site - some pretty pictures.
http://www.louisepenny.com/
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This is my first post on Mystery Corner. I am finally finding time for some serious reading after a very hectic few months. It is so great to have a place to check out new authors and books.
I have read many of Elizabeth George's books and just finished Careless in Red. I think I am one of the few of her fans who liked her last book, although it was a break from her usual
subject. I did find it very heavy reading and quite depressing. I am now reading Alexander McCall Smith's Friends, Lovers, Chocolate. His books are a nice break from longer, more intense mystery. I enjoyed his #1 Ladies Detective Agency Series.
It's so great to have a long list of new books and authors to look for on our library site. I am sometimes at a loss for a new author and often return home with books I have already read. :-\
I'm sure that won't happen now. :)
I have also read a lot of Patricia Cornwell's novels. Now I am off to look for Louise Penny.
Thanks for all the information.
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Currently reading Laurie R. King's The Moor. This is the first one I've read. Enjoying it - if I don't get into a book beyond the second chapter - then that's it. When I was young I used to think if I started a book I had to finish it - not any more. I wasn't able to find "The Beekeeper's apprentice, but I'll keep trying.
Rainbow - as you say this is a great place to find new authors. I have read Friends, Lovers and chocolate - I enjoyed that one too. Also have read the No.1 Ladies' Detective Agency.
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I requested Louise Penny's Still Life from our local library and I'm pleased to see that it is available for pick up. I understand this is the first of a series. Can't wait to try a new author.
I've also read a lot of Tony Hillerman. I enjoyed the series they had on PBS. Trouble is, I always forget which ones I've read. I had a book journal for years but lost in during one of our moves. If it's been a long time I usually don't realize I've read the book until I get to the second or third chapter. Guess that comes with age! :D
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Many of the people in the f2f bookclub hadn't read the book ("Iron Maiden" by Joe Lansdale"), but of those who had, I was the only one who didn't like it. Oh well, what do I know.
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Hey, JoanK - you know what you do and don't like! Hang in there! I'm the only one in our beach crowd and family who doesn't read Janet Evanovich. It's okay! ;)
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I read about one third of Barbara Hambly's A Free man of Colorand could not get into that one. I was disappointed as I thought I would really enjoy it do to the time and location.
I just didn't finish it. Life is short, so many books...... ;)
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Yeah, MARYZ. I read, and enjoyed, Evanovich's books for a while, but then it
got to be a bit much and I decided to give them a miss. Like RAINBOW said, there are so many books out there; I'd be sorry to miss a great one.
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I like Nancy Martin too. Do the "Princeton" muders take place in Princeton, NJ? I spent a summer there once.
They take place at Princeton Univ.
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As often happens when there are so many nominations, the results tend to be scattered. So that we come up with the title for the next book discussion with the most interest, we have set up a new poll with the top FIVE contenders. You will only get to vote for one of them this time.
Before opening your ballot, please be sure that you are familiar with the following titles so you know what they are each about - (You can learn about them by clicking the title in the chart in the heading at the top of the page in the Suggestion Box Discussion (http://seniorlearn.org/forum/index.php?topic=309.msg22093#msg22093))
The Last Dickens by Pearl (read together with The Mystery of Edwin Drood by Dickens)
The Book Thief by Zusak
People of the Book by Brooks
Bridge of Sighs by Russo
The Story of Edgar Sawtelle by Wroblewski
VOTE HERE: Run-off Vote for Future Book Discussions (http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=sRwHjzi3QWJUqOTWw_2f1fNw_3d_3d)
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Rainbow - i had the same experience w/ Free Man of Color. It was some how too wordy, too many characters that appeared briefly and then i had too figure out who they were when they appeared again. The topic was interesting, but the writing seemed laborious to me.
I just finished a Tamar Myers book about the Mennonite Inn. I pushed myself to finish it. It had it's humorous moments, but her humor often seemed forced. ...........jean
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Too bad, RAINBOW. I agree -- there are too many good books out there to waste time on one you don't like.
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Yes, Mabel, I also had trouble keeping the characters straight. There also seemed to be a lot of trivial information, gossip, etc. I would like to find other books about that area and period in history, I enjoy historical novels of most types.
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Have you ever read Cane River? It is a novelization of the author's family history, I found it to be compelling. http://www.bookbrowse.com/reviews/index.cfm?book_number=803
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No, I haven't read it....tell me more.
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Lalita Tademy, from Berkeley, was VP of a Fortune 500 Silicon Valley company when she packed up her laptop and began her second career as a writer. She had heard tales of her family's slave beginnings in Louisiana and she wanted to know more,she found that genealogy became all consuming. As she collected documents relating to her family she realized that there were stories and more stories, leading her ever onward. Finding the record of the sale of three of her ancestors ignited a fire. It's still burning. That's what makes Cane River so engrossing, throughout the book are those documents which mark important milestones of her family , I can only barely imagine the jolt when she held bill-of-sale in her hands. Tademy's passion is evident in her writing. I highly recommend this book.
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It does sound like a must read. I'll add it to my library reserves. Thanks for the added information.
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And my library has it! Thanks, Jackie.
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I picked out a bunch of light mysteries this week at the library. I got one I thought would be a mix of Janet Evanovich and Kinsella (the Shopaholic Author). "Knock Off". It was a lot better than I expected. The protagonist irritated me: she judged everyone by what clothes they wore, even while she was ruining her finances buying clothes. (I know where I would stand, with my 10-year-old t-shirts). But it was a good read.
And I read a Leslie Maier -- "Bake Sale Murder", which was good. I think several of you have recommended her, but I hadn't tried her yet. This is a good find: my library has a lot of them.
I must have been hungry when I went -- most of the books I got have food in the title.
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;D JOANK, I have learned not to go grocery shopping when I'm hungry. It
plays havoc with my budget!
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I came in this evening to ask if any of you are watching Maspterpiece Mystery this evening on PBS. Tonight is the first of three episodes of " Wallander:Sidetracked" with the Irish actor, Kenneth Branagh.
These episodes are based on best selling books by Henning Mankell -
Sidetracked, Firewall and One Step Behind Are you interested in a discussion of these thrilling mysteies?
SeniorLearn has been contacted by Masterpiece HGTV - offering us free sets of two lf these books if we are interested. (Masterpiece is one of our Reading Promotion Partners in the Library of Congress Center for the Book.)
If you are intersted in these books and chatting about the PBS adaptations, please post here and we'll open a discussion - and send you your set of novels.
I'm watching the first episode right now - Kenneth Branagh is Detective Wallender!
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JoanP, Thank you for the offer. I wanted to watch it, but completely forgot it was on. I was watching the program on History Channel about the upcoming "Angels and Demons" movie based on Dan Brown's book. I've just turned the TV back on to catch the last half hour.
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FryB - They repeat these shows during the week - and then next week there will be an entirely new episode. Really offbeat. Kenneth Branagh was absolutely amazing - in an understated way.
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My PBS station is repeating it at 1am Eastern, Joan, so I won't miss it after all.
The network just slowed down to a crawl here.
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I saw it last night. Brannaugh is very good, as usual. They are now filming the first three in the series for later broadcast. I have not read the series yet, but I have the first one, "Faceless Killers" for my f2f group next month.
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OK, we've opened a General PBS Masterpiece Discussion (http://seniorlearn.org/forum/index.php?topic=502.0) to determine if there is interest in the Wallanders -
This is the question in the header of the new discussion.
Would you like to form a Wallander Book/Film club? We could discuss the PBS adaptation of Henrick Mankell's novels and/or discuss Mankell's novels if you are interested. We can send you a set of two of the Wallander novels for the price of postage - if supplies last. Are you interested?
Since I had posted in several discussions about the series yesterday, I'm going to ask those of you who expressed interest to go into the new discussion, so all the information is in one place.
I'll be looking for you there, ready to take your orders! ;) Thanks!
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I am so disappointed that I missed the start of this PBS Mystery series. That's what I get for ignoring T.V. I need to always check PBS. If nothing else I can record these to watch on my sleepless nights. I will check to see if there is a rerun sometime this week. If I can find it I will post on the PSB Mystery Discussion.
I just finished Louise Penny's Still Life and ordered another of her books from our local library. I total enjoyed Still Life, the place, the characters and her style. I could just picture Jane's paintings in my mind. My husband and I both paint, my style is somewhat like Jane's, a simple Grandma Moses. ::) Of course, she had such a story to tell!
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Tanks for the review of Still Life, Rainbow. I've ordered two Louise Penny books for my Mom for Mother's Day. Mom doesn't like a lot of gory details, gratuitous sex or swearing. I read that Louise Penny weaves a fine story without resorting to same.
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I'm sure your mom will enjoy her books. I can't wait to read the next one.
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I haven't read any of the Mankell books, but I did manage to see a taping of the PBS Mystery feature. I don't know, perhaps it was the film. Gray seemed to predominate, and the progression seemed somewhat plodding. Did anyone else feel this way about it?
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Babi: It's hard to explain my fascination with Wallander. Maybe reading it, sharing his thoughts, creates a bond which doesn't translate well to the screen. (I haven't viewed it yet.) Maybe on a subliminal level his grayness equates wth my perceptions of what living in Sweden would be.
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Babi, I haven't read any of the Wallander mysteries nor seen the PBS program (I love to read mysteries, but don't care to watch them on TV or film), but the Publishers Wkly review of THE FIFTH WOMAN said "Mankell is a talented writer, but the narrative of this police procedural is so bleak and brooding that it certainly qualifies as the darkest of Swedish noir." Perhaps that's why everything looked so gray.
My favorite mystery so far by a Swedish author is THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO by Stieg Larsson. I'm really looking forward to reading his next one, THE GIRL WHO PLAYED WITH FIRE, which will be published in July.
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JACKIE & MARJIFAY, I think you are both right. Living that far north, where bright sunny days are probably far from the norm, I imagine 'gray' would likely well describe the atmosphere and, often, the temperament of the inhabitants.
No insult to Sweden intended; I'm sure it is a beautiful country, and certainly it has beautiful people. I just suspect the dark and cold of the far north also results in a high percentage of depression among the population.
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JoanK asked me to tell you that her computer is totally nonfunctional, so you won't see her until she can find out what's wrong.
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I'm back, I hope. Not sure yet whether everything is working.
I just finished the first Mankell "Faceless Killers". It's a genre I don't usually like, but this one pulled me along. I'll certainly read more.
This seems to be a type that is popular in Europe. He reminds me of Rankin, who has a similar detective living in Edinburgh. Scotland has a grey climate: perhaps you're right -- they're all suffering from SADD. I had heard that the depression rate in Finlanmd is very high.
The reason I could read Mankell, where I can't read Rankin is that the books are short. Rankin's detective is not only depressed, he is depressed on and on and ....
The last "Prime Suspects" on PBS followed the same pattern, as Helen Mirren becomes more and more isolated, and finally goes off alone to battle alcoholism. I expect Lars to follow the same path through the series.
Do I sound too cold?
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Nope, JOANK. Just observant and analytical. Glad to see your computer is behaving again and you're back with us.
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Alas, Babi, JoanK is offline again. Phone conversations with Matt produced a possible diagnosis, but actually trying to fix it will have to wait until Matt drives me down there on Wednesday.
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:( I do hope Joan gets her computer in good repair soon. I miss her posts when she is away. Thank goodness she has Matt to help her with that.
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Read the new Laurie R KIng, The Language of Bees, which has a shocking story line. Not as fastr-paced as some but I couldn't wait to see how it all played out.
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Speaking of which, I am just starting the Laurie King book, "The Letter of Mary". I've enjoyed the other Russell/Holmes books I've read, and I'm sure I'll enjoy this one. A very different flavor of Holmes than A.C. Doyle's originals.
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(http://seniorlearn.org/bookclubs/graphics/mysterytitlejd.jpg)
| ____(http://seniorlearn.org/bookclubs/graphics/smokinggun.gif)____ | ____(http://seniorlearn.org/bookclubs/graphics/mysteryoutline.jpg)____ | ____(http://seniorlearn.org/bookclubs/graphics/mystbloodyknife1.jpg)____ |
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 (http://seniorlearn.org/forum/index.php?board=27.0)
Our Favorite Old Mystery Writers (http://www.seniornet.org/php/default.php?PageID=8402")
Fantastic Fiction (http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk)
Stop You're Killing Me (http://www.stopyourekillingme.com)
Discussion Leaders: BillH (Leyube@aol.com) and JoanK (jkraft@socal.rr.com)
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Babi: Yes, but non inconsistent with the originals. There have been so many who have cashed in on the Holmes cult. Many years ago I used to read Ellery Gueen's Mystery nmagazine; there was a series of SS which were pastiches, by an author whose last name was Fish, which were hilarious. William S Baring-Gould wrote a "biography" of Holmes which was ingeious in ist collection of clues and extrapolation into a whole, fully realized human being.
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That biography of Holmes sounds like fun. I wonder if it's still around? I've made a note of the author's name; I'll see if I can find it. Thanks for mentioning it.
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Finished off when we were away.. The Spellman Files ( a different sort of mystery), the newest Nevada Barr.. A little too much isolation and foolhardy behaviour for me.. I generally like her so much.
Discovery- Seattle Mystery Bookstore.. Oh me, we fell on this one afternoon and after a short conference..( Yes, they ship) . went mad with stuff that was old , new and different.. What a neat store..
My book box arrived.. Got the newest Julia Spencer Fleming and hope to read it when life gets a bit calmer. I do like her and her episcopal female priest.. A complicated woman indeed.
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Tose of you who have read John Hart (King of Lies, Down River, know that he is a master story teller. The Last Child, his latest, reinforces his reputation for suspense and memorable characters . Johnny is a 14 year old who has been traumatized by his twin sister's disappearance one year ago. His family has disintegrated: his father deserted them and his mother has taken refuge in bottles of pills and alcohol, lead on by the town's richest man who bullies her and Johnny. The characters mesh and remesh into tight networks of shifting loyalties with Johnny as the focal point and lead stimulus. Everything is tested, nothing is sacred. I couldn't stop turning the pages. Please, John, write faster.
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I wonder if we will ever have the book swap/exchange here like we had "somewhere else"?
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So much has been going on while I was fussing with my computer. It's good to be back! I used to read Ellery Queen, too (Pat still has them) but I don't remember Fish and SS short stories. Does anyone remember the short "puzzle" mysteries, where you had to find the clue?
I like Laurie King, too, but I see I'm behind a couple of books. I haven't read the newest Barr yet, either. Have to get on the ball.
I'm off to check out the discussion of PBS's new Mystery series. I haven't been in there yet. Are you all overthere?
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Since I spent the day in hospital waiting rooms, while my husband had more surgery.. This time the gall bladder.. Anyway I am reading Rhys Bowen..she writes about Molly, an irish female detective in New York at the turn of the century. Great fun.
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Steph: Glad you had a chance to unpack before hubby's hospital trip. ;)
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Steph, I got my Mom a Rhys Bowen book last year from the Constable Evans series. She couldn't follow the plot because she said the story kept switching back and forth between several different things. I didn't get it back from her yet to see what she was talking about. Mom is Welsh, so I thought she would like a series based in Wales. Oh, well.
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Steph, sorry about your husband's surgery. I hope they were able to do it laparoscopically - we did and recovery was very smooth.
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Yes, laproscopic was the way they went in.. Five holes.. which surprised me.
Molly is the second series for Rhys and I have never tried the welsh one yet. I like the atmosphere of this one since New York at the turn of the century was interesting.
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I am reading a book by one of my favorite authors, Robert Crais. "The Two Minute Rule" is set in LA as are all of his books. It is about Max Holman who is a convicted bank robber, getting out of prison after 10 years. He is assisted by an ex-FBI agent in searching for the killer of his son along with three other policer officers. It is very realistic and rational, which is my type of mystery.
http://www.robertcrais.com/
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Robert Crais is also one of my favorite authors. Loved his TWO MINUTE RULE. One of my favorites is his Elvis Cole mystery/thriller, THE LAST DETECTIVE. The only book of this genre that brought me to tears when Elvis's childhood was revealed. Crais is a great writer.
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I love Crais and have not read the Last Detective.. Must put it on that long long list. I do like hisElvis.. A man who is true to himself always.. Interesting character.
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I just finished "North of Montana" by April Smith. The first of hers I've read, but it won't be the last -- I liked it a lot. A police procedural, the detective, Ana Gray, an FBI agent, has her ghosts, like Lars Wallender. Somehow the tone is different.
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Just a quick note to let you know that the PBS Masterpiece Mystery series has made 24 sets of THREE Detective Wallender novels available to our readers - just for cost of shipping. Are you interested in a set? Just email me and I'll get your set in the mail. (We have 7 sets left!)
Read what out readers are saying about the series - and some are enjoying the books even more! Masterpiece Mystery! (http://seniorlearn.org/forum/index.php?topic=502.msg23537#new)
They are the best detective series I have ever read, bar none (and I love detective stories. Dana)
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April Smith has written just a few novels. They are really good and I loved the NOrth of Montana more than any other. Its like Jamie Harrison. She only wrote a few books, but oh my I loved them and always check to see if she is writing more. Darian North is the same way.. Not many books, but fascinating ones. Some authors write slowly or have little to say after the first few. Such a shame.
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Greetings
For those watching the Wallender series - check your local schedules. Some people have indicated that their next program - One Step Behind isn't being shown until May 31. Our local TV schedule - both print and online - show Masterpiece Mystery - Wallender - One Step Behind as being shown tonight after the Memorial Day Concert.
Mary
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I wasn't familiar with April Smith, but I have ordered a couple of them from our local library. Thanks for the mention.
