Bernadette's comments (member since Nov 19, 2007)

Bernadette's comments from the mystery lovers group.

I saw one of the Hugh Frasier books at the library Vanessa and wondered if it would be any good so I'll check it out now. Thanks.

I'm fast becoming an audio book addict too - I am trying to be healthier and walk to work and one of my motivations is being able to listen to great audio books on the way.

Thanks for all the above suggestions, I'll be keenly checking them out (though we don't get any free downloadable stuff at our libraries here in Australia so I buy most of mine from audible - most of the ones available at my library are really really old and only available on CD).

I adored TILT-A-WHIRL by Chris Grabenstein (wonderfully narrated by Jeff Woodman) and will be looking to read more of that series. Some other recent favourites have been

Tom Rob Smith's Child 44 (narrated by Stephen Pacey)
Several Agatha Christie novels narrated by David Suchet (who plays Poirot in the most recent TV series of her books)
Vicky Delaney's Valley of the Lost
Charles Todd's Search the Dark
Reginald Hill's A Cure for All Diseases

I just finished Stieg Larsson's The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo which I absolutely loved. It's set in Sweden and features several intricate, well-resolved plots as well as some of the best characters I've discovered in a long, long time. Lisbeth Salander has stayed in my head for a few days now and I think she'll be there for a while yet.

I think the book is to be published in the US this month and I would highly recommend it.

Now I'm off to see if I can find some Henning Mankell or Batya Gur books - thanks for those recommendations people.

Another Scandinavian author I like is Asa Larsson. her first book was called the Savage Altar (released as the Sun Storm in the US) then there was Blood Split and she has just released a new one called The Black Path. I really enjoy the characters in these books and of course the exotic (to me) setting of Sweden.

Thanks all. It's Saturday morning here in Australia so I'm off to the local bookstore with ashopping list.

We've talked about our favourite series...but I'm looking for good stand alone mystery novels. Sometimes I just want a beginning, a middle and an end all on the one neat package.

I liked Karin Slaughter's Triptych and Helen Fitzgerald's Dead Lovely. Any ohter recommendations?

I'm probably going to be lynched or at the very least ex-communicated by mystery lovers everywhere but the Dame's Hercule Poirot has always annoyed me. I can never suspend my disbelief enough to accept that he would be so quickly and easily revered by everyone he meets when all he does is make snide comments, be excrutiatingly rude to all and present wildly conjectural conclusions.

I have others on my list of annoying fictional sleuths but M. Poirot is at the very top of that list.

I just finished reading Karin Slaughter's Triptych which is a stand alone mystery and it was a fabulous read. I'd forgotten how satisfying it is for everything to be resolved in one book - nothing left over until next time, no unnecessarily drawn out plot devices. I've got my favourite series too but I'm going to look for more of these great stand alones.

I've listened to several free podcast novels and have purchased them all as soon as the print version became available. From listening to the authors talk about their experiences on their podcasts I'm not alone in having done that. So I think giving things away is a great idea to build a fan-base who'll pay for your product. Obviously not everyone will pay but hopefully you'll get more than you would have by simply being another print book on the shelf by an author no one has heard of

I just finished Suspect by Michael Robothom which is a great book. I have read his non-series work before but hadn't read any of the Joe O'Loughlin books before. Am looking forward to reading more of them but as I don't own any others yet my next mystery read will probably be Kathy Reichs' latest. Although I'm going to tackle a non-mystery, Pillars of the Earth, as my next good read.

@Debbie - you're not really alone - I never got into the Plum character at all. I've read several of the books (up to 3 or 4) but for some reason I haven't ever been able to find anything to like about the character - despite the fact I have other 'questionable' tastes.

@Doug - I agree about Sarah Paretsky's VI - she's gotten too message orientated for my liking. My primary reasons for reading this genre are entertainment and escapism - if I MUST be educated along the way I don't want to be beaten about the head with "IMPORTANT ISSUES". I heard Paretsky on BBC World Book Club a few months ago and honestly you'd have thought the VI character was responsible for world peace and curing cancer.

I've never read Crais or Child - in both cases because I am a bit daunted - by the time I noticed their existence they each had already written loads of books and I didn't feel like starting another long series.

@Book Monkey - yep it definitely feels more like collecting OCD-style than reading sometimes

I think there's also something in my brain that wonders if I'm missing out on something. Like all my friends are at a party and I didn't go then spend the whole night wondering if something good is happening.

@Pamela - yes a book from Milo's point of view would be good. Preferably one where he tells the increasingly insufferable Dr Delaware to stop being such a pretentious annoyance :)

I know what you mean about Sue Grafton's Kinsey Milhone series Jeffrey. They're boring me to tears these days. But something in my brain won't let me leave the series unfinished: because I know how many books there are going to be I seem compelled to buy and read each one even though I tell myself I won't do it again. So far I haven't bought 'T' but I don't for a minute think I've mastered my disease. I'll be passing a bargain bin one day and there it'll be and a few minutes later I'll be standing outside the store with a small plastic bag in my hand wondering what happened.

Sigh.

It must be hard as an author to know when the right time is to quit a series. I imagine it's like killing a friend.

I reckon Patricia Cornwell should have quit a few books ago. I quit reading at Trace (which was number 13) but wish I'd quit a couple before that. Frankly I think she "jumped the shark" when she started bringing characters back from the dead.

I've also lost interest in Jonathan Kellerman's Alex Delaware series. The last one I read was Gone and it was pretty boring (I only finished it because I had it with me on a work trip and didn't have access to any other books). I liked the early books in this series but now I get the feeling he's just not interested and is wondering just how bad he can make them and still have people buy them.

Becca I just finished reading another book in that series - Murder Walks the Plank. It was a pretty good read. I always fantasize about having Annie's bookshop whenever I read one of these.

I like both the "cozy" mysteries and the professionals - both for different things.

The cozy with the amateur sleuth stumbling upon murder in odd places are more fantasy than reality and there is always a place for fantasy in my life. My favourites of this genre these days include Carolyn Hart's Annie Darling series and Patricia Harwin's Catherine Penny series.

I like the grittiness of the professional sleuths though, and will always have a soft spot for VI who was really the first adult female character I ever followed (after an adolescence spent reading Trixie Beldon and Nancy Drew). I haven't read the last couple of novels featuring Scarpetta because I lost interest after the whole "bringing characters back from the dead" scenario but I haven't lost my interest in other professional sleuths.