Author Topic: Mystery Corner ~ 2 (Read 910423 times)

Tomereader1 · « **Reply #7600 on:** August 24, 2015, 03:49:55 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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My granddaughter, who was a Sr. in High School at the time, simply loved these "City of ____" books, and I bought a couple of them for her. She's moved out of state, and I doubt she still has them, but if she comes back one day, I'm gonna borrow them from her.

mabel1015j · « **Reply #7601 on:** August 24, 2015, 04:00:44 PM »

I'm with you on that Joan. I always read something in between two books in a series. I did, one time, read one of Lisa Scottolini's "women law firm" books at the same time I was reading a book of her Philadelphia Inquirer columns which is just commentary on day-to-day life events. But i like variety, which is why I always have at least one fiction and one non-fiction book on my nightstand. Within one night I need to have two different concepts to think about. LOL

JEAN

MaryPage · « **Reply #7602 on:** August 24, 2015, 08:29:44 PM »

Joan and Jean, I am pretty much the same way. Sometimes I finish a book and am so blistering eager to stay in the scene and read the next one despite my better intentions, that I cave in and DO read two in a row. I did that recently with an Ann Cleeves; I just flat out wanted to stay out there in the Shetlands, thank you very much. So I did. But in the usual course of things, I sort out the books on hand and keep a stack aside of the ones to be read next, carefully not putting any two by the same author next to one another in that stack. Works for me.

I find myself sneezing all over the place this evening, but only since I took the trash outside to the dumpster a little while ago. Leaves me wondering what is out there that I am so allergic to. So annoying.

Steph · « **Reply #7603 on:** August 25, 2015, 08:08:27 AM »

Jean, Jesse is somewhat different in the movies.. I liked the books more.
Yes Cassandra Clare did quite a stunt with the Mortal Instruments series. I enjoyed them enormously. She started with a different premise and expanded it enormously.

marjifay · « **Reply #7604 on:** August 25, 2015, 08:22:36 PM »

i'm reading a really great mystery, AFTER THE STORM, by Linda Castillo. Very good writing and interesting characters. The part of the book that tells what it's like to live through a tornado is fascinating Also very interesting is the setting in an Ohio town with both Amish and Mennonite communities. The mystery keeps you turning pages. I will definitely read more of her books.

Marj

Steph · « **Reply #7605 on:** August 26, 2015, 08:44:59 AM »

I love Linda Castillo. Is that a new one?? Will check out Amazon for it.

JoanK · « **Reply #7606 on:** August 26, 2015, 06:35:46 PM »

The detective sounds familiar. Think Castillo must be one of many authors I read and lost track of.

http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/c/linda-castillo/

Steph · « **Reply #7607 on:** August 27, 2015, 09:31:50 AM »

Found two short stories byher on Kindle. I like her detective and her explanations of the Amish match my childhood memories of the amish around my house.

Frybabe · « **Reply #7608 on:** August 29, 2015, 01:59:49 PM »

Just finished Donna Leon's Sea of Trouble. Spoiler alert. I was a bit taken aback or disappointed in Brunetti in this one. In this one Brunetti showed, to my mind, poor judgment in insisting that they go after a fishing boat in the midst of a big storm. It resulted in the death of an about to retire policeman. Not only that, Brunetti, a married man, seems to have taken too much of a liking to one of the station secretaries.

I've ordered the next in line and also ordered, finally, Murder at the Gardner by Jane Langton. I remember it was mentioned as being a really good book years ago (probably on the old Senior Net).

JoanK · « **Reply #7609 on:** August 29, 2015, 05:06:18 PM »

FRY: I love "Murder at the Gardner." But if you haven't read her before, she has an absolutely unique writing style: you either like her a lot or don't like her at all.

All of her books are based on either a piece of music, a painting, or a piece of literature. (Well, almost all. One is based on a spider web). She duplicates the action in her model in the plot. This one is based on a medieval painting in the Gardner Museum in Boston. It's allegorical and funny at the same time. I hope the copy you get has good pictures, because part of the fun of her books is the little line drawings she includes.

The plot involves a theft of some of the paintings. The irony is that about the time the book came out, there was an actual theft in the real Gardner museum. I've always wondered if the book inspired the thieves.

JoanK · « **Reply #7610 on:** August 29, 2015, 05:12:40 PM »

Here she is:

http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/l/jane-langton/

I notice she was born in 1922 and is still alive. You go, girl!

JoanK · « **Reply #7611 on:** August 29, 2015, 05:17:36 PM »

Just finished "Murder at Highbury", a mystery based on Jane Austen's Emma. Not a bad book, but I can't recommend it. The author kills off some of the characters from Emma, and that feels weird. (Must be a kindle only book -- can't find it in FF).

