Author Topic: Mystery Corner ~ 2 (Read 909916 times)

BarbStAubrey · « **Reply #8520 on:** December 29, 2017, 03:59:21 PM »

Mystery writer Sue Grafton has died in Santa Barbara, California. She was 77.

Her daughter, Jamie Clark, posted news of her mother's death on Grafton's web page Friday.

She says her mother passed away Thursday night after a two-year battle with cancer and was surrounded by family, including Grafton's husband, Steve.

Grafton was the author of the so-called Kinsey Millhone Alphabet Series in which each book title begins with a letter from the alphabet. The last was "Y is for Yesterday."

Her daughter concluded her posting by saying, "the alphabet now ends at Y."

Frybabe · « **Reply #8521 on:** January 12, 2018, 11:43:24 AM »

I haven't read any of Donna Leon's Brunetti series, but I thought of them when I watched these livecams of Venice.

Rialto Bridge, Venice It. LiveCam https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vPbQcM4k1Ys

Grand Canal. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YiiNSrDuECw

Here is one of St. Mark's too. I think that landmark featured in the stories. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P9qjE1dm75A

Too bad I didn't think to check these out when I was reading the series. Not sure why I stopped.

Frybabe · « **Reply #8522 on:** January 20, 2018, 06:10:47 AM »

Fans of the Inspector Brunetti series might also like the new "Amazing Places on Our Planet" video of Venice. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q6VeuE1vDck See if you can pick out some of the places Donna Leon mentions in her books. I am not overly fond of the music accompanying this one. On some of his videos the guy that puts these together adds a tag for what you are looking at; this one he doesn't. Overall, IMO, this is not one of his better efforts, but it is still worth watching.

nlhome · « **Reply #8523 on:** January 20, 2018, 12:46:48 PM »

Thanks, Frybabe. I enjoyed that.

mabel1015j · « **Reply #8524 on:** January 20, 2018, 08:24:36 PM »

In these stressful times, I’m enjoying, just for fun, some Stuart Woods mysteries, his lifestyle is so over he top. Wouldn’t it be fun to have your own plane and houses in New York, Ariz and England? I’ve also been enjoying some of Catherine Coulter’s FBI series with “Sherlock” and “Dillon Savich”. They are just such a fun, competent couple.

Jean

Frybabe · « **Reply #8525 on:** January 25, 2018, 04:48:58 AM »

Did you know that Horace Walpole, way back in 1764, had published what many consider the first Gothic novel? In fact, the second edition added "A Gothic Novel" to the title The Castle of Otranto. So now you know how the genre got its name. http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/696

Frybabe · « **Reply #8526 on:** February 16, 2018, 01:51:04 PM »

I posted this to the Science Fiction discussion and then thought I might be appropriate to put it here also:

My Unbound Worlds newsletter led me to The Gone World by Tom Sweterlitsch. https://www.criminalelement.com/blogs/2018/02/review-the-gone-world-by-tom-sweterlitsch The novel is a time travel crime mystery/detective story involving the NCIS. Fox bought the movie rights to it and assigned the director of District 9 to the project before the book was published. Looks like they are serious about making a movie. We'll see. The Criminal Element website is one I am not familiar with.

Frybabe · « **Reply #8527 on:** March 22, 2018, 07:02:09 AM »

I've just finished the last of the Red Sparrow series, The Kremlin's Candidate, by Jason Matthews. The last half of the book was a real rollercoaster/nail-biter. The book had more description and less dialog, especially in the first half, which left me a bit impatient. The ending was good (appropriate to the situation) but it left me feeling sad, haunted, almost like being in mourning. As your read the series, you may find yourself hoping for the best, fearing the worst. The series ending is a mix of both.

A word about the movie: Again, it was good, but did not strictly follow the first book. Jennifer Lawrence was excellent. The critics were right about a passionate spark being missing between Dominika and Nate in the movie. A shame, because that passion was a major force in the books, especially the first two.

PatH · « **Reply #8528 on:** March 24, 2018, 12:11:37 PM »

We just lost veteran science fiction writer Kate Wilhelm. I hadn't realized she was also a mystery writer. Has anyone read her mysteries?

https://www.fantasticfiction.com/w/kate-wilhelm/

nlhome · « **Reply #8529 on:** March 24, 2018, 04:10:09 PM »

I see she does have a couple of mystery series. Our library has several, but they don't look familiar. I checked out a couple to see how she wrote.

