Mystery Corner ~ 2

[Winchesterlady]

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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
Fantastic Fiction
Stop You're Killing Me

Discussion Leader:    JoanK    

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I love Susan Hill’s Simon Serrailer series.  She has written seven books in this series.

I think the main reason I like these books so much is the fact that she develops her characters in such an interesting way.  Not just the main characters of the novel, but also the victims of the crimes she writes about.  You get quite involved in their lives and suddenly find yourself caring very much when they die. With every book, you get to know Simon a little better, but he is not a very easy person to get close to.  She takes you into the lives of his family, friends, and co-workers and you care very much what happens to them.

All of this background is what makes this series very special to me.  These are not fast paced crime novels….that is not to say that there isn’t violence. It’s just not the main subject of her books.

All of this said, I would have to respond to Ginny’s question about what we’re looking for in the books we read by saying that the actual story and character development is what is important to me.  I don’t have to like the characters or identify with them.  But I do enjoy books that spend more time on character development rather than action.

[marjifay]

Interesting question, Ginny.

I don't care whether I like or dislike the characters.  Just want them to be "fleshed out" and interesting, probably not all good or all bad, but like most of us--some of both. 

I don't like a book to be so predictible that I won't want to bother finishing it after 50 to 70 pages.  I'm quick to toss such a book.  Surprises are nice.

I like a little humor in a book, dark humor is fine; wry, subtle humor is best.

Marj

[ginny]

Those are wonderful responses, what a perfect poll this will make!! I'm going to put this in the Library, thank you both for those great ideas, and if people have others, perhaps after the new poll goes up we can discuss it in the  Library where I guess I should have asked it but I was so intrigued.

Many thanks for those thoughtful ideas!! I'm going to put them both as choices!

[Dana]

I read that book Gone Girl back in the spring I think.  I bought it in an airport mainly because it had been talked about here.  I can't remember much about it tho, which means I must have thought it was kind of boring or predictable, all I remember about it is that it was about whether the wife murdered the husband or vice versa.......?? and done in the first person of each I think.

[JoanK]

Read an interesting first mystery by an author who had written some non-fiction "City of Saints" by Andrew Hunt.

http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/h/andrew-e-hunt/city-of-saints.htm

Salt Lake City in the 1930s. A lot about the history of the city and Mormons. A Mormon detective, anti-tough-guy (soft-boiled? He meets his sources secretly in ice cream parlors where they guzzle banana splits)

[JoanK]

Interesting difference of opinion on Gone Girl. My friend, who says she values good writing above all, loves it. I have to try it. I'm guessing I'll come down on the "Hate it" side. Books don't have to be happy for me, after all, life is not always happy, but there has to be some fundamental belief that people and life have some goodness and joy in them.

I'll let you know.

[JudeS]

Absolutely hated "Gone Girl".
Thought there was something wrong with me after all the praise it received.
Really happy to hear that there were others who felt as I did. Especially "So easy to put down . So hard to pick up."

What am I looking for in a mystery?
In general I read mysteries after breaking my brain on a really in-depth novel (Last one was "The Wind Up Bird Chronicle" by Murikami,  a Nobel Prize contender).

Or after an in depth Non-fiction book (Last one, "In the Garden of the Beast" by Larson).

I'm looking for a character I can understand and identify with, like Longmire (Craig Johnson) or just something different amusing and clever like the Mma Ramotswe series by McCall.

[salan]

Ginny,  I read mostly for relaxation and humor.  I hate "black humor".  I like to like my characters.  If there are no characters that I like, then I tend not to like the book.  I like to care what happens to the characters.  I do force myself out of my comfort zone sometimes, especially if it is a book that is being talked about a lot.  I always try to read my ftf book club books, as I think it makes for a better discussion if all have read the book. 
Sally

[marjifay]

Thanks, JoanK, for your recommendation of City of Saints.  Sounds interesting.  (We're planning to stop and sightsee in Salt Lake City in October on our way to visit in the Midwest.)  I guess the Mormons get banana split bellies, instead of beer bellies.