MaryPage · « **Reply #7612 on:** August 29, 2015, 07:12:06 PM »

Well, I have just finished Margaret Maron's LONG UPON THE LAND, the very last, sob, she SAYS, in the Deborah Knott series, and oh how I hope she turns out to be inspired otherwise. I can and DO recommend this book, for I just flat out hugged myself for Joy while reading it.

FlaJean · « **Reply #7613 on:** August 29, 2015, 08:20:14 PM »

I like Jane Langton. I've read most of her Homer Kelly mysteries. That college is something else. I'll have to look for some of those books that I haven't read. Thanks again for the links, Joan.

I'm on the library reserve list for Maron's latest book. I understand she is going to bring back the woman detective (Sigrid Harald) from her first series. I think I'm the only person that liked her first series the best, although she has had (she says) many, many requests to write about her again.

BarbStAubrey · « **Reply #7614 on:** August 29, 2015, 10:33:28 PM »

Wheee we are open - our pre-discussion For Love of Lakes is open and ready AND the link is in the heading for the intro to the book along with the link to the book that is about 3/4ths of the book that is available to us from Amazon - here is the link to the discussion ... http://seniorlearn.org/forum/index.php?topic=4803.0

Steph · « **Reply #7615 on:** August 30, 2015, 10:43:12 AM »

I really really liked Homer and Jane Langdon and think I read Murder at the Gardiner. but will look at it to be sure.

marcie · « **Reply #7616 on:** August 31, 2015, 09:30:08 AM »

Hi Marj. Would you send me an email at marciei@aol.com. I've been trying to reach you by email but mine might be going to your spam. I'll reply to your email and see if that works. thanks

marjifay · « **Reply #7617 on:** August 31, 2015, 03:33:46 PM »

Sorry, Marcie, I sent an email to you at the address you gave, but I received a notice that it could not be delivered. My email address here at Senior Learn is correct if you'd like to try again.

Marj

Steph · « **Reply #7618 on:** September 01, 2015, 08:07:21 AM »

new author for me.. Marta Perry...She writes of the amish in Pennsylvania.. Good book, a bit on the romance side, but not overwhelming.

FlaJean · « **Reply #7619 on:** September 01, 2015, 09:44:46 AM »

I have a couple of the Marta Perry books on my iPad thru that Kindle app. The first one was free and then I bought one or 3.99.

marcie · « **Reply #7620 on:** September 01, 2015, 10:54:54 AM »

Marj, I'll try to email you again. Did you put in the extra i at the end of marciei@aol.com?

Tomereader1 · « **Reply #7621 on:** September 01, 2015, 12:06:00 PM »

If I've not posted this before, Amazon has a very good series of mysteries by Melissa F. Miller. Main character is Sasha McCandless. I've just finished my third one--first two were free eBooks--from probably BookBub or whatever the other one is. I think Pixel of Ink, or Omnimystery. Anyway, Sasha is a lawyer in Pittsburgh, a tiny little thing that practices martial arts, not your standard KungFu, etc. Circumstances always find her on a case, which is non-related to one which falls into her lap, usually a criminal case. She is not a criminal attorney! The books are reasonably short, well-written, fun and interesting finding out new things re the law/courts/judges. By no means "literary" fiction, but fun reading, and you can't help but like this main character and her legal assistant, Naya.

Steph · « **Reply #7622 on:** September 02, 2015, 08:49:56 AM »

Fla Jean.. Thanks.I will try my Kindle to see what they have on her. The one I have is a paperback..

MaryPage · « **Reply #7623 on:** September 02, 2015, 03:55:18 PM »

I went by our huge Barnes & Noble today and bought The Girl In The Spider's Web by David Lagercrantz. The author is Swedish and this book is a continuation of the Lisbeth Salander books by the late lamented Stieg Larsson. I am very excited, as the critics have liked it.

While there I looked in the stacks for the latest Estelle Ryan Connection series book, and was astonished to have to ask at the desk and discover that these books are ON ORDER only: you can order at a store and pick it up later or you can order on line, but they don't keep them in stock, the publisher prints them out ON ORDER only! Now there's a whole new wrinkle!

JoanK · « **Reply #7624 on:** September 02, 2015, 06:46:19 PM »

TOMEREADER: GREAT! I love legal beagles and am having trouble finding them in the Amazon free books.

http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/m/melissa-f-miller/

JoanK · « **Reply #7625 on:** September 02, 2015, 06:54:40 PM »

Got the first one.

MARYPAGE: rats. I'm trying not to buy books, but want to read more of Ryan.

MaryPage · « **Reply #7626 on:** September 02, 2015, 08:53:48 PM »

Oh Joan, I am trying SO hard to exercise much needed restraint and not buy any more books, too! I mean, I've got AT LEAST a thousand, seriously that is not just a figure of speech, books crowding every spare bit of space and waiting for that reading! I am addicted, and there is no way around it. Lowering my head in shame.

