Author Topic: Mystery Corner ~ 2 (Read 910578 times)

kiwilady · « **Reply #2560 on:** July 13, 2011, 03:41:09 PM »

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

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

Discussion Leader: JoanK

Babi when I am looking for the books on any site I just use Medieval Murderers as the authors. The books are written by several authors for each book. They collaborate. They are all excellent authors. The books are very historically correct and so good I can see those Medieval streets. The houses, the clothing and the characters clearly in my mind. Not every book can capture me like this series does.

Carolyn

JoanK · « **Reply #2561 on:** July 14, 2011, 12:32:23 AM »

I had never heard of the Medieval Murderers. They sound fantastic!

Margeret Rutherford, who played the too large (and too forceful) miss Marple, was simply miscast and misdirected by someone who thought he knew better than Christie. But Rutherford was a wonderful comic actress in her other roles in classic British comedies.

rosemarykaye · « **Reply #2562 on:** July 14, 2011, 02:21:18 AM »

Yes, my mother has very fond memories of her as Madame Arcati in Blithe Spirit - but she then read Rutherford's autobiography, and said every second line was about "how wonderful I was" - it quite put her off, no modesty at all.

Rosemary

rosemarykaye · « **Reply #2563 on:** July 14, 2011, 02:22:26 AM »

Yes, my mother has very fond memories of her as Madame Arcati in Blithe Spirit.

Rosemary

Steph · « **Reply #2564 on:** July 14, 2011, 08:03:43 AM »

Yes, Margaret Rutherford was a wonderful comic actress, but miscast as Miss Marple, but then Hollywood and the BBC love to simply change the books to suit the actors.

rosemarykaye · « **Reply #2565 on:** July 14, 2011, 08:18:08 AM »

Sorry, I seem to have posted twice - I am having problems with this site at the moment, as it tells me I have been timed out and must re-post, then either two posts appear or none at all.

It's not me, honest

Rosemary

Steph · « **Reply #2566 on:** July 15, 2011, 08:25:46 AM »

I have the new Nevada Barr "Burn". We will see. I hated her last one. Too too violent.

maryz · « **Reply #2567 on:** July 15, 2011, 10:03:15 AM »

Where is this one located, Steph? Anna's getting a little old for some of her exploits, isn't she? But I do love learning more about all the national parks - and Barr does do her homework.

mabel1015j · « **Reply #2568 on:** July 15, 2011, 05:54:12 PM »

Someone mentioned a week or so ago that they read Evanovich's "Seventeen" and wasn't fond of it. I 'm about 100 pages into it. I think i'm too familiar w/ the characters' styles. I do still laugh out loud, but not as often as in the previous ones, their responses are not surprising any more, therefore not as funny to me. There is less "mystery" so far. there is an interesting new character whom her mother is pushing on her. He may a bigger player than he looks in the first 100 pages. But it's still entertaining to me.

Jean

Steph · « **Reply #2569 on:** July 16, 2011, 07:32:52 AM »

On Evanovich, my problem seems to be Lula, she is sort of a one joke character and she is too much in the books. I did like some of Sixteen because Connie was in it and she is not used much.
Burn.. Hmm, I have read about 50 pages and think I will put it down for a while.Already too too out there. The only National Park tie is that she is in New Orleans visiting a friend who works at the National Park Service music center there..

maryz · « **Reply #2570 on:** July 16, 2011, 10:38:27 AM »

Steph, I read the review of Burn on Amazon - not sure whether I'll get that one or not.

Tomereader1 · « **Reply #2571 on:** July 16, 2011, 10:44:07 AM »

I had heard that Burn was disgustingly violent so I opted not to read it.
Has to do with child porn or something like that. Nope, not gonna go there.

salan · « **Reply #2572 on:** July 16, 2011, 01:01:19 PM »

Just finished Silent Girl by Gerrittson. It was very good and didn't get too graphically violent. Also finished Real Murders by Charlaine Harris. It is the first Aurora Teagarden mystery. I enjoyed it for a light read and will try to get more of these.
I haven't read Nevada Barr in a long time. I used to enjoy her, but kind of burned myself out for a while. Same for Evanovich and Grafton. Maybe I'll give them a try again. When I find an author I like; I tend to "glut" myself on them. Can't seem to control myself.
Sally

Steph · « **Reply #2573 on:** July 17, 2011, 07:53:17 AM »

Charlaine has written maybe four series. Some long, some just a few books.She is just flat out great. She holds your attention on sentence one and hangs on.. The small four or five book series on the damaged woman who cleans house for a living is spectacular..

mabel1015j · « **Reply #2574 on:** July 17, 2011, 01:45:31 PM »

Finished "Smokin Seventeen" by Evanovich. The last scene was wonderful! So typically Stephanie Plum. It made sloughing thru some of the less interesting parts worthwhile. Apparently "Explosive Eighteen" is coming out in November. That's unusual. The Stephanie Plum series usually come out in the spring.

