Author Topic: Mystery Corner ~ 2 (Read 910627 times)

Frybabe · « **Reply #5960 on:** December 14, 2013, 12:55:50 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
Fantastic Fiction
Stop You're Killing Me

Discussion Leader: JoanK

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I've just started the first of the next two Kate Shugak (Dana Stabenow) mysteries. Waiting to see what the January book discussion is going to be.

JoanK · « **Reply #5961 on:** December 14, 2013, 04:12:54 PM »

I can't tell you how many times I've done that. Luckily, I always get out a whole stack at once (10 or 12): I figure if I actually finish half of them, I'm doing well.

Picked up a lot of new books at the library. The one I'm reading now "A Time to live, a time to die" is written by an organic gardener. It features the "locavore" movement: people who will eat only locally grown and produced foods.

Unfortunately, the writing is boring.

Steph · « **Reply #5962 on:** December 15, 2013, 09:37:47 AM »

I sometimes forget. I actually bought a book at a library sale that I was sure I had read, but it simply did not sound right.. Reread it and then realized I was right in the first place.. Had read it before. I just read a book by Laura Joh Holland. Really liked it and want to find more. Her hero is interesting and his wife is shaping up nicely.

pedln · « **Reply #5963 on:** December 15, 2013, 12:32:07 PM »

I've just started Earthly Delights, Kelly Greenwood's baker series, and enjoying it a lot. Thanks to whoever recommended it.

Steph, the reason Netflix doesn't have Harry's Law is because the DVD has not yet come out. Can they stream films before the DVD comes out? I'm stricktly a DVDer, so don't know. But I think they streamed the US House of CArds before the DVD. Of course, that was an in-house Netflix production.

Steph · « **Reply #5964 on:** December 16, 2013, 10:43:43 AM »

No, I do discs as well, it is just not out.. darn.. I recommended Earthly Delights and adored it. Have gotten the second in the series as well.

MaryPage · « **Reply #5965 on:** December 17, 2013, 08:14:04 AM »

I've tried to order through Thrift Books and cannot find a Kelly Greenwood. There is, however, a Kerry Greenwood. Dare I believe that is the correct one? Has she written other good books besides Earthly Delights?

Frybabe · « **Reply #5966 on:** December 17, 2013, 08:34:40 AM »

I did a quick search for you MaryPage. It is Kerry Greenwood. If you can't find Earthly Delights on Thrift Books, try www.abebooks.com They list at least two paperbacks in Good condition. It is still listed as free for Kindle ebooks. Herion overdoses and vampires? Doesn't sound like my kind of book.

Steph · « **Reply #5967 on:** December 17, 2013, 08:36:31 AM »

Definitely Kerry. She is also the author of the Phryne Fisher series.

MaryPage · « **Reply #5968 on:** December 17, 2013, 01:03:27 PM »

Well, that does not sound like MY kind of book, either; but Steph says she loved it, and if she did, I most likely will.
So what gives, Steph? Is it just another tiresome vampire thriller? I cannot IMAGINE! And yes, Thrift does have it. I was confused by the Kelly instead of Kerry up above.

JoanK · « **Reply #5969 on:** December 17, 2013, 03:50:13 PM »

It's Kerry. I know two of her series but not one with vampires.

Steph · « **Reply #5970 on:** December 18, 2013, 09:27:12 AM »

No vampires.. Kerrys heroine in that series is a baker..She owns a bake shop and in the first one sort of acquires an apprentice.. a boyfriend/ She lives in an interesting apartment building..All inAustralia, but I think that is where Kerry lives. There is a mystery involvedand a lot of very odd characters, but no vampires.. at least not in the first book and it is not a fantasy type.

pedln · « **Reply #5971 on:** December 18, 2013, 09:50:04 AM »

Mea culpa, sorry to have mislead everyone about the author

At least I had three letters right.

Frybabe · « **Reply #5972 on:** December 18, 2013, 09:58:45 AM »

The blurb I saw about Earthly Delights mentioned vampires. I don't remember where I saw it. The Amazon blurb does mention the junkies and Goths, but not vampires. Sigh. I like reading about junkies even less than I do vampires.

marjifay · « **Reply #5973 on:** December 18, 2013, 01:33:43 PM »

I agree with you, Frybabe, about vampires. I'll leave them to the younger generation to watch. One of several genres I don't care for, along with "coming-of-age" stories, romance books, cozy mysteries, etc.

Marj

JoanK · « **Reply #5974 on:** December 18, 2013, 04:34:29 PM »

Ellen Crosby, who writes the Wine Country mysteries, has written a spy story, "Double Exposure" about a woman photographer whose CIA husband is supposedly kidnapped by Russians.

