Author Topic: Mystery Corner ~ 2 (Read 910012 times)

JoanK · « **Reply #8360 on:** November 02, 2016, 04:57:52 PM »

____

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

JoanK · « **Reply #8361 on:** November 02, 2016, 05:03:47 PM »

That sounds absolutely wonderful. Wish someone would do that for places I love.

nlhome · « **Reply #8362 on:** November 02, 2016, 05:52:30 PM »

Rosemary, thank you for reminding me of Ian Rankin's books. Although I read his most recent, I had not read Standing in Another Man's Grave, and I needed a book so got that from the library yesterday.

Someone, or maybe it was on a list, suggested Stuart MacBride's books, set in Aberdeen. I tried to read the first in the series about Logan McCrae, but it was just too ugly. I guess it was supposed to have some humorous parts as well as being "gritty", but it was very dark humor. I wasn't able to finish it.

rosemarykaye · « **Reply #8363 on:** November 02, 2016, 07:22:19 PM »

nlhome - I agree about Stuart MacBride - I've only read one and although i enjoyed recognising the Aberdeen landmarks, i found it much too gory. My son has read several of them and warned me not to - he likes all that kind of stuff but he knows I don't, and he says they just get more and more explicit.

I hope you enjoy Standing in Another Man's Grave - I see from Amazon that although most people liked it, quite a few didn't. I thought it was very good. Did you get the Rebus TV adaptations over there? We thought the ones with Ken Stott as Rebus were by far the best.

Rosemary

Frybabe · « **Reply #8364 on:** November 02, 2016, 10:48:57 PM »

I've just spent most of the day reading to the end Red Sparrow by Jason Matthews. It is a very good modern day spy thriller, the first of a trilogy. The settings include Moscow, Helsinki, Washington DC, Rome and Athens. The author included simple (some elegant) recipes with most chapters. Matthews (and his wife) worked in the CIA for many years. Here is the Washington Post review/synopsis of the book. https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/books/red-sparrow-a-fantastic-new-spy-thriller-by-former-cia-operative-jason-matthews/2013/10/15/3f7f9672-cc50-11e2-8845-d970ccb04497_story.html The book is well worth the read.

IMDB lists a movie version in pre-production with Jennifer Lawrence playing the role of Dominika, the Russian Sparrow. Joel Edgerton is also listed, but it doesn't list who he is playing. I think they should find someone like Pete Postlethwaite to play Gable. I wonder who they will get to play Putin. Movie is scheduled for a 2017 release.

rosemarykaye · « **Reply #8365 on:** November 03, 2016, 04:12:36 AM »

That sounds good Frybabe - I'm going to add it to the list I may finish in about 2099...

(although I do move books up and down according to what I feel like...)

I love the sound of spending all day reading a book too. I try to divest myself of the idea i was brought up with, ie that reading is only for bedtime and is a scandalous daytime occupation. I am utterly aware that it's a ridiculous notion, but it's hard to shake - and particularly annoying when I know I can quite easily waste hours surfing the net. MUST DO BETTER!

Rosemary

JoanK · « **Reply #8366 on:** November 03, 2016, 03:31:41 PM »

FRYBABE: Red Sparrow sounds fascinating! I'd heard of synesthesia: seeing emotions as colors, but not in the way the book uses it.

ROSEMARY: "reading is only for bedtime and is a scandalous daytime occupation." we've had completely opposite upbringings! My mother was a librarian, and in our house, reading was for anytime. when mom said "dinner is ready", we'd all run and grab a book. And of course there had to be books in the bathroom: if you were going to spend time in there, of course you needed a book to read. (when people tell me they don't have time to read, I say "you go to the bathroom don't you?)

I thought my mother was being terribly unreasonable when she forbade me to read while taking a bath, just because I dropped one teensy library book in the water.

Frybabe · « **Reply #8367 on:** November 03, 2016, 04:29:16 PM »

I think I have only seen synesthesia in relation to sounds. I'll have to look it up and see what the medicos have to say about it.

I picked up Forever Odd at the Friends of the Library Bookstore today. I hope to get to it soon.

nlhome · « **Reply #8368 on:** November 03, 2016, 05:37:45 PM »

I don't think I've seen any Rebus on TV here, Rosemary. Perhaps there are on Netflicks or some such service, but I stick with PBS and regular TV and not so much of that these days.

Frybabe · « **Reply #8369 on:** November 04, 2016, 07:04:42 AM »

Gosh, synesthesia covers a lot, many types not yet well defined and researched. I forgot about seeing numbers and letters in color, and didn't a few of us have a little discussion a while back about seeing spatially in numbers?

Frybabe · « **Reply #8370 on:** November 06, 2016, 03:30:14 PM »

The library has the second of the Red Sparrow trilogy, so I put in for it. It should be here for me on Thursday. I hadn't expected to read it, but my Endodontist read it and says he liked it better than the first. The third has not yet been released.

nlhome · « **Reply #8371 on:** November 11, 2016, 03:28:52 PM »

Rosemary, I finished Standing in Another Man's Grave today. I did like it, lots of twists and turns. Thank you for mentioning it.

