C. (Comment, never msg).’s Comments (group member since Jan 30, 2014)

C. (Comment, never msg).’s comments from the Gentle SPECTRUMS group.

🎂 Here are 3 of my Goodreads besties!
Thank you too, dear Kerri and for your beautiful e-mail message as well! I will reply in minutes. My celebration with our little family is wonderfully happy and is ongoing this whole magical week-end. With love & gratitude, Carolyn.

Thank you, my sweet friend, Leeanne! I am surprised to already find myself in my new decade of life but and enjoying the gift and wearing it well. Thank you for your blessings and friendship.

Except one birthday in St. Lucia with friends at age 20, I have never been without snow on good old November 18th, even if it was the first snowfall of that year.

Yes, thank you: Dad, Aunt Carole, Ron, Angel, Petal are well. As soon as my guy is home from work, we will have fun! Despite this milestone, intimate cozyness is just what I need as the birthday girl this year. Love, your friend, Carolyn.

I am the birthday girl today! I am entering a new decade and appreciate my turn to be special and celebrated! Woo hoo!

I am watching for e-mail well wishes and our mailbox for cards. There is a flurry of snow and I am going to take pictures in it. Your friend, Carolyn.

It is very nice to continue writing in our group. You & I talked about your most recent additions in e-mail. Your feedback was a relief from feeling like I was the only one laying out conversations and waiting a long time for the ball to be picked up. Understandably, you & Shirin had to be away a lot since September. It is my busiest garden season anyway, besides planning & planting them.

So, thanks to your review today, I have an idea of a thread to pick up! I always welcome the rest of you to do the same. Even if we prefer other books, lets give each one some discussion, eh?

Did you both like this one better than the previous novel? I hated that one, full of gross people and cruel situations, with the exception of a Mother & child reuniting and William brightening our days in his pages. "Poor Tom Is Cold" is a little boring, I agree. Despite losing an unknown officer from William's station 4 team (the cast is very close on TV) , we had little investment in anything, hence no éclat, right? However, I liked a mystery without urgency, until a woman's family wanted to commit an innocent, healthy person.

Had the mystery and conclusion been engrossing instead of over the top and stupid, I would have enjoyed this novel, even though I was not invested in any visiting character. However, it is far less disgusting to read about than "Under The Dragon's Tail". Does poverty mean no one takes time to bathe! Even when Mom reunited with her 8 year-old baby, I cringed at the cleaning he would need. The preachy guy with weird sores flapping on his face.... just disgusting. It is easy to prefer this novel. What do you think, Shirin?

The conversation that your gratifying review inspires, Kerri, is about that ending. I don't think you meant that the end lacked drama because it was bonkers with it. You must have referred to the lack of excitement in the story and characters, is that right? Less really would have been more poignant and engaging. Don't freak out at the hospital during a chance to use a phone, or have William delivered to you. Then aybe a hospital escape wouldn't be over the top. However, had the woman not squandered her pssibilities it would be unnecessary; thanks to a phone, messenger, or William.

More over the top was everyone fighting in the barn until all villains and accomplices killed each other. Seriously stupid. For what: a man's money, who was dying soon and would have left it to some member of the family regardless? A flat motive tanks a mystery for me, how about the two of you? Losing her head in the hospital, running away, dying off in the barn.... this is heavy-handed content generating that I call "fake action" or "crash boom bang"; like the rewritten "Hardy Boys" / "Nancy Drew" stories.

Also, Kerri remarked astutely in her review that the woman played it cool long enough at the house and in her transfer to a hospital. Who would blow it when William was in front of her? I agree that it was utterly unbelievable.

Also, did we all sigh that the murder resulted from a woman calling the young policeman from a window? Talk about blowing your cover and bringing attention to yourself. That is as bad as old fashioned books in which a villian leaves notes or vandalism, shouting "Stay away".

Okay, I am voicing comments enough that I obviously found this novel as weak as you two do. If only the previous novel had not been so visually disgusting. That is all from me and I look forward to your new input or replies.

Thank you too Kerri, dear friend. I watched for e-mail and imagined well-wishes were here. This adds beautifully to celebrating our family cats. It is nice of you to wish our living kitties well, with Love always included in our words and hearts on their shared birthday. Love is Angel's twin and resembles Petal's, Conan's, & Marigold's eyes.