Marj

[ANNIE]

I used to love many different mystery authors but after bringing home some of my favorite authors from the library last week, I must admit that I am no longer so taken with them.  But I am making a list from some new (to me) names that some of you have mentioned here. Thank you so much.
I am still liking David Baldacci's writing.  He has a new main character in his newest offerings and IMO(humble, of course) he has another winner. For me, he's a first class mystery writer. Like joanK, I am not looking forwarud to reading "Gone Girl". 

We lost two very entertaining people this week in Elmore Leonard and Marian McPartland(/color] NPR rebroadcast a fine interview with Elmore Leonard and shortly thereafter, they did the same with a Marian McMcPartland interview that I had heard a few years ago.  Used to listen to her musical program every Saturday.  They will both be sorely missed.

[MaryPage]

When I was young, and all the way up until about age 70, give or take, I wanted to devour everything available to read.  I wanted to get the many different perspectives on Life and the living of it, and especially the differing reactions to words and events.  Lawence Durrell's Alexandria Quartet was fascinating to me back in the nineteen sixties because you got the same story from four perspectives.  It was all a learning process, and I sponged up everything avidly.
That was about the time in my life when I gave up on my species, more or less, around the age of 70.  Mostly more.  Having grown up with World War II, and fiercely believing it was the war to end all wars and bring Peace to mankind forevermore, the following decades just brought more and more news of misery and death and unkindness and hatred and sordid lives lived out in nasty vitriol.  I am a fanatic about reading the newspapers and news magazines and catching all the broadcasts.  This was handed down to me from my father, especially;  but all of my family were involved in this way.
Now I am old and sick, and my spirit needs hope and bounce.  No matter how great the writing, I find perverted personalities make me physically ill.  I am no longer able to absorb the dreadful mentalities of many of my fellow creatures without it deeply and unpleasantly affecting my own hours left to me.  I want to retain that tiny silver edge of hope.  I want the good guys to win and the bad guys to reform and, yes, I want and need now, in my dotage, a happily ever afterwards.

[ginny]

Gosh what wonderful, thoughtful points.  It's really interesting and speaks to WHY one reads in the first place. They are all different points of view and they are all valid. Really interesting discussion.

I am not sure what I am personally looking for. Good writing and escapism, I think. Certain themes which transcend the ages, a new approach to an old  theme, maybe? Be nice to learn something useful but if not, one can enjoy the ride.  But I'm picky what escape I want. I like cleverness, and good writing. If we made a list of the books we really liked mine would be Brideshead Revisited, Remains of the Day, the House of Mr. Biswas, The Palace Thief (short story from which the movie The Emperor's Club was made),  Gentlemen and Players, etc.

I hear what you're saying, MaryPage, and am sorry you are sick. As far as the news goes,  I'm almost the opposite of you in newspaper habits. I can't, simply can't stand to read the latest atrocities, spelled out in loving detail in the newspapers and magazines we take.  I have nightmares for weeks.

In fact, I've begun only looking at CNN and BBC on the ipad. We take three newspapers and I do admit to reading the Sunday NY Times.

But on CNN on the ipad,  I can somewhat cut the parade of horror off.   I can choose without being exposed to the lurid articles, which news items i want to read. I check CNN  on the ipad, every monting, you get a choice of 248+ stories just as they were broadcast, and  you can pick and choose, you can watch the broadcast and/ or read the headlines, and/ or read the longer article which accompanies it.

Man's inhumanity to man is spelled out daily in the news, I like to try to control my exposure to the atrocities if I can, and still stay somewhat informed.

In that way, even tho I have to read the headline I don't have to read the rest, (and for some reason I can't NOT read the rest).  Or experience it. And they have begun to put in things which are NOT news but which are funny or quaint or interesting. We take Time. Newsweek was better written but I have not looked once at the Daily Beast or whatever she called it.

I don't have a need to identify with any character in a book, or live vicariously thru them. The writing in Gone Girl was superb and it kind of spoke to the dark side  most people have but would not act on or even admit.  We've all  had negative thoughts, it's a hard book to categorize. I'm amazed so many  people hated it, but if one were looking for a character to identify with,  one would not find it there. It's all mental, tho, all thought.  Why do so many people read Vampire books? Surely none of them harbor the idea for a second they are vampires, do they?

Gone Girl is more suspense than anything else, it's a very  well written book.