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I had forgotten Jamie Harrison, love the books. Here is another fan: http://jcabooks.typepad.com/girlsleuth_the_mystery_di/2007/10/jamie-harrison-.html
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Jackie, Thanks for the click... Read it and loved it. Quite a reviewer, but I do agree. I still think there is more to learn about the area and characters..Wonder if goggling the name will help. Think I will give it a try.
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The Girl with the Dragon Tatoo is a whale of a book. Author Steig Larsson was a reporter/publisher in Sweden and his background lends verissimilitude to this engrossing tale. Something there is in Swedish detective fiction that reels me in from the first page. Over the years I have read them all from The Laughing Policeman et al by Maj Stowall and Per Wahloo (also a great movie starring Walter Matthau, Bruce Dern and Lou Gossett), Henning Mankell, and now, Stieg Larsson. See this: http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2009/jan/23/scandinavian-crime-fiction
Larsson died suddenly of a heart attack in 2004, leaving three completed books and rumors of a fourth. Each one is Girl . . . If the standard set in Tatoo holds up then the others will be outstanding also.
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I have to correct a quote attributed to me above ......when I said
"They are the best detective series I have ever read, bar none (and I love detective stories)"....
I was not referring to the Wallander series, which I do think is pretty good, but to the Martin Beck series by Maj Siowall and Per Wahloo which is far superior in my opinion. With the Wallander series there is really one main character and a few peripherals. With Martin Beck everyone is a character. There are 10 books, by the time you've read all 10 you feel all the characters are part of your life and get real upset that you can't find out what happens next to them all. The thing that's so good is that every character is so real--my favourite is Gunvald Larsen for example. When I was reading them for the first or second time the Swedish prime minister was shot leaving the cinema and I immediately thought, not to worry, Martin Beck and his men will sort it out. You can get all 10 books on amazon nowadays. For a while they were hard to find but they must have been reprinted. I have them all and keep them for rereading when I need a special treat!!
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OH, I did love Martin Beck.. I had forgotten all about the series, but read every one. Such good writers.. I have never been to Sweden, but felt like I had.
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I just reread "Daddys Girl" by Lisa Scotteline. One of her best. I like the way she incorporates history into her books.
I do reread mysteries that I liked, waiting long enough that I've forgotten the details (that's getting shorter and shorter.) Do you?
Now i'm reading "Lethal Legacy" by Linda Fairstein, and enjoying it. Much of it takes place in the New York Public Library. As a library rat, I love being taken behind the scenes in a major library. Once I was doing some research in the Library of Congress, and on breaks, I would wonder around among the stacks. you wouldn't BELIEVE the stuff back there!
Of course that was forbidden, but I discovered if I walked purposefully and looked like I knew where I was going, noone would question me. There was one problem: I DIDN'T know what I was doing. It's a real rabbit warren back there, and I was always getting lost. I didn't want to ask questions of the rare fellow human I would see, so I would just wonder til I found a familiar place. I'm luckier than I deserve: I could still be wandering!
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Oh me,, being in the stacks.. I used to be a member of the New England Genealogical and Historical Society. When you are a member, you can go into the stacks for your own books..... and explore.. I loved to spend hours sitting on the floor and exploring books on everything.. The most amazing things have been printed.. One my favorite library memories. I can imagine what yours was like.
New York and Connecticut genealogical libraries will let you back into the stacks as well.. Just not in the rare books area.. I do love libraries.
I like Lisa Scottoline as well, but my husband stopped reading her because she has "too much history, not enough plot". But I love the history stuff.a
I also like Fairstein. She does some interesting things in her books.
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Tomereader - I miss the book exchange too. I just finished Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout and it is much, much too good to sit on my shelf and gather dust. I usually donate my books to our little library here, but I'm never sure anyone reads them or loves them like I do. If anyone would like this book, I will be happy to mail it.
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Speaking of amazing things that have been printed, my library has a book devoted entirely to making paper airplanes! Why ever did the publishers decide to print that one, I wonder?
I just started a book of mystery short stories that I'm thoroughly enjoying.
It features some of my favorite, and is introducing me to a number of writers I've never read before. I'll have some new names to add to my reading list. "Death Dines In is the title.
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Funny.. Death Dines in. I am reading a mystery that is written by a woman who was a food critic in Washington.. She writes under Phyllis something, but I suspect her name is different than that. Book is fun.. Talks a lot about restaurant scams..
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No, at least thats the name she used in The Washington Post: Phyllis Richmond. Is the book "The Butter Did It"?
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No, this one was Murder on the Gravy Train.. A far stretch in the book to connect it all at the end. I did love the restaurant remarks however.. The murder.. hmm. far fetched to put it mildly. So her name really is Phyllis.. That surprised me. Am now reading John Sandford latest in paper back.. Just into the first 50 pages.. Lucas is such an interesting man and I like Weather.
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I got "The Book Thief" from the library, along with a couple of others. I
believe someone here recommended that one. I'm reading the smaller ones first; save the biggest for last.
I always do that. I can finish the smaller ones more quickly and so am able to get to the next book more quickly. Probably doesn't really make a difference, but I prefer to do it that way.
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Am probably half through Phantom Prey by Sandford. Fascinating.. a good deal more interior thinking than usual in this one.. Fairy is quite an interesting variant of person. Also a lot more about Goths than I knew.
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I just finished a book I can highly recommend. It is" Mark" by Jason Pinter. He is young and hasn't written many books. "Mark" is his first one.
http://www.jasonpinter.com/
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I just finished enjoying Charlotte MacLeod's "Something in the Water". Her books are light reading, but here is an example of why I like her so much.
Professor Shandy is collecting seeds from some outstanding lupines. MacLeod writes: "He was in no great hurry, he paused now and then to settle aterritorial dispute with a bee or a butterfly or to pass the time of day with Miss Rondel's overweight cat, who'd strolled out to see what was going on. A blue jay gave him hell for trespassing on its turf while keeping a wary distance, as a lue jay naturally would. A wren less than a third of the blue jay's size was far bolder, bouncing on the tip of a brier and carrying on a running commentary not six feet from the fat cat's nose. She put Peter in mind of his next-door neighbor back home." :)
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I must remember to catch up with Charlotte MacLeod.. I used to read the Boston series and enjoyed it.
Just read the newest Elaine Viets in paperback.. Its the dead end series.. and she worked in a country club in this one.. Sort of mean spirited, but fun.
I have just started Rampart Street. Heavy reading about New Orleans in the turn of the last century when Storyville was in full swing. Interesting.
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Its been a few years since I read Charlotte Macleod; time to start all over again. She has a rare sense of humor, mastering language so effortlessly the jokes sort of sneak up on you. Her characters remain as fond memories and when i read her stories agian it is like revisiting an old, dear friend.
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I have been a mystery lover for years Was even a member of whatever club that handled mystery books I have at least a dozen I havent had time to read and cant tell you who wrote them Oh Yes Dick Francis and his son had a new one out about a year ago and I bought it but havent read it ..A woman writer in Stanardsville Va is a mystery writer and a friend of my oldest daughter ., I have read all of her books but would have to look them up...they are pretty good perhaps not as polished as some but still interesting enough
A couple of nights ago I picked out "After all these years" by Susan Issacs ( I think that is spelled right) and enjoyed it ..I felt I have read it before and that could be true since I dont remember the mystery stories well , but it was a rather fun ( if murder can be fun???) book I am interested in seeing what everyone here is reading I have a new Baldaccia or however you spell his name , another by a famous lady mystery ( modern lady) whose name I cant recall and about a shopping bag full I have bought over the last two years and am just getting around to finding what I have and reading...Now that I have stopped by I will make it a point to do so and see what everyone is reading and report on what I read, I just smiled to myself and thinking what great fun!!!
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Jackie, I just added The Laughing Policeman to my Netflix queue. I always liked Walter Matthau – have never seen this one.
JoanK – Fairstein’s Lethal Legacy sounds great, especially after last September’s visit to the NYPL with others from SeniorLearn. I do like Fairstein’s books. As for remembering mysteries – by the time I read the Wallendar series later this year it will all seem to be new material.
MsGray, if you’re serious about Olive Kitteridge, I would love to read it. (I nominated and voted for it earlier here, but it didn’t make the cut.) If you send me your email address, I’ll send you my address.
Has anyone read The Virgin of Small Plains by Nancy Pickard? I believe it won either an Agatha or Edgar award in 2007. About the murder of a young girl in rural Kansas in 1987. Three families with teen-agers are involved, the conclusion comes about in 2004. My f2f, mostly mystery group will read it later this year. We’re also reading Sara Paretsky’s Bleeding Kansas, which is not a mystery, but maybe a bio of the mystery writer.
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Yes, Pedln, I read THE VIRGIN OF SMALL PLAINS a couple of years ago. I rated it 5/5. Great story and characterization. Some good twists and turns as well as surprises. She's a good writer. Have meant to read more of her books, but you know how it is with the big TBR list waiting...
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Yea, pedlin. Virgin of Small Plains was very good. I also read Paretsky's "Bleeding Kansas" and enjoyed it. No, not a mystery.
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I almost picked up "The Virgin of small plains" last time I went to the library, but already had enough (If I get too many at once, I tend to lose them!) Let me know if it's good.
Hi, ANNA. WELCOME!
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I just ordered Bleeding Kansas since I love Paretsky.. Mystery or not, she writes beautifully.
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Yes, she does. I particularly like the way she structures her plots.
For those of you who don't play "Author, Author", whoever is "it", me this time, gives clues as to an author and a character. Whoever gets it has to pose the next clue. They just got my author (Agatha Christie) and are trying to get the character. You mystery fans should have no trouble-- come on in and play.
http://seniorlearn.org/forum/index.php?topic=467.new#new (http://seniorlearn.org/forum/index.php?topic=467.new#new)
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Housefull of company just left.. Hooray for me. I love to see them come, but am delighted when they leave. My 7 year old grandson is a barbarian.
Still reading Rampart Street. Fascinating book.. Several murders, but in the end, the actual killer will not be important. It is who ordered it and why.. The characters are compelling.
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Pedln -
I'm sorry, Olive Kitteridge has already been claimed.
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Steph, my MIL always said she was glad twice when company came - once when they arrived and again when they left. I agree!
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Thanks, Steph, for recommending Rampart Street. I haven't read any of that series. I loved visiting New Orleans, but haven't been there since the flood.
Have you read any of James Sallis's mysteries. with a very literary private eye in the French Quarter of New Orleans? Very good, i.e.,
THE LONG LEGGED FLY, MOTH, etc.
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Wrote down James Salis and will look for his stuff. Rampart Street is the second I have read by David Fulmer. He does wonderful things mixing real people with his fictional hero.. New Orleans is a favorite of mine for mysteries or all types.
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Pay dirt! My library has one Fulmer and at least 3 by Sallis. I do a quick check
before writing down new authors. It saves time and avoids disappointment at the library. Especially if I'm running out of books to read and find they don't have anything on my list!
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Fulmer is hard to find.. My swap club has me on the waiting list for three of his books.. They have no James Salis in stock.. hmm.. Since I am busy packing for the rv trip , I dug into the old pile of books for something to read.. An older M.C. Beaton.. Agatha has married James, which will of course be a disaster.
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I'm having so much going on that i'm reading only "cozy" mysteries these days.........something light and entertaining, taking me out of my real world.............. ;)
I finished the first Death on Demand book, and, yes, the comments about mystery writers are a bit much, but i liked the story anyway and will read on thru the series. I'm almost finished w/ Grave Sight by Charlaine Harris. It's an interesting premise of a young woman who after being struck by lightning as a young girl gets a "vibe" when she's near dead bodies and can see how they died. What makes it interesting is the way Harris portrays the response she gets from people who know that she finds bodies. Her brother works w/ her to calm her from the stress of the job and Harris writes an interesting interplay between the two of them. I'm also reading an April Henry book, have forgotten the title......................but i thank you all for your recommendations, i think i learned about each of these authors from this site.................how nice to have this community to go to to find good reads....................jean
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MABEL: I do the same thing -- when I feel stressed I read only cozies
I guess I'm not too stressed now. I'm reading "the Girl with the Dragon Tatoo" by the Swedish writer Larson. So far I like it. But it has a large, complicated list of characters, all related to each other, and with my senior memory, I keep forgetting who people are. Luckily, there is a family tree in the front. Without it, I would be lost.
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Joan: Isn't that family a riot? There are only three books by this author before his untimely death at 40 something but I intend to read them all.
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I am looking for clues.. Patricia Cornwall. I picked up a short paperback from her, not about Scarpetta.. This one so far has noone that deserves to be rooted for. The lead female is the most repulsive character I have ever read about. The detective seems to have some sort of twisted agenda. Everyone is after something crooked. It says in the squib that this is the second one of the series and then tells you once again aboutCornwall and her fame. What is she passing off as novels. Incidently the print is large and widely separated. I realized this is because there is very little plot involved.. All in all, I have not been reading her recently and wont again. What a waste of money.
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JoanK, I also find myself most appreciative of family trees or lists
of characters these days. There may even come a day when I may have to
select my books by the tenet, "KISS". ???
I used to enjoy Cornwall, STEPH, but I eventually got so annoyed with Scarpetta's bouts of lashing into her niece that I stopped reading the books.
Sounds as though that cruel streak may be even worse in the new books.
I've had the impression of a decline in Cornwall, into increasing arrogance and/or bitterness. A pity; she was an excellent writer.
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I read some Conrwall in the past but her books are too violent and gory for me. Since I live alone I do not like to read things that are going to frighten me. I need to be able to sleep and I don't read things that will disburb me. I mentioned this recently at my f2f bookclub meeting when we were choosing a book for next month. Everyone laughed at me but then they were very considerate in choosing the book for next month which is not a mystery and which I do not really think I will enjoy reading but I did not say anything and I will try to find it in large print since it is not available on Kindle.
Joan Grimes
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I have to admit I never liked Cornwell -- there's something about her that put me off. But many others really do like her.
Yes, Larsson's book is about the family from hell -- it makes me really appreciate mine. What is an odd cousin or two compared to that mess.
The Swedish names don't help. There is one character named Berger and another named Birger. One is a man, the other a woman -- I guess it's like Joan and John, it wouldn't confuse a Swede, but it took me awhile to get them straight. My memory for names is so bad, I'd forget my own if it wasn't written down. I'm afraid when I find out whodunnit, I'll have no idea who they are!
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Believe me, it is worth it to stick with Tattooed Girl. The names are confusing, too, but ther slight change in one letter in a word can have profound effects. Think of luck and a word that rhymes with it!
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Finished the Cornwall book.. What a waste of time. I suspect this was an early draft that never sold and since she is famous, she drug it out.
Started on Bleeding Kansas. Not a mystery, but interesting.
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Bones is one of my TV addictions so when I saw a new Kathy Reichs at the library I grabbed it. Good puzzles but I saw one clue long before Tempe did. An interview is pubolished as the end of the novel and she speaks about juggling her responsibilities as forensic anthropologist, writer and TV producer. Reichs is one of my must-read authors.
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The first Patricia Cornwall book I read was riveting. I remember I was at a conference, sharing a room with a co-worker. I had trouble putting the book down so we could get some sleep and get up for the conference the next day.
I really enjoyed that book but have not really appreciated any of the others that I read. There is another series she writes about a woman who is, I think, a police chief or some such thing. That seemed to me just a "make money off the author's name" series - not a compelling read.
N
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I used to read Cornwell, but, like others, they started going downhill, so I quit.
I've started watching Bones on TV, but the few Reichs books I've read, I didn't like as well.
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Wow, JACKIE! You've really pulled me in.
No, I'm staying with it, although the murders are pretty grisly: maybe that's why I had nightmares last night. But it's got me hooked!
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I like Kathy Reich, but dont particularly like Bones. It really has nothing to do with the books however.. Tempe is much more her own person in the books. And her off and on policeman boyfriend in the books is much more appealing than the FBI agent.
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I found the TV 'Bones' before I found the Reich series. I read two books by
Reich and found them rather uninteresting. I don't even remember the policeman boyfriend. I preferred Bones and her FBI partner. He is an interesting person, quite aside from his professional side. his roles as a father and brother give him unexpected dimensions.
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Found a new author. Denise Hamilton's The Last Embrace is LA noir, on the fringe of Hollywood in 1949. Lily Kessler, formerly of the OSS, makes her duty visit to her dead fiance's mother where she learns that hs sister, a "starlet" who has excfhanged her given name Doreen for Kitty, is missing. Lily was born in LA so it seems logical for her MIL-to-be th ask her to help find out what has happened to her daughter. Hamilton sprinklkes big namers throughout her narrative such as Daryol Zanick and Mickey Cohen. Hamilton's twist on the typical noir hero, a former spy who isw alswo a woman, holds the tale together without the blood and gore. I'll be reading more Hamilton, she has a series about an LA girl reporter, but I'mhoping that we see more of Lily, too.
http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/h/denise-hamilton/
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Am I the last the learn that Kathy Hogan Trojeck also writes under the name of Mary Kay Andrews? While researching my library's new books I found that MKS has a new one called The Fiixer Upper, not one of the Savannah series. http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/a/mary-kay-andrews/fixer-upper.htm
FF lists the AKAs and there it was: KHT = MKA. I'll have to go back and check out KHT.
BTW FF lists similar books and this one had Lisa Lutz' Spellman series. sounds like fun. :http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/l/lisa-lutz/
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Denise Hamilton is quite a good writer. I have not read the one you mentioned, but have read someothers. She loves to mix fictional and real characters.
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JACKIE: you're not the last, I am. I had no idea!
Has anyone read Mary Kay Andrews?
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Her Savannah series was a great read. Her other novels also clicked with me. http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/a/mary-kay-andrews/
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I'm readin Nevada Barr's "Wolf Study". So far, I have to say it's one of her best! Her descriptions of the wolves and the winter are very sharp: I feel like I'm there.
