Author Topic: Mystery Corner ~ 2 (Read 910261 times)

MaryPage · « **Reply #6920 on:** November 28, 2014, 09:16:30 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!

Links:
The Hound of the Baskervilles
Fantastic Fiction
Stop You're Killing Me

Discussion Leader: JoanK

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No! I missed that. Surprised to hear it, and also that she is/was so old. Oh my, the lines of time just keep shoving on forward, pushing us all off the cliff eventually. It's sort of like being in a grocery checkout on a crowded, busy day; in the one you don't know which lane to pick to get you out soonest, while in the other you want the one that is not moving all that swiftly.

JoanK · « **Reply #6921 on:** November 28, 2014, 04:00:08 PM »

Oh my goodness. P.D. James is gone: what a good mystery writer she was.And she was still writing a few years ago. She will be missed.

FlaJean · « **Reply #6922 on:** November 28, 2014, 06:15:59 PM »

I didn't realize she had written two books with a woman detective, Cordelia Gray. I've only read the Dalgleish series. I Like the videos with Roy Marsden.

JoanK · « **Reply #6923 on:** November 29, 2014, 05:03:31 PM »

The Cordelia gray books are good, too. They have also been made into TV episodes (at least one. Does anyone remember).

My memory is so bad. Hiding at the bottom of my latest stash of library books is the latest Stephanie Barron "Jane Austen and the 12 Days of Christmas."

I can't believe I forgot I had it! My only excuse, I've been busy with the holidays and haven't been reading much (for me). Now I admit to having abandoned Susan Whittig Albert for Stephanie Barron. What a choice! The Texas hill country or 1800s England. But I have a feeling Albert would understand.

Don't you love how mysteries take you through time and space?

They're both due Monday, so I'd better get busy!

mabel1015j · « **Reply #6924 on:** November 30, 2014, 12:46:49 PM »

Finished Catherine Coulter's "Countdown", one of the FBI series. I really liked those characters when i read the first three (that i read, not the first 3of the series). The last two that i have read, including Countdown, just didn't work for me. There was an interesting quirk where a 7 yr old girl could "talk" by telepathy to Dillon Savach. On the other hand, an evil family had skills to instsntly hypnotize anyone looking them in the eye. I couldn't make that believable.

I also just finished Mary Alice Monroe's "Skyward". I love the way she teaches us about something while giving us an interesting story of human relationships. This was about raptors! The protagonist runs a rehab center for injured or orphaned raptors. Also his 5 yr old dgt has diabetes, so she teaches us about that kind of diabetes also. I think i have liked all of her books. Beach House was the first one i read and is my favorite.

Jean

Steph · « **Reply #6925 on:** December 01, 2014, 09:07:54 AM »

I loved P.D. James and she wrote later than most authors do.
Amish,, if you want a in your face Amish mystery,, Linda Castillo..Excellent, but always a bit violent.

Frybabe · « **Reply #6926 on:** December 01, 2014, 10:55:56 AM »

I read a short story/novella the other day that I thought was a book when I downloaded it. I enjoyed it, liked the main character, was bummed when it ended. The Depot: When Life and Death Cross Tracks by Carmen DeSousa. Not my usual read, but I enjoyed it. Now I see that there is another freebie mini-mystery called The Pit Stop: This Stop Could be Life or Death featuring the same detective. The blurb says Detective Mark Waters is featured in a full length novel called The Library: Where Life Checks Out. The author is billed as a romance-mystery writer. She appears to add a bit of the supernatural into her novels as well.

Steph · « **Reply #6927 on:** December 02, 2014, 08:43:02 AM »

Just read and loved a Lisa Scottoline.. Accused. Very good,, Mary is the main character and has just been made a partner by Bennie..

JoanK · « **Reply #6928 on:** December 02, 2014, 05:03:08 PM »

And about time. I love Scottoline.

JoanK · « **Reply #6929 on:** December 02, 2014, 05:07:53 PM »

If enough people are interested, I'll be co-leading a discussion in February: "The Boys in the Boat." Not a mystery, but a good read: the story of American boys, at the height of the depression who went to the 1936 Olympics in Berlin and to compete against Hitler's crack athletes in rowing.

Check it out here if you're interested.

http://seniorlearn.org/forum/index.php?topic=4517.0

Steph · « **Reply #6930 on:** December 03, 2014, 09:23:13 AM »

Don't think I have the time.. I seem to be perennially short of time recently. Must rearrange my life a bit.

