Author Topic: Mystery Corner ~ 2 (Read 910620 times)

Babi · « **Reply #3120 on:** November 30, 2011, 08:44:28 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

I read and enjoyed a couple of 'Bo' Tully books. Thanks for reminding me;
I'd like to read some more.

Steph · « **Reply #3121 on:** December 01, 2011, 06:24:13 AM »

I finished Imperfect Justice and enjoyed it.. He had a lot of things to explain and did a good job. I still feel that if she had not been young, pretty and of the drama, she would have been judged guilty. She is one of those rare humans, who cannot tell the truth. I c annot imagine her life to be anything like what she wanted.. I hope she remembers to the end of her days, the little girl she threw away..

jeriron · « **Reply #3122 on:** December 01, 2011, 08:35:27 AM »

steph

I want to get the book. Did you get in on your IPAD or hardcover?

I also think without reading the book and there probably is more to it.. that they made a mistake buy asking for the death penalty.

Babi · « **Reply #3123 on:** December 01, 2011, 09:00:34 AM »

Quote

She is one of those rare humans, who cannot tell the truth.

It is a puzzle, isn't it, STEPH. Such people seem to lie even when there is
no earthly reason to lie. My folks were greatly stunned, years ago, when
it became apparent that their pastor was such a person. I would be interested
to know if there is any explanation for this; if there have been any studies.
I'm going to have plenty of time on my hands today; I think I'll do some
exploring on that topic.

Frybabe · « **Reply #3124 on:** December 01, 2011, 11:35:34 PM »

I juar fininshed Medicus. My marathon read today has left my eyes quite fuzzy. It took me a little while to warm to the story, but at some point I realized I didn't want to put the book down.

Steph · « **Reply #3125 on:** December 02, 2011, 06:31:28 AM »

Idid a rare thing for me and actually bought Imperfect Justice, since I wanted to support him. I am sure it is on Kindle as well..
Liars.. My brother was one of those people.. He would lie when it would have been easier to tell the truth. I t was like he lived in an alternate world and had his own version of what must be the truth ..

JoanK · « **Reply #3126 on:** December 02, 2011, 02:56:37 PM »

Almost finished the new Evanovitch.It's very funny, but the mystery plot is so slight as to be almost invisable. She's getting lazy: she knows fans like me will read her anyways. But I think they'll be a kicker at the end.

MaryPage · « **Reply #3127 on:** December 02, 2011, 07:23:23 PM »

A dear friend who usually likes the same things I do, but sometimes likes some things I do not care for, has emailed me she just read a book called A Beautiful Blue Death by Charles Finch and enjoyed it very much. It is the first of a series.

FlaJean · « **Reply #3128 on:** December 03, 2011, 11:41:09 AM »

It seems with this busy season I haven't been able to bury myself in a book. But I have several books on reserve and, hopefully, by the time my turn comes things will have settled down. Always have time to read the posts and enjoy "hearing" about the books everyone is reading.

JoanK · « **Reply #3129 on:** December 03, 2011, 04:33:20 PM »

Yes, FLAJEAN, it seems like the holidays take longer and longer. Just like the elections, that seem to start right after the last election is over, soon we will start preparing for Christmas on December 26 of the year before.

Didn't get the zinger I expected at the end of the Evanovitch book, but it was funny.

read a first mystery "The broken token" by Chris Nickson. About a policeman in Leeds in 1715. I liked it, and "pre-ordered" the second one on my kindle.

nlhome · « **Reply #3130 on:** December 03, 2011, 04:48:43 PM »

I am reading "Woman with Birthmark" byHakan Nesser. This is the 2nd book by him I have read - someone must have donated the whole series to our library. Different sort of police procedural, set in Sweden. Dark, though.

Frybabe · « **Reply #3131 on:** December 03, 2011, 05:36:31 PM »

Last night I started the first of a series about a homicide policeman in an Eastern Block country. This is the first of a series that spans his the character's beginning in 1948. The Bridge of Sighs by Olen Steinhauer.

Finished in one blurry eyed day the rest of Medicus by Ruth Downie. This is also the first of a series (I only just found that out last week). It was okay, but I am not likely to read the rest.

I am going to look up "Woman with Birthmark". Dark seems to be a common theme with Swedish mystery writers. I wonder if there are any that actually write anything upbeat? Looked him up. Here is a website to peruse. http://www.hakannesser.com/ Nesser has won several awards, he is apparently up there with Beck and Mankell in popularity, and some of his works have been made into TV movies, but only one in English apparently.