[Steph]

I dont feel I have to like everyone, but do feel the need to identify with someone in the book.. Sometimes it is the victim ( Louise Penney has a few of those)Gone Girl,, is a good example for me of not liking a single human in the book.. I cannot imagine living close to any of those people or wanting to be friends.

[MaryPage]

Further confessions of a bookaholic:
I have a dear, dear friend of over 40 years standing who began as someone I met through my Bridge Group.  She recently celebrated her 35th year of sobriety;  in short, she is a recovering alcoholic.  She explained  to me once, years and years ago, that when the weekends were approaching she was most anxious to make certain she obtained and hid about the house enough bottles of booze to get her through until husband went back to work and children to school come the Monday.
OK.  All of my life I have been like that about books.  And so it is that I now have over 1,000 books in my possession that I have not yet read.  One set, for many are sets, consists of 24 books (there is a 25th just published) by Peter Robinson.  His detective is DCI Banks, and BBC has made 2 seasons of him which are now appearing on my PBS station.  So I figured it was time these stopped taking up shelf space "for a rainy day" and I started in reading them.  Especially as BBC has found the series popular on the telly and has opted for a third season.  So I have begun, and now am on book #2.  Delightful.  But basically this morning I want to share something I find at the back of book two in the way of advertising:  remember the funny, funny Charlotte MacLeod?  She of Rest Ye Merry?  Well, she also wrote a series under the name Alisa Craig!  Who knew?  I never HEARD of Alisa Craig.  The series is about a club in Lobelia Falls called the Grub-and-Stakers, and they solve whodunits.  Has anyone ever heard of, let alone read, any of these?

[Winchesterlady]

MaryPage -- I'm also a raging bibliophile and have tons of books still to be read.  Like you, I have many of Peter Robinson's DCI Banks novels.  I have read a few but am still making my way through them.  He is one of my favorite authors.  I thought you might be interested in a stand-alone book he wrote called "Before the Poison" which I loved. Here is the info on it from Amazon:

Chris Lowndes built a comfortable career composing scores for films in Hollywood. But after twenty-five years abroad, and still quietly reeling from the death of his beloved wife, he decides to return to the Yorkshire dales of his youth. To ease the move, he buys Kilnsgate House, a rambling old mansion deep in the country.

Although Chris finds Kilnsgate charming, something about the house disturbs him, a vague sensation that the long-empty rooms have been waiting for him—feelings made ever stronger when he learns that the house was the scene of a murder more than fifty years before. The former owner, a prominent doctor named Ernest Arthur Fox, was supposedly poisoned by his beautiful and much younger wife, Grace. Arrested and brought to trial, Grace was found guilty and hanged for the crime.

His curiosity piqued, Chris talks to the locals and searches through archives for information about the case. But the more he discovers, the more convinced he becomes that Grace may have been innocent. Ignoring warnings to leave it alone, he sets out to discover what really happened over half a century ago—a quest that takes him deep into the past and into a web of secrets that lie all too close to the present.

You may have read this, but if not, I heartily recommend it!

[JoanK]

Here is Peter Robinson:

http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/r/peter-robinson/

[marjifay]

Thanks, Winchesterlady, for your recommendation of mysteries by Peter Robinson.  I've never read anything by him.  Have put his first Insp. Banks novel, GALLOWS VIEW, on my TBR list, mainly because it got such review at Amazon.  Then I'll read the one you recommended.

I have so many mysteries on my to-read list, that I now rarely add one that gets fewer than 4-1/2 stars at Amazon.

Marj

[JoanK]

MARY: Try getting a Kindle. My TBR list (only about 100 books) is samples on my kindle. They are free and I don't let myself buy the book, unless I read the sample and want to continue reading RIGHT THEN. They usually give you enough of a sample so you can tell.

I read the sample of "Gone Girl" and didn't have that "Oh, I want to go on" feeling, so that's that. I saved the time, effort, and money.

[marjifay]

AdoAnnie wrote: "I am still liking David Baldacci's writing.  He has a new main character in his newest offerings and IMO(humble, of course) he has another winner. For me, he's a first class mystery writer."

