Author Topic: Mystery Corner ~ 2 (Read 897734 times)

Gumtree · « **Reply #2760 on:** August 19, 2011, 03:46:00 AM »

____

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

Thanks Roshanarose - I just couldn't place Jon Finch at the time - senior moment? - but the name brought Peter to mind. Someone suggested they 'imported' those guys believing they would get more authentic accents etc - but of course Kelly and Hall were both born here long after the the nasal drawl had been established.

Off topic - did you happen to see in the news that an ABC film team has been killled in a helicopter crash at Lake Eyre? Paul Lockyer and his cohorts - the team who do those marvellous reports on rural and outback stuff. I'm truly shocked and felt stunned when I heard the report. They did such a great job on the Queensland floods earlier this year and Lockyer has been following the water down the country. He was just as brilliant bringing shows about the drought stricken areas and other rural issues - I've followed him for years ever since he was a youngster doing the overseas stints. Love his shows. What a loss - I feel I've lost some real friends. The ABC and its viewers will be the poorer for their loss.

Steph · « **Reply #2761 on:** August 19, 2011, 06:17:06 AM »

Peter Finch, I knew, but Jon Finch.. nada..

Babi · « **Reply #2762 on:** August 19, 2011, 08:36:52 AM »

An entire team of talented and skilled people lost; that is sad, GUM. I never think
to wonder who all those people are who go out and find, and film, the news. I'm
glad you took the time to give them some of the respect they have earned.

Frybabe · « **Reply #2763 on:** August 19, 2011, 09:01:26 AM »

Very sorry to hear about Paul Lockyer and his crew. I haven't seen a report here on our news as yet, but did do a Google to read the reports. For some reason Mr. Lockyer looks familiar as does his name, but I don't know where I might have run across him.

roshanarose · « **Reply #2764 on:** August 19, 2011, 09:08:59 AM »

A terrible tragedy, indeed, about the three ABC workers. One of my ambitions has been to fly in a helicopter, but so much can go wrong. As for ultralight aircraft, there is no way I would fly in one of those.

Frybabe · « **Reply #2765 on:** August 19, 2011, 09:40:21 AM »

I did actually take a trip in a helicopter once upon a time. We did a aerial of the Gettysburg Battlefield when I was still in high school. I wanted to learn to fly one except, I learned, that I had to learn to fly a regular plane first. Not at all something I could afford, nor would my parents approve. Of course, when I was that age there were a lot of things I wanted to do, but let others and current life circumstances intervene. I guess I just never had that inner fire that one needs to go up against the odds to do something not usual for a girl at that time. I just missed the feminine revolution by a year or so, nor was I a rebellious child.

PatH · « **Reply #2766 on:** August 19, 2011, 02:39:41 PM »

I wanted to learn to fly too, when I was a child, and was devastated when I learned you had to have good eyesight to be a pilot (I was horribly nearsighted).

Did anyone notice the link pedln posted in the Library of what books President Obama read in 2008-2010? One of George Pelecanos' mysteries is on it.

pedln · « **Reply #2767 on:** August 19, 2011, 04:07:17 PM »

That's sad about the ABC crew. This happened in Australia?

I can't stop thinking about the little 3-yr-old in SE Missouri who disappeared while riding her tricycle in front of her house. A neighbor (father of three) later confessed that he found her on the ladder to his swimming pool, brought her inside, suffocated her, stuffed her body in a plastic bag and threw it in a drainage ditch. Like the guy in Brooklyn who killed the little boy who got lost on his way home from daycamp. These people think no more of killing a child than they do a mosquito. To me they are more frightening than the most terrorizing of the terrorists. They have no purpose in their lives. They just do. And they'll do it again.

Frybabe · « **Reply #2768 on:** August 19, 2011, 06:23:15 PM »

That's horrible, Pedln.

JoanK · « **Reply #2769 on:** August 19, 2011, 10:17:46 PM »

GUM: what a loss! And PEDLIN: how horrible!

I'm reading a book with Abagail Adams as the detective. "A Marked Man" second in a series by Barbara Hamilton. I love the portrayal of the period (10 days after the Boston tea Party -- John Adams is a lawyer up to his neck in undercover activitioes for the Sons of Liberty. Abagail is trying to get the English soldiers to cooperate in finding the murder, while not finding out about all the undercover activities going on.

Steph · « **Reply #2770 on:** August 20, 2011, 06:16:18 AM »

That of course is a variation on what I think happened to Cayley Anthony. I dont think her Mother deliverately murdered her, but I do think the child was inconvenient and if they had found the body right away, they could have proved more..
There is a certain type of person in the world who is terrifying.. Anything that gets in their way is destroyed, be it animal, humans , furniture, life itself..