Steph · « **Reply #3132 on:** December 04, 2011, 06:18:53 AM »

Iam reading the latest Paretsky in paperback. V.I. seems to be a sucker for her cousin.. Who really needs to have someone say the word No.. at the top of their lungs.

Babi · « **Reply #3133 on:** December 04, 2011, 09:17:22 AM »

I enjoy most things set in other times, JOANK. I'll have to see if
my library has Chris Nickson. Leeds, in the early 18th century? That
could be most interesting.

JoanK · « **Reply #3134 on:** December 04, 2011, 03:23:27 PM »

Checked out the Paretsky. Is the one you read "Body Work"? I missed that one.

Steph · « **Reply #3135 on:** December 05, 2011, 06:16:20 AM »

Yes, BodyWork is odd , but a good one. Paretsky loves to attack various targets and this one is about the continual war and the civilian contractors.. Only in Chicago of course. I loved it.
I just started a second Elvis ( who is a basset hound) series. Light and funny.

MaryPage · « **Reply #3136 on:** December 09, 2011, 12:17:35 PM »

Pathological lying IS, in fact, a way the brain is wired in some people. For 100 years or so, ever since we as a species became aware enough of our bodies and started looking into human beings who behaved in a manner outside of what we consider normal as perhaps not insane or "mad," and needing incarceration in an insane asylum, but lacking something, one of the illnesses described is this pathological lying and so it got its name.

One of our major problems has been that we, again as a species, have tended to think of our body as one thing and our mind as another. This is false. The brain contains and operates the mind. Our minds are just as much a part of our bodies as are our arms or legs. Our minds are physical. You know the newer question: Nature or nurture? Well, yeah, how we were raised CAN affect our behavior, as can what we eat and drink. Look at what alcohol and drugs do! But nurture, as in alcohol, drugs, food, environment and homelife are as fleas to dogs compared with the genes we inherit and the environment when we are in the womb. What we are when we are born is most of what we will be. Look what is happening with autism being so on the rise, for instance.

We can try, as I am sure that young woman's parents tried, to guide our little pathological liars. We can get them counseling, if we can afford it. But Science has yet to find the cure. Medications presently in use may help for now, but we need to put money into Research to get to the bottom of what is a PHYSICAL problem.

MaryPage · « **Reply #3137 on:** December 09, 2011, 12:33:18 PM »

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pseudologia_fantastica

JoanK · « **Reply #3138 on:** December 09, 2011, 06:20:59 PM »

Fascinating!

Steph · « **Reply #3139 on:** December 10, 2011, 05:46:17 AM »

I understand where you are coming from on the lying, but having had a brother who was like that, I agree that he needed some sort of psychological help.. As far as can be determined , he was the only one like this. I know it scared me to the point of being very very careful with my sons to make sure they did not have this problem.
Casey Anthony.. I suspect her parents have tried, but her Mother seems to have decided that she must save her child no matter what. She lost a grandchild and also her child as far as I can see. Bad decision on her part.
Going through counseling for Traumatic Grief, the counselor told me some interesting things about how your brain responds to certain stimuli.. She explained to me that my calm in the accident was my midbrain responding with protection to keep me from falling to pieces.. Now it still protects me in that no matter how hard I try, a good deal of the first two weeks are still a blur..

Babi · « **Reply #3140 on:** December 10, 2011, 09:42:28 AM »

Um, maybe, MARYPAGE, but to me the 'brain' is physical, while 'mind' is
something more than that, functioning through the medium of the brain.
And, of course, there is the continuing puzzle that siblings with the
same genes and the same environment can still take very different paths.
I have to think, from all the evidence, that enough poison in our system
and abuse from those who should nurture us must make a difference for the
worse in the use we make of our genetic inheritance.

What your therapist said makes good sense to me, STEPH. I have generally
tended to become very calm in a crisis. I can start shaking later!

jeriron · « **Reply #3141 on:** December 10, 2011, 09:44:08 AM »

Steph

I just finished reading "Imperfect Justice" which I ended up getting on IPad. I thought it was interesting as you said although if you watched the trial most of it was in the book.

I would have liked to have read what he felt about the juries verdict. I think he was confused about it the way everyone else was. Although I'm not really sure what she should have been convicted of. I would think manslaughter. I hadn't realised that there was 2 holdouts for awhile. Ashton opinion of Baez was spot on. He came across as a jerk but in the end he won his case.

As Ashton said even after the trial was over Cindy was still in denial. It's hard to give up on your child. But what Casey said about her father and brother would be very hard to forgive in my opinion.