The girls had birthday tuna last night, finished it this morning, and are sleeping happily.

Thank you for wishing them all well, Leeanne! They are having a wonderful birthday this week. I always sing all their names and we do call them "kitties". :) September 7 will always be Love's birthday along with them, Marigold's second born child. I saw them and know what time they arrived.

Ron is away at the moment. He & I sang "Happy Birthday" for Conan & Love, who are reached remotely. I sang "Happy Birthday" for Petal & Angel in person.

Today is a special day: the birthday of our four kittens! Love ascended in 2014 and Conan is MIA since 2017. However, he & his Sisters are 12 years-old today! They have outlived their dear little Mom, Marigold, who reached 11.5 years-old last year. She, Love, McCartney, & Spirit must be very happy for them and my Mom surely is too. Angel & Petal are being pampered right now, I can tell you! Love, Momma Carolyn & Dad Ron.

You have me grinning for multudinous reasons and I am sharing the smiles in return with you, dear Kerri! I will start from the bottom, what I see on my screen atop this conversation box. You know I have not tried an audio novel. The closest was David Bowie's narration of the short "Peter And The Wolf". I needed something as triumphant as an orchestra, the day we laid Marigold to rest last June.

Did I tell you I have had two audio books to try for years? One, I asked for or ordered with a gift card: William Shatner's autobiographer narrated by himself. That will be fun. Later, I found at a mall book sale, Bill Clinton's autobiographer. He too has a voice and personality that will be fun. The world generally has "had the biscuit" (as my Mom would put it, meaning "had enough") with USA politics, Canadians like Bill, Hilary, & Chelsea. Their Daughter writes multicultural and feminist storybooks for children and they seem like colourful people who used to protest and stuff.

Too bad a book we have in common is one you are ousting, which is why I laughed. We have plenty others and you might find the cover I want of "Mystery Of The Stuttering Parrot", to read that awesome puzzle for yourself. I was also going to say that as much as donating books is generous and something I did a lot of, could you advertize a sale at your home? You often speak of raising money for vet care, postage, and things you want to do. I set aside unneeded books to sell and will clean up our library soon, so it looks well kempt to make good impressions for browsers and buyers. I don't want to sell by mail and the distance and price from our nearest two post offices are unideal. We need a place for book lovers to discover here. Maybe you will find buyers too.

I am glad your electrical socket is safe and clean, as is your room and belongings. Plastic tubs are great storage. I will tighten the ones I alphabetized last year so that the few carrying on in cradboard boxes will fit the plastic sorted ones. When we are making sales and reducing what is out, I am willing to sell others. Do your books fit in one room? I remember those days, hehe.

I did not know about Virginia's autobiography and would be interested. The ghostwriter might be the right person to have penned it. We prefer Virginia as the authoress of her stories but he or she ought to know her and her work better than most. Mom had the impression from whatever newspaper or magazine article her information came, that she had unpublished and unfinished manuscrifts that the Andrews family attended to, possibly with her instructions. Mom & I pictured degrees of work starting with manuscripts entirely created by her, paring down to rough drafts and I guess by now, newly invented stories. I am happy to hear how much you enjoy "Sweet Valley High".

I will eventually enjoy testing that our cassettes work and that their magnet tape did not fade. I heard from two people years ago to whom I gave tapes that they worked. What I want when I clean up the crowding since my parents moved, is a unit you can buy new: with a cassette deck, record player, CD player, presumably the radio, and a USB port for transferring the music digitally.

Nothing beats "Alfred Hitchcock & The Three Investigators" for intelligent, colourful, original youth mysteries. However, I am going to decide if I prefer the "Hardy Boys" to "Nancy Drew" after reading several more apiece. Nancy sees more action than an 18 year-old child should but our generation's edits have her focused on good manners. Mom confirmed the original versions have her as more of a tomboy, which is odd. Wouldn't it be the reverse the the olden days? Then again, the original ghostwriter, Mildred A. Wirt flew a plane and was a rough & tumble feminist herself. I guess Harriet Stratemeyer toned that down while taking out socially inappropriate parts, after letters of complaint in the 1950s. I dislike that Laura Hardy has hardly a role in those novels so far but the worst is that Nancy's novels need to stop describing Bess as curvy, wanting to eat, and fearful; as if they were weaknesses.