Frybabe · « **Reply #2771 on:** August 20, 2011, 08:27:59 AM »

I see from the news that they've destroyed the car. I am surprised that the authorities have allowed evidence to be destroyed so soon.

ursamajor · « **Reply #2772 on:** August 20, 2011, 03:40:15 PM »

The trial is over. Calley cn't be retried for murder. Double jeopardy.

Frybabe · « **Reply #2773 on:** August 20, 2011, 05:40:18 PM »

I know Ursa, but I can't get it out of my head that she had help in a coverup or she was covering for someone else (her Dad?). That means someone else could be tried if not for murder than accessory after the fact, for example. I think another or other family members were involved. Even so, I didn't know they gave evidence back to the owners after a trial. I thought they kept it for a few years at least. Maybe that is only for unsolved cases. Maybe I watch too much CSI and the like where they pull old evidence from many years past out of their storage.

salan · « **Reply #2774 on:** August 20, 2011, 06:04:40 PM »

My personal opinion is that Casey gave Caylee chloroform to put her to sleep while Casey went partying. She accidentally gave her too much and when Caylee did not wake; then Casey called her father to help her dispose of the body. He was a policeman and would know how to obscure evidence. I don't think her mother knew about it at first. I don't think Casey was smart enough to cover up the evidence by herself and she would need help in burying the body. It was negligent homicide, but couldn't be proven--just my opinion.....
Sally

mabel1015j · « **Reply #2775 on:** August 20, 2011, 09:53:05 PM »

Finished Patterson's Fourth of July. Good one!

Steph · « **Reply #2776 on:** August 21, 2011, 06:22:49 AM »

I agree that Casey was involved and that somehow there was some sort of accident, but I honestly dont think that her Dad was involved. He was a policeman, but all through this ordeal, it has been Mom who is the guiding controller in the family. I think that Casey reached out and destroyed her family from spite..
But the car could be destroyed because there was nothing left in it. The evidence.. that is stored away..

Frybabe · « **Reply #2777 on:** August 21, 2011, 07:24:11 AM »

Ah, thanks Steph. You were following the case more closely than I.

FlaJean · « **Reply #2778 on:** August 21, 2011, 12:15:38 PM »

Steph, I agree. It was even proven that the mother committed perjury when she said she looked up the chloroform on the computer. I guess Casey will have to come back to Orlando to serve her year's probation on the forgery charges if her lawyer's appeal is refused.

I have read several of Peter May's China series involving an American woman pathologist and a Chinese detective. May is a good writer but his Enzo series is better, I think.

I've just started "Pumped for Murder" a cozy by Elaine Viets. She is a new author for me and not too sure I'm going to stick with this one.

jeriron · « **Reply #2779 on:** August 21, 2011, 01:18:13 PM »

I just started a reading a new author..Connor Fitzgerald. the book is The Dogs of Rome..
So far I'm enjoying it.I'ts about an American that lives in Rome and is a policeman. This is his first book but he also has another one out.

Steph · « **Reply #2780 on:** August 22, 2011, 06:04:08 AM »

Elaine Viets writes several series.. Not much murder, mostly about her characters.. Nice to sort of read in an afternoon, but no substance.

JoanK · « **Reply #2781 on:** August 22, 2011, 03:29:05 PM »

Another Charlaine Harris: "Shakespeare's Christmas". I like this series.

Steph · « **Reply #2782 on:** August 23, 2011, 08:38:45 AM »

The Shakespeare series is my favorite of hers. She only wrote a few, but I really like Lily.

JimNT · « **Reply #2783 on:** August 23, 2011, 10:02:05 AM »

If you haven't tried Spycatcher by Matthew Dunn, run to the nearest bookstore, download your Kindle or order it on line. This one is a winner; well written and a suspenseful plot, a real page turner.

FlaJean · « **Reply #2784 on:** August 23, 2011, 10:27:50 AM »

The Elaine Viets book was OK but don't think I will bother with another. Albert's last Beatrix Potter book "The Tale of Castle Cottage" will be published next month. I'm No. 8 on our library's reserve list. There is something about that series that really grabbed me and I'm sorry to see it end.

JoanK · « **Reply #2785 on:** August 23, 2011, 02:36:18 PM »

Thanks, JIM, I'll run to my kindle (about as far as I can run these days). I haven't been able to get into the beatrix Potter series: don't know why. I'll give it another try.

Steph · « **Reply #2786 on:** August 24, 2011, 05:41:54 AM »

Am I right in believing it is a spy book??

