Author Topic: Mystery Corner ~ 2 (Read 910348 times)

JoanK · « **Reply #7120 on:** January 14, 2015, 03:52:17 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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FlaJean · « **Reply #7121 on:** January 14, 2015, 08:48:32 PM »

Julia Spencer-Fleming has a FaceBook page and posted on Jan. 11th. She passed her physical with flying colors in Dec. there was no mention of work on a new book.

MaryPage · « **Reply #7122 on:** January 14, 2015, 09:28:35 PM »

http://www.juliaspencerfleming.com/

JoanK · « **Reply #7123 on:** January 15, 2015, 12:17:33 AM »

Then it looks like she's ok. Maybe just tired of writing. Or doing something that takes longer.

Steph · « **Reply #7124 on:** January 15, 2015, 09:14:51 AM »

I love Spencer-Fleming.. Hopefully she is not dead, just writers block perhaps..

MaryPage · « **Reply #7125 on:** January 15, 2015, 09:58:30 AM »

Well, Julia Spencer-Fleming is a real, old-fashioned WRITER who works hard on every aspect of her books and crafts them to her own satisfaction. She is not one of our modern assembly line money makers with annual publishing dates in their contracts. We need real excellence these days. Real quality. Refreshing to know that it is still to be found. I don't read her books and find myself lamenting dozens of little holes in the story.

serenesheila · « **Reply #7126 on:** January 15, 2015, 03:11:34 PM »

Thamks for the info about Julia Spencer-Fleming. I willcheck put her website, now.

Sheila

Quote from: JoanK on January 15, 2015, 12:17:33 AM

Then it looks like she's ok. Maybe just tired of writing. Or doing something that takes longer.

Steph · « **Reply #7127 on:** January 16, 2015, 11:52:46 AM »

I think she has always been a slow writer, but her stories are always so compelling.

serenesheila · « **Reply #7128 on:** January 20, 2015, 03:06:37 PM »

I would be interested in knowing who your favorite mystery authors are. My introduction to mystery writing wer books by Mary Higgins Clark.

Sheila

JoanK · « **Reply #7129 on:** January 20, 2015, 03:23:30 PM »

She's good!http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/c/mary-higgins-clark/

I see I haven't begun to read all her books. Have to get on the ball.

I guess my introduction (after Nancy Drew of course) was books by Agatha Christie.

I couldn't possibly pick a favorite! Too painful to leave others out.

What do you all say?

Frybabe · « **Reply #7130 on:** January 20, 2015, 04:43:15 PM »

For me it was mostly Nancy Drew, but also Mary Stewart, and Mary Roberts Rinehart. Speaking of Nancy Drew, we have a fellow who comes into the library for Nancy Drew. His daughter was into her, and he got hooked.

MaryPage · « **Reply #7131 on:** January 20, 2015, 05:13:23 PM »

Josephine Tey is an all time favorite. Julia Spencer-Fleming, Margaret Maron, Barbara Michaels, Ngaio Marsh, Minette Walters, Reginald Hill, Peter Robinson, Charles Finch, Ann Cleeves, Michael Dibdin, Michael Gruber, Estelle Ryan, Ellis Peters, Charlotte MacLeod, Sharon McCrumb. Oh, the list just goes on and on and on.

salan · « **Reply #7132 on:** January 20, 2015, 07:36:54 PM »

My first mystery books were the Nancy Drew mysteries. Christmas morning always saw the latest ND mystery under the tree for me. At one time, I had all of them which I passed on to my oldest niece when she reached a certain age. I don't know what she did with them. I also read the Hardy boy mysteries, but didn't love them like the Nancy Drew. Then I graduated on to Agatha Christie, Mary Stuart, Mary Roberts Rhinehart, Mary Higgins Clark, etc. I especially liked the Hercule Poirot books! Now, I like a good many authors: Julia Spencer-Fleming, Thomas Perry, the Jane Whitefield series, and many more.
Sally

marjifay · « **Reply #7133 on:** January 20, 2015, 10:23:57 PM »

As far as I'm concerned Julia Spencer-Fleming can take her time getting her next book out. I'm not a fan. My notes on her last book, OUT OF THE DEEP I CRY, say " Long and boring. About two-thirds of the way thru it, I got so bored I dropped it. Not worth wading thru the rest of the pages."

Marj

JoanK · « **Reply #7134 on:** January 21, 2015, 01:12:28 AM »

That's why there are all different kinds of books -- we all like different things.

It's hard to pick up a Spencer-Fleming from late in the series if you don't read them in order. there are too many continuing characters, that she has to bring in somehow even if it hasn't got much to do with the plot, and it can drag.

Steph · « **Reply #7135 on:** January 21, 2015, 08:45:49 AM »

Goodness, my introduction.. Mary Stewart who I adored, but Agatha as well. Never liked Hercules, but loved the rest especially Tuppence and
Tommy. Now whew, the list is long.. I started a new series that I like Karen Harper and she writes of Elizabeth I.. as a secret detective of sorts. Interesting.

FlaJean · « **Reply #7136 on:** January 21, 2015, 12:25:46 PM »

My mystery book reading also started with NancyDrew. I also loved Mary Stewart and Christie's Miss Marple. There was a really cute series on Netflix about Tommy and Tuppence a while back. My list of authors I like would fill a page.