JoanK · « **Reply #8372 on:** November 13, 2016, 05:03:05 PM »

reading the latest Sue Grafton: "X". had stopped reading them, got tired somehow, so I've missed a number, and this one builds on an earlier one. It's not great, but it plods along. Don't like her treatment of an elderly couple, though.

Luke warm recommendation, I guess.

mabel1015j · « **Reply #8373 on:** November 22, 2016, 02:33:34 AM »

Believe it, or not, I am reading my first Agatha Christie mystery! The Monogram Murders! A Poirot story. I didn't expect it to be so humorous, she has a sly wit.

Jean

Frybabe · « **Reply #8374 on:** November 22, 2016, 07:25:25 AM »

The Palace of Treason (second of the Red Sparrow trilogy) is just as good as the first. So far, this one is set mainly in Vienna and involves obtaining secret nuclear info from a compromised Iranian.

JoanK · « **Reply #8375 on:** November 22, 2016, 05:11:06 PM »

JEAN: I envy you! You have a huge treat ahead of you. they vary in quality, but the best are great! She wrote over fifty, so you're set for a while.

JoanK · « **Reply #8376 on:** November 22, 2016, 05:16:13 PM »

JEAN: OH NO! the monogram murders is not by Agatha Christie. I had assumed it was a re-naming of one of hers, and looked it up. but it's not. It's one of the new series where modern writers write "in the style of."

https://www.fantasticfiction.com/h/sophie-hannah/monogram-murders.htm

JoanK · « **Reply #8377 on:** November 22, 2016, 05:22:59 PM »

JEAN:Correction. Dame Agatha wrote 80 books in 13 years: the last the year I was born.

Avoid the last half dozen or so: she had lost the touch. But that gives you plenty to work with. Some prefer the Miss Marple series to Hercule Poirot, some the other way.

https://www.fantasticfiction.com/c/agatha-christie/

mabel1015j · « **Reply #8378 on:** November 22, 2016, 11:35:03 PM »

Joan - i had no idea it was not AC. Her name is in big letters on the picture of the cover - it is an ebook from the library. Well, you are right. I will read more and 80 books could keep me busy for a long while.

Jean

JoanK · « **Reply #8379 on:** November 24, 2016, 02:19:09 PM »

Wonder if there are any good thanksgiving mysteries? I know: it's a mystery how I can eat so much!

Happy thanksgiving!

nlhome · « **Reply #8380 on:** November 24, 2016, 07:57:11 PM »

I'm moving a little slowly myself, JoanK.

JoanK · « **Reply #8381 on:** November 25, 2016, 07:00:43 PM »

Some old favorites came through for me. latest Charles Finch "The Inheritance", not his best, but good. A little about boys schools, the boy who didn't fit in, the scientific research of the day and the Royal Society.

My only regret that jane, who started out as the main character in the series, has been reduced to the housewife who supports her husband. there is another strong woman character, though, Polly.

https://www.fantasticfiction.com/f/charles-finch/

Frybabe · « **Reply #8382 on:** November 27, 2016, 05:14:41 PM »

I've finished Palace of Treason and can hardly wait for the third book to hit the shelves.

Joe Hill has a book out called The Fireman[/i. It is listed as a mystery/thriller (sub: supernatural, psychological, horror). It involves spontaneous combustion. I need to see if our library has it. Not my usual haunts, but I am curious about it but moslty I would like to see if Larry Arnold is listed anywhere in the book. Larry is (or was) living just across the river from me and is a long time investigator of spontaneous human combustion. His book, ABLAZE!, was published in 1995. It got a bit of criticism, naturally enough.

JoanK · « **Reply #8383 on:** November 28, 2016, 04:10:48 PM »

What's the consensus? Does it exist?

JoanK · « **Reply #8384 on:** November 28, 2016, 04:23:33 PM »

Read the (next to?) latest Elly Griffiths. "woman in blue."
https://www.fantasticfiction.com/g/elly-griffiths/

Takes place in a town famous for religious apparitions: is there one being seen now? Good as always, although I'm getting tired of the main character's obsession with a married man. Move on, already!

mabel1015j · « **Reply #8385 on:** November 28, 2016, 05:17:25 PM »

I'm beginning another Fern Michaels "Sisterhood series". I like them on occasion. A group of women come together to right wrongs done either to one of them or to somebody they know. You have to suspend reality to read them, but I find that's true for most mysteries and its convenient that two of them have unlimited funds available and one of them is married to an ex MI6 agent who is a computer whiz and has numerous connections to call on for help in seeking their revenge.

You should start with "Weekend Warriors" to understand the following books more quickly when you begin to read them. It's a fun group of gals, though I'd never want to cross them!

https://www.fantasticfiction.com/m/fern-michaels/

Jean

JoanK · « **Reply #8386 on:** November 28, 2016, 10:20:05 PM »

Sounds interesting!

Maryemm · « **Reply #8387 on:** November 30, 2016, 03:49:35 PM »

Anyone here like the Phil Rickman books?