JoanK · « **Reply #6931 on:** December 03, 2014, 04:06:16 PM »

Just read the latest in The Gaslight Murder Mysteries by Victoria Thompson: "Murder on Murray Hill"

http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/t/victoria-thompson/

They feature a midwife in New York, who winds up solving murders with her boy friend, a policeman trying to do an honest job in a (notoriously) corrupt police department.

If you're new to the series, don't start with this book: it's about sex crimes, and some of the material is hard to read. But love the series, and will read whatever she writes.

Steph · « **Reply #6932 on:** December 04, 2014, 09:02:48 AM »

Yes,I like Victoria Thompson and I think the series is well researched.. Interesting take on New York City in that period.

mabel1015j · « **Reply #6933 on:** December 07, 2014, 12:17:53 AM »

I also like the Victoria Thompson mysteries. I just finished an Amanda Pepper mystery - the Philadelphia school teacher who keeps running into bodies. I like them just because she mentions many Philly spots i know and i nderstand her variety of feelings about her students and about teaching.

Ironically, i picked up a J.D. Robb, Innocent in Death, which i just started and it appears a teacher has been poisoned in his classroom. I also got a David Rosenfelt mystery. Some of you are dog fans, this North Jersey attorney in a dog lover and in this book, Dog Tags, he's defending a military-trainedGerman Shepard, in court! LOL. he also owns a no-kill shelter with a guy he got a new trial for when the client was on death row, and ....... Oops i shouldn't tell you that, it's a spoiler. But they are humorous AND have dogs in each one.

Steph · « **Reply #6934 on:** December 07, 2014, 09:15:46 AM »

Will look him up, I loved Susan Conants, but then she started writing with her daughter about chefs and do not like those.

jane · « **Reply #6935 on:** December 07, 2014, 11:34:11 AM »

I just finished Kat Martin's #8 in the Raines of Wind Canyon series...Against the Edge.

It was intense, and I couldn't put it down...so stayed up until the wee hours.

jane

pedln · « **Reply #6936 on:** December 07, 2014, 02:11:19 PM »

I've just finished Liane Moriarty's Big Little Lies. A stand-alone. Australian author, set in Australia. I love the way she lets you know that something bad happened at Trivia Night, but though everyone is talking about it, nobody says what it is. In the meantime we follow the characters in their daily lives and see glimpses of their pasts.

Earlier this year my f2f group read Moriarty's The Husband's Secret. I enjoyed it too but liked "Lies" better.

Don't you love those "wee hours," Jane. That's the way I read this one, too. Usually I"m so slow. It feels good to be so enveloped in a good book.

JoanK · « **Reply #6937 on:** December 07, 2014, 03:21:35 PM »

Here is Moriarty. Looks like she writes Science Fiction, too.

http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/m/liane-moriarty/

Steph · « **Reply #6938 on:** December 08, 2014, 09:04:01 AM »

I read the Husbands secret.. Gave it a C,, so not sure I will read any more.. but Sci fi?? hmm.

hysteria2 · « **Reply #6939 on:** December 08, 2014, 09:25:33 PM »

I will like it here! I absolutely love mysteries! I recently finished the Sub Rosa series by Steven Saylor. It is set in ancient Rome. The main character is Gordanius the Finder (a detective). He solves a different crime in each book. Very well written. Ancient Rome is an interest of mine; it's the reason I am taking Latin (first year) with Ginny. I am now reading the SPQR series (another whodunit), also set in ancient Rome. It's OK, but I have been spoiled by the writing of Saylor.

I have read most of the dog mysteries by Susan Conant. I really enjoy her writing, since I am a dog person who loves reading mysteries.

MaryPage · « **Reply #6940 on:** December 09, 2014, 12:22:45 PM »

Hi there! I always like to mention some of my top favorites with anyone new to our conversation, so here goes: Julia Spencer-Fleming, Margaret Maron, Sharyn McCrumb, Minette Walters, Josephine Tey, Charlotte MacLeod, Ellis Peters, Barbara Michaels. I'd better stop, as there are SO many greats!

JoanK · « **Reply #6941 on:** December 09, 2014, 04:41:10 PM »

WELCOME WELCOME HYSTERIA!