It reads like a tourist guide to Washington DC, including places that I, a Washington native, had never heard of. At first it made me homesick, but it got tedious. Two characters couldn't just have a conversation -they had to meet at a park, memorial, or museum to have it, with detailed descriptions. Never the same one twice: in a city of parks and memorials, she hit a lot of them (although she missed my favorite --- Fort Stevens where Lincoln got his hat shot off in the Civil War, the only sitting president to come under enemy fire).

It didn't work well as a spy story, either. The narrator -- main character-- was too passive. She sat around, wondering what to do while the men in her life took all the action. Ugh.

MaryPage · « **Reply #5975 on:** December 18, 2013, 07:38:06 PM »

There are, it turns out, many, many books with the title EARTHLY DELIGHTS. You have to know which AUTHOR you are looking for. In this case, the Australian one named Kerry Greenwood. None of her books have a single mention of vampires. She is into light comedy mystery.

Steph · « **Reply #5976 on:** December 19, 2013, 09:01:36 AM »

Aha... Kerry wrote the "Earhly Delights" that I read and loved. The heroine is Corinna.There are goths and a practicing witch.. but they are gentle parodies of the genre..

ANNIE · « **Reply #5977 on:** December 19, 2013, 09:31:05 AM »

I printed off Mary's list of the Crime Novels. Know no one on the list so will see what my library has available by those authors. Using my Mini, maybe I can get one or two or ten, and read them by our winter fire or in bed before I sleep.
I am reading one Anne Perry about Thomas Pitt and one Charles Finch about Charles Lenox. Both pretty good. I really like the time periods that these books are placed in.

Did you all watch or try to watch PBS's "Sherlock" on Tuesday night? We tried but decided it would make a better program if it was only 30 minutes long. I have it recorded on our VCR box and might try to 30 watch minutes at a time?? Hahaha! No time for that! Not in this busy season.

pedln · « **Reply #5978 on:** December 19, 2013, 11:26:20 AM »

JOanK, interesting comments there about the tourist descriptions in your mystery. I think Margaret Truman did a good job with that. I always felt I learned something, but it wasn't overdone and the plot was convincing. Another one who includes place descriptions (about New York) is LInda Fairstein with her Alex Cooper mysteries. I like them too.

It's one way of getting the readers' attention, but it can't be a substitute for a good plot.

Steph · « **Reply #5979 on:** December 20, 2013, 08:24:17 AM »

I love Charles Finch and am currently reading the second in the series. He wants to propose to Lady Jane, but seems to be dithering..But he has also found an assistant detective, which is sort of wild.

marjifay · « **Reply #5980 on:** December 20, 2013, 12:31:56 PM »

JoanK, i think you meant Multiple Exposure by Ellen Crosby (instead of Double exposure). Looks good. I 've added to my TBR list.

Dan Brown had a bunch of interesting info on Washington D.C., expecially re the Capitol Building ceiling in his book THE LOST SYMBOL.

Pedln, did Margaret Truman write any good mysteries? I read one, Murder in the National Cathedral, but was not impressed and didn't read any more.

Marj

JoanK · « **Reply #5981 on:** December 20, 2013, 04:02:17 PM »

MARJ: sorry about that.

ANNIE · « **Reply #5982 on:** December 20, 2013, 05:48:13 PM »

Steph, I think you love Charles Lenox. What is the title? I like these stories, too.

. And Finch writes them.

Steph · « **Reply #5983 on:** December 21, 2013, 08:57:39 AM »

Charles Finch and I am readin the second in the series..The September Society. It is an interesting take on overseas posessions in many ways. Almost through.. but he surely is dithering about Lady Jane.

marjifay · « **Reply #5984 on:** December 21, 2013, 12:02:42 PM »

In case anyone is interested, I have heard in another group that Michael Connelly (Harry Bosch mysteries) along with George Saunders and Terry McMillan will be interviewed tomorrow (Sunday, Dec. 22) on the TV program Face the Nation. They thought the discussion would be about best books of 2013.

Marj

ANNIE · « **Reply #5985 on:** December 21, 2013, 01:32:47 PM »

Face the Nation is on after Sunday Morning which we always try to watch. I look forward to seeing these authors and their recommendations might help me choose a title for my DH. Thanks, Marj!

pedln · « **Reply #5986 on:** December 21, 2013, 01:54:02 PM »

Marjifay, I think I've read all the Margaret Truman mysteries. I would classify them as "fun reads." Light, enjoyable.

