Author Topic: Mystery Corner (Read 160451 times)

JoanK · « **Reply #760 on:** July 15, 2009, 07:07:55 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
Our Favorite Old Mystery Writers
Fantastic Fiction
Stop You're Killing Me

Discussion Leaders: BillH and JoanK

PEACE: "sleep well and fall asleep with a book". Couldn't say it better! WELCOME BACK.

Steph · « **Reply #761 on:** July 16, 2009, 08:06:29 AM »

I actually knew someone who left her body to science when she died. I want to be cremated, but could not stand the idea of research.. Silly but true.

mabel1015j · « **Reply #762 on:** July 16, 2009, 01:12:35 PM »

I just finished the Nightshades book by Susan Albert. I think i've only got 2 or 3 more of that series to read. .............those stories are so good and keep me reading to the end. I like the characters very much, all of them, the quirky frineds and family and even the dogs. They all seem so real, foibles and all, like all of us...................jean

JoanK · « **Reply #763 on:** July 16, 2009, 03:06:55 PM »

Just like us is right. Sadly, I don't think that collection of shops could survive in real life, but it's fun to read about them.

Johanz4 · « **Reply #764 on:** July 16, 2009, 09:20:34 PM »

Reply to those who like SusanWittig Albert's books. I also like her books and also subscibe to he n ewsletters. she has several and she also is my Facebook friend. her newsletters are very interesting.

I am now reading and will finish tonite Robert B. Parker 'Spare Change'. it is very good. at first I thought I had read it but found that it was caused by it being part of the Sunny Randall series.

'JO"

Babi · « **Reply #765 on:** July 17, 2009, 09:23:08 AM »

It was MARYZ who was inquiring about the Texas body farm, JACKIE. I'm sure
she'll see the links.

Steph · « **Reply #766 on:** July 17, 2009, 09:34:15 AM »

I agree as much as I like
Susan Wittig Albert, the little shops would not make it in real life.. But they sound neat.
Reading Stalking Susan by Julie Kramer. First book , and thus far sort of fun.

maryz · « **Reply #767 on:** July 17, 2009, 01:49:22 PM »

Jackie and Babi - I did check the links - Thanks. I know where San Marcos is located - just didn't know about additional "farms".

Steph · « **Reply #768 on:** July 18, 2009, 08:26:15 AM »

Not much time yesterday for reading. I am having a allergy flare up and when we got home from a bit of touring, slept the rest of the afternoon and then again last night.. The sneezing is getting me down.

mrssherlock · « **Reply #769 on:** July 18, 2009, 11:05:51 AM »

Michael Connelley novels are irresistable to me/ Love Harry Bosch; His out of the series books fare less well but Blood Work held me captive until the end. The Poet's hero, LA Times reporter Jack McEvoy,does not come to mind so reading The Scarecrow was not like revisiting an old friend. But I won't forget jack McEvoy again so if Connelley writes about him again I'll know what I'm getting into. All I can say is Connelley keeps delivering the goods IMHO. He never gets stale.

CubFan · « **Reply #770 on:** July 18, 2009, 12:56:12 PM »

Just finished the Louise Penny series. Really enjoyed them. I strongly recommend that they be read in order. There are many references to events in the previous books.

Also read the two books by O'Connell set in high society Chicago - Well Bred & Dead, and Well Read & Dead. Were a change of pace but didn't excite me. Mary

JoanK · « **Reply #771 on:** July 18, 2009, 07:44:13 PM »

STEPH: allergies are miserable, aren't they. Amazing how tired one can get from sneezing: a lot of energy we'd rather use another way.

Mine are on and off. Fortunately, they're off this year (knock on wood).