Am reading a Linda Barnes mystery, "Bitter Finish", w/ P.I. Sprague. This is my first of this series. I don't yet have an opinion about it.

Jean

JoanK · « **Reply #2575 on:** July 17, 2011, 03:13:57 PM »

Looked up Charlaine Harris on Amazon/Kindle. They have three pages of books. Where do you suggest I start?

mabel1015j · « **Reply #2576 on:** July 17, 2011, 03:35:11 PM »

Joan - here's the Harris page from Stop You're Killing Me site. It tells you what the series are.

http://www.stopyourekillingme.com/H_Authors/Harris_Charlaine.html

Jean

Babi · « **Reply #2577 on:** July 18, 2011, 08:11:10 AM »

I've started an author/series new to me. By James Doss, they are set in and around a Ute
reservation and will remind you of Tony Hilerman's Navajo series. So far I'm finding it holds my
interest. Haven't decided yet how comparable it might be to Hillerman. This book,
"The Shaman's Bones", is not the first of the series. The first is "The Shaman Sings". If I
like this on well enough I'll go back for that one.

Steph · « **Reply #2578 on:** July 18, 2011, 08:27:22 AM »

I have read some of the Doss. But Hillerman is by far the better writer. I adored Hillerman and have read everything he wrote.. Doss.only a few..
I got a bunch of little known female type mysteries, that are mostly not that good. Its romance writers throwing in a bitof mystery or murder and then just a typical romance type.. Ugh.

Tomereader1 · « **Reply #2579 on:** July 18, 2011, 11:23:24 AM »

I need a bit of applause here...I actually remembered to watch Masterpiece Mystery last night! Score one point for me. I thought it was wonderful! I certainly hope I won't miss any of the remaining episodes, and how many of them will there be? I certainly hope that anyone here who recommended this, didn't forgot to watch!

Great show.

nancymc · « **Reply #2580 on:** July 18, 2011, 03:08:08 PM »

I have recently found a new author C J Sansom his books are set in the time of Henry Eighth and his detective a hunchbacked lawyer named Matthew Shardlake is a very interesting character. I am looking forward to reading more of this author.

Has anyone else read this Author, I may have missed a discussion on him.

JoanK · « **Reply #2581 on:** July 18, 2011, 03:32:41 PM »

NANCY: I've read (I think) all in that series, and liked tem a lot. One problem: they are big and heavy to hold, so I read most on my kindle. But I love the detail: you really feel that you've been there in that time and place.

In this series, it pays to read them in order. here is the list from Fantastic Fiction:

http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/s/c-j-sansom/

JoanK · « **Reply #2582 on:** July 18, 2011, 03:40:58 PM »

Mabel: thanks for the harris list. I think I've read some of the Shakespeare ones. Sometimes I read a book I like, and forget to write down the author, them "lose" them.

marcie · « **Reply #2583 on:** July 18, 2011, 08:23:44 PM »

Tomereader, I'm glad you remembered to watch Masterpiece Mystery. I loved ZEN too. There will be two more ZEN episodes and four new Inspector Lewis episodes this season. Join our PBS discussion at http://seniorlearn.org/forum/index.php?topic=2286.0. There are links in our discussion to the PBS site where the episodes are available for viewing online after they air on TV.

roshanarose · « **Reply #2584 on:** July 18, 2011, 10:30:39 PM »

marcie et al : I was wondering what Zen was like. He is such a gorgeous creature, and ahem, I am also interested in the story line, of course

I suspect it will take many moons before it reaches our shores, but I am definitely looking forward to it.

rosemarykaye · « **Reply #2585 on:** July 19, 2011, 01:55:22 AM »

Well Roshanarose, my daughters and I have only just this week caught up with Downton Abbey! We missed it on TV, but it was worth the wait.

Rosemary

Steph · « **Reply #2586 on:** July 19, 2011, 07:51:36 AM »

I sorarely watch TV that I dont even think of the mysteries.. Maybe one day.

Babi · « **Reply #2587 on:** July 19, 2011, 08:48:22 AM »

Hear, hear! Mark up a point for TOMEREADER! I liked it, too, TOME. And new
Inspector Lewis episodes coming up! That's good news, MARCIE.

Well, Hillerman is hard to beat, no question about that, STEPH. Still, I'm enjoying
the Doss.
I'm interested in Sansom, NANCY; he's new to me. Thanks for the link, JOAN.
I do like to start from the beginning whenever possible.

marcie · « **Reply #2588 on:** July 19, 2011, 10:29:04 AM »

Those of you who are not getting the PBS Mysteries on TV might be able to view them online at http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/watch/index.html

roshanarose · « **Reply #2589 on:** July 19, 2011, 11:20:17 AM »

Rosemary - I have enjoyed watching Downton Abbey also. The final episode was a wee bit anti-climactic for me. If you haven't seen it I will not add a spoiler, but....

pedln · « **Reply #2590 on:** July 19, 2011, 12:31:38 PM »

I missed the Zen, but thought I just had too much to watch. I had checked out The Lord Peter Wimsey Mysteries (set2) from the library, and have been entranced with The Nine Tailors. Sooo good. Now, only two nights to watch The Five Red Herrings before it has to go back to the library, and I have to get on a plane for Seattle. Christie's Pale Horse, which I taped, will have to wait until my return.