FlaJean · « **Reply #3142 on:** December 10, 2011, 11:46:19 AM »

Very interesting forum, especially what you said Babi "but to me the 'brain' is physical, while 'mind' is
something more than that, functioning through the medium of the brain.."

JoanK · « **Reply #3143 on:** December 10, 2011, 02:50:52 PM »

I agree, FLAJEAN.

Steph · « **Reply #3144 on:** December 11, 2011, 06:05:00 AM »

I am slowly learning that the brain does very very strange things all on its own. There are times you just think you are in control..But parts of your brain will actually shut down and refuse to work..
Casey.. the thing is when you dont get punished, you dont learnt.. She is not working.. hated by all, hiding out.. and I am sure is busy justifying her life. I would bet that her Mother would open her arms and take her back if she wanted her to.. But not her Dad.. Strangely enough, I dont think Casey fells anything but contempt for her parents and brother. I dont understand the jury. Manslaughter was perfect as far as I was concerned.. Baez was a horrible person, but I would guess the jury liked him, which is sort of scary..

MaryPage · « **Reply #3145 on:** December 11, 2011, 08:35:37 AM »

When I was in labor with my 5th child, they gave me what was then a new kind of pain killer, consisting of a needle in my left hand. A "cocktail" of drugs, they called it. This was in 1964 and prior to the popularity of "natural" childbirth. I was completely knocked out with anesthesia with my first 4.

For a while, I was up in a corner of the room looking down at myself screaming in a bed with the railings up on the sides. My doctor, OB, was standing with her back to me looking out the window of the hospital room. I was SO angry looking down on this, all of which I could see clearly.

Later, going back on a check up visit, I told her of my memory. She replied that it was most unusual for the memory blocking portion of the "cocktail" to fail to do its duty; that the vast majority of patients had no memory whatsoever of their hours of labor. I described to her exactly what the room looked like and what she was doing and who came in and what was said. She was amazed, but unfazed.

Later in life, when having various surgeries such as a hysterectomy and thyroidectomy, etc., the anesthesiologists always come in and ask your history and I always tell them about this. They always know exactly what happened to me.

Several years ago I had cataract surgery. The young woman who came into the surgery and introduced herself and asked about previous history immediately, I mean IMMEDIATELY, named the drug I had been given when I had the episode of looking down upon myself.

So you see, doctors trained in this field are well aware of the brain's ability to hallucinate and the various triggers for this. We can "see" all sorts of things, depending upon the condition of our body.

Frybabe · « **Reply #3146 on:** December 11, 2011, 08:44:03 AM »

MaryPage: What you've described sounds like a phenomenon I read about years ago called astral projection (out-of-body experience). Some people have actually try to do this on purpose. Wikipedia does a credible job of explaining it. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astral_projection

jeriron · « **Reply #3147 on:** December 11, 2011, 09:04:02 AM »

Steph

I agree about Casey Anthony. There are a lot of parents that can't seem to "punish" their children when they do wrong so they never really learn right from wrong. and with Casey the jury just reenforced that and she was found not guilty. I wonder where she is living and on what money if she still isn't working which she is supposed to be according to her probation. So there again she is still getting away with what she does.

MaryPage · « **Reply #3148 on:** December 11, 2011, 09:36:25 AM »

I think of Casey as being a throw back to what we were tens of thousands of years ago. No sense of being a part of a pack and needing to contribute to the well-being of that pack, Casey is totally self-absorbed and interested only in what gives pleasure to herself. Consequences of her actions is not something she is capable of adding up, measuring, thinking ahead about. The fallout on those she "loves" matters not a whit, because she is basically incapable of love. People are good or bad depending upon how well they serve what she desires. No sense of right or wrong, only self. Self preservation.

She has never loved her parents. Her little girl was a toy. Her own pleasure is paramount. Period. Perhaps there was never any hope for her, given we as a people have not yet funded the research that might find cures for this condition.

Babi · « **Reply #3149 on:** December 11, 2011, 09:48:58 AM »

On more than one occasion, I have wanted to ask a parent which they would
prefer. To teach a child early on that wrong behavior has consequences, or
to wait until they are grown and have the police and a judge do it for them?

pedln · « **Reply #3150 on:** December 11, 2011, 01:56:36 PM »

Someday I want to read Imperfect Justice, but I'll wait until I don't have to stand in line. Since I didn't watch a lot of the goings on in court, most of it will be like reading new material.