I am going to ponder your intriguing discussion subject but at this moment, I don't recall a librarian in "Poor Tom Is Cold". It is a puzzling point that poses a question again, poor Maureen. Did she overlook a detail, or could women be librarians in a male domain? Please tell me where in the novel this was, why William was there. I will see if it jogs into place meanwhile. I smiled at your apt observation: we three international women reading a scene about a book institution meant for men. That is a good one!

Here is my review as we await follow-up to our numerous conversations here. https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

On a light note: I used to know the "You're The One That I Want" song and dance by heart, because a school pal & I re-enacted it in his basement. One time, my foot nudged him too hard in the chest. He deserved it over the decade I tolerated him, haha.

"Physical" was the first popular song of anyone's that I memorized. What grade was I in, in 1981 or 1982? It came out on September 28, 1981 so it was likely 1982. Aw, Sandy gave birth to Thumbelina that July. I was 9, which makes it grade 4; unless we were looking at an old issue.

I remember having library time in our French Immersion elementary school. That is when I would pour over "Alfred Hitchcock & The Three Investigators". This time, maybe an early visit prior to discovering them, I saw a magazine with the song "Physical" printed out. I knew how the melody went and it felt good to speak and do English things in our French Immersion schools, being our own language, so I sang and learned it with a couple of pals. I still know it!

Yes, seeing her in person was a treasure and amazing. She was so famous for so long, I grew up with her as you see and of course Ron knew who she was.... we were blown away just to be there. Her performance was excellent too, at the intimate Walker Theatre. I bought an expensive t-shirt to savour our moment. I will wear it and Ron will see it as soon as he is home today.

I am glad we can miss Olivia together, Kerri and send our love to her husband and her Daughter, Chloe. They did a few new songs together and I am seeing if I can download the dancey ones. I love upbeat music that can be danced to (not rap or R&B) but something by the two of them is a must, very special. I am unfamiliar with Chloe's singing and look forward to it too.

It took awhile to get anyone to reply to this and share the sadness with me. I figured it would be you because the check the group and I imagined Olivia was also legendary and loved in New Zealand. I really was thinking of her the night she ascended.

She believes in a lot of things I clued into after her: holistic eating, living, keeping the chakras balanced and clear, peace with the world. She incorporated positive energy, happiness, and comfort into the Australia cancer hospital and developed early detection tools; things to go hand in hand with traditional doctors. Here is to you, Olivia! Be at peace Chloe, family, and friends!

I am sad and shocked to hear Olivia Newton-John went to the afterlife yesterday. It is odd that her name came to mind last night, in bed with the cats! I was thinking of actresses who are English and technically, she was born and lived there until she was 6 years-old. Then she became Australia's sweetheart.

The whole world loves her. I am among children of the 1970s & 1980s who absolutely adore her and am a fan. I have many of her CDs to collect on my wish list for years but have several of them on record vinyl. I am sorry she is in Heaven at a year younger than my own dearest Mom. My Mom and cats will enjoy meeting her. I am so glad Ron & I saw her in concert years ago. We cherish remembering her stellar performance. Our tickets commemorate that wonderful night. https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainmen...

Shirin, I am happy you posted! I hope you soon read previous posts and add even more of your observations to the colourful, lovely conversations there; including things not exactly about this book. What you are saying about coffee and tea is a great start and I am glad to have your reactions so far about this novel.

I enjoy tea but drink coffee daily and have wanted to try Turkish coffee. I have not heard of Arabica coffee. Ron & I have many herbal teas but only get it once in a while. For us, boiling water to make it takes more of an extra effort than pouring juice or warming up a coffee. We use the whole pot over two days, microwaving it after it is cold. We aren't picky and are against waste anyway. If someone comes over and prefers a fresh pot, we will save the old stuff in a pitcher to finish ourselves later.