This is what Matthew Pearl had to say on his Facebook page the other day about a collaborative mystery. The comments and reviews sounded good.

Quote

I wrote a chapter for No Rest for the Dead a collaborative murder mystery novel compiled by Strand Magazine editor Andrew Gulli and written by twenty-six authors.
Great fun to write a hardboiled modern-day detective as a break from my usual setting.
Check out the website and get a copy for your summer reading!

No Rest for the Dead

JoanK · « **Reply #2591 on:** July 19, 2011, 03:17:29 PM »

Those of us who were in the book discussions with Matthew Pearl are big fans of his. But I hope he doesn't abandon his historical mysteries.

Steph · « **Reply #2592 on:** July 20, 2011, 08:05:55 AM »

Amazing, somehow I missed a John Sandford...Broken Prey.. Fairly raw, but I do love Lucas..

Babi · « **Reply #2593 on:** July 20, 2011, 09:15:50 AM »

Isn't it nice, PEDLN, that we now have the option of taping what we want to
see, and it will keep, like a book on a shelf, until we have time to view it?
We have truly lived in one of the most exciting and barrier-breaking eras in
history. How often have I thought, "Oh, brave new world!"[/b]
Even if I can't keep up with it all.

Steph · « **Reply #2594 on:** July 21, 2011, 08:07:20 AM »

I am not a taper. Either I see it or I dont,, Just never got into the habit. I really should, I would guess. I think I was put off by a friend who has ove 100 programs taped or dvd'd... She has never watched any and still keeps on taping everything in sight.

maryz · « **Reply #2595 on:** July 21, 2011, 08:59:57 AM »

We record programs with conflicting times, or something we particularly want to watch when we won't be home. But we always watch it ASAP. We have a couple of friends who record everything to watch later so they can fast-forward through the commercials. Obviously, they have an extra TV or two and extra players so they can do that.

Babi · « **Reply #2596 on:** July 21, 2011, 09:23:59 AM »

Your friend sounds like a new version of the hoarder, STEPH. Just keep on getting
more and more, whether you can use them or not! We enjoy the flexibility of
taping shows we want to see, but we do watch them. Taping also offers a bonus; you can fast forward through the commercials!

MaryPage · « **Reply #2597 on:** July 21, 2011, 06:51:26 PM »

For those of you not familiar with the Aurelio Zen series by the late Michael Dibdon, I cannot praise these too highly. Dibdon was a master craftsman as a writer, and some of his visual images re emotions we all have at one time or another are quite simply amazing. Aurelio Zen is an Italian from Venice. The books are set in many places in Italy. Here is a list:

THE AURELIO ZEN MYSTERY SERIES BY MICHAEL DIBDIN

TITLE     YEAR    SET IN
Ratking*     1989    Perugia
Vendetta*    1991    Rome & Sardinia
Cabal*    1992    Rome & Milan
Dead Lagoon    1994    Venice
Cosi Fan Tutti    1996    Naples
A Long Finish    1998    Piemonte
Blood Rain    1999    Sicily, Malta & Rome
And Then You Die 2002    Tuscany & Iceland
Medusa     2003    Italian Alps
Back to Bologna    2005    Bologna
End Games    2007    Calabria
This next is not Zen
A Rich Full Death    1986    Florence of 1855

* film made & to be shown on Masterpiece Mystery

marcie · « **Reply #2598 on:** July 21, 2011, 09:17:26 PM »

Thanks for that list, MaryPage. The PBS website has some short Video Q&A with Rufus Sewell, who is staring as Zen in the Masterpiece Mystery episodes. He has some interesting things to say about reading the stories by Dibdon. He liked the character because he was complex, flawed and had a good sense of humor.

MaryPage · « **Reply #2599 on:** July 21, 2011, 10:04:22 PM »

Some of Dibdon's phrases I savored from Ratking (which, in itself, constitutes a fascinating very old myth):

"prisoners of their own wealth"

"deafened by thoughts"

"a yellow butterfly loped by with its strange broken flight"

"is that Assisi over there? ....... in the distance a mess of lights were spread out across the face of the night like a shovelful of glowing cinders"

"that knowledge was as inhibiting as the acoustics of a great church"

"the great weakness of paranoia is that it cannot take chance into account"

News:

Author Topic: Mystery Corner ~ 2 (Read 910578 times)