Author Topic: Mystery Corner ~ 2 (Read 910218 times)

nlhome · « **Reply #4840 on:** February 18, 2013, 02:17:08 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

I struggled very hard with a Carol O'Connell book, Dead Famous. I started with that one because I found it for a quarter at a book sale and our library has none of her books. I started it twice, about 6 months apart, thinking the 2nd time I'd get into it. Just could not. Very dark and sad. So I gave it back for the book sale.

Steph · « **Reply #4841 on:** February 19, 2013, 06:22:16 AM »

I think the first one might be Mallorys Oracle.. But yes I have read them all and enjoy them.. And when I read the Dragon Tattoo,, I did think of Mallory

mabel1015j · « **Reply #4842 on:** February 19, 2013, 11:13:02 AM »

I'm just about 40 pages into the o'connell book. For me, Mallory has a similarity to Robb's Eve Dallas without the humanity of Eve. Now remember, that's just from a brief, superficial look. Their strange behavior/personalities/childhood makes them more interesting, i suppose, then say "The Closer" who seems to have had a normal childhood and other women sleuths.

Jean

JoanK · « **Reply #4843 on:** February 19, 2013, 06:46:06 PM »

I joined yahoo's 4 mystery addicts, but I can't figure out how to join the discussions.

marjifay · « **Reply #4844 on:** February 19, 2013, 08:55:42 PM »

JoanK, to post a message at 4_Mystery_Addicts (and most Yahoo groups), at the far left of the messages page or their homepage website, is a list of links. Click on "post," type your message, then click "send."

Also, at the end of each message are several links. Click on "reply to group" and you can post your message.

Marj

Steph · « **Reply #4845 on:** February 20, 2013, 06:11:36 AM »

I just joined Goodreads.com and am in one of the book groups, but it is so disjointed, I don't think I will keep it up.. No discussions, just book after book and three or four word comments. I like ours, we drag it out , shake it and make sure we each get a word in on how we feel. Much more fun.

Frybabe · « **Reply #4846 on:** February 20, 2013, 07:15:35 AM »

Steph, GoodReads wasn't for me either. I stuck it out for a couple of months, mostly because I had "won" a book. The deal is that if you are picked to receive a free book, you read it and write a review of it. I found a group from this area and posted, but no one else ever showed up. I was contacted by someone from this area and I responded, but after that initial contact, nothing. Why too many discussion groups with little of substance to say.

I took a quick look at the Yahoo discussion group list. Again way too many groups to wade through right now. I'll try again later. I'd like to find an ancient history group.

marjifay · « **Reply #4847 on:** February 20, 2013, 08:30:22 AM »

A great Goodreads group is the Constant Reader group. They discuss two short stories each month and two fiction books (March reads will be Thomas Hardy's The Mayor of Casterbridge and Louise Erdrich's Round House). And their discussions are interesting, not just "I liked it" or "I didn't like it" remarks.

They discuss a wide variety of topics, including movies, books members are reading, poetry and other topics of interest to folks who love to read.

I joined an Historical Fiction group, but quit, as they mostly just pushed their own books they had written.

Marj

Frybabe · « **Reply #4848 on:** February 20, 2013, 09:38:50 AM »

I remember Constant Reader, but I don't remember if I joined it.

JoanK · « **Reply #4849 on:** February 20, 2013, 03:28:29 PM »

Thanks, Marg. I saw your name somewhere.

Steph · « **Reply #4850 on:** February 21, 2013, 02:33:54 PM »

Hardy? Ugh.. I don't think so.. Could not find a straight mystery group or a fantasy one that I liked.

Babi · « **Reply #4851 on:** February 22, 2013, 09:26:22 AM »

Hardy's books are rather dreary, aren't they? It's like an artist who paints in somber grays and black, with perhaps a bit of white for contrast.

Steph · « **Reply #4852 on:** February 23, 2013, 06:33:03 AM »

I used to be convinced that Hardy suffered from depression, at least his books always seemed that way.. Now I read for pleasure and sometimes to learn, but not anyone who pulls me down.

JoanK · « **Reply #4853 on:** February 23, 2013, 04:44:49 PM »

"Now I read for pleasure and sometimes to learn, but not anyone who pulls me down."

You got that right!

Steph · « **Reply #4854 on:** February 24, 2013, 06:24:14 AM »

I used to love the moody moody fiction that makes everyone into a complicated human, but now more and more, I want things that make me smile.. and think, but pleasant thoughts.

Babi · « **Reply #4855 on:** February 24, 2013, 09:36:28 AM »

I think a lot of us feel that way. Maybe it's one of the perks of old age. We don't feel we
need to read all the 'important' books. Peace, quiet, a few laughs or an intriguing mystery.
As much as possible 'upbeat'.
I am relaxing now with one of the Dorothy Cannell mysteries, "The Thin Woman". How bold!
Allowing an overweight woman to be the heroine! How many of those do you find in fiction?
Good for Ms. Cannell.