Our library only has the first two Penny books. Guess I'll have to buy the rest.

peace42 · « **Reply #772 on:** July 19, 2009, 01:33:21 AM »

Steph: hope your allergies are doing better by now...not fun I know

just finished The Neighbor by Lisa Gardner...eerie and fascinating...am becoming a fan of hers..will head to the library on Monday for more...probably won't read a lot while I'm moving but must have a book near me at all times

nite everyone...sleep well and peacefully

Babi · « **Reply #773 on:** July 19, 2009, 09:24:21 AM »

I am almost finished with "The Spellman Files", which someone here recommended. I've gotten a lot of laughs out of it, but that family is
so messed up! Maybe it comes of being P.I.'s. Privacy is a wholly
discarded ideal, and cynicism is much more evident than trust. The father
seems to be the most normal character, but then he doesn't appear a great
deal in the book. Despite the constant inter-family warfare that goes on,
they do seem to genuinely care for one another; it's just a matter of one-upmanship, I guess.

An unusual approach, and well worth reading.

FlaJean · « **Reply #774 on:** July 19, 2009, 12:58:46 PM »

Thank you JoanK for suggesting Deborah Woodworth. My library only had one "Killing Gifts". It was a good mystery story and I hope I can find some more of her books.
Have any of you read Minichini's series on the periodic table about the retired physicist, Dr. Gloria Lamerino? They were so interesting and well written. Well, now she is writing a series called The Miniature Series under the name of Margaret Grace. My library only has one (she has published 3 and soon to publish a 4th, I believe). I believe she has another winner in this series.

Steph · « **Reply #775 on:** July 19, 2009, 07:14:23 PM »

Woodworth is really a good writer. I have read all of her stuff and enjoyed it enormously. We are now down in Virginia in the Shenendoah valley and wham. my eyes are now not watering and the sneezing is down to a dull roar. Whatever the allergy is,, it was in bloom in the north.
I love Michael Connelly.. One of my favorites except for the last one that was about the lawyer.. That one rang no bells.
I am rereading the Bloodhound series and now doing the one called Blind Bloodhount Justice. I know what happens, but love the series.

pedln · « **Reply #776 on:** July 19, 2009, 11:59:01 PM »

Johann and Poppy, good to see you both here on SeniorLearn. Peace42, welcome back. Hope your move goes smoothly and that you get more time to read.

Someone mentioned Mary Roberts Rinehart -- I haven’t read her in years, but enjoyed her books back in the late 60’s, early 70’s. Carolyn Hart – I still like the Hennrie O series, but the Death on Demand just got too cutesy-poo. So did Diane Mott Davidson and her Goldy Bear caterer. Too much Jerk and Arch.

Jackie, I hope you can come up with the author of the Presbyterian minister series. Sounds like something every Presbyterian should read.

(Just read more posts – is that the Julia Fleming?) In J.A. Jance’s Joanna Brady series Joanna’s best friend is a minister, but I think she’s a Methodist. And then there’s another good series – author not remembered – about the wife of a minister.

Sometimes I think I get my mystery sleuths mixed up. My f2f mystery group has read some of the Southern Fried series. I remember it as being a fun read, but can't name the heroine.. Does she have a lot of sisters?

Rainbow, I have that Smoke Jumpers, by Nicholas Evans, but have’nt read it yet. Glad to hear you liked it. I did read his The Loop, about wolves, which was very good.

Jefferson Bass sounds intriguing. I’ve not heard of him/them before.

Steph, you're home after your long trip? Hope the allergies improve.