I agree with you about Baldacci.  I love his Camel Club series about those old retired guys who get themselves in trouble delving into mysterious situations, and also like his series with Sean King and Michelle Maxwell.  He has a new book, KING AND MAXWELL, coming out in November.  I also like his new series with John Puller.

Marj

[ANNIE]

Not me!  Sorry, Mary!  I am checking on several of the authors mentioned here.
Have you tried the books written by Ginny's favorite authors, have forgotten her name, who wrote the Agatha Raisin series or the Scottish policeman?  Just fun reads!  And there is always Martha Grimes comical writing with her titles all being names of pubs. My favorite was "The Horse You Rode In On", the title is my favorite, not the story.  What about Elmore Leonard who just left us last week.  I'm not sure about his books but I know folks like him a lot.

Are you an aficionado of "The Cat Who" books?  But they are "cosies" and someone else mentioned those.  Some of my softer authors were Ruth Rendel,  Laurie King and Navada Barr. Barr writes Anna Pidgeon series.

[pedln]

Just last week a friend was telling me how much her husband liked the books by Peter Robinson. I've never read any of his and would like to start with the first one -- Gallows View.  My library doesn't have it, the University library doesn't have it, the local used bookstore doesn't have it, and the state downloadables have it only in audiobook, which doesn't work for me.

I guess it's time to start checking out the bargain basements.

[JudeS]

Have any of you heard of Robert Barnard?
He has written 44 mysteries and won every award there is for a mystery writer.
I always think of him as a "blood and guts' crime writer.
This week in our library, as I was browsing the new books I came upon a "Cozy", by Barnard and thought  it strange but took it out.

The book  is about a small English town and the "inquiring mind" is a female author who has just had a baby.
It deals with castles or manor houses and those that live in them, use them or rent them out.
It deals also with pseudo-royalty, property ownership of large British estates and how things pass from generation to generation.
An excellent and fascinating read (for me).  It's called "A Charitable Body" and is really well written.

[ginny]

At one time I got on a Charlotte MadLeod spree and read all of hers and Alisa Craig's too but I thought none of them, particularly at the end, lived up to her Rest Ye Merry, that thing was genius. I finally quit reading them, but I remember the excitement as a new one would come out.

I also used to love Robert Barnard, I never thought him as blood and guts, maybe I only read his "cozy's" but they are good. He's an excellent writer. I'm not sure I've read that one, Jude, I'll see if I can find it. He and Simon Brett and who's that author who lived in Tromso? They were all really good. Along with Ngaio Marsh. I once went on a jag of hers, so clever.  I think you have to be in the mood for a person's style.  Sometimes you feel like a nut, sometimes you don't.

[ginny]

hahaha it's ROBERT BARNARD who used to live in Tromso, Norway, he used to teach at the University there. I read everything he wrote while he was there, really liked him. He wrote a wonderful one about a huge manor house in the snow, I've tried to find it ever since.

[MaryPage]

Yes, I have read them all, and I never thought of Robert Barnard as a blood & guts, either.  I have quite a few of his still on my shelves unread, but I do like him.
I agree that Rest Ye Merry was genius.  Oh god, how I laughed while reading it.  I mean to say, laughed out loud in the middle of the night sitting up in bed reading!  I never read her Alisa Craig books, but did just discover that is an island whose name she took as a pen name!  What fun she must have been as a person.
Yes, I love The Cat Who, and owned all the books and have read about half of them and passed those on to a granddaughter who loves them.  The other half remain smiling at me from their place on the bookshelves.  Fun for whenever I feel like it.  I have some of them in audio books.
Ngaio Marsh was a master of the craft.  I put her in my top ten, indeed, in my top 5 list of all time.  I have no qualms about saying:  If you have not read Ngaio Marsh, DO!
You can find cheap, clean used paperbacks of all of these at ThriftBooks on line.  Extremely reliable booksellers.

[marjifay]

I know a lot of people like Ngaio Marsh's books.  I read two of them, A MAN LAY DEAD (her first) and ENTER A MURDERER (her second, a DNF) and vowed never to read any more of hers.  Can someone give me the name of one book of hers that really impressed you?