Right now I'm involved with another criminal -- a serial imposter. Does the name Clark Rockefeller ring any bells. It didn't for me even though he was very much in the news in 20008, 2009. It's true, a fascinating story about the various personas taken on by a young (17 year-old) German immigrant who arrived in this country with a 6-month tourist visa, stayed on with many different names, finally caught 30 some years later. The book is The Man in the Rockefeller Suit by Mark Seal.

Here's a list of best mysteries by Adam Woog in the Seattle Times. Some familiar, some not so.

Best Mysteries of 2011

MaryPage · « **Reply #3151 on:** December 11, 2011, 06:33:13 PM »

Yes, I remember the news stories about Clark Rockefeller. Sad person. Obviously mentally ill.

JoanK · « **Reply #3152 on:** December 11, 2011, 08:12:25 PM »

Pedlin: I've got to get busy. Five of the eight authors are ones I read, but I've only read one of the books. I get my "nrw books" from "new books at the library == I'm too cheap to pay new book prices on kindle. But I'm always behind.

rosemarykaye · « **Reply #3153 on:** December 12, 2011, 05:04:56 AM »

Oh me too Joan - and apart from the financial considerations, there's the not having shelf room for any more books, not wanting to be responsible for the cutting down of any more trees, etc (but with me I have to admit it's mainly just tight-fistedness....

)

Rosemary

Steph · « **Reply #3154 on:** December 12, 2011, 05:50:02 AM »

I get books from everywhere. I love to hold them in my hands, but I prefer paperback to hardback.. I love my IPAD. For IPAD lovers.. try solar walk.. It is 3D, costs 2.99 and is spectacular. You are in space.Whew..
To go back to books, I swap for them on line.. buy at used book sales, stop at any garage sale that mentions books.. and whew.. even buy them new. My favorite gifts are books.. and I ran out of space a long time ago. doesnt even slow me down..

Babi · « **Reply #3155 on:** December 12, 2011, 09:07:14 AM »

Quote

I ran out of space a long time ago. doesnt even slow me down..

Steph

You go, girl!!

marjifay · « **Reply #3156 on:** December 12, 2011, 10:03:33 AM »

Thanks for the list, Pedln. I have on my TBR list I AM HALF-SICK OF SHADOWS by Alan Bradley (Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie).

The reviewer should have mentioned THE KEEPER OF LOST CAUSES by Jussi Adler-Olson -- my favorite of the year.

My other favorite mysteries and mystery/thrillers of 2011:

A DROP OF THE HARD STUFF - Lawrence Block
THE FRANCHISE AFFAIR - Josephine Tey
THE SILENT GIRL - Tess Gerritson
FAMILY VAULT - Charlotte MacLeod
WHY SHOOT A BUTLER - Georgette Heyer
DESTINATION UNKNOWN - Agatha Christie
WHY DIDN'T THEY ASK EVANS - Agatha Christie
DECEPTION POINT - Dan Brown

Marj

rosemarykaye · « **Reply #3157 on:** December 12, 2011, 12:58:09 PM »

Pedln - I meant to say, thank you for posting that list. the only two authors on it that I have read are Louise Penny and Jacqueline Winspear, and I find Winspear a bit too self-conscious and cliched sometimes, although I do think her later books have improved, so I will look out for both of these.

Louise Penny praises 'I am half-sick of shadows' on her blog.

Marjifay - I love The Franchise Affair.

Rosemary

Babi · « **Reply #3158 on:** December 13, 2011, 08:24:57 AM »

Good list, MARJ. I assume you meant books you read in 2011, not new books
available in 2011 I especially like McLeod. I'll have to look for 'Family
Vault'. Tey is a favorite, too; I may have read 'The Franchise Affair'.
Kate Ross is a new writer (to me) that I am enjoying. The first two, tho',
do have some strong similarities. I do hope she will break the 'mysterious
woman victim' mode in the next one.

mabel1015j · « **Reply #3159 on:** December 13, 2011, 07:50:13 PM »

Four of the best books i read this year were mysteries, altho i have to say i didn't feel as though i read any five star books this year, but a book has got to be REALLY good to get five stars from me.

Evanovich's Smokin Seventeen - voted the best mystery of 2011 by Goodread's 600,000 voters.

Margit Liesche - Hollywood Buzz, about a woman pilot, one of the "WASPs" of WWII.

Patricia O'Brien - The Ladies Lunch, five professional women in Wash D.C., one of them dies.

Lisa Scottoline - Think Twice, one of the best of hers about twin sisters, one ethical, one evil.

News:

Author Topic: Mystery Corner ~ 2 (Read 910620 times)