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I was bothered by Wolf Study in that I did not find the new characters interesting or worthwhile.. Heroine is as always, but this time, the brutal treatment bothered me.
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I agree, now I've read further. It is too long, drags in the middle, and more brutal than I like. I could still barely put it down to get on the computer: our detective Anna, is in one of her usual life-threatening survival situations, and I can't wait to see how she gets out this time. Shades of Saturday morning serials.(remember those).
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Hello All :
Some of my favorite mystyery writers are;
David Baldacci , Michael Connelly ,
Linda Fairstein Series portrays a Chief of Special Victims attorneys in NYC.) GoodI read most of her novels) .
For legal mystery writers : John Grisholm, Medical Mystery writers : Robin Cook ,Michael Palmer.
I too have read a number of the Patricia Cornwell series , some better than others of course , the most recent one I read was titled : Scarpetta .
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I just finished reading Jeffery Deaver's "The Blue Nowhere". It is a good read expecially if you are into computers. (I am teaching computers at a local senior center). It is about a hacker who is taken out of prison in order to help police track down a criminal who is killing people on the anniversary days of the development of computers.
I have now started reading James Lee Burke's "Time Roof Blowdown". He writes about Louisiana and this one is about the hurricane that flooded New Orleans in 2005. It is a mixture of real and fictional characters.
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RETIRED: WELCOME! Curl up here with your current mystery. Christie is very different from the authors you mention, but I think you'll like her.
How many of you are going to join Retired and me watching th PBS version of Cat Amoung the Pigeons with David Suchet Sunday, and commenting on it in our new "PBS Masterpiece Mystery discussion"?
I've started reading the book -- I hesitated whether to read the book first, or wait til afterwards, but the matter was settled by running out of things to read. And my local library is closed on Fridays! When, when will I learn to plan ahead?
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Here is the link to the PBS Masterpiece Mystery discussion:
http://seniorlearn.org/forum/index.php?topic=617.msg26643;topicseen#new (http://seniorlearn.org/forum/index.php?topic=617.msg26643;topicseen#new)
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Connie, I loved Tin Roof Blowdown, but then I love James Lee Burke.. I have the next one in the series in paperback with me in the rv. Just have not gotten to it yet. It takes place in the west since Burke owns a home there as well as Louisiana.
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I just got Wormwood (China Bayles) from the library. I've read all of the previous China Bayles series. Didn't think I would like her other series (The Cottage Tales of Beatrix Potter) but thoroughly enjoy them. Am starting the latest "The Tale of Briar Bank".
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Lisa Lutz, who now lives in Seattle, is from the Bay Area so her San Francisco setting in The Spellman Files is spot on. The Spellman family, Pa, Ma, 3 kids, are PIs. All of them are PIs (except son David who escapes to law school). 28-yyr-old Isabel, Izzy, is feeling constrained by her wacky family and dissatisfied with her life. Her 14-yr-old sister,m Rae, takes up recreational surveillance when stressed and drops in on Izzy's favorite bar to drink ginger ale and bend the ear of Milo, the barkeep. http://www.amazon.com/Spellman-Files-Novel-Lisa-Lutz/dp/1416532390 Tere are two more in this series and I'm on the waiting list at the library. This is LOL funny.
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Jackie, I read the first Spellman, but have not yet obtained the next two. They are weird, but fun. I do have the new ( to paperback) Stephanie Plum.. Oh I do love that girl.. and grandma.. A woman with strong opinions.
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I've never been able to get into the Beatrix Potter mysteries, but have read all the China Bayles ones.
Jackie: that sounds really fun. I'll put it on my list (which Ialways forget when I go to the library. sigh).
And Stephanie Plum: what can you say!!!
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Sounds like fun, JACKIE. And having a lawyer in the family ought to be very
helpful, right? I'll have to see if my library carries Ms. Lutz. I'm also now
curious about the Beatrix Potter mysteries. I'll have to look at those, too.
(As if I didn't have enough on my list!)
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I like China, but she and her husband also write under Robin ( I think Paige). They are english type mysteries and I dont care for them, but will try a Beatrice Potter one.
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I like the Robin Paige mysteries. The writing can get tedious and drag, but their use of real historical characters is interesting and fun. My favorite is the one where Mr. Rolls and Mr. Royce decide to get together and form a car company. The description of the "car race" with the old cars is hysterical.
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Did I see this mentioned here? North of Montana by April Smith features Ana Grey, FBI agent in LA, whose family history and current investigation both feature the area north of Montana Street. Ana finds that she is frozen out of the good ol boys lub that is the FBI's LA office. When she makes the arrest of the century, earning big press, she is shunted aside from her expected upgrade to the more prestigious unit as her boss castigates her for a minor procedural oversight - he attches a deficiency evaluation to her request for transfer. Sounds like more of the same old poor me but Smith's got a way with her characterization, we grow to care deeply about Ana inspite of her flaws.
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Computer is doing one of those slow days.. WiFi in RV parks is always a bit of a problem. Too many people all at once jumping on. Still readin the Elizabeth George.. See where Evanovich has published 15.. Sounds like fun, but am just now going to read 14.. I always wait until Paper.
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Just came back from barnes and Noble. Got the newest (I hope) No.! Ladies Detective Agency (Miracle at Makitoni Motors) and the latest Sue Henry --(Six Degrees of Separation). We also bought the new Evanovitch. It is EXPENSIVE, but my son, daughter, and I will split the cost, since we're all eager to read it.
I know, I need to stay out of bookstores -- I always spend more than I mean too, especially after buying coffee at the attached Starbucks.
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JoanK, Let me know about Six Degrees of Seperation. Is it the book from which a movie by the same name was made? I saw the movie, starring Will Smith, and was quite taken by it.
Just say my first episode of No.1 Ladies Detective Agency on HBO last night. What a hoot. Just loved it.
Staying out of bookstores doesn't help me anymore. If I am not browsing the shelves at a bookstore, I am cruising the online booksellers.
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Me, I pretty much stick to the library. I don't like to buy a book unless I expect to want to read it more than once, and not many books really fall
into that category anymore. Why give shelf space to something you've already
read and will likely never read again?
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I'm with you on that, Babi. Having moved too many times in recent years, mainly due to my empty nest refilling itself, I've grown extremely tired of having over 200 boxes of books. Lucky used book stores pay for good titles. There are still way too many books lin boxes left. My lbrary belongs to a system that includes some 20 or so branches, included the local CC, so there are many more choices than would be possible with the two Salem branches.
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My downfall has been my on line swap club.. Paperbacks like crazy.. I do love that place, You meet so many new authors that way.
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Remind me, Steph, if you will what the "on line swap club" is. I have several paperbacks (mostly mysteries) that I would love to trade or get rid of.
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I'm a library person myself, but I also have a stash of "to be read" to take with me on trips and the beach, even the waiting rooms. If I lose one of those, I don't feel so bad (nor does it cost so much to replace). I rarely buy new books, except as gifts.
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paperbackbookswap.com is a wonderful site . You list what you want to trade,,then have access to the thousands and thousands of books that are listed. You would be amazed at the variety.. Google it, since I am not home, but in the rv and dont have the exact address with me.. They also have a swap site for dvd's, although I dont belong to that one.
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Just came back from barnes and Noble. Got the newest (I hope) No.! Ladies Detective Agency (Miracle at Makitoni Motors)
Joan, the latest No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency book is "Tea Time for the Traditionally Built". I was on a waiting list for a couple of months at the library. Read it a month or so ago and enjoyed it. :)
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Jean: OOPS! Just as well I didn't know that: I'd have bought them both. Just finished "Miracle" and loved it. I don't know what it is about those books -- very little plot, but just reading them makes me feel happy.
Now my son has finished the Evanovitch, and wants me to read it today, so I can give it to my daughter. His evaluation: in the middle:"it's ok". At the end "It's hilarious".
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from JoanK
I'm readin Nevada Barr's "Wolf Study". So far, I have to say it's one of her best! Her descriptions of the wolves and the winter are very sharp: I feel like I'm there.
Do you mean Winter Study? I have it in front of me. One of the f2fers passed her copy on. We’re discussing it in Sept. She can remember longer than I can, so I’ll read it in August. Have you read The Loop by Nicholas Evans (also Horse Whisperer). It's a great wolf novel.
Hi retired. I really like Linda Fairstein too. And the legal mystery writers like Grisham and Turow. The Appeal was really mind boggling for me – what one can do with power and money. And I think of The King of Torts every time one of the drug/lawyer ads comes on TV.
and the latest Sue Henry --(Six Degrees of Separation).
That’s the title? I love Sue Henry. Is this a Jessie Arnold or the RV lady, can’t think of her name.
JoanR and I prowled the Strand (18 miles of books) when I was in NYC this past week. I picked up a Colin Dexter (Inspector Morse) – Death is Now My Neighbour – from the bargain table. I thought I’d read them all, but that title didn’t ring a bell.
from Frybabe Staying out of bookstores doesn't help me anymore. If I am not browsing the shelves at a bookstore, I am cruising the online booksellers.
I know what you mean. There were other bargains at the Strand, but I think I used real discipline. :o But now I’m heading to my Seattle daughter and can’t wait to check out the used book stores there. There is one public library in my town, and it has a good collection, but with the f2f group selections I almost always buy the book. The library just doesn’t have enough copies.
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I've got a LInda Fairstein (Waiting to Die) waiting in there for me, as soon
as I finish an old P.D. James (Death of an Expert Witness). James is always
so good, and I do like Adam Dalgleish.
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Greetings -
The title of Sue Henry's book is Degrees of Separation I too enjoyed it. Mary
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I like the rv lady of Sue Henrys.. Fairstein is an always read.. Finished the Elizabeth George.. Careless in Red.. Wow.. that one turned over and over and over.. Amazing. But Linley seems to be reluctantly coming back to life. Am glad.
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Finished the second Eva Diamond, LA Times reporter' Sugar Skull shows she has more than one book in her. Mix together high level politics, Mexican-American pop culture, the homeless teen subculture, and Eve who is always pushing the limits. I'm going back for more.
For many years I[ve been following the unfolding tale of Benni Harper who is curator of a museum featuring fiber arts such as quilting in the Central California Coast, read Morro Bay, San Luis Obispo and Paso Robles. Benni and her family have become comfortable friends in the books which are named after quilting patterns. Earlene Fowler must be feeling comfortable with Benni et al., too, for she has branched out into novels without a crime to hang them on. Her Saddlemaker's Wife was engrossing with fully realized characters and a tight story that was not predictable. The latest of her independents, Love Mercy, may be the first of a new series and I will be eagerly awaiting the next one. http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/f/earlene-fowler/love-mercy.htm As in all her books, Fowler has strong family ties binding her characters through thick and thin.
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I like Earlene Fowler too. I hope she doesn't abandon the quilting patterns, though. Everything I know about quilting, I've learned from her (In general, most of what I know comes from reading mysteries).
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Joan: How true. We learn about exotic locales; used to be that I wanted to visit so many places I'd read about. It seems like so much trouble, now, to plan a trip where there is stop after stop. I like staying in one place, letting its ambience soak into my soul, getting to know a little about its byways, etc.
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I do like Fowler and Benni.. She makes me want to quilt. I just take an aspirin and a nap and it goes away.. thank heaven. I used to quilt and it is lovely, but hard on fingers and eyes.
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Has anyone read anything by Mary Roberts Rinehart? I am reading a mystery by her for the first time, THE YELLOW ROOM. I'm finding I don't care much for her writing, which is a disappointment as I kept hearing how good it was.
Marj
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I used to read MRR all the time, and truly enjoyed her books. Of course, what appealed to me back then is certainly not what we are familiar with in today's authors/books. I also read all of Agatha Christie's books, but wouldn't go back and re-read them now as I am accustomed to more action/modern story lines, etc.
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I used to read MRR too, but haven't for years. But I will always like Christie.
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I never like Mary Roberts Rinehart. I tried to read some of her books but just could not.
I still love Agatha Christie and enjoy rereading her books and I have read most of them more than once.
Joan Grimes
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Rinehard was writing back in the days when the butler always did it; 'society'
was above that sort of thing. Still, for her day, her stories were considered quite thrilling. I think her best known was the one about the staircase...was it
"The Circular Staircase"?
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The Spiral Staircase?
Eve Grey, April Smith's "maverick" FBI agent has captured me. This is one feisty broad; she ensnares with her empathy at the same time she is going off like a loose cannon. Never know what will happen next. I do know I don't wish to have to live in her skin. But I'll keep one reading as long as Smith keeps on writing. http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/s/april-smith/
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I think Erlene Fowler's best book is "The Saddlemaker's Wife". I was hoping she would have a sequel to it. I didn't like "Love Mercy" as well. It seemed (how do I describe it?) a little too preachy for me. I've read all the series with Benni Harper but the last several I got tired of all the trouble with her and her hubby. It seemed the same thing over and over.
I'm towards the end of "Wormwood", and finding the information about the Shakers so interesting.
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FLAJEAN: you might like the mystery series that takes place in the Shaker community by Deborah Woodworth.
http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/w/deborah-woodworth/ (http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/w/deborah-woodworth/)
The first in the series is "Death of a Winter Shaker"
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Hi everyone - I just joined this group. found out about it from another web site I was on. I use to be with seniornet mystery forum but since they started a different form, their home page doesn't have 'discussions' listed. I am very happy to have found it. i am an avid mystery reader - just completed 'A Catered Valentine's Day' by Iris Crawford. will look for her again. If anyone was on Seniornet discussions, I would appreciate knowing if it is still active. I live in SE FL . Johanz4(http://seniorlearn.org/forum/index.php???)
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FlaJean - your name sounds familiar. i wonder - were your on one of Seniornet's mystery discussions? If you are interested in the China bayles series, you might want to check out Sisan Wittig Albert's web site. it is very interesting and she is one of my friends on Facebook. check it out, she gives very good info. Happy to hear you like the other series. never tried it as I too thought i would not like it. but now will give it a try.
I am at a loss on this site as I don't know how to post ect. will just keep trying. JOhanz4
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Welcome Johanz4,
You have posted just fine. We are happy to have you here.
Most of us here were on SeniorNet but it is not active with discussion forums anymore.
Hope to see you here alot.
Joan Grimes
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FlaJean
I got tired of all the trouble with her and her hubby. It seemed the same thing over and over.
Isn't that usually the way it goes when a marriage is in trouble? The same old
tapes keep getting replayed.
Welcome, JOHANZ. You'll find a lot of your old gang here. This is where we
all congregated when SeniorNet ran out on us, thanks to a couple of our terrific ladies. Glad to see you here, and pass the word along to any of your friends
that haven't found us yet.
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Thank you JoanK. I'll look for Deborah Woodworth at my library.
I finished "Wormwood" (a very good read) and am now into "Oolong Dead" by Laura Childs. The series is about Theo Browning who owns the Indigo Tea Shop in historic Charleston. I didn't know until I was introduced to this series that the only tea plantation in the US is just outside of Charleston. I understand they have tours and it is on my agenda for a future visit. I wish I had known it when we visited Charleston several years ago.
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(http://seniorlearn.org/bookclubs/graphics/mysterytitlejd.jpg)
| ____(http://seniorlearn.org/bookclubs/graphics/smokinggun.gif)____ | ____(http://seniorlearn.org/bookclubs/graphics/mysteryoutline.jpg)____ | ____(http://seniorlearn.org/bookclubs/graphics/mystbloodyknife1.jpg)____ |
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 (http://seniorlearn.org/forum/index.php?board=27.0)
Our Favorite Old Mystery Writers (http://www.seniornet.org/php/default.php?PageID=8402")
Fantastic Fiction (http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk)
Stop You're Killing Me (http://www.stopyourekillingme.com)
Discussion Leaders: BillH (Leyube@aol.com) and JoanK (joankraft13@yahoo.com)
Most of us are old senior net people.. They deserted us is the way I look at it. Am reading the upstate New York series.. missed one by Julia Spencer Fleming. I do love her writing. However I missed the one where the police chiefs wife died..Hmm. back to my swap club..
Also reading the latest paper back j.d. robb.. They are silly and fun.
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HI, JOHANZ: glad to see you again. I'm sorry that the home page doesn't make it easier to get into discussions. I'll report it.
This is the same mystery discussion we had on the old Seniornet.
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Almost finished the J.D. Robb. Quite an intricate idea this time. Being able to tell old tattoos and old knife wounds on a body is interesting.
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I am another former member of Seniornet's mystery group. I find that I like recent stories and look for ones where they use cell phones and search on computers. I am currently reading one by Jeffery Deaver, "The Devil's Teardrop". It was published in 1999. He had a more recent on which was about computers and hackers. I enjoyed it since I teach computers. I was amazed at how much computers have changed since 2001.
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A fascinating real life mystery about computers is "The Cuckoo's Egg" by Clifford Stoll. It is a non-fiction book written by a graduate student: he had a job in the universities computer lab, and to keep him busy (I suspect to get them out of their hair), he was asked to track down a 50 cent discrepancy in the computer account. The trail eventually led him to expose a German hacker who had broken into not only the University's computer, but the computers of most of our top secret agencies. The computer technology is outdated, but if you like to follow technical stuff, you'll like this.
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Amazing how much computers have changed. Our oldest son was in graduate school in the early 80's.. He made money by learning the psychological language in the computer world ( at that time, all of the disciplines seem to have had special languages). He learned the math and then the psychology and actually made quite a good extra income.. I would assume that windows changed all that.
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POPPY!! How good to see you again! So glad you found this site. It's always
such fun to hear from an old SN bookie.
