Author Topic: Mystery Corner ~ 2 (Read 910552 times)

JoanK · « **Reply #4160 on:** September 01, 2012, 09:47:23 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

A new Louise Penny has just come out: "A Beautiful Mystery". I ordered a sample for my kindle.

maryz · « **Reply #4161 on:** September 01, 2012, 09:49:50 PM »

Steph, what's the name of the new JPBeaumont you just read?

Babi · « **Reply #4162 on:** September 02, 2012, 09:07:32 AM »

Of course. I should have realized that, shouldn't I, GINNY? When the perfect solution falls in place, when the absolutely
only possible correct answer to the crossword clue arises, why, of course you know it with perfect conviction.

Steph · « **Reply #4163 on:** September 02, 2012, 09:44:44 AM »

Simon Brett..now that is an alias for someone who wrote under maybe five different names. It will come to me.. But I think that at least one of his alias wrote locked room type.. I love them.. I just finished a John
Sanford..not the Lucas, but the other detective.. It had a very very nice twist about how a bomb got somewhere odd.

dbroomsc · « **Reply #4164 on:** September 02, 2012, 11:41:04 AM »

I don't know what other names Simon Brett may have used. Some years ago, I taught a program on Senior Sleuths (over 60) and found Simon Brett's Mrs. Pargeter series a delight. Mrs. Pargeter is the widow of a thief. He has left her well off financially and his many friends/ associates are at her service. Mrs. Pargeter does not deal in anything illegal, but if she needs help, she is not above calling on Mr. Pargeter's friends for assistance. I think there were five or six books in the series.

FlaJean · « **Reply #4165 on:** September 02, 2012, 12:19:20 PM »

My husband and I read all of the Mrs. Pargeter series and really enjoyed them.

ginny · « **Reply #4166 on:** September 02, 2012, 08:41:10 PM »

Oh I had forgotten the Pargeter. Loved it. When you look up Simon Brett, he's alive, apparently 67, and quite handsome and is that a twinkle in his eye? From Surrey, England. An Oxford graduate. Apparently he writes for TV too./

They have quite a list of his books. I'd like to try another one (Have read all the Pargeter). He seemed for a while to be quite interested in the theater.

His website is charming in his allusion to a wood carver by the same name: http://www.simonbrett.com/

It doesn't say he has a pen name but another site might. he mentions the "Fethering" series; I think I read one and enjoyed it. Check this out, it must be new, I have never heard of Blotto and Twinks, but it sounds great fun:

Quote

Due to financial hardships at Tawcester Towers, the Dowager Duchess has decreed that the only way the family fortunes can be restored is to marry Blotto off... to an American! So begins the fourth adventure in the Blotto and Twinks series, and this time the aristocratic sleuthing siblings end up being transported across the Pond to the gangster-ridden hell-hole that is Prohibition Chicago. Reluctantly, Blotto, together with Twinks and his trusty chauffeur Corky Froggett set sail on ocean liner S/S His Majesty. He feels like a condemned man as awaiting him in Illinois is fabulously wealthy heiress Mary Chapstick, the only daughter of meat-packing magnate Hiram P. Chapstick III. But it's Twinks who discovers early on that all is not as it seems and that Hiram P. Chapstick III is in fact up to his neck in a bootlegging operation run....

It sounds like Bertie Wooster and Jeeves, I may see if any of this series are available here.

JoanK · « **Reply #4167 on:** September 02, 2012, 08:53:21 PM »

Mrs Pargeter sounds great. According to FF, the first in the series is "A Nice Class of Corpse."

Dean: sounds like a wonderful program. Who (whom?) else did you include? I hope Mrs. Polifax was there, although technically, she's a spy, not a detective.

rosemarykaye · « **Reply #4168 on:** September 03, 2012, 05:04:05 AM »

Jean - that is such a great idea for a course! I will suggest it to my library lady for the new book group - getting a bit frustrated at the moment, and she seems to want to turn it into the standard 'we all read a book and then discuss it' thing (of which there are already dozens in this area), whereas I thought we'd agreed to have themed meetings and just to talk about books, rather than all focus on the same one. hey ho!

MaryPage · « **Reply #4169 on:** September 03, 2012, 07:23:33 AM »

Don't forget Dorothy Gilman and her Mrs. Pollifax.

Also Charlotte MacLeod. Her mysteries were so funny.