JoanK · « **Reply #4856 on:** February 24, 2013, 02:55:05 PM »

" Maybe it's one of the perks of old age. We don't feel we
need to read all the 'important' books. Peace, quiet, a few laughs or an intriguing mystery."

So true.

Steph · « **Reply #4857 on:** February 25, 2013, 06:14:57 AM »

Read a Nora Blackbird mystery yesterday. Light and interesting.. in a Philadelphia sort of way.I lived close for three years when married and had two small children. An interesting city.. The boys loved the area around the Liberty Bell and Liberty park, the Zoo and the Museum..

marjifay · « **Reply #4858 on:** March 03, 2013, 09:15:28 AM »

I just finished a great book, SUSPECT, by Robert Crais. This is a stand-alone, not one of his series with Elvis Cole. One of the best books I've read in the last couple of months. I'm not a dog-lover, but I loved Maggie, the German Shepherd, a former military dog, who was wounded in Afghanistan when her beloved handler was killed by a sniper. Scott James, a Los Angeles police officer is reassigned to the K9 division after his partner Stephanie is killed and he is severely wounded during a confrontation with some bad guys. Both Scott and Maggie suffer from a kind of post traumatic stress syndrome from their experiences. Scott is paired with Maggie, and they make a terrific couple, who bond, help each other recover, and work to find the man who killed Stephanie.

Marj

MaryPage · « **Reply #4859 on:** March 03, 2013, 11:59:00 AM »

I am still reading Julia Spencer-Fleming. I am on her 6th book in the Reverend Clare Fergusson series. The 7th book is called ONE WAS A SOLDIER. This female Episcopalian priest/sleuth goes to Iraq as a helicopter pilot and comes home pretty messed up emotionally from having killed so many of the enemy. I find Spencer-Fleming one of the very best mystery writers EVER; and I don't think there are many I have not at least tried; especially among the women authors.

marjifay · « **Reply #4860 on:** March 03, 2013, 12:51:55 PM »

I agree, MaryPage, that Julia Spencer-Fleming's books are good. I've read the first two and have her third, OUT OF THE DEEP I CRY, on hold at the library. It will be discussed in the Yahoo group, Women Mystery Writers, in March.

(While she writes well, I'd put a few ahead of her in that rarified category of best writers: Robert Crais, Lee Child, James Lee Burke, P.D. James, and Lawrence Block, for example. But that's just my opinion.)

Marj

MaryPage · « **Reply #4861 on:** March 03, 2013, 02:25:15 PM »

I like her MUCH better than any of those. I imagine it is a matter of what you are looking for. Her way of thinking, the part of the country she is writing about, and her sleuth are all much to my taste. My ancestors lived in that area, or just a bit north of it. and I have a lot of Episcopalian priests in my background, as well. Including a female first cousin who attended the same seminary as Clare Fergusson. So I really think it is a matter of whom we identify with. The author, like me, is an army brat. Oh, I could go on and on with my connection points!

JoanK · « **Reply #4862 on:** March 03, 2013, 03:38:06 PM »

A week ago, BABI posted here " Maybe it's one of the perks of old age. We don't feel we need to read all the 'important' books. Peace, quiet, a few laughs or an intriguing mystery."

Like much of what she said over the years, I really related to that. I had no way of knowing that I wouldn't hear her voice again. I hope that wherever she has gone on to a new life, it is full of peace, quiet, a few laughs, and even an intriguing mystery

Dana · « **Reply #4863 on:** March 03, 2013, 07:36:26 PM »

Oh well, I agree. I liked her style a lot. Unfortunately I don't think we go anywhere . Pity. I always say , my idea of heaven is a big tv where I can watch the next few thousand years unfolding (and flip back to the past when I get bored)

Steph · « **Reply #4864 on:** March 04, 2013, 06:20:20 AM »

Spencer -Fleming gets better with each book. Some authors don't, but she knows just what buttons to push. an Interesting writer indeed.
I think we might exist later as a pure spirit and I can just see Babi listening in on our discussions and smiling.

MaryPage · « **Reply #4865 on:** March 04, 2013, 07:29:02 AM »

I am one who wishes rather desperately that I believed we are immortal beings and that I will be reunited with my Bob. Unfortunately, I just don't see it. It makes no sense against the reality of Physics and the universe. Fortunately, I think we know nothing whatsoever forever and ever after death. That, in itself, is a kind of present: no more anxiety, worries, concerns, physical failures and pain.

JoanK · « **Reply #4866 on:** March 04, 2013, 03:39:47 PM »

Here is trhe link to the memorial page for Babi. Thanks to those of you who posted. I know when my husband died, the collection that was sent to me meant the world to me.

http://seniorlearn.org/forum/index.php?topic=3747.0

Steph · « **Reply #4867 on:** March 05, 2013, 06:14:22 AM »

I wish we were immortal, but I truly think we are pure spirits and hang about a bit, but soon leave and merge with the rest of the universe..The first year after my husband died, over and over in my worst moments, it seemed as if something loving and caring with be with me..but now he is much more of a loving and gentle memory.