Steph · « **Reply #777 on:** July 20, 2009, 08:35:07 AM »

Nope,not home until next Sunday. We are in the Shenendoah Valley in Virginia getting read to to to Harrisonburg this mornin. Sounds like an interesting area. Still got the allergies, but not quite so violent.
Still reading Stalking Susan. It has gotten much better as I got into it. This is a first book and they are always a bit scattered.
Julia Spencer Fleming,, I think the minister is an episcopalian.. At least it sounds like that in the church stuff.
There was a ministers wife in some series set in Ct. years ago. Forgot the name of the author.

mrssherlock · « **Reply #778 on:** July 20, 2009, 01:10:27 PM »

Yes, Clare Ferguson is an Episcopal Priest. See here: http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/s/julia-spencer-fleming/
The NE series about the minister's wife who is a caterer (Faith Fairchild) is written by Katherine Hall Page: http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/p/katherine-hall-page/
The Presbyterian connection was a series of three books which featured university names in the titles such as bleeding Harvard Red (not the actual title). One book was about Harvard, one about Yale and one about Princeton which is, I believe, connected to the Presbyterian religion. Can't remember much more, the protagonist was a black woman PhD.

JoanK · « **Reply #779 on:** July 20, 2009, 02:18:00 PM »

FLAJEAN: that series about the periodic table sounds fascinating! How does she do that? Have to tell my-sister-the-chemist.

JACKIE: that sounds interesting, too. I once, a tourist in Boston, spent some hours in the math library at Harvard. I wondered why everyone was looking at me strangely, forgetting that at the time Harvard admitted only men! I was used to not seeing many women in math libraries, so didn't think it strange that I was the only one. They must have known I didn't belong, but no one bothered me. Guess they didn't get many tourists.

And I once spent a summer in Princeton, and knew many students there.

So the atmosphere would be interesting to me.

FlaJean · « **Reply #780 on:** July 20, 2009, 11:50:19 PM »

JoanK, the author, Camille Minichino, is a retired physicist in real life. They are very good mystery stories with a little different twist. Along with the mystery you learn a little science but they are not boring and move right along. I've read them all and have been hoping she would write another. However, she has started the other series about a widow who has a hobby in miniature houses.

The Periodic Table Mysteries
The blurb says "In this series, Dr. Gloria Lamerino, retired physicist back from California, moves into an apartment above a funeral home in Revere, Massachusetts. When she signs on to help the Police Department in science-related homicides, she doesn't realize she may have 109 cases ahead of her."

The Hydrogen Murder
The Helium Murder
The Lithium Murder
The Beryllium Murder
The Boric Acid Murder
The Carbon Murder
The Nitrogen Murder
The Oxygen Murder

pedln · « **Reply #781 on:** July 21, 2009, 12:04:53 AM »

I’m trying to track down the author of the college mysteries that Jackie was talking about, and since my granddaughter is at Princeton, I thought that would be a good place to start. Is the author Ann Waldron, whose sleuth is a woman professor McLeod Dulaney? But ALL her mysteries appear to be set at Princeton. Here’s her site Ann Waldron

Titles include Unholy Death in Princeton, Death of a Princeton President, A Rare Murder in Princeton. And there are recipes, too.

Have any of you read her? JoanG, she's from Alabama.

Flajean, those element mysteries should sure keep one busy. Sounds good.

joangrimes · « **Reply #782 on:** July 21, 2009, 09:32:53 AM »

Pedlin,
Ann Waldron is a familar name but cannot recall having read anything by her but I am sure going to read some of her books. She looks very interesting. Thanks for the giving us her name.

Joan Grimes

mrssherlock · « **Reply #783 on:** July 21, 2009, 01:15:30 PM »

Ann Waldron's books osund good; I always like stories about academia. One of my old faves, statistician Maggie Ryan, was created by P M Carlson. One line made me crack up: her three-yr-old, on seeing a cow, called it a dog. Her six-yr-old called him a dummy. Maggie replied that he had the set of four-legged animals down pat but had not yet learned the different categories. Sounds so like a statistician!

http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/c/p-m-carlson/

I've been up almost all night reading a thriller by John Birmingham, an Australian writer., Without Warning

http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/b/john-birmingham/without-warning.htm

It has parallel stories about the lives of several people as they try to cope with the horror of losing the entire populations of the mainland US and Canada (except for Washington and Alaska. The buildings, as seen from satelite, are unchanged but there are no living things. Sort of alternte history but not quite SF. Any way a good read. Birmingham can create characters with whom you will empathize and the scenarios are all too plausible for comfort.