JoanK · « **Reply #5987 on:** December 21, 2013, 02:30:32 PM »

For something a little different:

I read "Hour of the Red God" (also named "the Honey Guide") by Richard Crampton. A mystery set in Nairobi, Kenya. A Masai policeman it trying to solve a murder during the riots following a rigged election on Kenya. A page turner (I hate that phrase, but it fits.

http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/c/richard-crompton/

marjifay · « **Reply #5988 on:** December 22, 2013, 10:08:23 AM »

I've put Richard Crompton's mystery on my TBR list. I don't know where you get your recommendations, Joan, but you certainly read interesting mysteries.

REMINDER. Face the Nation will be on the CBS TV channel at 8 am this morning (here on the Pacific Coast, anyway) with writers Michael Connelly, George Saunders and Terry McMillan talking about best books of 2013.

Marj

Steph · « **Reply #5989 on:** December 22, 2013, 11:29:47 AM »

That sounds like an interesting book. Will look it up.

marjifay · « **Reply #5990 on:** December 22, 2013, 01:58:04 PM »

Steph, I bet you would really like a very funny movie I recently watched on the Turner Movie Channel (it's also at Netflix) -- THE AWFUL TRUTH (1937). Cary Grant's and Irene Dunne's characters are married and have the cutest little dog that plays hide 'n seek with them (and cheats.) I'm used to seeing Dunne in her later dramatic roles, but she is a real kick in this one.

Marj

JoanK · « **Reply #5991 on:** December 22, 2013, 03:59:02 PM »

Marj: "I don't know where you get your recommendations, Joan, but you certainly read interesting mysteries."

By listening to you, following up recommendations on kindle, and trolling the "New books" shelves in my library. I think it must be my librarian friend Steve (leader of the mystery book group) who makes sure there are always new mysteries.

marjifay · « **Reply #5992 on:** December 22, 2013, 06:25:27 PM »

Joan, your friend Steve the librarian does a great job. Give him my regards (lol).

I never go to the library. For one thing, my poor old back and legs can't take stooping to find books, and secondly, checking out books by one's self saves the $.50/book charge from having the librarian do it, but I'm unable to operate the machine that does that. (I got a 6% score on a mechanical aptitude test I once took) My son does it for me and returns my usually overdue books. Happily the Anaheim library does not fine me until the books are about a week overdue. That nasty Orange Co. library system nabs me a $.25 fine on the first day.

Marj

Steph · « **Reply #5993 on:** December 23, 2013, 09:22:11 AM »

They charge you for helping you check out??
Hmm. will look up the movie.

jane · « **Reply #5994 on:** December 23, 2013, 09:27:53 AM »

As a retired librarian, I'm outraged at such a charge. My husband reminded me that CA was in such bad financial shape that it's come to that. I'd heard they'd closed a lot of libraries.

Do the banks charge you to talk to a teller?

marjifay · « **Reply #5995 on:** December 23, 2013, 01:50:59 PM »

I think the library charges that $.50 only for books I've put on hold. They don't charge me that holding fee if I check them out myself using their machine (which I'm too dumb to figure how to use).

Marj

JoanK · « **Reply #5996 on:** December 23, 2013, 03:37:36 PM »

My local library doesn't charge me to check out, but I think its run by the town, not the state of California. I'll be sure to avoid the state library.

JoanK · « **Reply #5997 on:** December 23, 2013, 03:51:33 PM »

A favorite author has resurfaced.

http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/b/c-c-benison/

Years ago, I read the three books in the "Her Majesty Investigates" series by C. C. Benison. Narrated by a young Canadian maid in Queen Elizabeth's service, and with the Queen as detective. Full of details about how the palaces work. Then the series stopped

At the library, I picked up "Eleven Pipers Piping". The name Benison looked familiar, but I didn't put it together until I read Fantastic Fiction just now. It's a different series and a different tone, more serious and slow moving. But I'm enjoying it. It's too long for a mystery (475 pages). We'll see if it holds my interest. but so far (half way through) I'm enjoying the slow pace. The narrator is a vicar in a small village. Some one is killed at the annual (Robert) Burns dinner given by the local bagpipe society (no, the village isn't Scotch, but clearly fascinated by anything Scotch). Full of details about customs.

Steph · « **Reply #5998 on:** December 24, 2013, 09:06:41 AM »

Oh I loved the ones about the queen will look for the book.

FlaJean · « **Reply #5999 on:** December 25, 2013, 12:07:52 PM »

For those of you that like The Ladies No. 1 Detective Agency, I just finished McCall Smith's latest "The Minor Adjustment Beauty Salon". Some interesting happenings with Mma Makutsi in this one. I enjoyed it.

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Author Topic: Mystery Corner ~ 2 (Read 910627 times)