I just read my first 'Beatrix Potter' mystery, and fanciful and fun combination
of her animal stories with a light mystery. I was surprised and delighted, tho', to find the background of the book was factual. Beatrice Potter did buy a farm
in Nearer Sawrey and make it her home. She was engaged to her editor, over
the objections of her snobbish parents, and he did die shortly thereafter of leukemia. So we not only have whimsy and mystery, there is biography thrown into the mix as well!
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I have a note to look up the Beatrice Potter stuff..
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I've enjoyed the Beatrix Potter stories. Seems to be a blend of fact and fantasy, i.e., imagination put to use creating characters and conversations.
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I've also enjoyed the Beatrice Potter series.
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good to see all the familiar names and faces from Seniornet. hope i am doing this right. don't see 'Post' box so went down to end of the page and hit reply and this box came up. is there a page where I can add my picture. think I have one to fit. right now I am reading Cathy Pickens 'Can't Never Tell' - her Southern Fried Mystery series. they take place in Charleston, Va. and since I spent a little time in that area loved all the references to Blue Ridge Mountain. loved it.
Johanz - kept my seniornet name just in case we had the same group. so happy someone mentioned this web site on a different forum. when I read it, said I have to check it out. Happy i did so.
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JOHANZ WELCOME BACK. We're glad you did too.
I'm not familiar with the "Southern Fried" mysteries: they sound great. I'll put them om my list.
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Cathy Pickens writes a really funny small series.. I love it and am always looking for more of hers.
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It shouldn't surprise any of you that SeniorNet is still sending me letters that say my subscription has expired! LOL, as if I would be interested in giving them money when they just cut us off. Bah, humbug!
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I am now reading a good book by Carolyn Hart 'Ghost at Work'. I like to believe what the Ghost reports Heaven to be. I always hope that my family are together.
I also enjoy her Death on Demand and Henry 'O' series
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After a while I can find a series suddenly boring; that happened with Death on Demand. I like this new series, hope she keeps writing them.
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I will have to retry her. I got tired of Death on Demand. Some writers never tire me of their series, but others do. Almost finished with the Julia Spencer Fleming. I do like her. She has the most interesting characters and the new woman is a hoot.
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JACKIE and STEPH: I agree with you on Death on Demand. I liked the quizzes (once in a while I even knew the answer) but somehow the "Nick and Nora Charles" imitation didn't come off.
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Re-reading the old Agatha Christie books for the Masterpiece Theatre series,
I am re-discovering just what made Christie so great. For one thing, the marvelous little touches that made her characters come alive.
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Its funny. I love Miss Marple,, the individual ones, Tuppence and Tommy , but am not overfond of Poiret.. I can read one at a time, but not a whole bunch of him.. But I loved her Autobiography.. Wonderful book.
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Steph: It's not Poirot I love but David Suchet. His skill is to bring the stiff, carboard character Christie created to living, breathing, three-dimmensional reality. Just as Jeremy Brett re-created Sherlock Holmes. IMHO.
And now for something completely different: Has anyone read the series by Susan Hill about Chief Inspector Simon Serrailler? Starts with The Various Haunts of Men and continues with the one I'm reading now, The Pure in Heart. These stories affect me as Susan George's Inspector Linley and the series about the woman who is a Presbyterian minister and a National Guard helicopter pilot, whose author's name escapes me. These are the ones that get into my soul, where when the character weeps I reach for a tissue. Very compelling.
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Julia Spencer-Fleming and her character, Clare Fergusson.
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Yes! That's the one, thank you, tomereader.
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Sold!, Steph. I'm adding Susan Hill to my list of authors to look for.
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I love Claire Fergusan, but have not yet read Susan Hill. Will put her on my list.
Spent today at the FDR house and library. What a beautiful setting and lovely lovely house. It made me have great sympathy for Eleanor. What a mother in law.. All of the family pictures.. have... Franklin, Momma and then Eleanor ( and she generally has her head down in the pictures.) We had an excellent guide in the park ranger. He knew his stuff and we had a delightful time listening to him.
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STEPH: was this the house at Hyde Park? One of the mysteries by Elliot Roosevelt with his mother Eleanor as the detective has that house as a backdrop, with FDR's mother as a character. I can't remember the name of the book.
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Well, it's The Hyde Park Murder:
http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/r/elliott-roosevelt/hyde-park-murder.htm (http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/r/elliott-roosevelt/hyde-park-murder.htm)
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Yes, we are in Plattekill at a campground and have gone to West Point one day and then FDR the next. Both were splendid.The settings are really wonderful.. West Point is now only seen on a tour.. No wandering. Sort of sad. Hyde Park was fun.. We did both the house and the library. Enjoyed them enormously.. We are trying to visit all of the presidential libraries, although truthfully, not Nixon.. I just could not bear the man. But otherwise, we have done Truman, Eisenhauer,Roosevelt and Clinton.. I actually lived 10 years just north of Boston and never got to Kennedy's, but will try to see it next year.. LBJ is in Texas, so we may be able to see that this fall if we decide to rv again in Texas.
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Hi Again,
It's been a while since my last post, I've been up north (that's Mass.) for a family visit.
I've also been busy reading some of the great books I heard about here, the last Elizabeth George, Careless in Red, Wally Lamb's The Hour I First Believed, another Louise Penny mystery, Mortenson's Three Cups of Tea,and The Story of Edgar Sawtelle.
Now I'm back to add some more to my reading list. I didn't know that HBO was showing The #1 Ladies Detective Agency series. I've read lots of them, just the right thing after a serious read. Lots of fun. Has anyone read Nicholos Evan's The Smoke Jumpers? I read it after the Horse Whispererand thought it was great. Learned a lot about fire fighting out in the western mountain areas.
I also use the library for most of my books except a few I want to keep and reread. Also hunt yard sales and library sales. I will check into paperbackbookswap.com. We do pass books around between friends and also have a lending library (honor system) where I live. I've found lots of good books there and donate to them.
Thanks for all the great information.
;)
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New author to me.. Ellen Elizabeth Hunter.. book is Murder at Wrightsvlle Beach.. All about that section of North Carolina.. Thus far I love the descriptions, but the murder is a bit murky. Very much a cozy. Still it isnt bad.
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Izzy (Isabel) Spellman continues on her murky path to adulthood (she's 31), dragging her family and friends in her calamitous wake. http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/l/lisa-lutz/ I've read all three now and the laughs continue. These aren't mysteries in the usual sense since Izzy and her family are PIs. Still, investigations crop up and answers must be sought given Izzy's mild case of OCD (think Monk). I hope Lisa Lutz writes faster.
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Just read 2 of Charlaine Harris "grave" series books. I like the querkiness of her protagonist who was struck by lightning and now finds dead bodies. She has an interesting relationship w/ her stepbrother who works w/ her and is attuned to the other problems she has from the lightening strike - wonder what will come of that relatonship? ....................jean
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I got 'The Spellman Files' from the library. And as soon as my daughter lets
me have it back, I'm going to read it! ;)
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I read the first
Spellman and loved it.. Am on the lookout for the next two..Finished the last mystery and finally decided to treat myself to Fearless Fourteen.. I need a Stephanie Plum fix.. and I always wait until they are in paperback.
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wow, it has been ages and ages since I've been here...was without a computer for all of May and part of June..thought I;d have to go into rehab unless I got a computer! but all is right with the world..a wonderful computer/IT friend got me a re-built Dell for a great price..also a new mouse and keyboard...health issues then took over as does life sometimes...and now I'm moving to a new apartment..downsizing from a 2 bedroom to a 1 bedroom in the same complex..have been unable to do much of the work myself but am so blessed to have awseome friends who have been coming over almost every day and packing things..it;s wonderful; I will be in my new place by August 1st...then the unpacking fun starts! haven't done a lot of readng but will list what has passed thru my hands recently:
*Run for Your Life -James Patterson and Michael Ledwidge - why do I continue to read his stuff? ::) ??? his Alex Cross series was very good but his collaborations..well, maybe he phoned the stuff in
*Lost Boy Lost Girl - Peter Straub - one of my favorites and this didn't disappoint - eerie mystery - wasn't sure about it at first but after a while I was hooked
*Deadlock - Iris Johansen - typical of hers - not b ad/not good/ but...would read another down the road somewhere!
*Bones of Berayal - a Body Farm Novel - Jefferson Bass - actually 2 writers/ Dr. Bill Bass and Jon Jeferson - guess this is the third in a series - I wll definitely find the first 2 - this takes place at the Oak Ridge Facility in Tennessee - sometimes long on scientific detail but it's not overwhelming - good story, good ccharacters, unexpected ending
am now reading a Lisa Gardner mystery - am fast becoming a fan of hers - wil have more time once I'm settled
good to be back and read allof what you've been reading - saw that someone read the new Wally Lamb - anxious to hear what you thought of it
sleep well and fall asleep with a book
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This computer hookup keeps cutting me off.. I have read the Jefferson Bass books. Quite good and very full of science..In a neat way.
James Patterson is off my reading list. Just got really awful . He seems to have turned himself into a factory.
Laughing my way through Fearless Fourteen.
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"..well, maybe he phoned the stuff in."
LOL, Peace!
Sorry you've had such a number of stressors lately. I'm glad you had
friends close by to help out. Jefferson Bass sounds good. I'll see if
my library has him.
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I enjoyed all the Jefferson Bass novels as well as his bio. Recent story in the news is info that another body farm has sprouted in the soil of Texas where the climate is so different from Tennessee's. Seems there is a shortage of cadavers for the Texas facility, however; there have been only a few received so far.
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I hadn't heard of a new body farm in TX. Do you know where it is, Jackie?
We've been to a program/book signing by Bill Bass and Bill Jefferson (the authors). They give a great program - are very entertaining. And we love the books, too.
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Babi: Here's some more info on the body farm: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Body_farm
http://www.txstate.edu/anthropology/facts/
How far from you is San Marcos?
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(http://seniorlearn.org/bookclubs/graphics/mysterytitlejd.jpg)
| ____(http://seniorlearn.org/bookclubs/graphics/smokinggun.gif)____ | ____(http://seniorlearn.org/bookclubs/graphics/mysteryoutline.jpg)____ | ____(http://seniorlearn.org/bookclubs/graphics/mystbloodyknife1.jpg)____ |
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 (http://seniorlearn.org/forum/index.php?board=27.0)
Our Favorite Old Mystery Writers (http://www.seniornet.org/php/default.php?PageID=8402")
Fantastic Fiction (http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk)
Stop You're Killing Me (http://www.stopyourekillingme.com)
Discussion Leaders: BillH (Leyube@aol.com) and JoanK (joankraft13@yahoo.com)
PEACE: "sleep well and fall asleep with a book". Couldn't say it better! WELCOME BACK.
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I actually knew someone who left her body to science when she died. I want to be cremated, but could not stand the idea of research.. Silly but true.
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I just finished the Nightshades book by Susan Albert. I think i've only got 2 or 3 more of that series to read. .............those stories are so good and keep me reading to the end. I like the characters very much, all of them, the quirky frineds and family and even the dogs. They all seem so real, foibles and all, like all of us...................jean
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Just like us is right. Sadly, I don't think that collection of shops could survive in real life, but it's fun to read about them.
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Reply to those who like SusanWittig Albert's books. I also like her books and also subscibe to he n ewsletters. she has several and she also is my Facebook friend. her newsletters are very interesting.
I am now reading and will finish tonite Robert B. Parker 'Spare Change'. it is very good. at first I thought I had read it but found that it was caused by it being part of the Sunny Randall series.
'JO" ???
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It was MARYZ who was inquiring about the Texas body farm, JACKIE. I'm sure
she'll see the links.
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I agree as much as I like
Susan Wittig Albert, the little shops would not make it in real life.. But they sound neat.
Reading Stalking Susan by Julie Kramer. First book , and thus far sort of fun.
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Jackie and Babi - I did check the links - Thanks. I know where San Marcos is located - just didn't know about additional "farms".
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Not much time yesterday for reading. I am having a allergy flare up and when we got home from a bit of touring, slept the rest of the afternoon and then again last night.. The sneezing is getting me down.
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Michael Connelley novels are irresistable to me/ Love Harry Bosch; His out of the series books fare less well but Blood Work held me captive until the end. The Poet's hero, LA Times reporter Jack McEvoy,does not come to mind so reading The Scarecrow was not like revisiting an old friend. But I won't forget jack McEvoy again so if Connelley writes about him again I'll know what I'm getting into. All I can say is Connelley keeps delivering the goods IMHO. He never gets stale.
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Just finished the Louise Penny series. Really enjoyed them. I strongly recommend that they be read in order. There are many references to events in the previous books.
Also read the two books by O'Connell set in high society Chicago - Well Bred & Dead, and Well Read & Dead. Were a change of pace but didn't excite me. Mary
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STEPH: allergies are miserable, aren't they. Amazing how tired one can get from sneezing: a lot of energy we'd rather use another way.
Mine are on and off. Fortunately, they're off this year (knock on wood).
Our library only has the first two Penny books. Guess I'll have to buy the rest.
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Steph: hope your allergies are doing better by now...not fun I know
just finished The Neighbor by Lisa Gardner...eerie and fascinating...am becoming a fan of hers..will head to the library on Monday for more...probably won't read a lot while I'm moving but must have a book near me at all times ;D
nite everyone...sleep well and peacefully
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I am almost finished with "The Spellman Files", which someone here recommended. I've gotten a lot of laughs out of it, but that family is
so messed up! Maybe it comes of being P.I.'s. Privacy is a wholly
discarded ideal, and cynicism is much more evident than trust. The father
seems to be the most normal character, but then he doesn't appear a great
deal in the book. Despite the constant inter-family warfare that goes on,
they do seem to genuinely care for one another; it's just a matter of one-upmanship, I guess.
An unusual approach, and well worth reading.
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Thank you JoanK for suggesting Deborah Woodworth. My library only had one "Killing Gifts". It was a good mystery story and I hope I can find some more of her books.
Have any of you read Minichini's series on the periodic table about the retired physicist, Dr. Gloria Lamerino? They were so interesting and well written. Well, now she is writing a series called The Miniature Series under the name of Margaret Grace. My library only has one (she has published 3 and soon to publish a 4th, I believe). I believe she has another winner in this series.
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Woodworth is really a good writer. I have read all of her stuff and enjoyed it enormously. We are now down in Virginia in the Shenendoah valley and wham. my eyes are now not watering and the sneezing is down to a dull roar. Whatever the allergy is,, it was in bloom in the north.
I love Michael Connelly.. One of my favorites except for the last one that was about the lawyer.. That one rang no bells.
I am rereading the Bloodhound series and now doing the one called Blind Bloodhount Justice. I know what happens, but love the series.
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Johann and Poppy, good to see you both here on SeniorLearn. Peace42, welcome back. Hope your move goes smoothly and that you get more time to read.
Someone mentioned Mary Roberts Rinehart -- I haven’t read her in years, but enjoyed her books back in the late 60’s, early 70’s. Carolyn Hart – I still like the Hennrie O series, but the Death on Demand just got too cutesy-poo. So did Diane Mott Davidson and her Goldy Bear caterer. Too much Jerk and Arch.
Jackie, I hope you can come up with the author of the Presbyterian minister series. Sounds like something every Presbyterian should read. :P (Just read more posts – is that the Julia Fleming?) In J.A. Jance’s Joanna Brady series Joanna’s best friend is a minister, but I think she’s a Methodist. And then there’s another good series – author not remembered – about the wife of a minister.
Sometimes I think I get my mystery sleuths mixed up. My f2f mystery group has read some of the Southern Fried series. I remember it as being a fun read, but can't name the heroine.. Does she have a lot of sisters?
Rainbow, I have that Smoke Jumpers, by Nicholas Evans, but have’nt read it yet. Glad to hear you liked it. I did read his The Loop, about wolves, which was very good.
Jefferson Bass sounds intriguing. I’ve not heard of him/them before.
Steph, you're home after your long trip? Hope the allergies improve.
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Nope,not home until next Sunday. We are in the Shenendoah Valley in Virginia getting read to to to Harrisonburg this mornin. Sounds like an interesting area. Still got the allergies, but not quite so violent.
Still reading Stalking Susan. It has gotten much better as I got into it. This is a first book and they are always a bit scattered.
Julia Spencer Fleming,, I think the minister is an episcopalian.. At least it sounds like that in the church stuff.
There was a ministers wife in some series set in Ct. years ago. Forgot the name of the author.
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Yes, Clare Ferguson is an Episcopal Priest. See here: http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/s/julia-spencer-fleming/
The NE series about the minister's wife who is a caterer (Faith Fairchild) is written by Katherine Hall Page: http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/p/katherine-hall-page/
The Presbyterian connection was a series of three books which featured university names in the titles such as bleeding Harvard Red (not the actual title). One book was about Harvard, one about Yale and one about Princeton which is, I believe, connected to the Presbyterian religion. Can't remember much more, the protagonist was a black woman PhD.
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FLAJEAN: that series about the periodic table sounds fascinating! How does she do that? Have to tell my-sister-the-chemist.
JACKIE: that sounds interesting, too. I once, a tourist in Boston, spent some hours in the math library at Harvard. I wondered why everyone was looking at me strangely, forgetting that at the time Harvard admitted only men! I was used to not seeing many women in math libraries, so didn't think it strange that I was the only one. They must have known I didn't belong, but no one bothered me. Guess they didn't get many tourists.
And I once spent a summer in Princeton, and knew many students there.
So the atmosphere would be interesting to me.
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JoanK, the author, Camille Minichino, is a retired physicist in real life. They are very good mystery stories with a little different twist. Along with the mystery you learn a little science but they are not boring and move right along. I've read them all and have been hoping she would write another. However, she has started the other series about a widow who has a hobby in miniature houses.
