Author Topic: Mystery Corner ~ 2 (Read 910425 times)

Steph · « **Reply #5400 on:** July 20, 2013, 08:43:45 AM »

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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!

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Discussion Leader: JoanK

My husband loved where we sailed, so last January, the yacht club and my sons and families ad I spread them on the Lake.Asked permission , but didnt need it.

maryz · « **Reply #5401 on:** July 20, 2013, 10:49:34 AM »

A friend's husband died a number of years ago. She wanted to spread his ashes on the lake they loved so much behind their house. She asked permission of the Corps of Engineers (it's a CofE lake), and was refused. So she and two Episcopal priests got in a boat and did it anyway. They didn't figure anybody would challenge a couple of priests. She has since died, and I'll bet her ashes are there, too.

JoanK · « **Reply #5402 on:** July 20, 2013, 04:10:34 PM »

I've been reading the Constable Evans mysteries by Rys Bowen. A small town in Wales, where almost everyone is named Evans (Evans the Post, Evans the Meat etc.) Our Constable (Evans the Law) is Evan Evans.

Lots of local color, and welsh phrases. The books are short: almost novellas. The library has tons of them.

The weakness is that Bowen has to keep importing people into the town to make a plot, or moving the plot outside.

JudeS · « **Reply #5403 on:** July 20, 2013, 05:53:22 PM »

If anyone likes mysteries set in foreign countries I would suggest Collin Cotterill's series set in Thailand. Very clever and funny: "The Coroner's Lunch" is the first of the series about an elderly Coroner who also has to solve the mysteries.
The author has now started a new series about a female reporter in Thailand :"Grandad, There's a Head on the Beach."

Although they take place in Thailand they are called cozies and the author has been compared to McCall-Smith.
Got these in my library-and hope they're in yours as well.

salan · « **Reply #5404 on:** July 20, 2013, 05:54:11 PM »

I really like Rhys Bowen's Molly Murphy series. I've read about 4 of them.
Sally

JoanK · « **Reply #5405 on:** July 20, 2013, 05:59:30 PM »

I really like Cotterill's coroner series. they are very funny, but also, somewhat dark, as they portray a dismal situation in Laos. They have a magic element, too.

Didn't know about the new series.

JoanK · « **Reply #5406 on:** July 20, 2013, 06:04:35 PM »

According to FF, "granddad" is the second in the new series: the first: Killed at the Whim of a Hat

http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/c/colin-cotterill/

JeanneP · « **Reply #5407 on:** July 20, 2013, 07:19:39 PM »

Mary's
I was thinking that if buried at sea you had to go so many miles out. Can't understand why.
I went to one here where his cabin was on the local river running into the Ill. Then into the Miss. He had plans for going
To NewOrleans that week and so we all told him to have Good trip. Sure dif.feeling than at the funeral homes.

maryz · « **Reply #5408 on:** July 20, 2013, 10:54:41 PM »

Jeanne, the water I was talking about is an inland lake. I like the idea of your friend's "trip" to New Orleans.

FlaJean · « **Reply #5409 on:** July 21, 2013, 09:24:14 AM »

Thanks for mentioning Colin Cotterill's new series. I really enjoyed Dr. Siri. Our library had stopped ordering his newer books. I'll have to look and see what B&N has.

Steph · « **Reply #5410 on:** July 21, 2013, 09:36:38 AM »

Our Yacht club had several lawyers, they checked all sorts of laws and said.. scatter, noone cares, but they dont advertise it If the lake is small and belongs to the homeowners you must g permission from each landowner, but this was a large lake.
I dont like the Molly series, but may try the other one.

Frybabe · « **Reply #5411 on:** July 22, 2013, 01:06:19 PM »

I am in the middle of reading a mystery called Backyard Bones by Nancy Lynn Jarvis. The amateur sleuth and her husband are real estate brokers somewhere near the coast of California. I like the main character, a person who tends to be upbeat and cheerful, and I like the author's easy writing style.

Steph · « **Reply #5412 on:** July 23, 2013, 08:41:48 AM »

Will look her up. I love upbeat mysteries.

JoanK · « **Reply #5413 on:** July 23, 2013, 12:20:07 PM »

I read "Backyard Bones" last night (couldn't sleep) and enjoyed it. Got another one for later.

Meanwhile, the Molly Murphy by Bowen is better than I thought. Just slow to get started.

Steph · « **Reply #5414 on:** July 24, 2013, 09:01:48 AM »

I cannot seem to catch up. Time is an enemy of mine this summer. or maybe I am getting slower ( hmm, oh well).

salan · « **Reply #5415 on:** July 24, 2013, 04:13:37 PM »

I am reading The Rope by Nevada Barr. It was published in 2012 and says it is a prequel to the Anna Pigeon books. It has been quite a while since I read Barr; and I am enjoying this one. I have read almost of her earlier Anna Pigeon books, but haven't read any for quite a while. I'm glad that I checked this one out.
Sally

JoanK · « **Reply #5416 on:** July 24, 2013, 05:50:49 PM »

SALAN: I'm glad you did too. I didn't know about it.

Steph · « **Reply #5417 on:** July 25, 2013, 08:56:01 AM »

I have
The Rope, but have never started it. She had gotten so graphic, that I stopped enjoyin Anna.. Too much torture, etc. But Iwill try again.

maryz · « **Reply #5418 on:** July 25, 2013, 11:25:28 AM »

Also, Anna's getting a little too "long in the tooth" for that type of escapade.