But, sigh, I bought a new book today and before the week is out I know I will not be able to control myself from ordering some more.

Steph · « **Reply #7627 on:** September 03, 2015, 08:50:57 AM »

i picked up Book Page in the local library and that is ruinous for me.. I see at least five books that I want desperately.. The most intriguing is Best Boy by Eli Gottlieb.. It is a fiction ( but semiautobiographical) of a boy with autism.. Seems he has written several books, they are mostly about a fictional account of his brother. Interesting. Also The Gilded Hour by sara Donati.. women who have gone to medical school and run afoul of Anthony Comstock.. just to name two of them. I need to stay away from Book Page, it is a delight

Tomereader1 · « **Reply #7628 on:** September 03, 2015, 11:57:40 AM »

And if Book Page is a delight, then Bookmarks Magazine is absolute manna from heaven. You'd find more than five books to put on your list! I found that once I read my first copy of Bookmarks, I simply had to have a subscription (which I have kept going for several years now). When it arrives in the mail, everything stops...I get something to drink, coffee, tea, cola, and sit down in my comfortable spot, and read, read, read! (I also can't turn loose of them once read!)
Marypage, my books are close to or past 1,000 by now, much to my chagrin. Some are keepers (already read) some are half-starts, some not yet started, but they are all part of me and my obsession for books and reading!

mabel1015j · « **Reply #7629 on:** September 03, 2015, 12:15:40 PM »

I am not a buyer of fiction books, but i will buy more of Ryan's "Connection" series. Loved the first two.

Jean

MaryPage · « **Reply #7630 on:** September 03, 2015, 01:14:59 PM »

I subscribe to BookMarks as well, and always pass my issues on to my next door neighbor when I am done marking them up as to what I have already read (isn't the next to last page FUN in that regard!) and what I want to get, at what we have gotten in the habit of referring to as our "backyard fence." Ok, one of us will say to the other over the phone, I''ll meet you and pass it over at the backyard fence. Actually, it is the spot on my back deck where HER back deck touches on mine.

Tomereader, as to numbers of books on hand, you'll doubtless pass me in this dubious distinction one day. You aren't as old as I yet!

Tomereader1 · « **Reply #7631 on:** September 03, 2015, 01:46:30 PM »

But I'm getting there quickly, Marypage! (age)

JoanK · « **Reply #7632 on:** September 03, 2015, 04:05:51 PM »

I have over 900 books on my kindle, and I've only owned it for three or four years. And I get a dozen books from the library each time I go. That's the downside of liking mysteries: they're quick reads, so you keep having to buy more. I kept track one month just for fun and I read 4-5 books a week.

MaryPage · « **Reply #7633 on:** September 03, 2015, 05:12:59 PM »

That is AMAZING, Joan! I haven't been able to keep up a pace like that for years and years now. Too much to read (magazines, newspapers, etc.), too much to do, and every ordinary everyday sort of chore takes 3 times as long for me to do; not to mention the naps that I fall into involuntarily if I sit down to read for a spell. I find it frustrating not to be able to read as much as I would like, but then acceptance is the only road I can sensibly take. Anyway, GOOD ON YOU!

mabel1015j · « **Reply #7634 on:** September 03, 2015, 11:23:47 PM »

Ditto what MaryPage said!

Joan

When i saw 900 on your ipad!!! OMG! I'm upset that i have about thirty on mine and can't get to them bcs I keep getting library books that i need/want to read. So much abundance! Wonderful!

Jean

Steph · « **Reply #7635 on:** September 04, 2015, 08:52:20 AM »

Oh I have subscribed to Book Marks for years and also pay for a subscription for our library.. our county commissioners will not let our libraries waste their money on newspapers and magazine, so the friends took this up as a continuing donation and we sponsor a number of books and also indiviiduals like me donate for a particular subscription as well. Book Page is interesting though because they do a better job on mysteries than Book Marks.

ginny · « **Reply #7636 on:** September 06, 2015, 10:03:55 AM »

Stephanie! Good for you! What a wonderful thing to do!

And JoanK! I am in total awe of your reading so many books a week. It shows.

Frybabe · « **Reply #7637 on:** September 06, 2015, 01:51:31 PM »

That's great Steph. I had, for two years,used points I accumulated at a survey site to donate magazines to my library branch. The library manger was delighted.

JoanK · « **Reply #7638 on:** September 06, 2015, 03:08:04 PM »

Reading a murder in a nudist colony. keep wondering where the murderer hid the gun, but no one in the book is asking. (I'll let you know when I finish whether I recommend it. I'm up in the air now.

Steph · « **Reply #7639 on:** September 07, 2015, 08:47:16 AM »

Finished Dissolution.... I loved the writing, the characters, but it was surely grim.. I will read another by him but oh my, a little lightness would be nice.

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Author Topic: Mystery Corner ~ 2 (Read 910423 times)