I do think the vitamins and minerals of juice is extremely important and should be drunk every day, unless you are eating the actual fresh berries and fruits daily. Grains & proteins are of secondary importance in the food groups. Protein is last and of course, need never come from formerly live animals. As long as there are no animal products, I **love** trying food from anywhere in the world. An old friend I used to know, whose children are Iranian, used to make delicious basmati rice.

Ron & I cook with chickpeas, lentils, pastas, refriend beans, garden grown squashes in stirfries or soups, tacos and homemade pizza toppings using vegetarian meat from the store (veggie ground beef and veggie pepperonni). My favourite food cultures are Italian, Mexican, and Indian. In Canada, whose people are from everywhere, we mix good types all up. We will be eating well today with a nice medely of these dishes.

Today, August, 4, is mine & Ron's 22nd anniversary! We wish dearly that our precious McCartney could be here on Earth with us and by now, he would be 22 years-old too. You know my friends, that we have earned joy and celebration of our family being together this year! Love, Carolyn.

Shirin, are you enjoying this story better than "Except The Dying" and "Under The Dragon's Tail"? Is your only criticism a lack of depth, clarity, and consistency among characters? How about the plot?

Kerri & I discussed that we gave a lower grade at the end because we considered the motive for criminal actions weak. However, reading this story was a pleasant change because there was no danger and an absence of clean baths, clothes, food, and homes. We wonder why an officer lost his life and there is interest in him and his family and of course, it is personal to the team at police station 4. Otherwise, it is not upsetting or scary, until we see how Peg and formerly one of the Eakin Sons, were treated.

It sounds like you agree that while we expand a look at Will's personal life, scenes of too many external characters interrupt it. Kerri & I believe that their predicaments and actions should be exposed through Will and Peg; no more than two lead perspectives.

At home she was not crazy. I would lock my door too if I sensed or discovered that the husband or a Son had evil plans about me. I hope you understood that Peg went to a few family members for help, against Mr. Eakin and the half-Brother, Jed. They made up a lie that she attempted to have sex with them. Peg kept away from them until she decided how to get help. She got sent to a mental institution. There, she acted calm (until Will finally arrived to interview her, maddeningly). She knew the best way to get out of a hospital is to show yourself as much as possible as being well.

This is my criticism: she was not trapped at home and could go to police, a neighbour, phoned for help, or moved out.

I hope you read and share the rest of our conversation, that Kerri & I also criticized the German and Asian immigrants for not speaking up about every detail they were aware of, to assist police. They were afraid of racial prejudice around police, I can understand but they gave no thought to helping the victim and the safety of people in the future.

Another criticism of ours you might have read, is that most of the tertiary characters were extraneous. They only returned once or twice and had no involvement with Oliver.

We enjoy a lot of subjects outside of the mystery ww hope you participate in, such as medical and dental advancement and seeing old-fashioned supplies, tools, merchandise, and buildings in museums. We shared Will's relief of seeing and paying for dental care. They are also expensive treatments for cats but it is a relief when our babies are pain free, blood results reassure us that there are no other problems, and our babies use their mouths properly and easily again.

Please keep putting here or on your profile, where you are lately. Keep adding your thoughts every chapter or so. There is a lot to talk about and we always have fun, going off on other tangents outside of our books too, because we are friends! :)

I have no comment about calling yourself behind schedule. My reading this year is so much smaller, I have not started the challenge badge yet. I have often set a smaller number of books than I can finish, so that the statistics do not estimate I am behind and have me feeling rushed. Near the end of the year after I see how I am doing, I raise the quantity of books I see I will finish.

It is cool that Mom kept in touch with a couple of special teachers who became like family, isn't it? It is also neat to know about nuns firsthand. Because they were best friends who made a life together instead of marrying, we didn't think that odd. In recent years of education about the wide spectrum of orientation, I wondered a little but what a tacky stereotype for today's mind to contemplate. They were probably in their teaching order since they were younger than some of our cats and sharing expenses with a best friend made sense.