JoanK · « **Reply #7137 on:** January 21, 2015, 04:04:08 PM »

Another childhood favorite: the "Tish" books by Mary Roberts Rinehart. Three middle aged ladies who have amazing adventures, including foiling a German attack in WWI. Did anyone else read them?

MaryPage · « **Reply #7138 on:** January 21, 2015, 07:50:16 PM »

Oh! Oh! Oh! I forgot to mention two huge favorites:

MRS. POLLIFAX by Dorothy Gilman

and

MISS SEETON by Heron Carvic and Hampton Charles and Hamilton Crane.

Both series pure marvelous entertainment.

Steph · « **Reply #7139 on:** January 22, 2015, 06:16:41 AM »

Oh Tish. I had forgotten them.I loved them.

FlaJean · « **Reply #7140 on:** January 22, 2015, 11:05:19 AM »

I love Mrs. Pollifax. Have read all of them. I have around 5 or 6 of those little Miss Seeton books I bought at a book sale for 25 cents. Every one of them a quick, light and enjoyable read.

JoanK · « **Reply #7141 on:** January 22, 2015, 02:52:10 PM »

if I HAD TO name one all time favorite, it would be Dorothy Gilman and "The Unexpected Mrs. Polifax." She's who I want to be when I grow up.

salan · « **Reply #7142 on:** January 22, 2015, 06:09:23 PM »

I loved the Mrs. Pollifax books. I also really loved the Southern Sisters mysteries by Anne George. They always made me laugh out loud.
Sally

JoanK · « **Reply #7143 on:** January 22, 2015, 07:34:55 PM »

me, too. Having a sister...

It was a real shock when I picked up a new book by her and saw in the author bio that she had died. I've always meant to look up her poetry (she was the Alabama poet laureate.

http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/g/anne-george/

nlhome · « **Reply #7144 on:** January 22, 2015, 10:17:50 PM »

Way back, Erle Stanley Gardner and Perry Mason were among the earliest, after Nancy Drew. Then Agatha Christie, and once I found the public library, I read just about every mystery I could find in that Carnegie library. Today I don't have favorites. I enjoy a number of different authors.

Steph · « **Reply #7145 on:** January 23, 2015, 08:29:08 AM »

My Mother brought me a subscription to the Ellery Queen magazine. I loved it, It was probably my first mysteries.

serenesheila · « **Reply #7146 on:** January 24, 2015, 12:39:58 PM »

Thanks, everyone, for sharing your favorites. Now, I will begin checking them out.

Sheila

Steph · « **Reply #7147 on:** January 24, 2015, 01:32:03 PM »

Working on Dante Connection.. Jenny is back to her original self and the very complex mystery is slowly unfolding..I think better than the first one.

MaryPage · « **Reply #7148 on:** January 24, 2015, 05:12:27 PM »

Glad to hear that, and I will look forward to reading the rest of the series.

JoanK · « **Reply #7149 on:** January 24, 2015, 06:58:26 PM »

read an intriguing book called "The Persian Pickle Club" by Sandra Dallas. t's a mystery, but mostly its about farm women "making do" in the 1930s.

http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/d/sandra-dallas/

salan · « **Reply #7150 on:** January 24, 2015, 07:01:51 PM »

JoanK, I really like Sandra Dallas and have read all of her books to date. However, imo, the earlier ones were best.
Sally

JoanK · « **Reply #7151 on:** January 24, 2015, 07:22:35 PM »

Do they all have mysteries in them?

salan · « **Reply #7152 on:** January 25, 2015, 07:53:39 AM »

JoanK, I would not describe SD books as mysteries. Sally

Steph · « **Reply #7153 on:** January 25, 2015, 09:10:29 AM »

I read The Persian Pickle Club and liked it, but did not like most of the others.

pedln · « **Reply #7154 on:** January 25, 2015, 06:29:46 PM »

JoanK, I've only read three of her books -- Persian Pickle, Tallgrass, and Buster Midnight's Cafe. Tallgrass is set in a small Colorado town during WW II and is the name of a Japanese internment camp. I wouldn't call it a mystery, but a murder does take place. I really enjoyed it, Buster Midnight, not so much.

Steph · « **Reply #7155 on:** January 26, 2015, 08:37:55 AM »

Jenny and the Dante Connection. The puzzles grows and twists and twines.. Amazing indeed..

MaryPage · « **Reply #7156 on:** January 26, 2015, 02:42:17 PM »

Great! I am reading a Charles Lenox, and then have a dozen more books on the get to asap pile, but 4 Genevieve books are waiting for me to pick them off the shelf I placed them in. Thinking of the pleasure awaiting me is such a comfort!

JoanK · « **Reply #7157 on:** January 26, 2015, 05:11:43 PM »

Isn't it.

I try to make a rule, not to read two books by the same author in a row, so I won't get tired of them. But I violate that all the time.

nlhome · « **Reply #7158 on:** January 26, 2015, 06:57:59 PM »

I just finished "The Whole Enchilada" by Diane Mott Davidson. This is not a series I follow faithfully, but it was in the new book display at the library, and I felt like something light so I checked it out. As usual, it stretched believability, but it held my interest.

Steph · « **Reply #7159 on:** January 27, 2015, 08:40:22 AM »

I like Goldy and her husband, but cannot bear that child of hers. A completely spoiled brat that she encourages. So I gave up reading her.

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Author Topic: Mystery Corner ~ 2 (Read 910348 times)