Frybabe · « **Reply #8530 on:** March 24, 2018, 05:14:10 PM »

Never heard of her. I was looking over her books and think Death of an Artist looks good.

nlhome · « **Reply #8531 on:** March 30, 2018, 02:51:31 PM »

So I have one Kate Wilhelm audiobook and one e-book, and I also looked at the books in our library. I am having a hard time getting interested in them. I thought it was the reader for the audiobook that made it unappealing, but when I started reading the e-book, I decided maybe it was more her style and characters, a lack of personality.

Or maybe I'm just not in the mood?

JoanK · « **Reply #8532 on:** April 12, 2018, 10:09:48 PM »

Reading a series where the narrator narrator is an IRS agent. Death. Taxes, and Sweet Potato Fries is on title. Very funny, believe it or not.

Tomereader1 · « **Reply #8533 on:** April 13, 2018, 11:03:39 AM »

I've been "missing" here, but I'm back...just don't get notifications anymore.

JoanK · « **Reply #8534 on:** April 14, 2018, 11:09:59 PM »

Hi, Tome! Welcome! What are you reading? I,m start in a checklist series, Spying in High Heels. Funny, since I,he avoided high heels all my life!

JoanK · « **Reply #8535 on:** April 14, 2018, 11:14:32 PM »

The computer changed my "chick lit" above to "checklist"! This new computer is giving me fits! I lose half my posts
so I,m afraid to try to edit them
!!!

Tomereader1 · « **Reply #8536 on:** April 15, 2018, 01:04:37 PM »

I'm reading a bunch of stuff. For my Mystery Book Club, Kristen Hannah's "Nightingale"; "The Only Child" by Andrew Pyper. That's one I checked out from library, thinking the description sounded good. Well, it started off as a psychological thriller, segued into a Dracula/Frankenstein type thing, and although that's not my kind of mystery, I'm so stubborn, I'm finishing it whether I like it or not. (Gotta find out what happens to the psychologist!) Interspersed with these two, I'm reading the various books about Hitchcock to delve into his moviemaking style, that I'm taking the class about!

PatH · « **Reply #8537 on:** April 15, 2018, 08:29:49 PM »

Tomereader, if you like Nightingale, you can binge on Hannah by joining our next book discussion of Winter Garden

FlaJean · « **Reply #8538 on:** April 24, 2018, 04:01:53 PM »

Just finished Donna Leon’s latest Brunetti mystery “The Temptation of Forgiveness”. She is one of the few authors that seem to keep her stories on an even keel but maintaining interesting descriptions about the locale. They are definitely not nail biters but slow and thoughtful which I like. Also read Albert’s latest Darling AL series “The Darling Dahlias and the Unlucky Clover”. The story was interesting but she does get a bit wordy when describing the 1930s/40s era. Does she really have to name every popular song in the 30s or every plant grown in that part of Alabama? By the way, Albert has a new China Bayles book out “‘Queen Anne’s Lace”. I haven’t read it yet but I do enjoy China Bayles.

mabel1015j · « **Reply #8539 on:** May 04, 2018, 01:44:34 PM »

Thanks for those updates Flajean. I like both those series. I’m reading John Grisham’s Camino Island, the mystery is the theft of F. Scott Fitzgerarld’s handwritten manuscripts from Princeton U library vault. It’s a little slow, but a good read.

ANNIE · « **Reply #8540 on:** May 04, 2018, 10:55:03 PM »

I just finished a mystery by Charles Todd which I found very interesting. He has several series out—-this one an Inspector Ian Rutledge mystery. I haven’t figured out the message about the author. Turns out that he writes books with his mother. They are a team. Can’t imagin writing books with anyone else. Actually I can’t imagine writing a book! Except memory stories.

Rosemary, we would miss you too. We are trying stay open and are considering several now. Go into the Library and see what’s up there. I’m not sure if anything is up yet but do let the folks there that you’re with us and intend to support this site!!

maryz · « **Reply #8541 on:** May 05, 2018, 09:55:46 AM »

I'm currently reading a series I just discovered. The author is Archer Mayor. The protagonist is a police detective in a small town in Vermont. The books are good reads, and I found them first on a cheap-ebooks site.

Frybabe · « **Reply #8542 on:** May 05, 2018, 11:34:55 AM »

I never heard of him either, MaryZ. Upon looking him up, I discovered that he has written 28 Joe Gunther novels since 1988. Here is his bio posted on his website. http://archermayor.com/about/ Interesting that he does work as a "death investigator" which certainly must add substance to his books.

JoanK · « **Reply #8543 on:** June 21, 2018, 11:14:34 PM »

I've been reading a fun cozy, where the narrator works for the IRS. Don,t have the author,a name here, but all the titles are "Death, Taxes, and ... She works for the criminal devision, the IRS members who carry a gun and go after high powered criminals. Still, it,a hard to be on her side sometimes.