I couldn't get into "Sweet Valley High" even when I was at the protagonists' age and always preferred the paranormal and mysteries. However, I certainly cheer you on for the completion of collections. I understand the concept of ghostwriters well after reading Melanie Rehak's "Nancy Drew" / "Hardy Boys" treatise. I wondered why how anyone could stand not putting their name on things but it was an honour to serve as Carolyn Keene or Franklin Dixon. Did you know? The original "Hardy Boys" author, Leslie McFarline, is Canadian. I prefer their novels to Nancy's for the increased adventure and as I have said, "The Three Investigators" beat all. I hope you read "Mystery Of The Stuttering Parrot" before giving it to me. Do read others that come to hand, especially early ones by Robert A. Arthur.

Gosh yes, if I am mentioning the shift in Virginia's namesake books, the decreased writing qualitiy was obvious. It was to Mom. For me, I noticed them reguritating similar off-putting plot lines: poor but gorgeous girl is related to bitchy owners of a mansion. A creepy person is their biological parent or sibling. I couldn't read "My Sweet Audrina" nowadays for the sexual assault theme.

As a kid somehow more dumbstruck than freaked out about terrible themes, I thought it was an original, unforgettable book. Even then I reacted angrily about family lying to a child in such an outrageous way. If you just want the drama of a very unique idea for a secret, it will have your pages humming; I'll give Virginia that. I hope it was left as a standalone story. The flowers series prequel is "Garden Of Shadows". You acquire some sympathy for the abhorrent Grandma but still go "Why end up acting that way?".

I hope some of our walkmans work but our cassette decks stopped. At first I thought it was the age of the tapes. I myself, gave away a lot of tape albums in this decade, to friends and family who have players. Because of the gap between records and CDs, I still have a ton of cassettes. I gained some space and gave pleasure to the people, for whom I believe they worked; confirming it was only our players pooping out.

One thing that ticks me off is people complaining about changes in novels, be it the style in which they are written, or the settings. I am happy you love fresh settings. It is a fine reason to look forward to "Let Loose The Dogs", besides meeting Will's family. I value originality and freshness highly, in life and in stories. I can't stand reading reviews in which people complain about the odd time that Louise Penny takes us out of her main village; a setting I like much less. I keep myself from writing "Shut up, they are there almost all the time. Grab a sense of newness, will you"?

Presuming she is on your list of authors in which to indulge, my two favourite Louise Penny stories to date are outside of the village: "Bury Your Dead" and "The Beautiful Mystery". Both are also thrilling and gratifying to my eyes, for including proper, non-crime mysteries that are ancient. You are clearly a Sister of fun changes, like in many other things, my dear Kerri!

I think I am catching up on your additions, Kerri and might as well continue onto your last two items. I tried a couple and was not a "Sweet Valley High" fan. I used to joke that this was all anyone read in my high school, while I was into V.C. Andrews. Mom & I stopped when ghostwriters completed Victoria's drafts and were making up new ones, rather thinly. I know "Sweet Valley High" was prolific and marvel at you nearly finishing the collection.

I am nearly done "Nancy Drew's" series and only have a little more to collect of the "Hardy Boys". You know well that I have almost all of Robert A. Arthur's "Alfred Hitchcock & The Three Investigators" mysteries, with some spaces in his ghostwriters sequels to fill in at leisure.

I notice you had been reading a novel called "Minnie Dean" for a long enough time that I am glad you are done on your behalf, haha. We learn all kinds of subjects from fiction, whether it is historical or modern. I dislike the popular penchant for historical fiction because most people hypocritically criticize naturally-aged fiction as "outdated" and little pisses me off more than that.

I also abhor the notion that everything fun and enchanting was discovered and all mysteries were solved long ago and that there is nothing to do nowadays. I prefer modern stories because I relate to them best and prefer the feeling that there is much fun, interest, and discovery waiting to be had in my present time period.

You proposed subjects I am eager to visit. Our updates and side topics I added were lengthy enough, that I deferred some great conversations. There is no need to hastily converse about everything at once. One of many things I find reassuring and valuable about you, is that you get back to things and don't miss ground worth covering. Replying to succeeding posts or e-mails does not dismiss earlier ones.

Yes, the 2008 show I imagine and I think our next novel, "Let Loose The Dogs", has Will back in Nova Scotia with his Dad. I am glad he sees or discusses his Sister. Yesterday, I saw a repeat of the show with his Sister but as we said, they are very different characters and stories. As a fan of the written series with you, Shirin, and Leeanne; I know we are excited to continue Will's personal life from "Shipwreck". What a wonderful novella that added so much to our experience of this fictional person. Even watching the show, I defer to what I know from the novella when Will mentions childhood.