Marj

[MaryPage]

I loved them all, every single one of them, but my very favorite, which is one I often think back on, is A Clutch of Constables.
I thoroughly enjoyed the actors, the acting, and the filming of the series The Inspector Alleyn Mysteries back in the early nineties.  BBC.
Perhaps my affection for these characters as people is proof of the pudding that, at least for me, identifying with people in fiction is important to me for enjoyment.

[marjifay]

I've added Robert Barnard's last one, A DECENT INTERVAL (5 stars from Amazon readers) to my TBR list.  I've always meant to read one of his books after seeing the clever title of his first, CAST, IN ORDER OF DISAPPEARANCE.

Marj

[Steph]

I went through Charlotte McLeod and Alisia Craig years ago and adored them, especially the ones that were in Boston. I lived there at the time and they are quite accurate in the area and attitudes. I have never been a Robert Barnard fan, but will look up A Charitable Body.. since I thought of him as more of a hard boiled writer.. I am indulging in one of my favorite series ( sinful and good) J., Robb.. or Norah Roberts,, Calculated in Death..Fun as always. I am fond of Peabody.

[marjifay]

Thanks, MaryPage, for your recommendation of Ngaio Marsh's A Clutch of Constables.  I'll give Marsh another try with that one.

Adoannie wrote, "Have you tried the books written by Ginny's favorite authors, have forgotten her name, who wrote the Agatha Raisin series?"

I read Beaton's Agatha Raisin mystery, THE DEADLY DANCE.  IMO it was dreadful! Too many characters, many of which were superfluous, and whose personalities were not consistent throughout the book (acted in ways that did not jibe with the way they were described).  The book started out well with some humor, but the humor soon became really silly.  I tossed it out around page 100.  Do you remember one that you thought was well written?

I have not read Beaton's Hamish Macbeth series.

Marj

[FlaJean]

I recently watch the Inspector Alleyn series on Netflix.  Loved them.

[maryz]

Marjorie, I like Hamish MacBeth better than Agatha.  Also there was a BBC series based on Hamish...absolutely delightful!  And available from Netflix.

[mabel1015j]

I've read McLeod, but not Craig. My library has 6 of Craig's, i'm going to try her. Thanks MaryPage for mentioning her.

[marjifay]

Thanks, Maryz.  I'll give the Hamish Macbeth book series a try.  Then will try the BBC TV series.  I've watched several other of the BBC films that were also wonderful.

Marj

[JoanK]

Great lists all. Never cared for Agatha Raisin, somehow. And I never heard of Barnard. Another sample to get.

[JoanK]

Done! Love this instant gratification!

Started a Peter Robinson last night. Kindle didn't have the first four in the series, so this is the fifth (forgot it's name -- I was really sleepy, so didn't get far.

[ginny]

Her Royal Spyness had one out in 2012 and it was a Christmas mystery, apparently with all the trimmings. I got it today and am going to save it for Christmas, I love a good holiday mystery , read one every year, and it looks just the thing.

[MaryPage]

If you see a listing on your PBS channel for a show titled:  DCI BANKS, that is the BBC series made from the books by Peter Robinson.

[MaryPage]

One of my available PBS channels, the one called Maryland Public Television or MPT, has recently started all over again showing the BBC series created from Reginald Hill's Dalziel & Pascoe books.  Very funny and very cerebral mysteries.  He is dead and gone now, but Reginald Hill would also be in my Top Ten favorite mystery writers.
So if you see your own PBS channel is showing something titled Dalziel & Pascoe, give it a whirl.  I have owned the DVDs for ages now, but I STILL enjoy watching them again and again.

[pedln]

JoanK, I thought I was the only one who didn't care for Agatha Raisin.

It looks like the US format DVDs for Peter Robinson's books are just starting to come out.  One, titled Aftermath is due to be released next week.  I hope it doesn't take Netflix forever to get it.  Thanks for the info, MaryPage.  I wouldn't have thought to look for DVDs by him.

I'm reading a Sue Henry (musher Jessie Arnold) that I overlooked earlier --  Murder at Five Finger Island.  I've always enjoyed her descriptions of Alaska, and am especially enjoying this one because I've been to some of the places on the Inside Passage that she talks about.  After finishing a Kate Atkinson that goes off in 15 directions at once, it's relaxing to read something that just goes 1, 2, and 3.