The Periodic Table Mysteries
The blurb says "In this series, Dr. Gloria Lamerino, retired physicist back from California, moves into an apartment above a funeral home in Revere, Massachusetts. When she signs on to help the Police Department in science-related homicides, she doesn't realize she may have 109 cases ahead of her."
The Hydrogen Murder
The Helium Murder
The Lithium Murder
The Beryllium Murder
The Boric Acid Murder
The Carbon Murder
The Nitrogen Murder
The Oxygen Murder
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I’m trying to track down the author of the college mysteries that Jackie was talking about, and since my granddaughter is at Princeton, I thought that would be a good place to start. Is the author Ann Waldron, whose sleuth is a woman professor McLeod Dulaney? But ALL her mysteries appear to be set at Princeton. Here’s her site Ann Waldron (http://www.annwaldron.com/)
Titles include Unholy Death in Princeton, Death of a Princeton President, A Rare Murder in Princeton. And there are recipes, too.
Have any of you read her? JoanG, she's from Alabama.
Flajean, those element mysteries should sure keep one busy. Sounds good.
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Pedlin,
Ann Waldron is a familar name but cannot recall having read anything by her but I am sure going to read some of her books. She looks very interesting. Thanks for the giving us her name.
Joan Grimes
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Ann Waldron's books osund good; I always like stories about academia. One of my old faves, statistician Maggie Ryan, was created by P M Carlson. One line made me crack up: her three-yr-old, on seeing a cow, called it a dog. Her six-yr-old called him a dummy. Maggie replied that he had the set of four-legged animals down pat but had not yet learned the different categories. Sounds so like a statistician!
http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/c/p-m-carlson/
I've been up almost all night reading a thriller by John Birmingham, an Australian writer., Without Warning
http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/b/john-birmingham/without-warning.htm
It has parallel stories about the lives of several people as they try to cope with the horror of losing the entire populations of the mainland US and Canada (except for Washington and Alaska. The buildings, as seen from satelite, are unchanged but there are no living things. Sort of alternte history but not quite SF. Any way a good read. Birmingham can create characters with whom you will empathize and the scenarios are all too plausible for comfort.
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Yeah! My local library has "The Oxygen Murder", and the main branch has a lot of them. No luck on Waldren, and Carlisimo gave me 12 pages of books by Carlisimo.
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Ah I read the Harvard book about the black fill in minister.. Interestingas I recall..But as always,, cannot remember the author.. Finished Stalking Susan and liked it in the end. A bit overwrought, but a first book generall is. Reading a Tess Monahan.. About a tv show..Tess should have her hands full.
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I'm having mixed feelings today as i do every summer when i get the latest Evanovich's STephenie Plum Book. I go Finger-lickin Fifteen yesterday from the library and started it last night - laughing already in the first 50 pages - with great anticipation.WoooHooo!..........................but my mixed feelings are because i know i will have it finished - sometimes in as little as 2 days, i have finished one of her books, - and THEN i have another year to wait for the next one! I'm going to try to read this one slowly, not stay up all night reading, and maybe i can stretch it to 2 weeks................ :( ............jean
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Jean: I know just how you feel. if we don't see you here for a couple of days, we'll know why.
Just finishe Sue Henry's latest: Degree of Separation. It was REDICULOUSLY BAD. WHAT WAS SHE THINKING? (or not thinking). And some of hers are soooo good. I won't give up on her: but I hope she pulls it together. Almost no content, and all filler. made no logical sense. The whole book, Alex wanders from one bar to another, finding out nothing: then bumps into the murderer waving a gun. Some plot themes are developed, and then dropped with no resolution or relevance. I can't even tell you the worst part!
If you haven't read her earlier ones, don't let this put you off her.
I picked up the Oxygen Murder at the library: the eighth in the series. She goes in Periodic Table order, so the first is the Hydrogen Murder (even I knew that! But that's about as far as I go in the periodic table). Along with it, found a Gillian Roberts I hadn't read and a Laura Lippman.
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I am just starting a Laura Lippman.. This is a TEss one, so it will be lighter than the other standalones..
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Is it "Life Sentances"? I just got that from the library.
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I just finished David Baldacci's FIRST FAMILY. It's his latest with former Secret Service agents Michelle Maxwell and Sean King, and it really kept me turning pages. I loved the ending too. I hate it when I read a really good thriller/mystery and then the ending is a big let-down. Not so here. I also love Baldacci's series with The Camel Club guys. Great stuff!
Marj
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On the other side, MARJ, I just read my first Charlaine Harris, an Aurora Teagarden book, and hated the ending. Perhaps I would have been
better prepared if I had read the earlier books first; I just happened to come
across this one. Now, I don't know if I will read another or not.
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I can never remember who likes what here in Mystery, but among others, I am a big fan of Michael Connelly. Currently reading "Brass Verdict". I would make one recommendation though (if you haven't read him before). Don't start one of his books late at night unless you want to stay awake all night reading! This one stars his "Lincoln lawyer", Mickey Haller, and features his detective, Heironymous (Harry) Bosch. The premise of this book is a really good one, and Connelly gives us terrific insight to the inner workings of the legal system, as well as the sometimes dubious circumlocutions of attorneys.
I will not put any spoilers here, but if you like Connelly, or if you've never read him, try this one! While mostly his books with Bosch or Haller are rather "series" mysteries, I think this one can stand alone vis a vis its plotting/characters, so I won't say "start with the first book". "Brass Verdict" should be a good starting point to get involved with these two characters.
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Oh, Babi, i'll bet I know which Aurora Teagarden book you read. I think I warned all of you to start with the beginning and don't skip around. I'm so sorry you couldn't do it that way. Since they are eissuing the Teagarden books I assumed that they would be readily available.
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Aurora is my least favorite character of Harris. I have read them, but much prefer the other books. I am currently reading "Another Thing to Fall" by Laura Lippman. Excellent beginning. I mostly like Tess although I am not overfond of Crow.
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my head is spinning with all the books/authors from the last several posts! what fun :D :D
just finished Intent to Kill by James Grippando -- have read some of his before and really liked them...this one started out good, caught my attention and didn't want to put it down, but, then the formula writing kicked in...no surprises, i knew what was going to happen..and I didn't like that...could have been so good...oh well, now off to another Jonathan Kellerman
computer will be offline most of next week..I still have dial up!! because of the move..but I thinkI have enough to keep me busy ::) ::)
have at least 7 folks coming on Wednesday morning to help with the move...isn't that just awesome?!
happy reading everyone...will be quiet in my new place for a while..no TV until next Friday, no computer..just classical music on the radio and a good book...sounds good to me :)
sleep well and always with a book by your bedside
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Still working on the Laura Lippman All of a sudden, Tess is doing the wuss routine. Hmm.. I may need to dig out my James Lee Burke to compensate. This one is set out west and am not quite sure why. But I do love James Lee.
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Have never read any Aurora Teagarden books. Will have to get one. I'll read them in order, as Jackie suggests.
My favorite mystery/thriller books are Michaelly Connelly's Harry Bosch series, altho' I also really liked his Micky Haller books, LINCOLN LAWYER and BRASS VERDICT.
Another favorite is James Sallis with his LONG-LEGGED FLY and MOTH, set in the French Quarter of New Orleans. Excellent writer.
I have only read Laura Lippman's WHAT THE DEAD KNOW. It was pretty good, but a tad too long, IMO.
Marj
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Peace - moving is always difficult, but it's great you have so much help. Enjoy your vacation from computer and tv..............
I'm disappointed in the 15th Evanovich. It started out good, but slowed down considerably with a lot of musing about her feelings for Joe and Ranger. There are some funny bits about Lulu and Grandma trying to make bbq sauce and a pressure cooker blowing up and another bit where Lulu gets stuck in the window of the car while trying to shoot at guys who are trying to k ill her.
Not one of her best/funniest.................jean
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I haven't read Evanovich's latest yet. Sorry to hear it's not that good, Jean. I think I read her books mainly to see what Grandma's up to. She's usually a riot.
I just finished THE SCARECROW, with Michael Connelly's newspaperman, Jack McEvoy. I liked it for the suspense plus it was so interesting to read about what goes on inside a newspaper like the LA Times where the progagonist works. Good book - kept me turning pages.
Marj
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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 (http://seniorlearn.org/forum/index.php?board=27.0)
Our Favorite Old Mystery Writers (http://www.seniornet.org/php/default.php?PageID=8402")
Fantastic Fiction (http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk)
Stop You're Killing Me (http://www.stopyourekillingme.com)
Discussion Leaders: BillH (Leyube@aol.com) and JoanK (joankraft13@yahoo.com)
Laura Lippman does two types of books. One is a long running series with Tess. Who used to be a reporter and is now a private investigator.. Most are good, the others are stand alones, and much more intense. I have loved them.. The one I am reading is a Tess one, she has brought in her best friend, Whitney, who I adore. Funny and tough and no nonsense. Tess is getting a bit on the wuss side in this book.
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I am NOT usually a mystery lover, but offer this as a question of you.
In the Sunday edition of our newspaper --Book Section---a second book
in a trilogy(which they say is as good or better than the first)-Girl Who Played With Fire.
I have not read
either #1 or #2, but am wondering if any of you have done so????
#1 is The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, #2 is The Girl who played with fire
Author is Stieg Larson, a Swedish author I think, translated by Reg Keeland.
I have requested #1 from my library, but they do not have, as yet, #2.
Joy
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I think that some one on here has been reading Larson. I have not, but am considering it.
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I read THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO by Stieg Larsson and really liked it. Am looking forward to reading his THE GIRL WHO PLAYED WITH FIRE. Larsson died of a heart attack in 2004 at age 50.
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I'm a Larrson fan as well. Tatto has a large cast of characters but it is worth it to stay the course. Quite an intimate look at Swedish society very different than Hanning Mankell's.
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I believe that it was here that author April Smith was mentioned. North of Montana is the title of her first book and I thought I was getting more of the milieu that C J Box has used so effefctively in his Joe Pickett, game warden, series. Was I in for a surpirse. Montana is a street in LA and north is not the place to be from. Ana Grey is an FBI agent assigtned to her home territory where she is somewhat loose,l as in loose cannon. She has good instincts and makes the big arrests but leaves her fellow agents and her superiors on edge. We see her life from her point of view so we know what's in her head and heart. They don't. April Smith has joined my list of auithors I will unquestionably read. Wish they could write faster. PS Her katest us Judas Horse and most of it takes place here in my beloved Oregon.
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Just finished Gillian Roberts' "Hole in Juan", and liked it. I think I recommended Roberts here, and some of you didn't like her. But if you do like Roberts, you'll be glad to know she is back to writing about her High School students, where (I think) she's at her best.
I made the same mistake with "North of Montana", but still liked the book. mean to look for more.
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I see I've been very remiss at putting the heading at the top of each page. If you catch me forgetting, please remind me. Thanks.
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Gillian Roberts is a sort of writer for me. I generally read her, but not right away. I actually am on a sci fi kick just now.
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I have just finished reading "Deep Waters" by Kate Charles. The protagonist is a curate at a church in London. The story deals with the crib death of a child of a celebrity couple and the notority that follows.
Also read Marcia Muller's book "Burn Out." I understand she has a new book coming out entitled "Locked In." Both books are in her Sharon McCone series.
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Will keep an eye out. I like Sharon much better than the Kinsey series.. But read both of them.
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I've been reading a series by Patricia Smiley. The series is about a woman named Tucker Riley. Unfortunately, I checked out the latest book in the "new" section of the library but did go back and read a couple of the earlier ones. It's never a good idea to start with the latest book in a series and I try not to do that, however, Smiley is a pretty good writer. Some of you might enjoy this series.
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In another discussion I mentioned a series about a midwife in old NY when Teddy Roosevelt was Police Commissioner. Known as the Gaslight Mysteries these are compelling mysteries with lots of local color and interesting characters. http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/t/victoria-thompson/
Another new name is Jon Loomis, a professor of literature whose previous work was two books of poetry but who has found his true calling in the adventures of Frank Coffin, a police detective in Providencetown, also know as P'town, where gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgenders gather to play in the summer sun. PG17
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Will add the names to my lists..I am looking for anything by Kate Bryan. I have read two of her mysteries and there is another, but for some reason it is out of print and the copies I find are expensive. Strange for a mystery writer.
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Just finished Catherine Coulter's The Maze - very good, a compelling read. The only negative was that she jam-packed more exciting events into the time period than could ever possibly happen to one person, resulting in an "Oh, come on!" from this reader. But the story was interesting and i liked the characters................jean
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Ah, yes. Another "Oh, come on!" situation. Personally, I tend to go with "Ah, come on!" :D
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You two do better than I do. I tend to throw the book into the basket .. But then Coulter is an old romance writer, so her characters tend to be impossibly glamerous, etc.
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One of my favorite "Ah, come on!" situations was one in which all the main characters were good-looking, clever, witty, very intelligent, etc., etc.
Even the villain. I mean really, there just aren't that many of us to be found
in one community. ::)
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This is why I quit reading Stuart Woods. His early books about a sheriff in Georgia were great. But then he started with this character, "Stone Barrington", and all he did was talk about the clothes they were wearing and their cars and their furniture. Sssshhhheeeeesssshhh.
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My favorite "Ah, Come on" moment came reading Diane mott Davidson's Goldy Shultz series where the detective is a caterer. She and friends are fleeing through the woods trying to escape the bad guys. They run across an empty cabin in the woods, go inside; Goldy finds enough ingredients in the abandoned cabin to cook a gourmet meal (an omelet. Personally, I always keep my abandoned cabins stocked with fresh eggs, don't you?) And then they continue fleeing.
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John Birmingham is an Australian but: His Without Warning describes a world where there is no US and most of Canada is gone, too, There is just this shimmery sort of curtain surrounding that area. For example, Guantanamo Naval Base is close enough that the curtain can be approached except when a US General and the top officer in the Cuban military go to ibserve ut first hand, it reaches out and snags the Cuban. Lengthy leadup to another literary snag. Mention is made of the Berkeley campus of UCLA! I had to read it again, not believing my eyes but that is what the man wrote. The book is pretty good, nevertheless.
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He'd better not come out here to California. Thinking that Berkeley is in LA could get him in major trouble with the natives (of either place).
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I reread "A Suitable Job for a Woman" by PD James for my face to face book group. It's still a good read. (Interestingly, all the women had already read it, and none of the men had. But everyone liked it).
Now I'm reading Laura Lippman's latest (I asume): "Life Sentances". It's a stand-alone. So far, it's pretty slow: I guess she's trying to develop character, but it's not working.
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New Author for me.. Lynne Murray.. She has written a small series about Jo Fuller, a plus size lady wo works for someone like "The Millionaire", only female. I have read the middle one and found the other two in paperback swap and ordered them. She is fun.. A good read.. A proud woman, dealing with her weight with pride and joy.. Affirmative sort of book with that.. Nice plot.. All in all a nice addition for me.
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JOANK, at least she didn't do something delicious with the mice. (Okay, sorry
about that.)
P.D. James is great, but his books are not readily available any more. I came
across one recently at the bookshelves at the senior center, the first one I had
seen in ages.
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Don't understand what you mean about P.D. James books not being available anymore, Babi. My library has 46 of her books available (some are repeats, of course, large print, regular print, etc.), and Amazon and half.com have pages of her books for sale, including used copies). I really like her mysteries.
Marj
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Your comments surprised me too, Babi. She's still actively writing -- I'd like to read The Private Patient. My library has about 28 of them. Not too long ago I read Percival House (that may not be the title) about a publishing family, mystery. I'd seen it before on TV, but had never read the book. Really enjoyed it.
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haven't done a lot of reading these past few weeks..last wednesday 8 wonderful folks were here to help me move to my new and smaller apartment...I am still surrounded by boxes but they will get put away all in good time or my time or some time! i did finish True Detectives by Jonathan Kellerman. Almost put it down after about 50/60 pages..just wasn;t catching my interest. Alex Delaware and Milo Sturgis are on the periphery of the story...just a weird book and I dont think up to his usual stuff..but, I stuck it out and finished it...just got 2 new ones from the library inclucing a new Harlan Coben...in fact, I'm heading for the couch now to read a bit...
sleep well all...with a book or two/three, etc. on the nitestand
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An interesting book by P.D. James is her CHILDREN OF MEN. Her only foray into science fiction concerns a future world where the entire population has become infertile. Very interesting, thought provoking, and suspenseful. I liked it more than the movie made from it, although the movie with Clive Owen (The Croupier) is very good -- just different.
Have only read one book by Jonathan Kellerman, Peace. His GONE.
Supposed to have been a thriller, but I found if only boring. Like you, I finished it, hoping it would get better, but it didn't.
Marj
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Really, PEDLN? I thought she was deceased. I guess I started reading P. D.
James so long ago I just assumed she would be. (I just checked; she will be
89 this year.) And you and Marj are both right; she's still available in my
library, too. I simply didn't look since I associated her with books I read
40-50 years ago! MARJ, I think "Children of Men" was the only book of hers
that I've read and didn't like.
"..in good time or my time or some time"
I love that, PEACE. That seems to sum up the rivileges of retirement so perfectly.
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I like some of P.D. James. Not all however. I am about to start the newest James Lee Burke in Paper. It will be in Colorado however, but I will read it anyway..The Louisiana are the best ones.
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JoanK;
I had almost given up on Goldie Schulz mysteries until I listened to the audio book edition of
Main Corpse. It was still over the top, but the cabin you mention was not abandoned - but the
vacation cabin of people who are known to her, and she even knew how to find the key to the front door,and found their stash of extra fireplace wood. Maybe she'd catered some event there.
