Author Topic: Mystery Corner ~ 2 (Read 897549 times)

Babi · « **Reply #2160 on:** April 15, 2011, 08:59:49 AM »

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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!

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Discussion Leaders: BillH and JoanK

Thanks for the 'noodging' story, JOANK.

Ah, of course. I hadn't thought of that, STEPH, but of course there needed to be an
account in place for anything coming in your husband's name. Odd, that one isn't 'single'
until the next year. But the world of finance has always been a deep mystery to me.

jeriron · « **Reply #2161 on:** April 15, 2011, 09:42:39 AM »

I was told the same thing. It takes awhile before everyone gets notified and they do what they have to do to change they're addresses. So I opened new acct in my name only but have kept the old ones for now.

MaryPage · « **Reply #2162 on:** April 15, 2011, 12:55:02 PM »

In the year in which a spouse dies, you are still a married couple as far as the IRS and your state Comptroller of the Treasury are concerned. Ergo, you may file jointly. My husband died in January 2006. When I filed my income tax returns for the calendar year 2006 in April of 2007, I filed married filing jointly. Next to his name I wrote in: DECEASED.

I gather that had we, for some reason such as being filthy rich (ha!), been in the habit of filing separate returns, his would have been filed as ESTATE OF JOHN DOE (not his name, obviously).

So I did not change our joint account with the bank to just my name until after those refunds came in. I TOLD the bank right from the git go that he was dead, but did NOT change the accounts. After the refunds and when I was, paperwork wise, all single, I did the paperwork removing his name.

FlaJean · « **Reply #2163 on:** April 15, 2011, 01:08:55 PM »

JoanK, I loved that Yiddish story.

rosemarykaye · « **Reply #2164 on:** April 15, 2011, 01:14:47 PM »

This is very different from the UK. As soon as the bank sees a death certificate, the person's accounts are immediately frozen and no transactions can take place on them until the executors have obtained probate/confirmation, which gives them the authority to close the accounts and/or transfer other investments, eg shares, to the beneficiaries.

If a bank account has been in joint names, the bank will immediately put it in the sole name of the survivor only. This is a real nuisance in situations where the deceased person has actually left his/her share of the account to someone else, as you then have to somehow get the money back. It was common until recently for wealthy people to leave the equivalent of the inheritance tax "nil rate band" directly to their children, so as not to waste that tax free allowance. (Everything that passes to a spouse or a charity is exempt from inheritance tax anyway).

Rosemary

Frybabe · « **Reply #2165 on:** April 15, 2011, 01:24:13 PM »

Rosemarykaye, we had a similar experience with my Mom's accounts. Her bank account was frozen, and our power of attorney was no longer valid. Since the CDs were joint, we closed them out (no early withdrawal penalty when one of the joint owners becomes deceased thank goodness).

JoanK · « **Reply #2166 on:** April 15, 2011, 03:05:43 PM »

Just finished a mystery by Betty Rowland "Miss Minchen Dies". A british policewoman. Good, workable mystery-- off to get more by her.

Steph · « **Reply #2167 on:** April 16, 2011, 06:32:03 AM »

Betty Rowland.. Wrote it down.. Ah, the tbr list grows and grows.

FlaJean · « **Reply #2168 on:** April 16, 2011, 10:30:16 AM »

Just finished Albert's latest China Bayles mystery, Mourning Gloria. It was a little slower starting than usual, I thought. She spent some time in introducing her characters which is good for first time readers, but if you have read her previous China Bayles series it takes some time to get into the story. That's just my opinion, but overall, it was a good mystery.

Steph · « **Reply #2169 on:** April 17, 2011, 06:48:50 AM »

Just started on a new Kathy Reichs.. Smuggling humans in NY.. Did not think it was a sea problem there.

Babi · « **Reply #2170 on:** April 17, 2011, 08:46:31 AM »

I've just started on my first Reginald Hill; "Pictures of Perfection". I'm thoroughly enjoying it.
There's also the added bonus that each chapter heading is a quote from a Jane Austen letter.
Reading the quotes out of context generally adds an element of surprise. Jane said that?

JoanK · « **Reply #2171 on:** April 17, 2011, 02:54:41 PM »

Hmmm. I'll read anything with an Austen connection.

STEPH: I have heard of problems smuggling women for the sex trade. Is that what Reichs is writing about?