Babi · « **Reply #2787 on:** August 24, 2011, 09:05:35 AM »

Noted, JIM.

I love that Beatrix Potter series, too, FLAJEAN. I suppose it appeals to the child in me.
Thank's for letting us know there's a new one due out.

Uh, the Potter book isn't a spy story, STEPH. The Dunn book may be.

rosemarykaye · « **Reply #2788 on:** August 25, 2011, 04:48:20 AM »

Just finished the third Louise Penny book - The Murder Stone. Enjoyed it, but not as much as the second one - I think perhaps because it was not for the most part set in Three Pines, so I missed my fix of numerous lunches at the bistro, visits to the bookshop, drinks here there and everywhere.....Looking forward to the next one though. She does write so well, and her characters are deliciously complex.

Rosemary

Steph · « **Reply #2789 on:** August 25, 2011, 06:06:38 AM »

I like Louise Penny very much, also Giles Blunt. There are some wonderful Canadian writers just now.

rosemarykaye · « **Reply #2790 on:** August 25, 2011, 07:00:27 AM »

Just realised I think I was talking about the 4th Louise Penny, not the third one

I will look up Giles Blunt, thanks Steph.

Rosemary

Babi · « **Reply #2791 on:** August 25, 2011, 09:03:42 AM »

Just started my fourth C. J. Sansom. I've found myself happily engrossed with
every one of them. The man does know the historical background thoroughly.
I learn new things with each book.

pedln · « **Reply #2792 on:** August 25, 2011, 11:06:40 AM »

Just finished Harlan Coben's The Woods -- definitely a thriller, can't put it down-er. The author does a good job of weaving what could be a convoluted plot into something quite suspensful. The protagonist is a widowed prosecuting attorney who must reflect on his actions of 20 years earlier, at the same time he's involved in a complicated and frustrating court case.

It took me away from Franzen's Freedom, and forced me to stop exercising, but isn't it great every once in a while to find a book so absorbing.

I read Penney's Brutal Telling and really liked it. Would like to read some of her earlier titles now.

Frybabe · « **Reply #2793 on:** August 25, 2011, 01:51:43 PM »

Thanks for the review of The Woods, pedln. It's been in my TBR pile for some time.

Tomereader1 · « **Reply #2794 on:** August 25, 2011, 03:15:05 PM »

Just finished the "latest?" Jeffrey Deaver. Made it thru in just two nights. One of his usual fast-paced Lincoln Rhyme novels. It starts a teeny bit slowly, because you are being schooled in "electricity" and how it gets from the "grid" to various places. Then it starts, in earnest, and it's a horse race from that point on. Also has a really "twisty" ending!
Oops, forgot to tell the title "The Burning Wire".

JoanK · « **Reply #2795 on:** August 25, 2011, 03:21:52 PM »

Sounds interesting. I like to learn about things I know nothing about, and the electric grid is certainly one ofthem.

Last day to vote on which classic to read next.

VOTE HERE http://seniorlearn.org/forum/index.php?topic=2395.80

MaryPage · « **Reply #2796 on:** August 25, 2011, 07:25:32 PM »

I have The Woods on hand in a whole pile of Coben's books. I just love him, but you know how it is: too many books, too little time. Glad to know Pedln loved it. I'm looking forward to loving it, as well. Coben is one whose new book I buy as an automatic.

Steph · « **Reply #2797 on:** August 26, 2011, 06:01:38 AM »

Cobens stand alones are always intricate. I do like them very much. Yes, the fourth Louise Penny is sort of different from the first three, but I loved all of them thus far. Giles Blunt is also sequential and you really need to read in order to keep up with his detective.

Babi · « **Reply #2798 on:** August 26, 2011, 08:58:48 AM »

"The Woods" was the first, and only, Coben book I've read. Yes, he is undeniably a find writer.
Nevertheless, I found myself uncomfortable reading the book and completed it with very mixed
feelings. I thought I should try another one of his books, but was reluctant to do so. I've so
many authors I like better, I doubt if I'll ever get back to Coben.

mabel1015j · « **Reply #2799 on:** August 26, 2011, 11:57:09 AM »

Just finished a new author - to me. Virginia Swift's "Bye, Bye Love". It was good. A group of tree huggers led by a song writer/singer has bought a property in Wyoming. That's the conflict, of course. When the songwriter/singer is killed other interesting things come to light, of course. The protagonist is a history professor, maybe that's why i liked it. Swift put in a lot of popular culture references, almost too many, but that added to the interest.

News:

Author Topic: Mystery Corner ~ 2 (Read 897734 times)