Author Topic: Mystery Corner ~ 2 (Read 910623 times)

Steph · « **Reply #6000 on:** December 26, 2013, 02:03:01 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
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Discussion Leader: JoanK

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Nanc y Martin has written a two book series quite different from her Philadelphia series.. Pittsburg and the heroine Roxy is hard to figure.. Parts of her are good, but the constand casual sex is stupid by any stretch.

pedln · « **Reply #6001 on:** December 30, 2013, 02:07:52 AM »

Unbelievable! The public library charges you if a library staff member checks out your book for you. Complain to the library board, complain to the group that determines it's funding. Like Jane, I'm an outraged retired librarian.

Steph · « **Reply #6002 on:** December 30, 2013, 08:56:20 AM »

I just dont understand what the non librarians who work in a library are supposed to do.. Makes no sense to charge except to drive everyone nuts.

FlaJean · « **Reply #6003 on:** December 30, 2013, 12:42:16 PM »

Our library is efficient and always busy. I'm sure that is mainly due to an outstanding head librarian. The only charge besides overdue fines is one they've added the last year---if you are notified that a reserved book is ready for pick up, you must pick it up in one week or pay a $1 fine. I don't know why they made that change unless it helps keep the reserve line going.

Just finished a Victorian cozy "Mrs. Jeffries Turns the Tide" by Emily Brightwell. Needed something simple that would be relaxing during this hectic season.

JoanK · « **Reply #6004 on:** December 30, 2013, 03:29:57 PM »

I think I've read some of the Mrs. Jeffries books. Did you like it?

Steph · « **Reply #6005 on:** December 31, 2013, 08:59:52 AM »

That makes sense for reserved books. I only belonged to a teeny library in Myrtle Beach,SC..back in the 60's.. They charge a nickel a day for anything on the reserved list. That way you read it fast and got it back to them since they could not afford multiple copies.

FlaJean · « **Reply #6006 on:** December 31, 2013, 07:06:13 PM »

Yes, Joan, I did enjoy it. The story moves along but doesn't take concentration or a lot of thought. I'm not into any deep thinking these days.

However, I am on the reserve list for This Town---but that won't take any deep thinking.

MaryPage · « **Reply #6007 on:** December 31, 2013, 08:04:13 PM »

HAPPY NEW YEAR AND WISHING YOU ALL OF THE BEST IN 2014.

mabel1015j · « **Reply #6008 on:** January 01, 2014, 02:30:56 AM »

I've just ordered my first Kindle "library book" (i must "return it" in 7 days), thru my library. How easy was that!?! I'm thoroughly enjoying it even tho i'm not fond of reading books on my ipad........but then again, it is Janet Evanovich's book The Heist, a non-Stephanie Plum mystery, written w/ a person - don't know if its a man or woman - named Lee Goldberg. I'll check on the gender and let you know.

The story is very good, i'm about 100 pgs in. The protagonist, Kate O'Hare, is a woman FBI agent who has been chasing a con-man for a few years. She is similar but less ditsy then Stephanie, altho SP is a smart ditsy, in my opinion. Is that an oxymoron?

Her physical description is "tall, slender, dark hair, not too concerned with appearance - sound familiar? Altho she has long hair, it's frequently worn in a pony tail. So far, J E has done some good in depth research, i know many if you like a well researched story within which the reader learns new things.

12 hrs later: if you like Berlin - the one in Germany - you'll enjoy the typical JE thorough description of that city and i think there will be more of other places. It looks like O'Hare and her con-man are going to travel the world. It's still at least a 4 out of 5 for me.

Oh by the way, Lee Goldberg is male, former Navy Seal, former writer and producer of "Diagnosis Murder"!!!
Jean

Steph · « **Reply #6009 on:** January 01, 2014, 09:02:57 AM »

Still slogging through the J.K.Rowling..Cuckoos Calling.. page 300 or so .. too too long for a mystery. too too many characters to leisurely look at. Not enough Robin, who might be interesting. This is for my f2f book club, so I will finish, but think the lady should stick to fantasy.

JoanK · « **Reply #6010 on:** January 01, 2014, 03:43:56 PM »

HAPPY NEW YEAR AND MANY GOOD MYSTERIES!

FlaJean · « **Reply #6011 on:** January 01, 2014, 03:49:35 PM »

Same here! Reading an interesting Amish-country mystery The Names of our Tears by Paul L. Gaus. The story's setting is Ohio and seems well researched.