MaryPage · « **Reply #2172 on:** April 17, 2011, 03:15:49 PM »

Babi, I am thrilled you are reading a Reginald Hill, whom I adore. Here are my favorites of his in the order in which they should be read:
A Clubbable Woman - 1970
An Advancement of Learning - 1971
Ruling Passion - 1973
An April Shroud - 1975
A Pinch of Snuff - 1978
A Killing Kindness - 1980
Deadheads - 1983
Exit Lines - 1984
Child’s Play - 1987
Under World - 1988
Bones and Silence - 1990
One Small Step - 1990
Recalled To Life - 1992
Pictures of Perfection - 1994
The Wood Beyond - 1995
Asking For The Moon - 1996
On Beulah Height - 1998
Arms and The Women - 1999
Dialogues of The Dead - 2002
Death’s Jest-Book - 2003
Good Morning Midnight - 2004
Death Comes for the Fat Man - 2007
The Price of Butcher’s Meat - 2008
Midnight Fugue - 2009

JoanK · « **Reply #2173 on:** April 17, 2011, 03:41:06 PM »

I've ordered "A Clubbable Woman" from Amazon. I got a used paperback for $1 plus $3.99 shipping, cheaper than Kindle's $7.99.

I've been spending too much money on Kindle. I promised myself that I would look for cheaper ways before giving in to temptation to push that button and get the book immediately. Fortunately, I just got a stack from the library, including Dana Stabenow's latest.

Frybabe · « **Reply #2174 on:** April 17, 2011, 03:53:54 PM »

Atta girl JoanK. I like to compare the overall cost before I buy books from different sources.

I am kind of bummed that I can't download books from my library for my Kindle. They do have eBooks in PDF form, so I don't know why I couldn't. Even so, I may just join the library.

MaryPage · « **Reply #2175 on:** April 17, 2011, 06:03:16 PM »

The BBC Dalziel & Pascoe series does these books in order also. Sometimes they seem to be including more than one book; I am not sure. I have passed the first two years of DVDs of the series on to a granddaughter, but Barnes & Noble has just shipped me series 3. This is the Reginald Hill set of detectives.

Steph · « **Reply #2176 on:** April 18, 2011, 06:09:28 AM »

Oops.. not Reichs, but Linda Fairstein.. She writes about smuggling adults including women from Eastern europe and also throws in the history of the Gracie mansion and the Hamilton one.. She does love to throw a lot of history in. I love it, but I know people who have stopped reading her because of it.

jeriron · « **Reply #2177 on:** April 18, 2011, 08:02:48 AM »

MaryPage

I ordered the series 3 of Dalziel and Pascoeand just finished watching it. I really enjoy them. I just wish it wouldn't take so long for the next ones to come out on DVD. I also watched the new one of Judge Deed I like them too.

I would love to see all the Midsomer Murdersbut the old ones don't have captions or subtitles or SDH.

Just received from Netflix LILIESI finished the first disc, there are three and enjoyed it. Have you ever seen it?

Babi · « **Reply #2178 on:** April 18, 2011, 09:03:16 AM »

MARYPAGE, I would love to read them all in order. Unfortunately, my library only has some
of the books, and I'll simply take what I can get. Some of the others I may be able to
get from my swap club...as soon as I earn some more credits. I've just used up my last
two for a couple of old Josephine Tey books recommended here.
If the BBC series is nearly as good as the books, I'll be able to enjoy all the stories
that way. IF they have closed captioning; not all BBC series do.

MaryPage · « **Reply #2179 on:** April 18, 2011, 10:50:57 AM »

I have never yet seen a film or a mini-series that was anywhere close to as good as the book(s). Pascoe, Ellie and Rosie pass muster in the series, but Dalziel is not NEARLY as fat and huge and ugly as he should be (the actor, however, is superb in the part), nor is Wieldy as ugly and frightening.

Hill is an intellectual with a very droll sense of humor.

No, Jeriron, I do not know of LiliesI. Please tell us about it.

JoanK · « **Reply #2180 on:** April 18, 2011, 03:17:25 PM »

Sounds like I've been missing a good author. I look forward to it.

Yes, I'm bummed that the Kindle isn't hooked into library systems. Obviously, the Kindle itself is the "loss leader, and Amazon expects to make their money from the books sold. I've already spent more on books than the kindle cost.

The new Stabenow is "Though not Dead" and is full of the history of Alaska. I'm half through it already. I'm the opposite of those who won't read a book with history -- the more, the better. I claim (with some truth) that everything I know, I know from reading mysteries.

jeriron · « **Reply #2181 on:** April 18, 2011, 03:43:04 PM »

MaryPage

Lilies
2007 NR 3 discs
In this BBC-produced drama set in post-World War I Liverpool, England, three sisters (Catherine Tyldesley, Kerrie Hayes, Leanne Rowe) face the usual coming-of-age struggles in a world that offers few choices to women of no financial means. That doesn't, however, stop the Moss girls from finding laughter as well as pain as they struggle to make their way in the world -- one making chocolates, one selling corsets and one working as a parlor maid.

