Author Topic: Mystery Corner ~ 2 (Read 897953 times)

JoanK · « **Reply #3680 on:** May 08, 2012, 02:35:07 PM »

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Pull up a comfortable chair and join us here to talk about mysteries and their authors.
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Discussion Leader: JoanK

I didn't even finish the sample of Sacre Blue. Sniggering jokes about prostitutes aren't my thing! Oh, well.

JoanK · « **Reply #3681 on:** May 08, 2012, 02:39:52 PM »

I'm not familiar with Jeanne Dams. Looks like she wrote a lot of books:

http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/d/jeanne-m-dams/

(and a new one coming out in October).

FlaJean · « **Reply #3682 on:** May 08, 2012, 05:24:42 PM »

Thanks for that link, Joan. I didn't realize Dams had another Dorothy Martin book coming out this year. Her series about the Swedish maid are also interesting.

mabel1015j · « **Reply #3683 on:** May 08, 2012, 10:22:44 PM »

"Sand Sharks" by Margaret Maron was just o.k. IMO

Steph · « **Reply #3684 on:** May 09, 2012, 06:03:23 AM »

I have read a few of the Jeanne Dams series. Quite good, but I forget to check for them..Will do.

marjifay · « **Reply #3685 on:** May 15, 2012, 10:55:19 PM »

Just finished two stand-alones by John D. MacDonald who wrote the Travis McGee series: A KEY TO THE SUITE and THE EXECUTIONERS. Very good. Liked them more than the Travis McGees. The Excutioners was made into the (two) Cape Fear movies, but I liked the book better.

Also finally read John LeCarre's THE SPY WHO CAME IN FROM THE COLD. First LeCarre novel I could finish. Very good. Now I want to see the film with Richard Burton.

Marj

Steph · « **Reply #3686 on:** May 16, 2012, 06:09:01 AM »

Early LeCarre is great.. Current, not so much.,
I loved John McDonald and it is amazing how much he is read to this day. I used to sell a lot of his stuff in the used book store. A nice straightforward story teller. That is getting to be a lost art.

JoanK · « **Reply #3687 on:** May 16, 2012, 02:26:20 PM »

I didn't know you had a used book store. my favorite places!

Steph · « **Reply #3688 on:** May 17, 2012, 06:00:07 AM »

No more used book store. Between the fact we wanted to travel more and our lease being doubled, I got out of the business.. It was fun though. You never make money in a used book store, but oh the customers.. Makes your day such a joy..

mabel1015j · « **Reply #3689 on:** May 17, 2012, 01:53:35 PM »

Last Lessons of Summer by Margaret Maron. This was the first non-judge Knott book of Maron's that i have read. I thought it was a good read. There's a little mystery w/ some surprising twists and turns. It's an easy read. It's another North Carolina book??? A granddaughter returns to her grandmother's house to "clean out" after the grandmother's death. Of course, she learns more family secrets than she ever imagined. Good beach read, which is where i am at the moment. Love the Jersey shore in the off-season!

Jean

JoanK · « **Reply #3690 on:** May 17, 2012, 01:56:48 PM »

Read the latest of the books about the eleven year old girl who is a chemist and solves murdrs: "I'm Almost Tired of Shadows". Another good one.

Tomereader1 · « **Reply #3691 on:** May 17, 2012, 03:59:31 PM »

The "Flavia De Luce" series?

JoanK · « **Reply #3692 on:** May 17, 2012, 08:13:13 PM »

Yes:

http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/b/alan-bradley/

I see there is one I missed in the series, and a fifth one coming out.

marcie · « **Reply #3693 on:** May 17, 2012, 08:47:10 PM »

The "Flavia De Luce" series looks interesting. Do you think that it might be of interest to a 12 year old girl?

Steph · « **Reply #3694 on:** May 18, 2012, 06:04:26 AM »

I do like Flavia..She has great charm.
Just finished Explosive Eighteen.. Evanovich is stuck in the Plum series. She needs to stop falling back on Lula.. and bring back some of the more interesting characters. She also needs to stop turning Stephanie into a sleep with both men sort of person. Oh my.. Another author hits the floor on a series.

JoanK · « **Reply #3695 on:** May 18, 2012, 01:08:02 PM »

"Do you think that it might be of interest to a 12 year old girl?" I'm not sure. It's really written for adults. And I'm not sure I'd want a daughter of mine identifying with Flavia and her love of poisons.

retired · « **Reply #3696 on:** May 18, 2012, 02:34:46 PM »

Linda Fairstein is among my favorite mystery writers.
She was for many years until retirement the Chief of the Special Victims Unit
in New York City . She focuses her stories on Special Victims in the New York City
setting. She is a lawyer . She always includes historical content in her novels.

I have read a number of her novels and enjoyed them all .
I am a Native of New York City. So the historical content in each novel awakens
memories .
Members of Senior Net who have visited New York City would also enjoy the
Historical content .

She has just published a 2012 novel.
Try one of her novels . I believe you would enjoy the read .