Yes, great strengths highlighted in the television series are his science skills, the effort to make the show feel as modern as they can by pushing every envelope from health, race, and sexual orientation; and meeting famous personages of the 1900s. There is even a cagey government official that gives some story arcs an "X-Files" flair, referring to secrecy rather than the paranormal. Family, friendship, loyalty among comrades, compassion, and humour ties everything together.

It is nice that you looked at old medical supplies but too bad if it came from hospital time. I loved looking at old pharmacy and hardware stores with my Brothers & Dad at "The Manitoba Museum Of Man & Nature". The old town was our favourite part, including a mini theatre in which we could watch a few minutes of a silent film. Manitoba's coup de grace is a ship! You can walk aboard "The Nonsuch" and bend your way into its stairs and rooms. Dad, my Brothers, Ron, & I laugh at how old tins or tools are in museums, if they familiar to us at our Grandparents' or Ron's parents' house.

It will be fun to elaborate in the music thread. I love hearing that you started with cassette tapes before compact discs. I enjoy MP3s for making music mixes but prefer collecting physical albums. I enjoy sharing that I have a huge record collection, including LPs, 45s, and 12" singles. I ended up with a large cassette collection too because I took awhile to get a CD player, a generous, quality gift of a heavy but portable stereo unit that is still working. Also, I collected records as long as I could, even travelling for them, when they disappeared in 1990. The few that you observe now cost something like $30 CDN because they are novelty pressings. I remember records being a normal album format option of $5.99 CDN in department stores. Dad went further and had a great collection of 8-track tape and a swivel rack.

Yes, Newfoundland is a late addition, which is odd because our confederation started in the east with provinces like eastern Ontario and Quebec. I loved getting to know the Newfie accent from Jonny Harris as George Crabtree and especially as himself, in his excellent travelling series "Still Standing". I wished I could picture what the accent sounded like, when I was reading Farley Mowat's great novel "The Black Joke" and his related memoir "The Boat Who Wouldn't Float.

Leeanne & I talk about "Still Standing" with high praise in the television thread. If you want to get to know Canada's small places, this is the show to watch and you would love it. Jonny mixes comedy with his spotlight on towns that need a tourism boost. I appreciate him even more and am his fan now. There are no blu-rays, therefore I set our satellite dish to tell me whenever his wonderful show comes on!

I have a tourism book featuring Newfoundland I look forward to pouring over with large photographs, a great charity sale find. I recently read a kid's mystery that taught me a lot about Newfoundland too. Like you, once I discovered something new, I notice it appearing before me here & there, which is delightful.

I know a bit about nuns because two of Mom's closest friends were school teachers with whom she kept in touch for life. They are "Tantes" to us (French for "Aunts"). They left the convent after Mark was born and lived together in a house nearby, instead of marrying anyone. Tante Evelyne is still alive at 90+. I've learned a bit about nuns from "Call The Midwife" too. Both indicate that practises changed drastically over the years, to the point where you could scarcely tell who nuns were, in the most modern attire.

Besides changing times, you must have read from historical fiction even more than I have, that the types of convents and monasteries vary, like "cloistered" private ones. A few series I like are about religious communities, by authors Sister Carol Anne O'Marie, Caroline Roe (Canadian), Margaret Fraser, and Ellis Peters.

Shirin, I am sorry about technical problems and being busy, I think. We are here for you to keep adding comments while you read. You will say something new for us to converse about. I have to keep reading new books because I don't have the high quantity finished that you two already do.

Yes, Anne Perry is a must. She is one of few historical fiction authors whom I love. She beautifully reproduces the feeling and environment of being there. She doesn't only add horse carriages and dresses to make it sound old.

Maureen Jennings' animal remarks were brief. She should skip them. I laughed at how you echoed with us that it is good to read a story that is less disgusting and has fewer assholes! Kerri & I wish it did not flip around to other characters but we enjoyed reading it, until some stupid scenes at the end. We will see what you think.