JoanK · « **Reply #784 on:** July 21, 2009, 01:42:44 PM »

Yeah! My local library has "The Oxygen Murder", and the main branch has a lot of them. No luck on Waldren, and Carlisimo gave me 12 pages of books by Carlisimo.

Steph · « **Reply #785 on:** July 21, 2009, 03:27:31 PM »

Ah I read the Harvard book about the black fill in minister.. Interestingas I recall..But as always,, cannot remember the author.. Finished Stalking Susan and liked it in the end. A bit overwrought, but a first book generall is. Reading a Tess Monahan.. About a tv show..Tess should have her hands full.

mabel1015j · « **Reply #786 on:** July 21, 2009, 05:51:46 PM »

I'm having mixed feelings today as i do every summer when i get the latest Evanovich's STephenie Plum Book. I go Finger-lickin Fifteen yesterday from the library and started it last night - laughing already in the first 50 pages - with great anticipation.WoooHooo!..........................but my mixed feelings are because i know i will have it finished - sometimes in as little as 2 days, i have finished one of her books, - and THEN i have another year to wait for the next one! I'm going to try to read this one slowly, not stay up all night reading, and maybe i can stretch it to 2 weeks................

............jean

JoanK · « **Reply #787 on:** July 21, 2009, 07:08:02 PM »

Jean: I know just how you feel. if we don't see you here for a couple of days, we'll know why.

Just finishe Sue Henry's latest: Degree of Separation. It was REDICULOUSLY BAD. WHAT WAS SHE THINKING? (or not thinking). And some of hers are soooo good. I won't give up on her: but I hope she pulls it together. Almost no content, and all filler. made no logical sense. The whole book, Alex wanders from one bar to another, finding out nothing: then bumps into the murderer waving a gun. Some plot themes are developed, and then dropped with no resolution or relevance. I can't even tell you the worst part!

If you haven't read her earlier ones, don't let this put you off her.

I picked up the Oxygen Murder at the library: the eighth in the series. She goes in Periodic Table order, so the first is the Hydrogen Murder (even I knew that! But that's about as far as I go in the periodic table). Along with it, found a Gillian Roberts I hadn't read and a Laura Lippman.

Steph · « **Reply #788 on:** July 22, 2009, 02:58:42 PM »

I am just starting a Laura Lippman.. This is a TEss one, so it will be lighter than the other standalones..

JoanK · « **Reply #789 on:** July 22, 2009, 03:01:47 PM »

Is it "Life Sentances"? I just got that from the library.

marjifay · « **Reply #790 on:** July 22, 2009, 03:03:57 PM »

I just finished David Baldacci's FIRST FAMILY. It's his latest with former Secret Service agents Michelle Maxwell and Sean King, and it really kept me turning pages. I loved the ending too. I hate it when I read a really good thriller/mystery and then the ending is a big let-down. Not so here. I also love Baldacci's series with The Camel Club guys. Great stuff!

Marj

Babi · « **Reply #791 on:** July 23, 2009, 08:24:44 AM »

On the other side, MARJ, I just read my first Charlaine Harris, an Aurora Teagarden book, and hated the ending. Perhaps I would have been
better prepared if I had read the earlier books first; I just happened to come
across this one. Now, I don't know if I will read another or not.