JoanK · « **Reply #5419 on:** July 25, 2013, 04:17:53 PM »

True! But I gather this is a prequel, when she was still "short in the tooth."

maryz · « **Reply #5420 on:** July 25, 2013, 07:04:17 PM »

Steph · « **Reply #5421 on:** July 26, 2013, 08:33:47 AM »

I will definitely try to read this one.. But the newer ones.. no. she wrote excellent books until she decided that violence more and more of it was the way to go. I hate it when mystery writers do that.

salan · « **Reply #5422 on:** July 26, 2013, 10:53:58 AM »

I agree, Steph. I quit reading Barr several years back because of the violence. I checked this one out because it was a "prequel". I am half-way through and it is good so far.
Sally

JoanK · « **Reply #5423 on:** July 26, 2013, 03:45:50 PM »

I got a C. J. Box out of the library, but I don't know if I'll read it. I stopped reading him for the same reason.

JudeS · « **Reply #5424 on:** July 26, 2013, 06:31:27 PM »

I know you folks have been on line foe eons.
I don't know if you ever discussed Tony Hillerman and his books about the Indian tribes in New Mexico and Arizona.
I am reading one now and find it relaxing rather than nerve wracking like so many other mysteries with too many corpses.

maryz · « **Reply #5425 on:** July 26, 2013, 06:35:21 PM »

Jude, we've loved Hillerman for years. I guess we've read all of his books. We've spent many wonderful hours and many gallons of gas driving the roads he talks about in New Mexico and Arizona. AAA publishes the Indian Country map, and we've worn out two of them. Geography is always one of his main characters. Also, he's so true to his subject, the Navajo consider him one of them.

FlaJean · « **Reply #5426 on:** July 26, 2013, 06:45:22 PM »

I love his books. I have several in hardback that I got on sale at B&N and have read them several times.

Steph · « **Reply #5427 on:** July 27, 2013, 08:22:01 AM »

We took our RV to Indian country just to follow his paths.. Hillerman is a gem or a writer. I even read one of his from Viet Nam.

PatH · « **Reply #5428 on:** July 27, 2013, 09:16:28 AM »

Some of Hillerman's books are better than others, but they're all pretty good. And you get such a good feel for the countryside and the Navaho people.

ursamajor · « **Reply #5429 on:** July 27, 2013, 01:06:58 PM »

We once attended an Elderhostel in Farmington, NM that studied the Navaho people and also had a class on Tony Hillerman's books. Best Elderhostle we ever attended. I looked forward to his books and am sorry there will be no more.

JoanK · « **Reply #5430 on:** July 27, 2013, 02:35:59 PM »

I love his books too. You get such a feel for the country and people. I was disappointed in the TV adaptation. Somehow, I got more of a feel of the country from Hillerman's writing than I did from the photography on the TV. You feel every bump in the road.

maryz · « **Reply #5431 on:** July 27, 2013, 03:19:48 PM »

ursa, we've been to that one, too. It was a great one. Even with the wonderful Hillerman stuff, the high point for us was getting to hear a talk by one of the WW2 Navajo Code Talkers. What an honor!

PatH · « **Reply #5432 on:** July 27, 2013, 03:40:52 PM »

mabel1015j · « **Reply #5433 on:** July 27, 2013, 09:20:16 PM »

I'm almost finished w/ Carherine Coulter's THE TARGET. It's a Savich and Sherwood, FBI series mystery - altho housed in "fiction" at my library - but they have a very small role in this story. I think it's an early book in the series, Sherwood is newly pregnant. Coulter gives us another appealing couple, who come together after the women's dgt is kidnapped and is found by Judge Hunt, the male of the couple. It's a real roller coaster ride and i'm really enjoying it. They remind me a bit of Roarke and Dallas, J. D. Robb's couple. Hunt is just about as perfect as Roarke, altho not as rich - i guess noone is as rich as Roarke!

marjifay · « **Reply #5434 on:** July 28, 2013, 01:53:22 AM »

The Target sounds good, Mabel. I'll look for it.

I just finished a very good book. MURDER by Parnell Hall. The Publishers Weekly review was right when they said "2nd Hall novel after DETECTIVE. His timid hero, NY City PI, Stanley Hastings recounts his new exploits here. By turns hair-raising and hilarious." Exactly! I'll be looking forward to his next mystery novel.

Marge

Steph · « **Reply #5435 on:** July 28, 2013, 09:43:11 AM »

I thought that Parnell Hall only did the crosswordtype mysteries. Will have to look for this series. Sounds interesting..

JoanK · « **Reply #5436 on:** July 28, 2013, 01:28:24 PM »

The Crossword Puzzle lady mysteries, and funny videos:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1LBfECGdGUc

Steph · « **Reply #5437 on:** July 29, 2013, 08:36:54 AM »

Just finished a Dorothy Parker mystery by some man. Not particularly good, but a lot of detail about New York in that period.

Frybabe · « **Reply #5438 on:** July 29, 2013, 09:12:16 AM »

Just started Dana Stabenow's A Cold Day for a Murder.

maryz · « **Reply #5439 on:** July 29, 2013, 10:32:09 AM »

Is that a new Stanbenow?

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Author Topic: Mystery Corner ~ 2 (Read 910425 times)