Scarey as he was, I also enjoyed meeting General Beauregard, the spooky retired military man
who helped them escape the bad guys. Granted it was over the top, but better than some of
hers, I thought.
isak
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I agree, but I had to laugh, non-the-less. Maybe if I liked cooking better, I'd be more sympathetic.
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I don't know how i missed The Main Corpse, i tho't i'd read all of hers. I do like Goldie Schultz, but as w/ many of these protagonists, including Jessica Fletcher, if she showed up at a dinner where i was? I'd leave! ;D ;D Altho her recipes sound scrumptious.
I'm reading Jill Churchill's The Class Menagerie, which is a reunion of class mates from 20 yrs before and, of course, one of them is murdered. It's entertaining. I also just started a Mary Higgins Clark book, Do You Want to Know a Secret..........jean
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This morning's Wall Street Weekend Journal had a short review by a mystery writer I'd not heard of before -- Linwood Barclay, who has apparently written others, as the Journal referred to his "latest thriller in a best-selling string of suburban tales." This one is Fear the Worst, about a divorced father searching for his 17-year-old daughter.
The most extreme events, which unfold with mounting tension and suspense, are all the more believble and scary for being rooted in human-sized characters and laced with humor.
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Maybe the reason he's not well known is that he's Canadian. http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/b/linwood-barclay/
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He sounds interesting.
I like the early Jill Churchills a lot. Her last one was unreadable: don't know if I'll buy any more.
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Just about to start reading Harlan Coben's book, Tell No One. Also, just discovered tonight that this book was made into a movie.
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Linwood Barclay does sound interesting, PEDLN. I like books about 'human-sized characters'.
I am now reading "North of Montana", which was recommended here. I'm
enjoying it, but find it difficult to imagine an FBI agent who would be so dumb
as to take on a case in which there is a very big conflict of interest. Everything
she finds out will be compromised and thrown out of court. DUH!
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I loved Tell No one and so did my husband. Neither of us knew about the movie though.
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(http://seniorlearn.org/bookclubs/graphics/mysterytitlejd.jpg)
| ____(http://seniorlearn.org/bookclubs/graphics/smokinggun.gif)____ | ____(http://seniorlearn.org/bookclubs/graphics/mysteryoutline.jpg)____ | ____(http://seniorlearn.org/bookclubs/graphics/mystbloodyknife1.jpg)____ |
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 (http://seniorlearn.org/forum/index.php?board=27.0)
Our Favorite Old Mystery Writers (http://www.seniornet.org/php/default.php?PageID=8402")
Fantastic Fiction (http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk)
Stop You're Killing Me (http://www.stopyourekillingme.com)
Discussion Leaders: BillH (Leyube@aol.com) and JoanK (joankraft13@yahoo.com)
If you like suspenseful thrillers, Frybabe, you'll love Coben's TELL NO ONE. The sinister people in the story are really scary -- especially Eric Wu! According to Interenet Movie Database, it was made into a 2006 French movie and got a good rating, 7.6/10.
Marj
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Just glancing at the Washington Post Book Section (Sunday) while visiting family here in DC. There's a blurb about Marcia Talley reading from her new Hannah Ives mystery -- Without a Grave. That's another unfamiliar name for me. Has anyone read her?
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I hadn't heard of her. But according to Fantastic Fiction, "Without a Grave" is the 8th in the Hannah Ives series.
http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/t/marcia-talley/ (http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/t/marcia-talley/)
Does she write about the Chesapeake Bay? That's a very interesting locale.
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Hmm. could Hannah Ives be the small series I have read about a women who has recovered from cancer and is trying to change her life.. She investigates mysteries.. It iwas good and I just flatout cannot remember the name. Definitely Eastern shore around Annapolis.
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The Hannah Ives series by Marcia Talley sounds really interesting. Thanks for the Fantastic Fiction URL about them. I'm definitely going to check my library for them.
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As a cancer survivor, that appeals to me, too. I may have read one once: it sounds familiar.
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I am staggering through the Swan book by James Lee Burke.. Too much Clete thus far. I dont like Clete. Too crazy by far.
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My local library doesn't have any Marcia Talley on the shelf. I'll see if the main branch does.
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Joan: Does your library have an online service? Salem Library is associated with about 15 or 20 other libraries in the area and I ca request a book from anyone of them. Makes it nice and easy when the books arrive I get an email and then I have 2 weeks to pick them up. Catalog is online.
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Still working on James Lee.. This book is much more pessimissic than others of his. I would guess that age is causing our author to look at the world with darker and darker eyes.
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STEPH, just reading your posts I can see I wouldn't stick with James Lee Burke.
I hope it has sufficient redeeming value to make it worth your time. Now that
I'm older, I refuse to waste my valuable remaining reading time on anything
I'm not enjoying. 8)
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In my area, there are city libraries, county libaries, state libraries. Since a branch of the Torrance City Library is a block from where I live, that's where I go. They are linked online to the main city library, which usually has everything. But not in this case.
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I'm now reading the second of the Jonathan Bass books, "Flesh and Bone".
MY thanks to whomever recommended this pair of authors.
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Ah, but you see James Lee Burke is an incredible writer. He makes you feel as if you were there. His characters are odd.. violent..and incredibly tender at the same time. I am always compelled to read him. I understand his dispair.. and his lead was in Viet Nam which makes his violence,dispair and grief easy to understand.
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Babi, I think you're talking about Jefferson Bass - great fun, aren't they.
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Nature (PBS) recently had a program dedicated to the Crime Scene Creatures who help in investigations of deaths. I was surprised at the extent of research such as the Bass' body farm all over the world. He was included in the specialists since he is the pioneer and has the most data. The premise of the show was to investigate a death with a pig carcase standing in for the victim. http://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/episodes/crime-scene-creatures/introduction/301/
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Okay, gang, I finished Tell No One. Excellent. The ending surprised me. Did anyone else feel the good Dr. let us down? Was he really much better than the bad guys in the end?
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Right, MARYZ, 'Jefferson'. It's annoying how often I open my mouth (so to speak) nowadays and the wrong word comes out. :-X
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I hate the know the word, but remember it two hours later syndrome.. Ah well. it is there, just inaccesible that moment.
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I like your way of putting it, Steph -- inaccesible
Thank goodness for Google. At least now one doesn't have to ponder and ponder for two days running. And if I can mentally list the books she wrote, just because I can't remember Willa Cather doesn't mean I'm totally over the hill. ::)
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I am reading John Connolly's "The Reapers". I can't totally decide about it. He is an Irishman now living in Ireland and the US. He certainly knows the US underbelly and his character studies are excellent. But there is no one I can identify with.
http://www.johnconnollybooks.com/
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PEDLIN: "And if I can mentally list the books she wrote, just because I can't remember Willa Cather doesn't mean I'm totally over the hill" ;D
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I prefer to think of it as being at the crest, or peak or summit, where the view is the best After all If 50 is the new 30 then 70 must be the new 40.
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Well, we can try to convince ourselves of that anyway, JACKIE. Meanwhile,
I think of my lapses in recall as 'I have it on file, but the drawer is stuck'.
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Ah, the on file makes good sense to me. I started a book that involved a weight watcher plot with someone killing them off, but the book was so badly written, I gave it up..
I did order a Marcia Talley, I had not read from the bookswap club.. I had read of hers, but this is one I had missed.
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For all you mystery fans, PBS Mystery Masterpiece Theatre is starting the
new Inspector Lewis series tonight. Remember Lewis from the Inspector
Morse series? That's him. Presenting Kenneth Whatley in "Old School Ties".
Check in with us here....http://seniorlearn.org/forum/index.php?topic=707.new#new .... watch the show, and join us in the a.m. to talk
about it.
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Finished Julia Spencer Fleming... "All Mortal Flesh" Somehow I had missed this one and had read the latest and was bewildered by what had happened. I do like her. She writes beautifully and her characters are quite true to life.
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I second BABI. We had a lot of fun discussing the Agatha Christie series. Now we can analize Insspector Lewis.
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It looks like it's not on my stations either. Sigh.
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Thanks, Babi, for the reminder. We checked last week but they were having a fund raiser.
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I'm up early this morning; been up for a couple of hours. (I'm sure none of
you wake up with aches that won't allow you to go back to sleep.) So..I'm
heading over to the Masterpiece Mystery Theatre discussion to get started on
the discussion of "Old School Ties". Some good acting, IMO.
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Just started on my second book by Lynn Murray.. I like the series.. I also decided to reread HP and the HalfBlood Prince, since that is the new movie..
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PBS was still having its fund raiser so the Mystery program wasn't on. (sigh)
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My PBS the same. Sigh, sigh.
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just finished Trust No One by Gregg Hurwitz..new author for me..very exciting in a Ludlum/Bourne implausible way! I liked it..liked his writing; descriptive passages are wonderful..he's written several so will have to check out another one...just getting into a Harlen Coben one..do like his writing a lot...started getting e-mails from a site called Stop You're Killing Me..don't know if this is where I heard about it...so many books there..I just want to hide the broom and the dust rag and readreadread :) :) :) well, actually I kinda hide the broom/dust rag any way...housekeeping is not my strongest suit, which is why I moved to a smaller apartment...still surrounded by boxes but, one box at a time and it will get done...will make lots of changes in this place and want it done "right"...had to go go to the Senior Center today and in the entryway they have free books/magazines so, of course ::) ::) I was forced to look at the books and, of course ::) ::) I picked up 3!..will put them in my "winter" pile for when I can't get to the library
off to post on Seniors&Friends...nite everyone..sleep well
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Yes, all of Harlin Coben is excellent. He is quite a good writer. I am reading a Faye Kellerman.. The Mercedes Coffin.. Not as interesting as some of her others.
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PEACE: I'm with you: both in preferring reading to housework, and in living with boxes once I moved from my house to an apartment. Friends warned me to unpack at once, or I would learn to live with them. They were right. two years later, there are still boxes around.
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;D Your friends are soooo right, JoanK. I moved about 2 years ago, but previous to that, I was over 10yrs in my home with boxes still unpacked. Oh well, it made it easier to pack for this last move. ::)
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ah, kindred unpacked boxes souls 8) :D ;D I did a few more things today but didn't over do...don't want to ruin my reputation! as for housework, well I have a little sign in my kitchen that says "Martha Stewart doesn't live here"!! saw something in one of her magazines that just blew me away which is when I bought the sign..she had a few pages on how to make your own marshmallows!! ::) ??? no comment necessary!! off to some supper and reading...they DO go together don't they, especially if you live alone as I do. take care all and sleep well and dream about the books there are out there to read
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I have the same Martha Stewart doesnt live here sign.. Mine came because she was making her own wallpaper one time.Whew...
However I hate boxes, so will admit that unpacking to me is a base line. We have moved so many times in our lives. My husband worked for a venture capitol company and they moved us wherever they needed someone to look at and evaluate. Now we are so used to moving that since retirement we have lived in three houses in the past 15 years.. Sort of fun.. not moving to another state, but just around the central florida area.
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(http://seniorlearn.org/bookclubs/graphics/mysterytitlejd.jpg)
| ____(http://seniorlearn.org/bookclubs/graphics/smokinggun.gif)____ | ____(http://seniorlearn.org/bookclubs/graphics/mysteryoutline.jpg)____ | ____(http://seniorlearn.org/bookclubs/graphics/mystbloodyknife1.jpg)____ |
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 (http://seniorlearn.org/forum/index.php?board=27.0)
Our Favorite Old Mystery Writers (http://www.seniornet.org/php/default.php?PageID=8402")
Fantastic Fiction (http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk)
Stop You're Killing Me (http://www.stopyourekillingme.com)
Discussion Leaders: BillH (Leyube@aol.com) and JoanK (joankraft13@yahoo.com)
One has to consider, of course, that if a box remains unpacked for two years,...or ten..., that there is really nothing in there one needs or wants.
Why bother with them? Offer them to the kids and then call Goodwill. 8)
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OH, NO, Babi, not my precious books! I still have my art supplies from High School on. Always thinking of getting back to my sketching, pen and ink and watercolors. Hasn't happened, but there is always the remote possibility. I figure when I retire (not going to happen now I am afraid) I will already have these things and won't have to spend precious money on them. Same goes for my knitting and such. Of course, if I didn't spend so much time playing on the computer, I would have some time for these. ;D
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Steph - at the other end of the spectrum, sort of, since 1963, we've lived in two houses. And I'm pretty sure there's at least one box that moved with us into the first place in 1963, and is still boxed up. It's old scrapbooks and stuff (I think) from high school and college. It's probably so moldy nothing would be distinguishable by now. And when we move from here (whenever that may be) to an apartment or to "the home", I'm thinking I'll pitch it without even looking into it. Nothing there I particularly care about, I'm sure. ::)
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There are still things I want and know are in there somewhere: the notebook that has my bird life list, a lot of my poetry books. But it's too daunting to try and find them.
Maybe I'll write a mystery where the vital clue is in a box that no one unpacked from moving.
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One friend gave up on Martha Stewart when she was showing you how to make an Easter basket and had you growing real grass in the bottom of the basket.
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Far be it for me to be accused of defending Martha Stewart but if you have ever tasted made from scratch marshmallows they are pure heaven. I remember when we used to be able to get Campfire Marshmallows; they were in little boxes with 6 each in two layers. When fresh they melted in yoour mouth but the could get hard as rocks if left too long. Whole Foods has some each year and I always stock up when I can get to Portland.
C J Box has a new one (Below Zero) about Joe Pickett, Game Marshall. Just as good as the last ones.
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My husband was in the military so we have moved a lot. I have had 6 driver's licenses. I think we have finally settled down. :)
Just finished a Daisy Dalrymple Mystery "Black Ship" by Carola Dunn. A cozy but very well written.
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Reading Nelson DeMille's Gate House. He's so funny. I started reading the prologue and thot "i've read this!" But fortunately i went back to it a week or so later because he was supposed to be having a dream which was a scene from The Gold Coast, which i had read and Gate House is a continuation of the characters and the story. I do like his humor.......................jean
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True Story.. The year I turned 50, I found a small box that I had never unpacked. I had thought it held some glasses, but it turned out to be a box from high school.. I opened it up.. was looking at the year book and a small senior memories book. You put in what you thought your life would be.. Not one of the the things I had said turned out to be accurate.. Now truthfully I loved my life and husband and our traveling, but for some reason the book threw me into a terrible depression. Why hadnt I do those things?? Could I do them now? Thats when, I bought a sign for my fridge.." Are you the person you want to be" and embarked on my no smoking, exercising, dieting and learning to be calmer crusade.. Cannot say the diet worked too well, but I have not smoked since, and have been walking now each morning for 40 minutes for 21 years and eat my fruits and veggies..and mostly am calmer. So dont open the box. Chuck it.
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Oh, of course, FRYBABE. As one eight years retired, I didn't think of that.
Not that I'm doing everything I thought I might be doing when I retired, but
I'm still doing my favorite things...including mostly reading.
We moved about so much during my lifetime, that I grew very skilled at
packing, and tended to shed detritus at every move.
Maybe I'll write a mystery where the vital clue is in a box that no one
unpacked from moving.
JOANK. ;D
The more I hear about Martha Stewart's 'projects', the happier I am that
I never paid her much attention. But then, she had to have something to
put into all those shows, didn't she?
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There is a new lady on the block. She is 50, a widow (more on that later) and she weighs 150 though she can run 10 miles a day. She runs her husband's business, sewing machines and supplies, and drives his killer jeep, the one he wouldn't let her touch when he was alive. After years and years of marital misery, she whacked him with a wrench and got herslef a new life. She has a part-time job, enforcer, wherein she whomps guys who can't keep their fists to themselves. Her reputation is spreading, she can hardly keep up with the demand for her services. Hard-boiled takes on a whole new meaning when Stella Hardesty gets in on the action. She stars in A Bad Day for Sorry and I love her. Sophie Littlefield has a deft touch, just slightly sly but not fall on the floor laughing. There is more than a little blood and gore but it is not at all gratuitous, trust me on this.
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I have just been reading a book by Mary Kay Andrews, an author I probably wouldn't have tried except for a review I read here. "Hissy Fit" is more of a romance novel than a mystery but I loved it. The main character throws a Hissy fit to end all hissy fits when she finds her fiance making out with the maid of honor at the wedding rehearsal dinner. The story has a lot about expensive furniture and Southern manners but I can tolerate that. I plan to read more by her.
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Great posts this morning. Good story, STEPH. Not sure that the motto shouldn't be "open that box" -- it seems to have done you a lot of good.
JACKIE: I loved your post. You had me going until I read that it was a book (although I did wonder how you knew how much she weighed-- no way I'm going to tell anybody). Got to get that book.
POPPY: if anyone should throw a hissy fit, she's the one!
Sometimes the details add to a story, sometimes they don't. Just DIDN'T finish a book: "A Job to Kill For" by Janice Kaplan. Her character can't do anything or go anywhere without telling you the brand of every piece of clothing or object in the room and how much it cost (usually in 5 or six figures). One night she can't sleep, and is tangled up in her sheets which she had specially ordered handmade by a Belgian seamstress. She says for all they help, she might as well have bought them at Walmart.
I cry for her, don't you. And who knew such a valuable life lesson. I'm going to throw all my specially ordered hand-made sheets away today!!
I put down the book when she was about to be killed by the muderer. I kept hoping he would succeed, and I knew I was going to be disappointed.
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Jpan: That's a bad sign when you start rooting for the murderer! You need a 12th stop progrlam: "Hello I'm Joan and I read bad novels. Please help me!" Handmade sheets? Puleeze. Walmart? Surely there is a meduim ground?