Steph · « **Reply #4170 on:** September 03, 2012, 08:12:45 AM »

Charlotte McCloud.. Hmm. she wrote or writes two different series. I love the Max one, bu tnot so much the one at the ag college

Babi · « **Reply #4171 on:** September 03, 2012, 08:31:16 AM »

I checked out Simon Brett on Fantastic Fiction. He has been an amazingly prolific author, including drama and non-fiction, but nothing is listed under an alternative name.

dbroomsc · « **Reply #4172 on:** September 03, 2012, 10:30:21 AM »

I did not distinguish between detective and spy. And yes I included Dorothy Gilman’s Mrs. Polifax. Also both of Agatha Christie’s aging sleuths, Miss Marple and Hercule Poirot were included. I had a list of about 65 senior sleuths from which to choose such as: Peter Abresch’s Elderhostel sleuths Jim Dandy and Dodee Swisher, Nancy Bell’s Biggie Weatherford, D. B. Borton’s Cat Caliban, Jeanne Dams’ Dorothy Martin, Anne George’s Patricia Anne Hollowell and Mary Alice Crane, Sherry Lewis’s Fred Vickery, Carolyn Hart’s Henrietta O’Dwyer Collins (Henrie “O”) and Elliott Roosevelt’s Eleanor Roosevelt. I discovered Charlotte MacLeod's Peter Shandy later especially enjoyed "Rest You Merry.

JoanK · « **Reply #4173 on:** September 03, 2012, 08:10:41 PM »

Good list! I hadn't thought of Anne George and her Southern Sisters books for awhile. Since my sister is visiting, maybe it's time to revisit them. (Hmmm which sister am I?)

i'm only familiar with about half of those. So many mysteries, so little time!

rosemarykaye · « **Reply #4174 on:** September 04, 2012, 04:02:19 AM »

Golly, I hadn't heard of any of them

As you say Joan, so little time....

A British one that I like is Hazel Holt. Her amateur sleuth is Sheila Malory, and needless to say, everything takes place in an English village...

Rosemary

dbroomsc · « **Reply #4175 on:** September 04, 2012, 06:59:27 AM »

Hazel Holt's Sheila Malory was on my list. Love her books. As I remember, Sheila Malory is a writer of literary criticism in Taviscombe, England.

Steph · « **Reply #4176 on:** September 04, 2012, 08:23:38 AM »

No, I checked out Simon Brett and he is not the author who had so many books under so many different names.. Thought he was, but Oh well.. Just finished another Sneaky Pie and Harry Mysteries.This one was a tad medical. Makes you wonder who had breast cancer, since Rita Mae loves to write about her life and what is happenig.

Babi · « **Reply #4177 on:** September 04, 2012, 09:04:23 AM »

Would you believe?: a South African writer, Mrs. Mary Faulkner, who wrote 904 books under six pen names. Lauren Paine, mostly Western paperbacks, 850+ books. Perhaps you were thinking of
Georges Simenon, STEPH. He wrote over 500 books, over 300 of them under 17 pen names.
(Amazing what can be found on-line.)

rosemarykaye · « **Reply #4178 on:** September 04, 2012, 10:00:14 AM »

Dean, yes, I'm sure that's what Sheila Malory does, although I haven't read one for a while. And did you know that Hazel Holt is Barbara Pym's literary executor? They were close friends for many years and worked together.

Rosemary

MaryPage · « **Reply #4179 on:** September 04, 2012, 01:11:09 PM »

I thought Charlotte MacLeod's "REST YOU MERRY" was one of the most enjoyable books I ever read. Period. I still hug myself with delight when I think of it.

I think you have to have a lot of English blood, as do I, and a good sense of the ridiculous to love that book as much as I did.

ginny · « **Reply #4180 on:** September 04, 2012, 01:16:23 PM »

And isn't Hazel Holt the mother of Tom Holt who wrote the two sequels to Mapp and Lucia? I seem to remember on one of the Benson Society's notes that he wrote them at her request. He was good, too, he should not have stopped.

dbroomsc · « **Reply #4181 on:** September 04, 2012, 02:45:01 PM »

Rosemary: No, I did not know Hazel Holt was Barbara Pym's literary executor. What a marvelous friendship that must have been. I just read Barbara Pym's "Quartet in Autumn" last month. Read "Excellent Women" a few years back as a book club selection. Enjoyed both.