FlaJean · « **Reply #8544 on:** July 01, 2018, 01:33:02 PM »

Just finished Alexander McCall Smith’s latest No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency book “The House of Unexpected Sisters. Precious discovers some exciting changes to her life. A pleasant read and good results to her detecting.

hats · « **Reply #8545 on:** July 23, 2018, 03:48:46 AM »

I love Alexander McCall Smith and Precious and her family. I didn't know about this last mystery. I'm almost through with the series. I have gotten each book from the library.

Frybabe · « **Reply #8546 on:** August 14, 2018, 04:35:12 PM »

I am in the middle of a near future crime thriller called The Night Market by Jonathan Moore; I can barely put it down. A strange death, a government cover-up, a mysterious neighbor, some more macabre deaths, and an entirely unexpected and strange twist (or two). https://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-544-67189-8

PatH · « **Reply #8547 on:** August 15, 2018, 10:21:09 AM »

Sounds weird and good.

Frybabe · « **Reply #8548 on:** August 18, 2018, 07:54:06 AM »

It was Pat. The ending was kind of unexpected and very good. I would characterize the book, after reading it, as a crossover between mystery/thriller and science fiction. It certainly makes me want to check into more of Moore's books.

Frybabe · « **Reply #8549 on:** August 21, 2018, 07:27:47 AM »

Ah, a new Carlos Ruiz Zafón book, The Labyrinth of the Spirits, is to be released on September 18. It is the fourth and final book of his Library of Forgotten Books series. Can't wait.

Frybabe · « **Reply #8550 on:** September 08, 2018, 06:00:00 AM »

I just finished the first of the Simeon Grist series by Timothy Hallinan called The Four Last Things. It read like on of those old movies with a smart-assed PI Los Angeles. There were plenty of references to various authors, composers and an artist or two. One quip I remember was when the PI, having come across the smell of a dead, ripe animal at the bottom of his driveway, compared it to Mahler. Now, I thought that was a riot; I don't like Mahler's compositions in the least (well, mostly in the least). I plan on reading more of the series.

PatH · « **Reply #8551 on:** September 09, 2018, 01:22:02 PM »

That's pretty funny, Frybabe.

hats · « **Reply #8552 on:** September 11, 2018, 12:40:19 AM »

I would love to catch up with the Carlos Ruiz Zafón series. I loved the first book.

Frybabe · « **Reply #8553 on:** November 14, 2018, 05:29:58 PM »

I am into my first Agatha Raisin book. Audible has some freebie streams that include the first book, read by none other than Penelope Keith. How wonderful to hear her read. The loser to this choice was Huckleberry Finn read by Elijah Wood, but only because Agatha Raisin is shorter.

FlaJean · « **Reply #8554 on:** November 16, 2018, 11:33:13 AM »

After moving and downsizing two years ago, I have finally unpacked some of my favorite mysteries. I’ve been rereading my old Harry Kemelman books about Rabbi Small. I have lots of books on my iPad but I still prefer a “real” book.

PatH · « **Reply #8555 on:** November 16, 2018, 11:46:04 AM »

Hmm, I haven't reread the Rabbi Small books for years. Maybe it's about time.

mabel1015j · « **Reply #8556 on:** November 27, 2018, 12:54:24 PM »

I’ve probably posted my love for the Stuart Woods books before. For me they are the perfect “leave-the-world-get-into-fantasy-world” books. I want Stone Barrington’s life! Money to eat in the best restaurats every night, airplanes to take me anywhere/any time, assistants to handle all the details of my life, 3 or 4 houses at places I go often with HOUSEKEEPERS........of course, there are those Russia mafia guys to worry about.

Jean

JoanK · « **Reply #8557 on:** December 18, 2018, 10:54:48 PM »

For some reason, I've been reading mysteries that feature librarians. In one,the author pretends that the lighthouse on Cape Hatterus, North Carolina, has been turned into a library. The narrator works there and lives in the top floor. What a dream!

nlhome · « **Reply #8558 on:** December 20, 2018, 08:59:19 AM »

I think the best mystery series I read this year was by Larry Sweazy, starting with "See Also Murder." I read all three in the series. Another enjoyable series has been Amy Stewart's Miss Kopp, based on a real family back in the days leading up to WWI.

mabel1015j · « **Reply #8559 on:** December 20, 2018, 11:50:04 PM »

Joan and nlhome - I don’t know either of those authors, thanks for mentioning them, I’m always glad to find some new mystery stories.

Jean

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Author Topic: Mystery Corner ~ 2 (Read 909916 times)