In real life, are nurses or doctors allowed to sedate or medicate without pre-approval and a lot of thought? Books and films make it look like the law allows them to take away or inject any irritated patient. I want no more stories in which a patient's concerns are disbelieved, with or without those stupid sedating stereotypes. I have the benefit of my Mom & I being close friends with a few nurses and will ask them for the answer.

It is understood Oliver's insurance coverage was resolved. I share your feeling of wanting to see happy scenes played out, like dessert at the end of a meal, a wind down. Be prepared that Anne Perry's several early novels end with what I call "a thud", even though the mystery cases are solved all the way through.

My dear Martha Grimes, another favourite, got flack for a few myseteries closing too cryptically to understand their endings, defeating the purpose of special effects. The "Murdoch Mysteries" televisions shows close on dramatic notes, not necessarily showing criminals go to prison or the like but the cases are always finished.

On TV, women and children have been villains. The series doesn't mind getting creepy, as the era clops along in time towards modernization that they depict admirably. Believe it or not, there are Dracula, Hallowe'en, zombie, ghost fake-outs, and escape room episodes! I might change my mind when we join together on the upcoming family story but I feel that I am successfully separating the Wills to enjoy them both. Book Will seems more fun immediately but TV Will has the benefit of showing his compassion and care on the face of excellent actor, Yannick Bisson. I love the MacGyver science angle, which doesn't seem to come from Maureen's books. Oooo, when Yannick occasionally speaks French.... ahhh, that is lovely! :)

Something I am noticing and hearing a lot about is Newfoundland, our easternmost and last province in Canadian confederation. I had not known the Neufie accent before but Jonny Harris (and Alan Doyle of the old band "Great Big Sea") have certainly shown it to me on TV now. On the show, they make George Crabtree a Newfoundlander ("Newfie" might be an affectionate Canadian dig that I hope is not viewed as a pejorative. I hope it is as acceptable as "Kiwi" to you). It served the show well because there was a Newfoundland episode where Will joins George in visiting his Aunts at home and PERFECTLY sends him under cover, haha.

An interesting note is that they were visitors in 1900. Newfoundland did not agree to join Canada as our tenth province until the year 1949, when my parents were babies! On the other hand, Manitoba is the fifth province as of May 12, 1870. We were pivotal in starting the rest of the country west and north of us and mustering together (you see what I did there) the formation of the RCMP. The western and northern outposts needed law enforcers to allay battles between Aboriginal tribes and unruly visiting Americans. Kerri, Shirin, you may have heard of the Canadian gold rush in Yukon Territory. That fit into that time frame, shortly after California's gold rush. I look forward to seeing a "Murdoch Mysteries" show that is in Yukon and imagine that couldn't fake actually visiting to film it there!

To finish your other thoughts about the novel, now that you mention it, I guess Nathaniel's adopted or biological Sons were slowly poisoning him. We agree Peg's Son ascended naturally, don't we? It turns out step Sister was all right but I despite how quiclky everyone wants to call someone crazy and medicate them.

Wasn't your eyerolling from Peg not simply telling Will everything she needed to, while being alone in an interview with him? I also feel that rather than call out to Oliver from her window, Peg could have given a note to a maid, visited, or phoned someone prior to locking her room. Trying to talk to the Sons was twisted as a sexual advance but don't stop there. Seek help outside the family.

I remember what I wanted to add since I first made notes. I appreciate academic references but do not feel that Maureen's book titles tell us anything about her stories. There was no Tom or cold, which made me think of a crime in a blizzard like the first mystery. Only someone well versed in her reference material would get anything out of her quotations and we are well-read women. I think these quote derived titles are meaningless to most of us and aren't worth the few who recognize them.

What does "Let Loose The Dogs" have to do with Will's family? I hope his dear Mom ascended accidentally or from an illness by the water. I avoided the show about that book and a few others from the first season in 2008, to ensure the novels are new to me.

Yes, an accident can work as a death. I think we feel there needs to be plausibility about the way it occurred, why it was covered-up, and it has to be well written. No one is going to alert a policeman, punch him, or shoot him whether or not they are sure he had died; how stupid now that you mention it, Kerri.