Ginny: I did not know of the mother/son relationship of Hazel Holt and Tom Holt. Obviously literary talent runs in the family

MaryPage: If you liked Charlotte MacLeod's "Rest You Merry" try "Exit the Milkman." It is almost as good.

rosemarykaye · « **Reply #4182 on:** September 05, 2012, 03:38:51 AM »

Dean - earlier this year I attended the Barbara Pym Society conference at Harvard, and we were shown some wonderful film of Hazel and Barbara's sister Hilary chatting about Barbara shortly after her death. Hazel was immensely glamorous and v upper class. We were then shown some recent film of Hilary in her Devon home, talking again about Barbara. It was a bit of a shock to see how much she had aged - made us all gasp at the thought of our own mortality I think! - but she was still completely 'on the ball' and very interesting.

Rosemary

Steph · « **Reply #4183 on:** September 05, 2012, 08:10:50 AM »

I have been reading an old Margaret Maron of Sigrid.. Amazing how her writing style has matured over the years. Sigid is a pale pale character when you think of the Judge.. Hmm.

Babi · « **Reply #4184 on:** September 05, 2012, 09:00:01 AM »

Love Charlotte MacLeod, and "Rest You Merry". I don't believe I've read "Exit the Milkman", so I
appreciate the tip. I'm also greatly enjoying "Keeper of Lost Causes". Carl Morck is a very complicated
character; I'm constantly having to readjust my view of him.

pedln · « **Reply #4185 on:** September 05, 2012, 11:58:04 AM »

Dean, thanks for posting that list. I think you're about ready to make me break my vow of not buying any more books for a while. It's been years since I read a Peter Abresch (JIm Dand) and Anne George (Southern Sisters)

I'd love to take a class on Senior Sleuths, or, as someone was wishing here (you, JOanK?), have a themed discusssion for f2f groups, rather than everyone reading the same book.

I don't think I could name 65 Senior Sleuths, but dean, did you by any chance include Patricia Sprinkle (Maclaren Yarbrough -- thoroughly Southern mysteries). I've only read one in that series, though there are about 10 -- When Did We Lose Harriet?. But what i've kept for years is Sprinkle's article in Presbyterians Today -- "What Have You Learned Lately?" -- about never being too old to master something new.

Quote

We sat on his front porch overlooking his newly mown fields. "I didn't know you rolled your own hay," I said, "I thought you baled it." . . . . .
"Always did, until this fall. But I decided to try rolling it, and I liked it better than baling. Wish I'd tried it sooner." . . . . That was the year he was 91. He went up in a hot air balloon on his 90th birthday. At 88 he took his first plane flight -- from Georgia to Hawaii because his wife wanted to see an orchid show. He grew older, but he never grew old.

dbroomsc · « **Reply #4186 on:** September 05, 2012, 02:37:22 PM »

I don't find Patricia Sprinkle on my list. However, I must have included her in my presentation because the setting for the MacLaren Yarbrough stories is in the area of Georgia where I was born--I would not have omitted that fact. I have read all of the MacLaren Yarbrough books, I think there are ten in the series, but none of Sprinkle's other books. I had help from a very friendly librarian (don't you love them) and the web site Stop Your Killing Me in finding this list.

JoanK · « **Reply #4187 on:** September 05, 2012, 02:41:28 PM »

"I had help from a very friendly librarian (don't you love them)" You bet: they're my heroines. My mother was a VFL and met my father that way.

Steph · « **Reply #4188 on:** September 06, 2012, 08:27:52 AM »

Sprinkle writes a wide variety of books. I have read MacLaren, but also some of her other heroines. One of them is the daughter of a diplomat and now lives in the south.. All in all an interesting writer.
I would love an elder hostel on senior sleuths.. Hmm, wonder if they have a suggestion box.

Babi · « **Reply #4189 on:** September 06, 2012, 08:53:57 AM »

I'm sure I've read Patricia Sprinkle, but it must have been a good while ago as I don't remember the
book(s). I'll have to pick up another and see how I like them now.

dbroomsc · « **Reply #4190 on:** September 06, 2012, 09:36:52 AM »

Joan K How romantic, your mother meeting your father in the library.

MaryPage · « **Reply #4191 on:** September 06, 2012, 11:04:44 AM »

I have read every book Charlotte MacLeod has written, and love her sense of humor and intricate plots.