Frybabe · « **Reply #4868 on:** March 05, 2013, 06:59:48 AM »

I have the notion that since matter cannot be destroyed, but transforms into other forms/states, that we transform, or cross over as some say, into another state of existence.

JeanneP · « **Reply #4869 on:** March 05, 2013, 01:16:04 PM »

I have always remembered this saying. Since young. I believe in it.

"We are not Human Beings having a Spirtual Experience.
We are Spirits having a Human Experience.

MaryPage · « **Reply #4870 on:** March 05, 2013, 05:47:13 PM »

Then why is it that consciousness and memory die when the brain cells die? This is NOT asked to be confrontational, as I would dearly love proof otherwise. But the mind and the sense of being black out completely when the brain is no longer fed oxygen. And they do not exist, in full working condition, until sometime after birth.

I think Faith has to be just that; pure Faith. I had it when I was young, but life experience and reading have taught me I was wrong. I am ALL FOR people having Faith, however. I just ask the questions of others that I ask myself, with not an iota of hostility within my being.

mabel1015j · « **Reply #4871 on:** March 05, 2013, 06:15:01 PM »

I've started the first book of a new author, Internal Affairs by Connie Dial, a woman who has been an LAPD police officer for years. I'm liking the story very much. A detective finds a car belonging to the undercover division parked at the foot of his driveway when he goes out in the morning to jog. It's still there when he returns from his jog and he notices what looks like blood on the ground under the trunk. It turns out the body found in the trunk is a female cop with which he had a relationship a few years before?

She almost lost me in the first 30 pages by having about 20 characters showing up, all in the police dept at some level, i couldn't keep them all straight. That's obviously accurate in the working situation of a police dept, but difficult for the reader.

There is a group of five women at the levels of the hierarchy just under the Chief, which i'm sure are going to be important in the story.
Jean

Steph · « **Reply #4872 on:** March 06, 2013, 06:13:29 AM »

I would guess that the Learning ccompany course I am taking and the others I am interested in taking is because during Viet Nam, I lost all hope in the churches who seemed content with our young males going off to be killed in a country that did not want us there to help.. It is interesting and quite political how the books of the bible were picked or not and why.

marjifay · « **Reply #4873 on:** March 06, 2013, 10:00:02 AM »

Per Jean (re Internal Affairs by Connie Dial), "There is a group of five women at the levels of the hierarchy just under the Chief, which i'm sure are going to be important in the story."

Sounds like an good book, but also sounds as if the author is trying to be politically correct with so many high-ranking females. I just read Collateral Damage by Stuart Woods (a DNF) where the head of the CIA was a female as was the second in command. Oh, well, I suppose is could happen. Britain's former head of MIS was a female - Dame Stella Rimington, who now writes mysteries.

Marj

JoanK · « **Reply #4874 on:** March 06, 2013, 03:54:04 PM »

WOW! Two great leads, and I'm already approaching my book budget for the month.

Here's Rimington (former MI5 director). thanks for spelling her correctly -- I thought it was a mistake).

http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/r/stella-rimington/

JoanK · « **Reply #4875 on:** March 06, 2013, 03:57:32 PM »

And here is Connie Dial. Looks like she has four books out.

http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/d/connie-dial/

JoanK · « **Reply #4876 on:** March 06, 2013, 04:03:09 PM »

I got the latest Puzzle lady book by Parnell Hall out of the library "Arsenic and Old Puzzles" based on the movie "Arsenic and Old Lace" (remember that?) The problem is, I can't work the puzzle in a library book, and my copy machine is on the fritz. I tried to copy it by hand, and messed it up somehow. The copying is harder than the puzzle.

I notice Manny Novotsky, ex-Seniornetter, isn't doing the puzzles any more. (now, it's fred Piscop, also a NY Times regular). I hope he's all right. Does anyone know?

mabel1015j · « **Reply #4877 on:** March 06, 2013, 06:09:55 PM »

Thanks for the links, Joan, i hadn't gotten around to checking that yet. I'm glad to see Dial has other books, altho my library doesn't have them yet.

Marjifay, the book is set in LA, that's a pretty big police dept, so 5 women at the higher levels might not be stretching it, altho i'm sure Dial is thinking about her women readers.

ginny · « **Reply #4878 on:** March 06, 2013, 08:15:28 PM »

I haven't heard from Manny in a while, Joan, but I'll drop him a line and see if he's still doing OK.

marcie · « **Reply #4879 on:** March 06, 2013, 10:53:35 PM »

It looks like Manny was fine as of last September. See http://www.preshortzianpuzzleproject.com/2012/09/interview-with-legendary-manny-nosowsky.html

I think a notice would have been posted if anything was wrong. Ginny, please say "hi" to Manny for me.

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Author Topic: Mystery Corner ~ 2 (Read 910218 times)