You are right about pretending to have a fiancee being pointless too. Any business owner could have been hired as a lying witness. Doesn't that ruse rely on readers the Eakins knowing whether or not Oliver has a fiancee and if his Mom knows her? It would indeed have been nice to see Mom & fiancee support each other. Oliver should have introduced them and discussed problems. My Mother-in-law has ideas based on Ron's early, erroneous telling of things that occurred. He has told her "No", even though he long had trouble speaking up to her. If my parents disliked anything they should know, I dealt with rumblings and questions reasonably.

If you think of where the overall writing or storytelling quality was lacking, Kerri, do tell. I thought I disliked the plot and a few peeves but you might be onto something else. Now, I look forward to what you & Shirin add to our conversation! :)

Shirin, don't read this until you are done the novel. Kerri & I are discussing the end of the story from here onwards. Nonetheless, don't rush and please contribute your thoughts along the way. Stick with us and add small progress several times. :)

Kerri, if you ever read Martha Brooks, she wrote prolifically about sanitorium days. She lived in a Manitoba town that housed health care staff. Tuberculosis clinics, presumably cured, were closed so long ago before our time, they must have been open in Canada by the early 1900s of Williams'. I would only propose that it is still a choice with medical care: are we better in the comfort and protection of home, or risking a public hosptial for professional benefits? I shared in my note about Tommy Douglas, the Sutherlands' Grandpa, that Canadian health care wasn't paid for until 1957. Apparently the NDP's platform today asks for dental and medication coverage too, like the Green Party has sought for years.

Well Kerri, I am as curious as you are of my, why we trinkled down to three stars for this novel. We disliked the dirty atmosphere of grubby people and houses in the previous story and the horrific topic of assault in the first. We thought this novel was more pleasant to read but graded it inferiorly. For me it is because the plot was phoned-in. We saw by the ending that Maureen crafted no intriguing background about Mrs. Wickam or Peg. Readers shouldn't have better ideas than authors, should they!

It was only ever going to top out at four stars because I was sick of Maureen using "at" all the time with verbs, instead of simply writing: "poked", "scratched", "pulled" and you know I disliked "backwards, forwards, towards, onwards" without Ss. Once or twice is fine but an author seems to overdo irritating habits and three instances of animal abuse or killing made four stars all I could give.

It went down to three stars for the killing being an accident. Who argues with a police officer and hits him, to the point of accidental death? They should have stayed respectful or quiet, if they didn't want trouble for scaring or threatening Peg. I think her Son ascended from natural causes. He would not have been Nathaniel's heir anyway. Peg was right about sensing or overhearing that they had harmful plans for her.

I think the first two novels with more grim situations received higher marks from us because Maureen excelled as a writer. Would you say four stars rewarded novels that were better than the average ones? Besides turning to other people too often in this one, I enjoyed them very much until William got to the sanitorium. Worse than a weak plot was that stupid scene.

William believed Peg needed help, as she called out to him on the street before. She should have rapidly told him everything and if Maureen absolutely had to write that her body language alerted nurses; it is unbelievable that William allowed her to be carted away. They had a private interview, which is hard to screw up!!!! Why? Just so Maureen could add action and have Peg escape in a dumbwaiter later? Running around in a barn later and one Brother being nice and then dying, was too much as well, if it was for the sake of action and sentiment.

Let's hope this is the only Maureen Jennings dud. I am glad I am not the only one to give it three stars and love reading the series with you & Shirin. Later, we'll see what Leeane makes of the novels.

I wanted Mrs. Wickham's history but hoped there was nothing nefarious. Too often people conceal details from families, without giving them a chance to show they would respond to news better than it was assumed. Mrs. Wickham wouldn't have minded Oliver falling in love and marrying. He needn't share their roof to help with finances and care. As a boarding house, maybe he & his wife could have used the spare rooms. Being religious is natural to share with your child. I don't think we saw evidence beyond a few eyebrow raising books of that day.

Oliver raising suspicion by already having a fiancee broke the case and the German and Chinese witnesses eventually. I dislike coincidences or accidents in stories.

About Anne Perry / Juliet Hulme, I didn't see the tell-all film about her and didn't know Peter Jackson produced it. I am sorry she did not keep her privacy and hope there has been plenty of compassion and respect for her since that publicity.