JoanK · « **Reply #3697 on:** May 18, 2012, 03:24:01 PM »

I like Linda Fairstein, too. And I learn a lot from her books.

maryz · « **Reply #3698 on:** May 18, 2012, 03:39:34 PM »

I don't think I've read Fairstein. I've just gotten one of her books for my kindle. Thanks for the recommendation.

Babi · « **Reply #3699 on:** May 18, 2012, 05:31:31 PM »

Alan Bradley is a new name to me. My eyebrows go up at the idea of an 11-year old girl
chemist and mystery solver, but it sounds like it might be fun. Are you sure its' not
kid lit?
I'm sure I've read something by Linda Fairstein. I just don't remember what.

Tomereader1 · « **Reply #3700 on:** May 18, 2012, 06:44:41 PM »

definitely not "Kid Lit" - - the Flavia deLuce books.

mabel1015j · « **Reply #3701 on:** May 18, 2012, 07:23:52 PM »

I've read two Fairstein books. Lethal Legacy was an interesting story about rare books and the NYC library. Cold Hit was o.k., apparently one of a series abt a woman detective in NYC.

Steph · « **Reply #3702 on:** May 19, 2012, 06:16:54 AM »

I have read all of Fairstein and like her. She gives you so much information on various places in the city.. Flavia is more of a grown up sort of book. I like her very much though.
I am reading one of Ayelet Waldmans detective stories.. They are fun, altough the woman writes of a Mommy who carries being Mommy way too far.. Ayelet is married to Michael Chabon and has set off storms at one point with her essays on how much more her love for her husband is than her children.. Weird sort of lady, I suspect in read life. He is also a writer, but I truly dont like his style.

jeriron · « **Reply #3703 on:** May 19, 2012, 09:12:01 AM »

I've never read Linda Fairsteins books . Should the Alex Cooper series be read in order or can I start with anyone that I find.

rosemarykaye · « **Reply #3704 on:** May 19, 2012, 10:08:20 AM »

I started the first Flavia de Luce book and just couldn't get on with it. Maybe I was just in the wrong mood and should try it again.

This morning I finished 'The Darling Dahlias & the Cucumber Tree' by Susan Wittig Albert. I really enjoyed it, mostly for the characters, and also for the wonderful small town Alabama setting. As a non-American (you can all correct me if I'm wrong!), it seemed to me that Wittig fed in details about Southern life in the 1930s really well - at no point did I feel 'lectured', but I picked up a lot of fascinating background about the era and the way people lived then.

For those who haven't read it, the Dahlias are the members of a gardening club in the town of Darling. They have inherited a small house from a deceased member, and are going to use it as their HQ, but they need money to do it up, and nobody has any. Most of the members work in various small businesses in the town, many of which are struggling in the dire economic times. When a girl who works in the local drugstore dies in the wreck of a stolen car, Lizzy and Verna, two of the club members, can't believe that Bunny caused her own death, and decide to do a bit of investigating of their own. Their enquiries lead them to unearth various other goings-on in the town before the mystery is finally unravelled.

Loved it, and hope Albert is going to write more in this series.

Rosemary

FlaJean · « **Reply #3705 on:** May 19, 2012, 01:22:23 PM »

Rosemarykaye, Albert has three listed on her website.

1. The Darling Dahlias and the Cucumber Tree
2. The Darling Dahlias and the Naked Ladies
3. The Darling Dahlias and the Confederate Rose (coming in Sep. 2012)

I've read the first two and am looking forward to her third. I was born and raised in the south (1936) and I would say she is "right on" in her 30s portrait of the south because it is so much like the early 40s which I remember so well.

JoanK · « **Reply #3706 on:** May 19, 2012, 02:13:44 PM »

Rosemarykaye: you aren't the only one who is learning from the "darling dahlias". As a Northerner who always lived in cities or suburbs, I'm learning about life in the small town South, too.

mabel1015j · « **Reply #3707 on:** May 19, 2012, 09:58:04 PM »

I liked DD and the Cucumber Tree also and am looking forward to the other two.

Steph · « **Reply #3708 on:** May 20, 2012, 06:19:07 AM »

I have the Dahlias in my TBR file. I love her China Bayles series, hated the rabbit ones and dont like the series she and her husband do, so have not picked it up just yet.

JeanneP · « **Reply #3709 on:** May 20, 2012, 01:36:21 PM »

Now that I read of Susan Wittig Albert being from just a few miles from me. (7) Bismark, Illinois. I will read her books. Never heard it mentioned. She was raised on a small farm and went to a smaller school than my 2 daughters did.
Always glad to see locals do well.

Steph · « **Reply #3710 on:** May 21, 2012, 06:01:09 AM »

I loved regional authors. When we went to Alaska all those years ago, I stumbled on John Strahle.. Wow.. I fell in love. He lives in Alaska and writes to well about the area as does Dana Stabenow, but she is a national figure..Linda Barnes does Boston so well and of course Sharon McCrumb owns those mountains in North Carolina.. Fun to read for sure.

marcie · « **Reply #3711 on:** May 21, 2012, 10:25:12 AM »

Thanks for all of the comments about the Flavia deLuce books.