I don't know Steven Saylor, but now I will:

http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/s/steven-saylor/

Is the other series you tried by Lindsey Davis? I read those. They are OK, but not wonderful.

http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/d/lindsey-davis/

There's another series set in ancient Greece, that is so similar in style to the Lindsey Davis one that I suspect it's the same author writing under a different name (which unfortunately I can't remember). The narrator is Socrates' older brother, and Socrates is the pesky younger brother following him around and coming up with wise observations.

Does anyone remember the author?

Frybabe · « **Reply #6942 on:** December 09, 2014, 07:43:03 PM »

The Greek series doesn't sound familiar, JoanK. I liked Lindsay Davis's Didius Falco series and her stand alone, Course of Honor. There were a few that I didn't care for too much, but I think that was more to do with subject matter.

I picked up several of R.W. Peake's Marching with Caesar series, but I haven't read any of them yet. I'd like to read more of Ruth Downey's Medicus series. They are on my library wish list but it will be a while to I get to them.

I finished the Donna Leon (Guido Brunetti series) I was reading. I've been alternating that with the Baker Street Letter series. However, right now I am reading 13 Hours (nonfiction) which finally made it back to the shelf at the library.

hysteria2 · « **Reply #6943 on:** December 09, 2014, 10:19:36 PM »

I have read the first Didius Falco book by Lindsey Davis. I will get to the rest of them, but am now doing the SPQR series by John Maddox Roberts. Neither author can compare to Steven Saylor. In addition to the Sub Rosa series, he has also written a stand alone history of Rome. Both books (Roma and Empire) are considered fiction however because there is a fictional family that hobnobs with the principal historical figures. Those are two really great books.

jane · « **Reply #6944 on:** December 10, 2014, 09:25:26 AM »

FYI: We just received this notice of server maintenance:

This email is notification of server maintenance which will occur sometime tonight, 9 December, 2014 to 12 December, 2014, between 9:00 pm and 2:00 am MST (UTC/GMT-7), for the server which hosts seniorlearn.org.

We expect the estimated downtime to be 30 to 45 minutes while the server is rebooted.

JoanK · « **Reply #6945 on:** December 10, 2014, 06:54:43 PM »

Here is "STOP YOU'RE KILLING ME''s index of all mystery series set before 476 (I assume CE. Don't know why that date?!?). Egyptian, Greek, and Roman. Keep scrolling down: they keep coming. I had no idea there were so many.

The Greek series I mentioned is by Gary Corby. I've also read the Ruth Downie ones about a doctor in the Roman Empire and liked them.

http://www.stopyourekillingme.com/HistoryCats/ancient-pre476.html

The link to "Stop You're killing me" is in the heading at the top of the page, and you can search for mysteries by all sorts of criteria. Who was it who is reading mysteries set in New Jersey?)

JoanK · « **Reply #6946 on:** December 10, 2014, 07:22:20 PM »

Now you got me started: I ordered a sample of the series by Doody wit Aristotle as a detective.

Meanwhile, back to the present, just finished "the Cat-Sitters Cradle" by Blaise Clement. The detective, Dixie Hemingway, is a former policewoman in the Florida keys who left the force after a personal tragedy and became a pet-sitter (but of course, keeps solving murders). A lighter version of the detective dealing with personal angst. Lots of food and animals.

http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/c/blaize-clement/cat-sitter-s-cradle.htm

Steph · « **Reply #6947 on:** December 12, 2014, 01:35:40 PM »

Sounds interesting, will look her up. I like Falco although the newer ones drag a bit.. MaryPage,, it always amazes me how close are our likes and dislikes.. I am not overfond of Ellis Peters, but otherwise, your list is mine.

Frybabe · « **Reply #6948 on:** December 13, 2014, 06:21:08 AM »

I agree, Steph. The Falco books were beginning to drag a little. She wrote two books about his adopted daughter, Flavia Alba, who took up Falco's profession. I can't remember if I read the second one.

I'll have to look into Blaise Clement since I am a cat person.

I never heard of Ellis Peters, but just found out she wrote the Cadfael series. She has written quite a few books under various pen names as well as her own, Edith Pargeter. I want to look into her Llewellyn the Last ( Llewelyn ap Grufudd) series. They are novels about the last king of Wales.

Steph · « **Reply #6949 on:** December 13, 2014, 09:32:17 AM »

She is the type of author who uses a different name for each new series.

