Hey chicklets!

I'm trying to get a little bit ahead of the game so that everyone has plenty of time to grab our group reads from the library, etc.

I thought we could do a spooky mystery type of theme for the month. What do you girls think?

If you have a spooky or mysterious book you'd like to nominate, let us know! It'll be fun to see what you guys want to read in this genre and it's a great time of year for it. We can also consider a general fiction group read too if you guys are feeling ambitious or want another option.

Looking forward to hearing your thoughts!
R

I'm going to nominate Mistress of the Art of Death by Ariana Franklin. It's the first in the series of a book of historical fiction murder mysteries and it looks pretty good!

Not really into horror (ok, big chicken here...definitely not into horror LOL). But some thoughts...

Death's Acre Inside the Legendary Forensic Lab the Body Farm Where the Dead Do Tell Tales
The Stand
The Lovely Bones
Portrait of a Killer Jack The Ripper - Case Closed
Dracula
Frankenstein
or perhaps a classic by Agatha Christie?

Yeah, I dont think we should do like gory horror - I'm thinking more mystery, slightly creepy types of reads.

Here are some of the books I've read this year that may fit this category:

Fragment by Warren Fahy. This may be more a science fiction read.
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/58061...
This takes place on Henders Island, which is 2 miles across with no beaches, but towering cliffs all along the circumference (not easy for a boat to dock). Life has been evolving for millions of years, all isolated from the rest of the world as we know.

Fear the Worst by Linwood Barcla
Tim Blake is a car salesman who has a teenage daughter, Sydney, living with him during the summer. She usually works at the dealership he works at during the summer, but this time she decides to find employment elsewhere. One night she doesn't return. This book follows Tim as he searches for her.

When I think of horror, I think of Dean Koontz. He came out with Relentless A Novel this year.

I recently read Marker by Robin Cook. This is the 1st Cook book I've read, but I'm definitely going to read more. It's a medical mystery thriller, I think...I'm not the best at 'labeling' exact genres. It's main characters (which have also been in previous Cook novels) are Laurie and Jack, medical examiners. These MEs find a series of deaths that have occurred in healthy individuals, all who are in the hospital for elective surgery. It's quite a long read, but the tale Cook weaves sound like it could happen (maybe not the way the killings actually go down, but the motive for them).

Sworn to Silence by Linda Castillo. Main character is Kate, who grew up in the Amish community but left and is currently the Chief of Police. She is in pursuit of a serial killer, who tortures his victims, that she thought she was raped by 16 years earlier and thought that she killed. I found the killer repulsive and scary enough :), but I didn't find myself caring for Kate all that much for some reason.

I've also stumbled across some Phillip Margolin novels.

Sleeping Beauty by Margolin
Main character is Ashley, who's father and best friend were killed one night...Ashley escaped while the killer was downstairs eating dessert, her mother was away on a business trip. This story is told from the present to the past and back and forth, but it isn't confusing at all. There are other murders and this killer seems to still be stalking Ashley. Pretty suspenseful, I was suspecting every one to be the killer at one time or another.

I also like the Amanda Jaffe, criminal defense attorney, character of Phillip Margolin.
Wild Justice, , Ties That Bind, Proof Positive, and Fugitive. Fugitive came out in 2009, but I liked Wild Justice and Proof Positive much more than I liked Ties That Bind and Fugitive.

You guys are rockin the noms! I LOVE crime fiction soo I could definitely be on board with lots of your suggestions Karen!

Mistress of the Art of Death is already on my to be read list so I love that suggestion.

Hmmm ... here are a few on my to read list that I've heard good things about but I haven't actually read ...

Dark Places by Gillian Flynn (http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/58868...)

Black & White and Dead All Over by John Darnton (http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25379...)

Mind's Eye (http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22895...

The Likeness by Tana French (http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/19149...)

Dark Places sounds good Amy!

I dont know if I'll be reading anymore Tana French anytime soon after how bad In the Woods was for me.

You didn't like In The Woods? Well, I don't think it's for everyone but I liked it. Not my favorite by any stretch but it was a decent read. But, I can totally understand why someone might not enjoy it :)

I just recently finishhed one that fits the bill perfectly! THE SEANCE by John Harwood http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/32183...

Woo Hoo! Very excited about this! Mystery is my very favorite genre to read. When I was a kid I read every Nancy Drew book written and a bunch of Agatha Christie. I haven't got one to nominate but looking forward to reading a good mystery. I like Robin Cook and my mom has a collection of books that I would like to start reading. The author is Patricia Cornwell and her main character is Kay Scarpetta. She
is a medical examiner who helps police solve crimes using forensics. I believe her first book is called The Body Farm but she has a ton of others out as well. They sound pretty good. Can't wait to see what gets chosen!

I really like Patricia Cornwell's Scarpetta books...the earlier ones are better than the more recent ones IMO. The first in the series is Postmortem.

Robin, I just checked out your recommended read and it looks great! I put it on my to-read list and am going to check the library for it, whether it gets chosen or not. If you like mystery and historical fiction, have you ever read Ellis Peters Cadfael series???

Stacy - I havent read any of those, but they look like they could be good. Have you read them?

I'm going to start a poll for our October read on 9/1, so if you guys want to make more nominations before then, please do!

R

I've read some of them, but not all. I'd never heard of them until PBS made ran the Cadfael episodes on Mystery. They are excellent as well. If medieval history interests you, you would probably enjoy them.

Dark Places was SOOO good, I read it in June, I think. Excellent book!

I just finished Mistress of the Art of Death. Loved it - thanks for the recommendation, Robin!

Hey chicklets!

Looks like Mistress of the Art of Death is our winner for October & I've added it to our upcoming books.

I'm finishing up The Lost Symbol from Dan Brown now and will start the Help tomorrow. Hopefully I can get a discussion going early next week. If any of you have already finished and want to start one of our general discussion posts, that would be totally cool too! Really looking forward to reading it - just got bogged down with new release library books that I had to read within 10 days - EEK!

R

p.s. - I've been loving reading everyone's thoughts on their recent reads! It's so fun to add new books to my list based on what you guys are reading and enjoying! Keep posting those thoughts & reviews!!

I just got notice that The Help is at the library for me - YAY! So, I'll be picking it up today and starting it tonight!

Just picked up Mistress of the Art of Death as well ... Can't wait to get started on The Help!!!

So, did we just decide to skip Mistress of the Art of Death? I thought that was supposed to have been the October book? Just curious what happened -- I'm glad to have read it eiether way.