Steph · « **Reply #6012 on:** January 02, 2014, 09:29:50 AM »

Have not read that one, but have read Gaus before, I grew up with Amish in Delaware, but his Amish are quite different from what I grew up with. Still the book was good. Almost finished with Cuckoo and it has not gotten any better. I will mark her off as a mystery writer.Too wordy

marjifay · « **Reply #6013 on:** January 02, 2014, 12:23:30 PM »

I just tossed Michael Connelly's latest Lincoln Lawyer book with attorney Mickey Haller, GODS OF GUILT. Got almost half way thru it, and decided I couldn't slog thru to the end of the almost 400 pages. I liked the previous books in the series, but the plot in this one got too complicated, and that, along with all the legal terminology I couldn't understand was too much. So many characters, I should have kept a list.

Marj

JoanK · « **Reply #6014 on:** January 02, 2014, 05:32:22 PM »

MARJ: I love your quote! It took me a minute to get it.

Steph · « **Reply #6015 on:** January 03, 2014, 08:22:45 AM »

I do not like Connellys Lincoln Lawyer series and dont read it.Tried twice and made no sense. but I do like Harry.

JoanK · « **Reply #6016 on:** January 03, 2014, 03:41:52 PM »

I tried too, and didn't get very far.

Steph · « **Reply #6017 on:** January 04, 2014, 09:13:56 AM »

Hurray.. finished the Cuckoo and as a reward am reading a Myron Bolitar... Fast fun.. and a nice complicated problem to solve.

MaryPage · « **Reply #6018 on:** January 04, 2014, 11:00:01 AM »

That's what I do! I will read one or two long, deep books, and then follow with a short mindless quickie that is fun! Have a pile of unread as yet Aunt Dimity's and The Cat Who, etc., for that very purpose! Have my pile of Harlen Cobens and Joan Medlicotts, too.

Steph · « **Reply #6019 on:** January 05, 2014, 09:33:03 AM »

Just started "Five Days at Memorial", which is nonfiction and hard to read, so will slip in others to keep my spirits up..

MaryPage · « **Reply #6020 on:** January 07, 2014, 08:22:42 AM »

Chose not to read any more about Katrina. So depressing. Wrenchingly so, actually.

Reading an absolutely fascinating article in The New Yorker about a book chronicling the demise of the passenger pigeon here in America. The last one died one hundred years ago. But get this: at one time there were billions upon billions of them here, and they were here when our "Native Americans" came across the land bridge and the East populated the West by walking even further east.

When flocks of these birds would fly overhead, the noise was so great that people would run screaming for shelter. The light of the sun would be darkened.

There was a nesting ground, not the only one by any means, but one of many, in Wisconsin that comprised 850 SQUARE MILES and had more than ONE HUNDRED MILLION BIRDS!

Well, they were here countless thousands of years before mankind, and for 100 years now they have been extinct. All over this world. No more passenger pigeons. Read "A Feathered River Across The Sky" by Joel Greenberg. Mind boggling stuff. I swear!

Steph · « **Reply #6021 on:** January 07, 2014, 08:52:31 AM »

I am reading a Nancy Martin mystery for relief from the Katrina book.. Thank heaven.

pedln · « **Reply #6022 on:** January 07, 2014, 11:03:05 AM »

Quote

Chose not to read any more about Katrina.

It raises some important questions, MaryPage, mainly about emergency preparedness and allocation of resources. Who sets the guidelines?

MaryPage · « **Reply #6023 on:** January 07, 2014, 06:04:48 PM »

I have already read a lot about it and seen a number of documentaries. I just can't handle any more.

I agree that all sorts of regulations have to be put in place for these types of emergencies down there and elsewhere. So many things have just not been taken into account, causing so many really awful things to happen to innocent people all over that town.

To top off this day, daughter Anne, who is an oncology nurse, came home from work tonight so depressed because one of their patients, who had just been given his medication and was resting for the period before they release them, had a ghastly allergic reaction and died right there in the oncology clinic at the hospital. It was one of her assistant nurses who actually gave the med, and it was not that nurse's or anyone's fault, but it was just so stressful an event. Anne had known this very sick man for 10 years now as a patient.

Steph · « **Reply #6024 on:** January 08, 2014, 09:07:34 AM »

Yes, but that is something I am taking away from five days.. Afterwards, every one wanted someone to blame.. It had to be someone elses fault.. Wrong.. things happen..