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Why would there need to be a medium ground? Wal-Mart sheets are perfectly sleepable. LOL As are J.C. Penney's, Kohl's, etc. Anyone who pays exorbitant prices (5 to 6 figures) for anything other than a car or house, is lacking in brain power, in my estimation. (I know 5 to 6 figures won't get you either, but you catch my drift hopefully!) I would root for her murderer too!
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NPR recommendtions for mysteries: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=111743357&sc=nl&cc=bn-20090820
Personally I buy my sheets at places like Bed Bath and Beyond; even eBay. And I always buy my towels at Costco.
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JACKIE: I think I definately need your 12 step program: "Hello I'm Joan and I read bad novels. Please help me!"
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Oh I have to look up Sophia Littlefield. The book sounds a delight.
I think the other book with all of the prices and brands was really a chic lit book. They love to do that.. Since I found Tuesday Mornings, I shop for sheets and towels there. High end stuff at discount prices.. My kind of place.
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Oh, JACKIE. When you started talking about a new lady on the block, I
thought you were referring to a newcomer to Seniorlearn! My eyebrows were
rising higher and higher before it finally dawned on me that you were talking
about a fictional character!
I put down the book when she was about to be killed by the murderer.
I kept hoping he would succeed, and I knew I was going to be disappointed
.
JOANK. ;D
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What's wrong with sheets and towels from Walmart?
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If you read Steif Larrson's The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo you will find that The Girl Who Played with Fire is its sequel. Sweden is a fascinating country and its sexual mores are almost incomprehensible to puritanical ol' me. That aside the character of Salander is compelling with her near photographic memory. For kicks she works on unsolvable mathematical equations (thankfully explained so that no mathematics are needed to understand them.) My life has been so filled with family that it seems I can only get away by reading so a person who lives such an isolated life as she is unforgettable.
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We've finished reading the newest Nevada Barr, Borderline. It's pretty good. We don't expect a whole lot - just like the character and Barr's writing. One thing that bothered John was a loose end left "untied", but nothing too critical. Just a good mystery read.
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What loose end? I heard that one on audio so my memory is different than for visual images. Just curious.
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What's the setting of Borderline?..............jean
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"What's wrong with sheets and towels from Walmart?"
Don't ask me --- I still have the sheets from when I got married 54 years ago, and Walmart didn't exist. ;)
But if they ever wear out, I'll certainly try Walmart.
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Jean, Borderline is set in Big Bend Nat'l Park - along the Rio Grande River.
Jackie, I'll e-mail you what we felt were the loose ends so we won't spoil it for the others.
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MARYZ: thanks, thanks!! It's great to see someone who is sensative to "spoilers".
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::) ::)
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Wow!, JOANK. What are those sheets made of? 54 years? Or are you pulling
our collective leg? :o
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Up until about a year ago, I still had sheets that were a wedding present 48 years ago. They finally ripped apart. Wonderfully soft percale sheets, that grew softer with each wash! I still have a Guest Towel from the same era.
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I have just one set of sheets from our wedding 51 years ago, but they are wonderful. Soft and comfortable.. As I think I said though I found Tuesday Mornings and they have wonderful linens.. Sheets used to be made of something called Egyptian Cotton, so did blouses. It was soft and pliable and I loved it.. Never see it anymore.
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Steph: google Egyptian cotton and this is only one of the many things you will find: http://ezinearticles.com/?Why-Egyptian-Cotton-Is-Still-King&id=114575
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Several years ago I read a series about a young Japanese woman living in Japan although her father (Japanese) and mother (white) lived in Calif. I'd like to check out the author and see if she has written any more books in the series. For the life of me, I cannot remember the author or the protagonist's name. It was a good mystery series. Does anyone here know?
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FlaJean: Is this she? http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/m/sujata-massey/ I've read several and they are exciting in their differentness.
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FlaJean: I'm sure that's it: Sujata Massey. She has written a number of books: each one includes information about some aspect of Japanese culture: furniture, haiku, flower arranging, kimono, anime etc.. They vary a lot in quality, but I read them fot that.
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The second episode in the Masterpiece Mystery Theatre series on 'Inspector
Lewis' will be airing on PBS tonight. Our posters really liked the first episode;
it looks like they have a winner in this series.
Do try and watch PBS tonight and let us know what you think. I'm
confident you'll enjoy it. (Sgt. Hathaway is good-looking, too, in the finest
English tradition. ;) )
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I have read all of the Massey books. Fascinating contrasts there. Very good series.
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Thanks so much! Yes, that is the series and author I was looking for. I was sure you mystery lovers could help me.
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Steig Larsson's Girl books (Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Girl who Played with Fire) have lead us partway through the life of an amaazing girl, Lisabeth Salander. She is a loner, victim of unnamed horrors in her early teens, distrustful, tiny but remorseless. One can't help feeling some of her pain as she struggles with life's barricades. There is a third book and I'm eager to read it but my library doesn't have it (sob, it is due out in October). Larsson must have had many stories left to tell but he died tragically in his early 40s just after he sent the three manuscripts to his publisher. Don't even start unless you are prepared to be emotionally pummeled.
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And that third one has a working title, The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest. Which I guess may or may not be the final one. Jackie, he didn’t send all three manuscripts at one time, did he? Just glanced at a review that stated he had the trilogy planned out well. Whatever, it’s certainly a series that is gaining a lot of popularity. It’s sad that Larsson isn’t here to see that.
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(http://seniorlearn.org/bookclubs/graphics/mysterytitlejd.jpg)
| ____(http://seniorlearn.org/bookclubs/graphics/smokinggun.gif)____ | ____(http://seniorlearn.org/bookclubs/graphics/mysteryoutline.jpg)____ | ____(http://seniorlearn.org/bookclubs/graphics/mystbloodyknife1.jpg)____ |
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 (http://seniorlearn.org/forum/index.php?board=27.0)
Our Favorite Old Mystery Writers (http://www.seniornet.org/php/default.php?PageID=8402")
Fantastic Fiction (http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk)
Stop You're Killing Me (http://www.stopyourekillingme.com)
Discussion Leaders: BillH (Leyube@aol.com) and JoanK (joankraft13@yahoo.com)
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I read somewhere that he turned in all three at once, but h ad planned possibly 10 books on the subject.
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From the quality of the plots in the first two I can believe the ten number.
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love Nelson DeMille but finally gave up on The Gate House...just couldn' wade thru it tho I certainly tried
just finished Long Lost by Harlan Coben..didnt like, liked it, didn;t like it, liked it..not sure! don't think it's one of his best and I'm a fan of his..just seemed so predictible in places tho must admit the ending left a lot to think about
I don;t have lots of sheets but some were purchased at thrift shops and many pillow cases came from yard sales...I'm in awe of those with sheets 40-50 years old...guess it proves the old axiom that they don't make things like they used to..of course I remember ironing sheets and pillow cases..first things mom taught me how to iron..along with the handkerchiefs...and I still use hankies, always have one in my pocket and one in my purse
nite eveyone..off to bed, to read first, of course..sleep well
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I have been reading Harry Potter ( the last one) since I discovered I had forgotten how some things had happened. I was quizzed by my grandson ( who is almost 8) and needed to brush up for him
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on the CNN website they listed 5 books that President Obama wanted read while on vacation; imagine my surprise when one of them was a book I am now reading...The Way Home by George Pelecanos...I am almost done and am loving it...builds very slowly and takes you in from the beginning..I'm almost done and must admit I am turning pages very quickly as I don't want the outcome to be what I'm afraid it might be..nice to know that the President has the same taste in books as me :D ;D nite everyone..sleep well
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Peace42: Great minds . . . ;)
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Just finished the Memory Keepers Daughter.. Did not like it at all. I was having children in that era and I will be darned if anyone I knew simply dumped a Down syndrome baby.. I have two friends with Downs Syndrom children born in the 60's.. I only ever knew two children who had to be in a hospital situation. One with her daughter who was born the same month as my older son.. Her daughter became extremely violent at age 5 and started attacking her siblings, breaking windows.. trying to strangle animals and had to be put somewhere safe. It almost killed Carol to do it, but she had four other children and was afraid for them. Another friend had a baby boy who is still alive today. He has never even raised his head.. at 48.. Sad.. She visits each week, but he never has recognized anyone ever.
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Naturally, PEACE, I had to go look up Obama's vacation book list once you
mentioned it. The only one I've read is David McCullough's biography of John
Adams...good book. "Plainsong", though, sounds interesting.
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I had to put Memory Keeper's Daughter down unfinished; I guess I identify too much with the characters and I couldn't accept some of the actions described.
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finished The Way Home by George Pelecanos...liked it a lot...just good writing and a great story...think the President will like it also...kinda fun knowing I'm reading the same book as the President of the United States 8) went to the library and took out two more to read...will start one tonite when I go to bed..hopefully earlier than last nite...was 5:00 a.m. before i got to sleep and then was up at 8:30...I'm a nite person but that was a but much for even me :P ::) nite everyone and sleep well...
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Started one of those wild adventures last night.. Written by a first time author.. Something to do with the Seventh Son and serial killers.. Hmm.. I know, but the beginning is quite interesting.
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Those of us watching the Inspector Lewis mystery series on PBS are enjoying it a lot. There's another one tonight, featuring murder in the Bodleian Library, Oxford's 17th century library. We're hoping for a lot of local color.
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Peace - what is The Way Home about?......................jean
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Found a new David Liss; The Ethical Assassin is modern day and may become a series. Stay tuned.
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What an interesting title.. An assassin and ethical at the same time.. Now that has to be a odd place to be.
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It has long been my impression that an 'ethical' assassin is one that draws the
line somewhere. Won't take a job that involves children and woman, for example.
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Hi everyone. I want to let you know about THE MYSTERY OF EDWIN DROOD discussion that will be starting up tomorrow. There is divided opinion whether this last (unfinished) novel of Dickens is a true mystery/whodunit or a psychological study of a sinister mind. Read it with us (it's available on the Internet) and help us decide what happens since Dickens died when he had only half-completed this last novel.
You'll also prepare yourself for the treat of meeting author Matthew Pearl in the discussion in October of his LAST DICKENS, which centers on Dickens' writing his last novel and what happens to it. Matthew Pearl researched Dickens and his final work in great detail and will be a great resource for us.
I hope to see you in our discussion at http://seniorlearn.org/forum/index.php?topic=693.0
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This is an interesting discussion about the ethics of an assassin. I saw a short video a while ago of an interview with the author Patricia Highsmith who wrote The Talented Mr. Ripley and related novels. She said something about Ripley having ethics about certain kinds of things even though he murdered people. I tried to look for it but can't find it. If I run across it, I'll share it here.
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Peace - you mentioned a while back that you gave up on The Gate House.....i'm about half-way thru and i'm almost w/ you................I think he's as obsessed w/ the mafia as the protagonist, I'm feedup w/ the descriptions of EVERYTHING, if something doesn't happen soon, it's back to the library for that book. .......................
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Too bad there's no method for collecting reviews of books by library patrons. Especially those that are returned unfinished.
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That's a very good idea, Jackie. Libraries are usually looking for ways to be of greater service and some want to entice people to use their websites. A book reviews section would be helpful.
I guess the Library Thing web site has similar features. http://www.librarything.com/
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Not sure if this is what you mean, Jackie, but my library has a link on their website by each book that says "post a review," and I do just that often. I also like to read the reviews from others.
Marj
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That's good news, Marj!
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I love the idea of the library posting reviews of the books. Would really help to know sometimes. I just finished a first book that is neat, but somewhat scattered. Glenn Cooper... "Secret of the Seventh Son. It is quite different. A murder mystery that is not quite what you think it is.. Fun.
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Talk about slow, just now i found that my library allows patrons to rate the selections from one to 5 stars. I don't know what the result of rating the books I've read/not read is, I didn't see a field for ratings in my history.
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I am reading "Ties that Bind" by Phillip Margolin. It is quite good but I am not sure how it ends yet. "A master of plotting and suspense, Margolin does it again in "Ties that Bind"". It set in Oregon with a copyright date of 2003. This is important to me because technology has changed so much and that affects how the main characters communicate in a novel...whether they have cell phones and GPS, for instance.
I buy used books from Amazon.com. They have a mechanism for feedback and I sometimes write reviews for them.
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Hi, Connie. It's good to see you here. I haven't read any of Phillip Margolin's books but I'd probably enjoy them. Do you know if they are similar to Robert Ludlum's, which also include government secrets? I got hooked on Ludlum's books after reading the Bourne Identity. I thought the character of Jason Bourne, who had a trauma that caused him to lose his memory (but not all of his myriad skills) was fascinating.
I love science fiction and much of that, especially if set in the future, has lots of cool technology. I don't know that I've paid attention to whether other types of books make use of communication technologies such as cell phones, etc. That's an interesting thread.
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O.K. - I give up on The Gate House................I don't care if the mafia don kills the protagonist's wife, i think that's my cue to give it up!...................read am Amanda Cross and a Margaret Truman ..........and am in the middle of a Tamar Myers, being from south central Pa and having lived among the Amish makes her books interesting to me................all were entertaining..................jean
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JACKIE, maybe if we handed such books to a librarian instead of dropping
them in the box, with a 'thumbs down' gesture, we could get the message
across.
I'm going to check my library link to see if they have a 'review'
section. I do like that idea.
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how do I sum up The Way Home by George Pellecanos? family drifting apart because of actions of a "wayward" son; the son makes a discovery while working on a job for his father and this discovery takes him and others on a journey that could not have been predicted...much family dynamics at work here...I really did like this one
love the idea of a review of books thru the library...will have to go on our library's website to see if there is a place for this...will also talk to the folks at the library...great idea
just finished House Secrets by Mike Lawson, a political thriller...at first wasn't liking it but kinda got into it and near the end was turning pages fast! however, if you read this one DO NOT...I repeat, DO NOT look at or read the last page as it will spoil everything...it might be a bit hokey but it sure made me stop and think, roll my eyes and smile a bit...have I piqued your interest?!!!
Glad to hear I wasn't the only one who gave up on The Gate House by Nelson DeMille...we can only hope that his next one will be as good as his many other ones
nite everyone...fall asleep reading a book
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Just really starting on Silk, which is a Dick Francis and son event.. A little slower than usual, but I am sure it will pick up. My husband adores Philip Margolin. I read one or two, but am not that crazy for him
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The Actress by Elizabeth Simms features a new series lead. Rita Farmer is hanging on by her fingernails in the Hollywood acting scene. Her ex-husband is an abuser and she fears for her son when he's with his dad. Getting down to pawning the last valuable she owns provides her with the necessary food for a few more days. Life is grim but she can lose herself and her fears for the future in the children's story hour she conducts at the LA library. It is there that she meets a man who will change her life forever, putting her and her son through all kinds of hell. This makes the story sound grim but it isn't. Rita is really special and Simms can create characters with complexity and life that keep you reading even when all seems lost. I've already reserved The Extra, the sequel.
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Hmm. I am not good about mortal danger from strangers type of books.. Dont read Mary Higgins Clark because that is her overriding theme.
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A lot of interesting reading here. Just finished Anne Perry's "Execution Dock", and realized I'd missed the book before-- on which some of the plot was based. Oh, well.
Quick note: if you quote a book review, please give a link or reference to where you got it. We don't want to get in trouble here.
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JoanK: That was purely Jackie's review, no one else's.
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I am almost half done with Silks by Dick Francis and his son.. But I must confess that for the first time in his books, I am not compelled to finish it. It is well written, but I just dont like the premise. Darn. One of my favorite writers.
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I've always liked Dick Francis, and still do, but there is no question the books
he writes with his son's assistance are not quite as enjoyable as those he wrote with his wife.
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Dick Francis' books are ones that I can read more than once. So I'll stick with the old ones, thanks. Won't have to waste my time, Steph, thanks to you. "So many books so little time."
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The first few sentences of this review could very well have written by me. The Baker Street Letters http://popculturenerd.wordpress.com/2009/07/06/review-michael-robertsons-the-baker-street-letters/
is time well spent, IMHO. Hope there are more books where this one came from.
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(http://seniorlearn.org/bookclubs/graphics/mysterytitlejd.jpg)
| ____(http://seniorlearn.org/bookclubs/graphics/smokinggun.gif)____ | ____(http://seniorlearn.org/bookclubs/graphics/mysteryoutline.jpg)____ | ____(http://seniorlearn.org/bookclubs/graphics/mystbloodyknife1.jpg)____ |
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 (http://seniorlearn.org/forum/index.php?board=27.0)
Our Favorite Old Mystery Writers (http://www.seniornet.org/php/default.php?PageID=8402")
Fantastic Fiction (http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk)
Stop You're Killing Me (http://www.stopyourekillingme.com)
Discussion Leaders: BillH (Leyube@aol.com) and JoanK (joankraft13@yahoo.com)
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Thanks very much, Jackie, for the link to the review of The Baker Street Letters. It sounds delightful!!
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I do hope you are all watching the new Mystery Masterpiece series, "Inspector
Lewis". Our posters have been giving these show 5 stars! The actors, the
writing, the scenery....all are simply great.
Airing Sunday nights, tomorrows episode is "Murder to Die For". You
can see what it's about...and admire that handsome fellow in the picture..
here: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/lewis/musictodiefor.html
Come join us and tell us what you think about this winner.
http://seniorlearn.org/forum/index.php?topic=707.new#new
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Oh me, I will look for Michael Robertson. The review sounds like it would really be fun.
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JACKIE: sorry: I should have recognized your brilliant prose. Good idea, gives us more of an idea what to expect.
I found myself in Barnes and Noble yesterday without the list of books to try from you all. I would up with a new (to me -- I see it came out in 2006: I'm really behind) Robin Paige "Death on the Lizard". Many of you who read Susan Whittig Albert know that "Robin Paige" is really Albert and her husband.