Tomereader1 · « **Reply #792 on:** July 23, 2009, 10:55:38 AM »

I can never remember who likes what here in Mystery, but among others, I am a big fan of Michael Connelly. Currently reading "Brass Verdict". I would make one recommendation though (if you haven't read him before). Don't start one of his books late at night unless you want to stay awake all night reading! This one stars his "Lincoln lawyer", Mickey Haller, and features his detective, Heironymous (Harry) Bosch. The premise of this book is a really good one, and Connelly gives us terrific insight to the inner workings of the legal system, as well as the sometimes dubious circumlocutions of attorneys.
I will not put any spoilers here, but if you like Connelly, or if you've never read him, try this one! While mostly his books with Bosch or Haller are rather "series" mysteries, I think this one can stand alone vis a vis its plotting/characters, so I won't say "start with the first book". "Brass Verdict" should be a good starting point to get involved with these two characters.

mrssherlock · « **Reply #793 on:** July 23, 2009, 01:55:47 PM »

Oh, Babi, i'll bet I know which Aurora Teagarden book you read. I think I warned all of you to start with the beginning and don't skip around. I'm so sorry you couldn't do it that way. Since they are eissuing the Teagarden books I assumed that they would be readily available.

Steph · « **Reply #794 on:** July 23, 2009, 02:22:55 PM »

Aurora is my least favorite character of Harris. I have read them, but much prefer the other books. I am currently reading "Another Thing to Fall" by Laura Lippman. Excellent beginning. I mostly like Tess although I am not overfond of Crow.

peace42 · « **Reply #795 on:** July 23, 2009, 10:25:49 PM »

my head is spinning with all the books/authors from the last several posts! what fun

just finished Intent to Kill by James Grippando -- have read some of his before and really liked them...this one started out good, caught my attention and didn't want to put it down, but, then the formula writing kicked in...no surprises, i knew what was going to happen..and I didn't like that...could have been so good...oh well, now off to another Jonathan Kellerman
computer will be offline most of next week..I still have dial up!! because of the move..but I thinkI have enough to keep me busy

have at least 7 folks coming on Wednesday morning to help with the move...isn't that just awesome?!
happy reading everyone...will be quiet in my new place for a while..no TV until next Friday, no computer..just classical music on the radio and a good book...sounds good to me

sleep well and always with a book by your bedside

Steph · « **Reply #796 on:** July 24, 2009, 09:30:14 AM »

Still working on the Laura Lippman All of a sudden, Tess is doing the wuss routine. Hmm.. I may need to dig out my James Lee Burke to compensate. This one is set out west and am not quite sure why. But I do love James Lee.

marjifay · « **Reply #797 on:** July 24, 2009, 12:29:52 PM »

Have never read any Aurora Teagarden books. Will have to get one. I'll read them in order, as Jackie suggests.

My favorite mystery/thriller books are Michaelly Connelly's Harry Bosch series, altho' I also really liked his Micky Haller books, LINCOLN LAWYER and BRASS VERDICT.

Another favorite is James Sallis with his LONG-LEGGED FLY and MOTH, set in the French Quarter of New Orleans. Excellent writer.

I have only read Laura Lippman's WHAT THE DEAD KNOW. It was pretty good, but a tad too long, IMO.

Marj

mabel1015j · « **Reply #798 on:** July 24, 2009, 12:39:52 PM »

Peace - moving is always difficult, but it's great you have so much help. Enjoy your vacation from computer and tv..............

I'm disappointed in the 15th Evanovich. It started out good, but slowed down considerably with a lot of musing about her feelings for Joe and Ranger. There are some funny bits about Lulu and Grandma trying to make bbq sauce and a pressure cooker blowing up and another bit where Lulu gets stuck in the window of the car while trying to shoot at guys who are trying to k ill her.

Not one of her best/funniest.................jean

marjifay · « **Reply #799 on:** July 24, 2009, 12:52:57 PM »

I haven't read Evanovich's latest yet. Sorry to hear it's not that good, Jean. I think I read her books mainly to see what Grandma's up to. She's usually a riot.

I just finished THE SCARECROW, with Michael Connelly's newspaperman, Jack McEvoy. I liked it for the suspense plus it was so interesting to read about what goes on inside a newspaper like the LA Times where the progagonist works. Good book - kept me turning pages.

Marj

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Author Topic: Mystery Corner (Read 160451 times)