We have holidayed for the last twenty years around Herefordshire and earlier this year made appoint of visiting some of the churches and places described in his books. Absolutely fascinating!

Read all about him here at:
http://www.herefordshirelife.co.uk/people/herefordshire_people_author_phil_rickman_1_1635114

rosemarykaye · « **Reply #8388 on:** November 30, 2016, 03:53:43 PM »

Hello Maryemm - are these books that were made into a TV drama starring Anna Maxwell Davis? I saw that but I didn't realise it was based on books. How interesting!

I have not been to Herefordshire for many, many years. I recall going there on a summer holiday with my mother - I must have been 16 or so. Coming from London I was so impressed with the beautiful countryside, the pretty villages and the local markets - I wonder what it's like now? I always thought it would be such a wonderful area to live in.

I must look out for these books - thanks for telling us about them.

Best wishes,

Rosemary

JoanK · « **Reply #8389 on:** November 30, 2016, 05:14:35 PM »

Here is a list of his books.

https://www.fantasticfiction.com/r/phil-rickman/

For us ignorant Yanks, where is Herefordshire? I gather it has a reputation for the supernatural. wonder if it's the same area that the "woman in Blue" by Griffiths I mentioned above is placed in?

I think we have areas like that in the US (areas with a reputation for supernatural phenomena), but where?

rosemarykaye · « **Reply #8390 on:** December 02, 2016, 08:27:34 AM »

Joan, Herefordshire is the English side of the Welsh border, technically the West Midlands. I don't know about the witches!

The county's Wikipedia page says 'Gypsies and Travellers have historically been Herefordshire's largest minority ethnic group.'

It's traditionally a very agricultural area; the need for large numbers of seasonal workers may be why so many Gypsies and Travellers live there?

Rosemary

Maryemm · « **Reply #8391 on:** December 02, 2016, 11:29:40 AM »

Yes, Rosemary, that's the one, though I was not keen on the TV drama. The Merrily Watkins books are "better". If you do read them make sure you do so in chronological order as the characters develop in the series.

Joan: Herefordshire is an area where they grow fruit and hops (for beer). Gypsies would troop to the county to help with the fruit-picking. Today lots of Europeans work in the orchards and in the strawberry fields.

Wales is just around the corner from Hay-on-Wye. Latter has an annual LIterary Festival and countless second-hand bookshops. (Bliss!)Castle features in " Lady of Hay" (Barbara Erskine).

I could happily live in Herefordshire!

mabel1015j · « **Reply #8392 on:** December 05, 2016, 01:57:26 PM »

I remembered my granson mentioning that John Grisham writes a series of mysteries for teens. At the library book sale on Friday I saw one in like new condition and bought it for that grandson for Christmas. I thought I'd read it to see what it was about. The series is about Theodore Boone, a thirteen yr old whose parents are both lawyers. He has a very healthy curiousity and sense of humor when he "describes" (in his thinking) the people and events that he comes across. It is a fun read.

I've told people at my women' s history presentations that if they want a good fast read about anyone I talk about to check out the "teen/young adult" section of the library. There have been some awlfully good bios and books about events written for that age group in the last decades. I will definitely be looking for more Theodore Boone books.

https://www.goodreads.com/series/61743-theodore-boone

Jean

JoanK · « **Reply #8393 on:** December 07, 2016, 05:48:25 PM »

That sounds like a find! I'll try it on my 13 tear old grandson.

FlaJean · « **Reply #8394 on:** December 09, 2016, 05:29:57 PM »

Jean, You made John Grisham's teen mystery series sound so interesting I decided to buy the first book in the Theodore Boone series for my iPad (with the Kindle app). I had some gift money just sitting in my Amazon account. I really enjoyed the book. What can I say----I must be a teen at heart! My grands are too old for them so can't use that for an excuse.😀

hats · « **Reply #8395 on:** December 10, 2016, 03:21:44 PM »

I have been running from a volcano. The name of it is Stromboli. Anne Perry in The Christmas Mystery made it all feel so real. All of the characters except the dead ones had to race for the sea. Wow, I''m out of breath. You know, it's a tiny book.

jane · « **Reply #8396 on:** December 10, 2016, 04:34:05 PM »

What a wonderful description, Hats!!! You've got my heart racing for you. RUN, GIRL, RUN!!!;)

hats · « **Reply #8397 on:** December 11, 2016, 08:30:30 AM »

Hi Jane, all finished running. Enjoyed the mystery a whole bunch.

jane · « **Reply #8398 on:** December 11, 2016, 11:01:52 AM »

Good!

JoanK · « **Reply #8399 on:** December 11, 2016, 05:26:35 PM »

PANT PANT! I'm with you, HATS. You go ahead -- I'll catch up.

https://www.fantasticfiction.com/p/anne-perry'

Anne Perry comes out with a new Christmas mystery every year. they are short novellas and are fun because each one features a minor character from her main series as the "detective," The volcano one is number 13 in the series. 14 is supposed to be out, but I haven't seen it.

(They are sometimes more fun than her regular books, which sometimes are slow moving.)

News:

Author Topic: Mystery Corner ~ 2 (Read 910012 times)