All of theirs include at least one historical character from the period, and this one features Marconi and the development of wireless. I'm a (very distant) relative of Samuel Morse who developed the telegraph and Morse code: I never thought about how much of an advance wireless represented, but now I think I'm going to find out all about it. Wireless was the internet of the early 1900s, says the blurb.
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There was a fascinating book about Marconi I read a few years ago. http://www.bookreporter.com/reviews2/1400080665.asp
He had to struggle to preserve his intellectual property, an unknown concept in those days.
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I love Alberts herb books, but not the Robin Paige line for some reason.
I have an older P.D. James that I am using as my go to sleep book.. The one that takes place on the coast line in an abbey that trains young priests.. Slow thus far.
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JOANK, I learned about Robin Page just recently, reading another of
Albert's Beatrix Potter series. I am loving them; the combination of
Potter whimsy, the English lake country and the small town of Sawrey,
and a mystery. All this with the added filip that much of the background,
and some of the characters...and animals..were real.
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P.D. James picked up.. Death in Holy Orders is the title ( I think) and it is getting better and better. This is the book where he meets
Emma..
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I'm copying this "reply" that i made to "the Library" dicussion..............i hope it makes sense to you here.........................
I'm in a cozy mystery niche. I just read Lethal Legacy by Linda Fainstein - which i don't know if it fits the category of c.m., I'm totally confused by the way libraries and stores categorize books these days I often have to check the catlogue to see if a book is in the fiction or the mystery section.
The book is very interesting. A rare books/document researcher is murdered. It gets very complicated for the detectives and the prosecutor - who is the protagonist Alexander Cooper. In the process of investigating the murder they come upon a NYC apartment where lives the brother of a thief and forger. The detective calls in a summons for help saying something like "It's a Collyer brothers situation." ......... He has to explain to the prosecutor what that means - a house filled to the brim w/ stacks and stacks of things, which can be dangerous....................I read this part of the book just 2 days ago and here you are talking about "the brothers" on SL! ( see The Library discussion) I liked the book, altho in the middle of it Fairstein gets a bit bogged down in rare books and maps. She obviously did a lot of research at NYC public library - she does a lot of description of the institution. I must go look for pictures of the interior. I had recently seen a "Whose Wedding is it Anyway" episode where the couple got married in the NYCPL. Fairstein is a good storyteller. I'll definitely read more of hers.
I've just finished Between a Wok and a Hard Place by Tarar Myers - it was o.k., but she spent more time describing people, places and things than on the story. She also seemed to want to get in every stereotype about the Amish and Mennonites. It was a little over the top at times.
I've also just finished Arkansas Traveler by Earlene Fowler. Enjoyed it very much. We're an inter-racial family - many whites, blacks and Hispanics - and this is a story about the protagonist -Benni, who is white, married to an Hispanic chief of police in a small Calif town, returning to her small town in Ark with her girlhood friend, who is Hispanic and who is going to marry Benni's cousin. Another of Benni's childhood friends, a black woman, is running for mayor against a man who has been mayor for a while and has tight control on the police and other institutions in town. His son is involved w/ a group of young white supremecists. ............................is that complicated enough for you? ......................Joan and Pat, you may enjoy the banter between two older sister-aunts of Benni, who just compete w/ each other about everything, especially their cooking. Oh gosh, these books about food and w/ recipes in them are killing me!!! They all sound soooo good and make sooo hungry. .............. I like Fowler's writing, she's also a good-storyteller. The story moves along and she writes good dialogue.
I've just started one of J.D. Robb's books. I like her Eve Dallas stories, but i have to take a break from them every once in while. I haven't read one for months. This one is Conspiracy in Death and so far she's not over doing the gore or the sex. I'm liking it very much.
All four of these books are parts of a series about the protagonists and i think i heard about each of the authors here on SL...........................jean
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Benni Harper is an interesting character.. Fowler also does a series on flowers??
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"Fowler also does a series on flowers??" She does? I think I've read all of her quilting series, but didn't know she had another one. I really like the quilts as a motif: I've never quilted, but tremendously admire those who do.
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I like Fowler's Benni Harper series, but I think her best writing is a stand-alone book called "The Saddlemaker's Wife". I was hoping she would make a series from it. She has started a new series about a widow who owns a diner (I think) but it isn't as interesting as the Benni Harper series.
Thinking of stand-alone books by authors who write series--Carolyn Hart has a wonderful book "Letter from Home". It was published around 2003. I've read it twice and it is, in my opinion, her very best book.
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Flajean: The Saddlemaker's Wife was one book I really hated to finish. Wish she would hake it into a series.
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I must look up Saddlemakers wife.. I have heard so many nice things about it.. Will also look for the Hart book. I gave up on her booksellers series. Just too ooey...gooey for me.
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just finished Die for You by Lisa Unger - think I've read one of hers before but can't remember ::) did really like this one...writing flowed easily across the pages and I also learned a bit about the mind-set/writing process as the main character is a writer of fiction..how convenient, right?!! of course, some of the stuff seems implausible and formulaic (sp?!) but it works..and there is always a friend or two who has access to stuff that you and I wouldn't know a thing about..but it works...would definitely read another...well, off to the library to get a couple more books..hard to stop at two but I"ll restrain myself...have been checking out books from the "new book" section which has been fun..reading stuff by folks I've not read before and I always enjoy that...happy reading everyone
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Our NJ PBS station has a show on NJ Notables, a half hour talk w/ someone from NJ. Yesterday they talked w/ Carol Higgins Clark, her mother Mary Higgins Clark has two homes in NJ, one in SAddle River and one at the shore in Spring Lake - she also has a home in Cape Cod - writing is obviously profitable
We talked at one point, maybe on SN, about how many books MHC wrote, Carol said they both have contracts to write one a year, plus she and MHC have written a Christmas book the last two years. I've enjoyed CHC's series on Reagan (somebody - i've forgotten her last name, nice Irish girl ;) ). Reilly! How could i remember it was Irish and forget that it was Reilly?
CHC's website http://www.carolhigginsclark.com/
MHC"s books http://bestsellers.about.com/od/bookfilmlistsbyauthor/a/higgins_clark_b.htm
She said that the last Christmas book has been optioned for a movie and will be out for C-mas 2010. ........I wonder what happened to a movie of the Evanovich Plum series? Five or six yrs ago Evanovich said that she had an option for a movie and had on her website requests for who her fans tho't should play the various characters and that's the last I heard of it. I immediately tho't of Sandra Bullock to be SP. ............ hope it hasn't fallen thru..........altho it would be a great tv series. ....... jean
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I just read Mary Higgins Clark's Wikipedia biography - she's 82 yrs old! And she's contracted to write books for 3 more years, isn't that great? Her bio is very interesting. It's so detailed it must have been written by a family member. The bio says she's written 24 books by 2007 but there are 45 on the link i gave in the previous post.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Higgins_Clark
jean
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Stephanie Plum.. There is an actress who does mostly Brooklyn type roles..that would be perfect. Now if my brain just worked a bit more, I could even tell you her name..Hmm. it will come with time.
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Steph - keep thinking, it will come...............we've all been there so we know - it will come. ;) ................jean
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Is it the one who plays the Nanny on TV? Fran somebody?
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If it is Fran Drescher, nobody would go to see the movie. She's annoying.
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Hi all - i have been terribly remiss about checking this site. i think of you all and say 'i must get back to it'.
i have found SparkPeople.com - it has many features and the main feature is about fitness, health, keeping track of your weight loss etc. very good site. i signed up in the group 'keeping healthy after 50.' not interested in losing weight etc.
another group is the Red Hatter group and since i belong to a local Red Hatter of course i had to join it. i get so involved in so many activities on the RH that it takes a lot of time.
tonite, i decided to forgo and join you all. hope you forgive me.
i have been reading some great mysteries and will try to make a list of my favorites for you. many you list i have also read.
right now i am finishing Flashpoint by Linda Barnes. read a number of hers and enjoy them.
from now on, i will go on my PC during the day as well as in the PM and this way i can again join all that i missed.
JOHanz4 one of the former seniornet group
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Jean, I've really liked all the Linda Fairstein books that I've read. You really learn a lot about places in New York. And Fairstein herself was/is a NY prosecutor. I don't remember titles but one focused on the Museum of Natural History, and another had a lot of it set at the Botanical Gardens. I also like Alex Cooper's cop friend and the betting on the Jeopardy questions.
Steph, I think Death in Holy Orders (PD James) has been on PBS Mystery a couple of times. The setting is a seminary? and a young seminarian drowns?
Johan, Linda Barnes? Are her books set in Boston? I haven't read any of hers for a long time, but I remember I liked them. Flashpoint would be a new title for me.
I've just finished The Silver Needle Murder by Laura Childs, a very cozy cozy. Almost too much so. But the protagonist runs a tea shop and it's set in Charleston, SC, so you learn a lot about tea and Charleston and there's a bunch of yummy recipes at the end. A fun read, but one will do for a while.
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Pedlin, Yes, a seminarian in the book dies in a sand fall from a cliff, but drowning would probably work on tv..Interesting twists in the book and of course he meets Emma, who is later featured as his love.. at least on his side.
I love Lindas books since she loves research and you learn some interesting things about NYC..
Ugh.. Not Fran Drescher, the voice drives me nuts..and the whine. Sigh..
No, this actress is older now. She always does Brooklyn, New York type accents and pretty much always plays in your face sort of characters. I can see her plain as day, but name....nada..
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JOHANZ: WELCOME. Of course I remember you from the old site. Come in whenever you want: we're always here.
I like Linda Barnes a lot --at least her Carlotta Carlyle books. She has another series with a man detectice (can't remember his name) that I didn't like.
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I checked Barnes in Fantastic Fiction. Her other detective is Michael Spraggue. Apparently, others didn't like him either. She hasn't written a book about him since 1984. But it says she has a paperback Carlyle out this August: "Lie Down with the Devil."
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i am having trouble trying to send a reply. this is the 3rd attempt.
yes Pedlin Linda Barnes books are set in Boston.
will write again - Donna Andrews new series featuring Turing Hopper is different and interesting try it.
will close evidently it doesn't like long post.
JOhanz
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How about Susan Wittig Albert? love her China Bayles series all about herbs. i am learning lots about herbs.
her newslerter is very interesting - much info. go on her site and sign up for it - i know you will love it. much info. she is also on Facebook and Twitter. her input is about her daily activities and you will find it interesting. try it.
JOHANZ
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I'm sorry you are having trouble. Maybe they can help at the questions and problems site:
http://seniorlearn.org/forum/index.php?topic=29.160 (http://seniorlearn.org/forum/index.php?topic=29.160)
Yes, having a computer as a detective is very different for Donna Andrews. I read the first one with Turing Hopper; haven't read others but mean to. I just finished her "The Penguin Who knew too Much," As wacky as ever. this time, Andrews isn't satisfied with featuring one kind of animal: a whole zoo gets dumped in the detective's back yard!
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Just finished J.D. Robb's Conspiracy in Death. It was pretty good. It was about 9th in her series of 24 or so of Eve Dallas. I've read later ones that got much gorier and sexier. In this one she is married to Roarke, but has not gone back to Dallas to find her past yet. The banter between she and Roarke was delightful and they worked closely on a couple cases.
I like some of the technology that she invents for 2050, but i don't think she's any where close to the progress technology will have been made by that time. In this book she talked about medical progress, which was interesting, but even there, i'm not sure she was inventive enough. It was published in 1999. In the past decade we've already progressed to the point where you can be pretty sure that by 2050, we will be way beyond what she imagined in 1999. She needs to talk to some futurists .......................... I do like the auto-chef - ohhhh to just program some appliance w/ what ever you want to eat and have it appear in a few minutes just sounds like paradise to me! .........................jean
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Welcome, Johanz. It's so good to see you here and learn what you're reading.
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I enjoy Albert's 'Beatrix Potter' series, too. Such an enjoyable mix of
whimsy, genuine biography, mystery, period manners and English lake country
setting.
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I didnt like Turing Hopper from Donna Andrews. Love the other series.. Linda Barnes is wonderful about Boston. Just like Robert Parker, you can use her as a roadmap to get all sorts of places in Boston..
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I'm intrigued by the routes that Barnes has her cabby detective take to avoid traffic. Does anyone know Boston well enough to know if they would work?
Growing up in Washington D.C., you could always tell the natives from the newcomers because natives never took the most straightforward route anywhere.
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I loved the Turing books, is there a new one out, really?
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According to Fantastic Fiction, there are four Turing Harper books. The last one, "Delete All Suspects" was published in 2005.
On the other hand, she's popping with the bird (Meg Lanslow) series. A new paperback ("Six Geese Aslaying") and a new hardback(something about swans) are coming out this year. I haven't seen the "Geese" in the stores yet, have you? I'll have to look in Amazon.
http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/a/donna-andrews/ (http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/a/donna-andrews/)
Maybe she's abandoned Turing Harper. I guess it's not as popular as the other.
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Some of you who were SeniorNetters may remember Shirley Rousseau Murphy's series about Joe Grey and his feline companions who live in the fictional town of Molena Bay, CA, which reminds me very much of Carmel. These are fantasies since Joe is a domestic shorthair cat who talks and reads. The cast is peopled and animaled with two- and four- footed friends. Lots of lovely local color. You probably should be a cat lover since the action centers on the cats. Anyway, there is a new one; Cat Playing Cupid is due out in PB in December and in October and new HC, Cat Striking Back.
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Just finished Donna Leon's latest book "A Sea of Troubles" (A Commissario Guido Brunetti mystery). It was more intense and exciting than her previous stories. Brunetti's wife is very insightful. When Brunetti says "I don't know her that well". She comments that we never know real people the way we know people in the books we read. I believe I agree after thinking about it. These characters can't hide their feelings or thoughts from the reader the way we often do in real life.
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FlaJean, have you read "About Face" by Leon? Good one!
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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 (http://seniorlearn.org/forum/index.php?board=27.0)
Our Favorite Old Mystery Writers (http://www.seniornet.org/php/default.php?PageID=8402")
Fantastic Fiction (http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk)
Stop You're Killing Me (http://www.stopyourekillingme.com)
Discussion Leaders: BillH (Leyube@aol.com) and JoanK (joankraft13@yahoo.com)
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I spent 10 years just north of Boston in Bedford, Ma.. Yes, the cabs routes are quite clear and work.. Great fun to explore the differeent places that Carlotta goes.
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YEs, I've read all of Leon's books!
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I hav e never been able to finish a Donna Leon book. Just does not grab me. Everyone loves them.. sigh.
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I'll line up on your side, STEPH. I can't really stir up any enthusiasm about Bruno.
I'm currently reading "Language of the Bees", one of the Mary Russell/Sherlock Holmes series. It is serving as an alternate, relaxing change
of pace while reading the non-fiction "The Woman Who Defied Kings".
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Different strokes for different folks. I really enjoy Donna Leon's books. Still have lots of hers left to read.
Now I'm reading my first Laura Lippman, for my f2f group -- The Power of Three -- about a shooting at a high school. I'm assuming Lippman's works are stand alones -- not a series? This is one that is hard to put down. It's kind of trendy, lots of references to popular culture, but the author is right on in many of her assessments -- shown in small asides of both people and things. An example, one character, daughter of a farmer, thinks about the farming families she knows and realizes that not one of them does only farming for a living. This really has nothing to do with the focus of the story, but is just an example of background that Lippman includes.
Judy Laird -- I'm glad to see you here. How is life at Fairwinds treating you?
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Yes, I love Shirley Rousseau Murphy books also. always check for new ones. my library has an odd way of stocking new books. unless the title says somewhere a mystery, they stock them in novels or such. the section labeled mysteries contain older books but i check them anyway. the large print section i check out first. easy on the eyes.
i read some other books on talking cats, can't remember the author. if i come across it i will post it.
i find it easier to just check out the shelves rather than look for a certain author. i never could find some of the authors we listed on the old seniornet so now i don't waste time, check everything.
tomorrow i go to the library and hope for the best.
has anyone read A. C. McKevett books. i enjoy them mostly about baking with recipes. i guess you call them the cozy type but i find them enjoyable. relaxing.
JO
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ove the weekend, i wondered now that we hav e a new site, is there any thought to another trip. i could not make the one in NYC but if another is planned, i would attend.
perhaps another location? what are your thoughts.?
JOhanz ??? :)
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Steph - was the actress you were thinking of who plays Brooklyn characters Marisa Tomei? .......something made me think of her today and i tho't maybe she was the person you were thinking of................jean
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Yes,,, Marisa is the one. She is so perfect for a Jersey girl..
Laura Lippman.. writes two different types. She has stand alones and then she does a series on Tess ( last name slips me).She was once a reporter for the paper, but now does p.i. work. They are quite different. I like both, but am not overfond of Tess's boyfriends. The series should be read in order.
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I like Laura Lippman, too. Especially the Tess Moynahan books. Fantastic fiction doesn't list a new one coming out, only a republishing of an old one.
I agree they should be read in oprder if possible. FF gives the order below:
http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/l/laura-lippman/ (http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/l/laura-lippman/)
The first one is "Baltimore Blues". Her books are full of Baltimore: she obviously has a deep love for the city and the Maryland countryside. Although I lived in Maryland for years, I rarely visited Baltimore. But it definately has something. Everyone I ever met who was from there loved it. And every Baltimore writer that I know of, celebrates the city in his writing. (I don't know about Edgar Allen Poe; Baltimore claims him because he died and is buried there, but he wasn't really a Baltimore writer. But Matthew Pearl's detective story about Poe is a brilliant picture of Baltimore before the Civil War).
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Time to move to a new discussion area....
See you there!!
http://seniorlearn.org/forum/index.php?topic=807.msg37006#msg37006