When a writer entertains me as joyfully as she, I take the trouble to find all of that author's books and read them. This habit has enriched the hours of my life immeasurably.

mabel1015j · « **Reply #4192 on:** September 06, 2012, 03:21:16 PM »

I've just read the first of Mary R.Rinehart's mysteries from a collection that was free for the Kindle on Amazon. (i have it on the ipad) It held up very nicely for a book written at the beginning of the 20th century. In fact that may have made it more entertaining. It wasn't compelling reading. I could pick it up and put it down at intervals, but i enjoyed it. I'm looking forward to reading the rest of them.

Jean

JoanK · « **Reply #4193 on:** September 06, 2012, 08:21:29 PM »

I have the same collection. i'll have to read some more.

Babi · « **Reply #4194 on:** September 07, 2012, 08:31:43 AM »

I finished "Keeper of Lost Causes" and highly recommend it. Unfortunately, while "The Litigators"
amused me at first, and much as I sympathized with the character who jumped ship on the big soul-
killing firm, the continuous dollar-chasing and sleaze wore me down. Got tired of the whole thing.

Steph · « **Reply #4195 on:** September 07, 2012, 08:34:49 AM »

Found a Sarah Shaber I had not read.. So started that one.. The Professor is about to leap into helping a convict prove innocence or guilt..

marjifay · « **Reply #4196 on:** September 07, 2012, 02:57:08 PM »

I'd never heard of Sarah Shaber, Steph. But her Louise's War sounds good. I'll give it a try.

I'm reading a good one from one of my favorite thriller authors, David Baldacci. About a government hit man with a conscience. If you can swallow that (and it's such a page turner, i had no problem with it). The people he's sent to nail are usually bad guys. But this time, he is sent to get rid of a government employee who turns out to be a woman with two young children. He refuses to kill her, and then becomes a target himself from his own people. It sure has kept me interested enough that I've almost forgotten this yucky hot weather.

Marj

mabel1015j · « **Reply #4197 on:** September 07, 2012, 04:43:16 PM »

Finished The Circular Staircase by Mary R. Rinehart. My previous post about it is still accurate, except i would say that it is overly long compared to a lot of present day mysteries. She does a lot of repeating the questions of the mystery and recounting what is known, keeping the reader up-to-date. Otherwise as i said, some of the early 20th century idiocyncrises are rather quaint and she has some good humor, very similar to the Miss Julia character.

Jean

mabel1015j · « **Reply #4198 on:** September 08, 2012, 12:12:50 AM »

Found this info in a Goodread review of The Circular Staircase.......

"Although her name may not resonate with the public today as much as it did a century ago, Mary Roberts Rinehart has most certainly left her mark on modern-day fiction. The originator of the so-called "Had I But Known" school of detective writing, Rinehart was, for many years, the most highly paid and popular female novelist in America. Her second novel (but first to be published), "The Circular Staircase," which was released in 1908, when Mary was 32, featured a relatively new kind of crime solver, a no-nonsense spinster in long skirts and with an abiding curiosity; though certainly not the first lady detective, the character, Rachel Innes, certainly helped pave the way for many others (the website Wikipedia currently has a list of almost 400 fictional female sleuths!). "The Circular Staircase" has been turned into a film on three occasions, and in 1920 was transformed into a play, written by Rinehart and Avery Hopwood, called "The Bat"; Batman creator Bob Kane has admitted that the Bat character was an inspiration for him. Want more? Roberts' 1930 novel "The Door" is thought to be the source for "the butler doing it." (Perhaps I should add here that the classic 1946 film "The Spiral Staircase" is in no way related to Rinehart's book, but was rather based on Ethel Lina White's 1933 novel "Some Must Watch.") Despite these influences and past fame, however, Rinehart was an unknown quantity to this reader, until I happened to read a very laudatory article on "The Circular Staircase" in the overview volume "Crime & Mystery: The 100 Best Books," in which author H.R.F. Keating sings its praises. Fortunately, Rinehart's classic (in addition to the author's first novel, 1906's "The Man In Lower Ten") is in print today to entertain still another generation of readers.

Steph · « **Reply #4199 on:** September 08, 2012, 08:29:43 AM »

I read her when a teen.. Possibly my first mysterieis other than Nancy Drew. She did some interesting things, although when I reread them, they move quite slowly. Still good though.
Sarah Shaber is fun. Her little professor is a hoot.. An interesting man indeed. When a student would have loved that sort of professor.

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Author Topic: Mystery Corner ~ 2 (Read 910552 times)