FlaJean · « **Reply #6950 on:** December 13, 2014, 11:33:40 AM »

I haven't read The Cadfael books but watched the whole series with Derek Jacobi as Father Cadfael a couple of years ago on Netflix and enjoyed them so much.

Right now I'm enjoying the original Inspector Morse series and recently saw the one about the girl, Susan, he had been engaged to when at Oxford. Inspector Lewis looks so young. I guess we all did when these were first shown on TV.

I recently read a dog agility training mystery---short and light reading, but the title escapes me. One of those 2.99 books I downloaded on my iPad. Kind of interesting to read about the agility trials and the training the dogs go through.

JoanK · « **Reply #6951 on:** December 13, 2014, 04:43:23 PM »

I thought I had read everything that Ellis Peters ever wrote, but I don't know the Llewellyn the Last series. Mmmm. Are they mysteries, or just (my bias) historical novels?

Frybabe · « **Reply #6952 on:** December 13, 2014, 04:52:27 PM »

JoanK, she wrote the Llewelyn the Last series was written under her own name, Edith Pargeter. The series is actually called The Brothers of Gwynedd Quartet. They are historical novels. Publishers Weekly had this to say about the novels:

Quote

Without condescending to mimic medievalismsi added s/pk , the precise narrative style complements the historical authenticity of the tale. Readers familiar with Pargeter's Brother Cadfael mysteries (written as Ellis Peters) will find this quartet more serious fare.

JoanK · « **Reply #6953 on:** December 13, 2014, 05:10:02 PM »

Thank. I'll look them up .

I'm finding the latest Ruth Downie about the Roman medico ("Tabula Rosa") slow going, for some reason. It focuses on the troubled relationship between the Romans and the Britains. And the medico's wife, being a Brit married to a Roman, is caught in the middle, belonging nowhere. When a British boy disappears, taken by a Roman, things get really tense, and the medico is trying desperately to find him before things boil over.

Should be interesting, but I'm having trouble getting into it. Maybe too much detail.

Steph · « **Reply #6954 on:** December 14, 2014, 09:24:22 AM »

Just finished a Donna Andrews.. about a county fair. I did laugh since when I was young, I always went to the state fair, slept with my pony, participated in all of the 4-H stuff. It was the highlight of a farm girls years. So I loved the story..

JoanK · « **Reply #6955 on:** December 14, 2014, 05:01:27 PM »

STEPH: which book was it?

I love her early books. The later ones aren't as good IMO but I see I'm about three behind. My favorite is "Crouching Buzzard, Leaping Loon." She's taxed by her loony computer nerd brother to find out who has hacked his best-selling computer game "Lawyers from Hell" to produce a rival "Naked Lawyers from Hell." The buzzard is an office pet who has to be kept happy because if he isn't, he throws up on whoever comes near him. It's hilarious.

http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/a/donna-andrews/

Steph · « **Reply #6956 on:** December 15, 2014, 09:07:22 AM »

The Hen of the Baskervilles.. Anyone who has participated in county or state fairs will recognize themselves in this one. I laughed and laughed. Besides Donna has let Meg grow up and show her organizing activities and not let her mother bully her any more.So she gets more interesting.

FlaJean · « **Reply #6957 on:** December 15, 2014, 10:52:02 AM »

Just downloaded this from Amazon on my Kindle app. ------the latest most moving novel in the Rei Shimura mystery series so far. Her and her sleuth’s love for Japan and its people is evident in this tale involving the destruction of the earthquake and resulting tsunami in the Tohoku region in 2011. While Rei follows clues to locate her antiques mentor and later investigate a murder, readers get an authentic look at what it was like for survivors and rescue workers days after the devastating disaster. Bravo to Massey’s clear- eyed recounting of a recovery that is still ongoing.” Naomi Hirahara, Edgar- award winning author of Snakeskin Shamisen and Murder on Bamboo Lane

Haven't been reading much lately but this sounds interesting.

JoanK · « **Reply #6958 on:** December 15, 2014, 02:35:56 PM »

JEAN: please tell us the name of the book. I can't find it listed on either Fantastic Fiction or Stop you're Killing Me.

FlaJean · « **Reply #6959 on:** December 15, 2014, 07:38:59 PM »

Joan, the title is "The Kizuna Coast" by Sujata Massey. I got it on Amazon (Kindle) for $2.99

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Author Topic: Mystery Corner ~ 2 (Read 910261 times)