JoanK · « **Reply #6025 on:** January 08, 2014, 05:09:11 PM »

Oh, how terrible. your daughter is lucky to have you to support her.

jane · « **Reply #6026 on:** January 08, 2014, 05:30:08 PM »

I found that oncology docs and nurses were the kindest, most considerate people on earth! They went out of their way to make me feel "pampered" and "taken care of." They were always welcoming, always had smiles, and did all sorts of "little things" to make chemo sessions more bearable...from having the blood drawers...[I can't recall the fancy name]...come to the onc unit instead of having cancer patients go down there and wait...to warm blankets during infusion, beverages, snacks or whatever one would ask for. Blessings on all of them!

Jane

Steph · « **Reply #6027 on:** January 09, 2014, 09:00:06 AM »

Yes, when my husband had several surgeries for skin cancer, the oncology unit was amazing.. so were the radiation people who tried very hard to make him comfortable when he had to don the iron mask every day for all those weeks.

JoanK · « **Reply #6028 on:** January 09, 2014, 03:57:59 PM »

I had the same experience when I was being treated for cancer 13 years ago. The oncology nurses are the best.

Steph · « **Reply #6029 on:** January 10, 2014, 11:01:37 AM »

Finished the Nancy Martin.. She seems to be deciding to drag her lovely lighthearted mysteries down down down.. Oh darn.

Tomereader1 · « **Reply #6030 on:** January 10, 2014, 12:19:11 PM »

For fans of Sara Paretsky's mysteries, her latest "Critical Mass" is as awesome as most of her books are. It is, truly, a page-turner. I started yesterday, and am nearly finished, but it is 462 pages. I read until 3:30 this AM. She really knows how to "pace" a book, and keep you on the edge of your seat!

JoanK · « **Reply #6031 on:** January 10, 2014, 03:43:50 PM »

Great! I like Paretsky a lot. Of course, I agree with her liberal politics. If you don't, you aren't going to like her.

In general, I don't like the idea of bringing politics into mysteries. Although it is a way of making your voice heard, as Erin Brockowitz does in her mysteries about environmental issues.

Tomereader1 · « **Reply #6032 on:** January 10, 2014, 05:40:56 PM »

I don't always agree with her "politics", but I like her writing anyway!

Steph · « **Reply #6033 on:** January 12, 2014, 10:23:51 AM »

I love Sara.. I wrote an email about her and the New Jersey mess yesterday and it is not here. Hmm. Someone up there hates me. My library post is also gone.

jane · « **Reply #6034 on:** January 12, 2014, 11:06:15 AM »

In case you wonder what happened to some posts. There was some sort of server glitch/error and nobody could get in to SeniorLearn. So, the server people had to reset/restore the discussions back to a "safe" time....and that was 11:00 pm the night before. Bad stuff happened, but we're back.

JoanK · « **Reply #6035 on:** January 12, 2014, 03:18:55 PM »

I've been reading the feathering mysteries by Simon Brett.

http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/b/simon-brett/

Two Englishwomen with very different characters, next door neighbors in a small town, become involved with murders. Enjoyable.

marjifay · « **Reply #6036 on:** January 13, 2014, 05:53:34 AM »

Thanks for the recommendation of the Simon Brett Fethering series, Joan. They sound good. I put the first one, The Body on the Beach, on my TBR list.

Love Brett' title in his Charles Paris series -- Cast, In Order of Disappearance.

Marj

Steph · « **Reply #6037 on:** January 13, 2014, 09:24:47 AM »

I have read some of Brett, but dont remember any feathering. Will have to check it out.

Frybabe · « **Reply #6038 on:** January 13, 2014, 11:57:31 AM »

I've just requested two more Dana Stabenow books. I liked, this last one. It seemed written a little differently than the others, maybe more background narrative than usual, not sure. Anyhow, this is the beginning of life after Jack Morgan for Kate Shugak. Steph, the pain of this fictional character's loss was palpable; I thought of you. Bless you.

FlaJean · « **Reply #6039 on:** January 13, 2014, 02:46:52 PM »

JoanK, I'm so glad you mentioned the Fethering mysteries. I've read all of them but didn't know a new one was due out. I checked my library and it is on order. I'm #3 on the reserve list. Usually when I find out about the new ones I'm way down the list---so thanks.

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Author Topic: Mystery Corner ~ 2 (Read 910623 times)