Steph · « **Reply #2182 on:** April 19, 2011, 06:19:52 AM »

Finished the Fairstein.. HellGate. Lots of interesting facts about the few old houses left in NYC.. I know the Gracie Mansion, but did not know about some of the others.

Babi · « **Reply #2183 on:** April 19, 2011, 08:50:04 AM »

Let's face it, MARYPAGE. Actors who are fat, huge and/or ugly and frightening don't
usually have much of a career.

ursamajor · « **Reply #2184 on:** April 19, 2011, 10:14:29 AM »

How about Alfred Hitchcock? OK, a director, not an actor, but then there's Peter Lorie.

roshanarose · « **Reply #2185 on:** April 19, 2011, 10:38:56 AM »

Charles Laughton, Orson Welles, Peter Ustinov and Peter Lorre, all magnificent actors who would hardly be called pin-up material. Mmmmm who are the ugly ducklings of today's movies?

Gumtree · « **Reply #2186 on:** April 19, 2011, 11:44:12 AM »

And Sidney Greenstreet was the daddy of them all... huge

JoanK · « **Reply #2187 on:** April 19, 2011, 02:51:36 PM »

But they never get the girl!

Steph · « **Reply #2188 on:** April 20, 2011, 06:44:30 AM »

The large men are often excellent actors..So are some of the truly ugly ones, but they rarely get to be the conventional hero.. Hero
is bound to be tall and conventional looking, although some of the current Owen Wilson, etc are too vacant looking for me, but I think that is the style.

jeriron · « **Reply #2189 on:** April 20, 2011, 07:49:17 AM »

Re the large size actors.. they are usually referred to as "character actors".

ursamajor · « **Reply #2190 on:** April 20, 2011, 09:05:48 AM »

Humphrey Bogart was never particularly good looking, and as he aged he was even less so. Guess he just had lots of sex appeal.

Babi · « **Reply #2191 on:** April 20, 2011, 09:32:13 AM »

Okay, you're right. We do have to have some 'heavies' and 'uglies' to fill in certain roles. (Don't
forget Jack Elam!) But still, when you have characters as enjoyable as Dalziel and Wield, the
casting director tends to play down the fat/ugly part of the description. If they disregarded it
entirely, of course, that would spoil the show for devoted fans of the books. It is also true, if
unjust, that 'ugly' , in a rugged way, is far more acceptable on men than women. $:-\$

roshanarose · « **Reply #2192 on:** April 22, 2011, 12:07:17 AM »

Too true Babi - The same applies to female TV interviewers and especially weather girls, although there are exceptions, of course.

rosemarykaye · « **Reply #2193 on:** April 22, 2011, 01:59:51 AM »

Oh yes, Roshanarose! The women on Sky News are so perfect that I can't believe they weren't employed for their appearance.

Rosemary

Steph · « **Reply #2194 on:** April 22, 2011, 06:19:45 AM »

Not sure any more, but most of the more famous females on tv started out as weather people.. No degrees, just pretty and presentable.

MaryPage · « **Reply #2195 on:** April 22, 2011, 07:00:28 AM »

How about the gorgeous women who give the stock market reports? Maria Bartiromo and Erin Burnett on NBC, CNBC and MSNBC especially. Erin Burnett is one of the most beautiful women on television, and absolutely loaded with brains and degrees, but I'll bet her looks gave her the edge for the job.

Babi · « **Reply #2196 on:** April 22, 2011, 08:48:34 AM »

Of course. If a job involves being on camera, appearance is key. You have to get to know
a person before you can see past the outer facade. Meanwhile, we tend to take people at
'face value'.

JoanK · « **Reply #2197 on:** April 22, 2011, 03:08:21 PM »

I'm reading one of Carolyn Hart's ghost series. "Ghost in Trouble". I get impatient with the "death on Demand" books, but her style works better with the ghost, I think. Wouldn't read too many of them: it's like eating a dessert that's good, but a little too sweet.

Steph · « **Reply #2198 on:** April 23, 2011, 06:23:08 AM »

I gave up on the Carolyn Hart.. Just too sweet . but I am reading Denise Swanson.. Death of a Bookstore Babe.. Good, but I do get tired of a grown woman letting her Mother dominate her life.. I keep thinking.. GET A BACKBONE.. Oh well.

Babi · « **Reply #2199 on:** April 23, 2011, 09:02:18 AM »

I entirely agree, STEPH, but unfortunately seeds planted very early in life are hard to root
out. I remember a mother, very tiny lady, realizing that she would not be able to physically
control her children for very long, made a point of 'getting in her fix first'. Minding momma
was rule #1 from infancy. And for their own safety, it needed to be.
That said, sooner or later, either Mom or the kid has to cut the apron strings.

News:

Author Topic: Mystery Corner ~ 2 (Read 897549 times)