I've seen a lot of Linda Fairstein books in thrift stores but haven't read any. Now I'll have to try one.

nlhome · « **Reply #3712 on:** May 21, 2012, 11:26:26 AM »

I too have started the Darling book - the first one - but got waylaid by obligations. Hope to finish it before it's due at the library - I had to use inter-library loan, so it can't be renewed. I enjoy reading about that era.

pedln · « **Reply #3713 on:** May 21, 2012, 11:05:17 PM »

I think I've read about three or four of Linda Fairstein's books. All enjoyable, with lots of information about New York City. While searching to see which of hers I've read, in addition to Final Jeopardy, I came across this Ben Stein eulogy of Fairstein's husband, Justin Feldman. While it focuses on her husband, the article also has much of Fairstein's background.

Fairstein and Feldman

rosemarykaye · « **Reply #3714 on:** May 22, 2012, 03:06:37 AM »

Now started The Retribution by Val McDermid. I've never read any of hers before, they are not at all 'cosy'. I thought I would give her a try as she is on Twitter (my new fad...) and she is a genuinely friendly and funny person. So far I am enjoying the book, it's very well written and fast moving. It's about a special police unit set up to track serial killers. There are so far two plot lines - one, a suspected serial killer who has murdered three prostitutes, and two, an escaped prisoner who is a violent but charismatic ex TV star killer of young girls (and anyone else who stands in his way.) I am wondering if this is a follow-up to another one of her books, as the second killer is seeking revenge on the people who put him away in the first place - but it certainly reads fine as a stand-alone too.

McDermid does a lot of the book festivals here; I have seen her on TV but I would be interested to hear her speak live.

Am burying myself in mysteries partly as an escape from Anna's exams, which otherwise threaten to engulf the entire household in gloom and doom

Also, Madeleine is away in France for 5 weeks (she chose a good time), but she has been very homesick and we have had some tearful phone calls, I worry about her a lot, so I need something to take my mind off it. They will spend the last week (first week of June) in Paris as a class with their teacher, so I think she will enjoy that more - it's the living with the French host family that she finds difficult as she is so shy.

Rosemary

JoanK · « **Reply #3715 on:** May 22, 2012, 02:50:35 PM »

It looks like "The retribution is the seventh in a series: the first is "The Mermaids Singing. And she wrote other series as well. if you like her, looks like you've got lots of reading ahead.

http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/m/val-mcdermid/

Sounds like your daughter's host family doesn't know how to make her feel at home. It's a shame.

mabel1015j · « **Reply #3716 on:** May 23, 2012, 05:12:35 PM »

Hadn't read any Mary Higgins Clarke for awhile, so picked up The Nighttime is My Time, a pretty good mystery. It has a interesting collection of characters, four of whom might be the murderer and she keeps you guessing til the end.

Jean

rosemarykaye · « **Reply #3717 on:** May 24, 2012, 03:18:54 AM »

Thanks Joan. I don't think I would read all the McDermids without a break - i am enjoying this one but it's a bit gruesome for me, think I need a few cosies in between!

As for Madeleine, i think it's partly the French family and partly her. She's very shy and finds it hard to fit in - and the family has a teenager + two very young children, who no doubt take up a huge amount of their time. The mother speaks no English, the father does but is away a lot for work. I imagine they may think that M is being a sulky 14 year old, but as her mother I know she is just mortified by the whole thing - she is in fact the only one of my 3 who does not sulk! When I went to France at the same age I was living with a family who spoke no English at all, and I was not with my school - it was a private exchange arranged through a work colleague of my mother. Although i was v homesick, I was good at languages and loved French and the French way of life. I came back fluent (sadly that's long gone...). I think M has just hidden away and tried to say as little as possible. Her father is cross with her for 'not making an effort' but I know she just won't be able to bring herself to socialise. Oh well - at least she is seeing her school friends each weekday, and she does get on well with the other girls, so that's something. I'll be glad to see her back.

Rosemary

Babi · « **Reply #3718 on:** May 24, 2012, 08:28:29 AM »

I'm sure she'll be glad to be back, ROSEMARY. Madeleine will find her stride in her own
time. Be sure and tell her so. (And maybe her father, too.

JeanneP · « **Reply #3719 on:** May 24, 2012, 06:11:30 PM »

I was never very good at staying away from Home. Parents tried. Went to camps 3 times during summer break. First one . Was up in the Yorkshire moors. Was fine until time to put PJs on. In the Dark. all asleep I snook away. Walked the way I though was home. Next morning Police found me after parents were called. Was about 9. Next I stayed a few days and parents came to get me. 3rd they tried me at same one as Elder brother. That was by the Sea which I love. Did stay 2 weeks but had my Aunt not lived close I don't think would have done it. They Quit trying. I couldn't even as a teenager stay overnight at girlfriends. Sort of got out of it at about age 20. I still don't care to stay long even with family. However I have traveled a lot, many hotels and that I am fine with.

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Author Topic: Mystery Corner ~ 2 (Read 897953 times)