Mark Pghfan’s Comments (group member since Mar 06, 2014)

Mark Pghfan’s comments from the The Parlor PI's group.

I finished a few days ago. I am racing through things to get as much done for Christmas as I can!

I'm about half way through Cocoa, so that is a good start for me. I have some other things lined up for the holidays!

Wow! Thanks for the wonderful clarification. Sure is complicated!

I guess I don't know the back story about Judith and Joe, but it does seem a bit odd, if he indeed is supposed to care about her.

I'm about 2/3rds through and nothing much about Tootle yet.

I don't remember reading Christmas Pudding for discussion, but I read it every year, so that would make a fine discussion.

I was just thinking that there has been little further discussion about the murder of Tootle. Clearly he may have been overhearing something detrimental to the murderer. I wonder what that might be. And why Judith is not looking into it.

I wasn't trying to force the Christmas Cocoa as the December pick; just trying to get the library request going in case it was. I may not be able to renew it unless there aren't any other requests for it. I do have three weeks, though, to get my reading done!

December choice is still open!

Frankly, I am still trying to separate out the Sacred Eight.

This may be in the next section of discussion, but not a spoiler. The now-yet-divorced boyfriend just happens to have a well-connected brother in London who can do a bit of searching about Bob-o and his past. How lucky!

To my surprise, Christmas Cocoa is now ready for pick-up. There was quite a queue for it and I didn't think it would get here so quickly. I will start it after I'm done with Fowl Prey.

If it isn't chosen for the December discussion, I won't mind! There are a lot of good options!

I'm am nearly half way through the book, so I'll try to keep my comments in the current sections.

It was unusual in that the author places the action in the fictional city of Port Royal, when it is clearly Vancouver. And the back cover even calls it Vancouver!

Judith's mother certainly seems like an awful person. I'm not sure I like that. The two cousins, though, seem to be a hoot together.

Throughout the year I look for Christmas mystery reads, and have a few we might want to consider:

1. Gingerbread Cookie Murder: This is another of the three short novels in one volume, Gingerbread Cookie Murder by Joanne Fluke, Dangers of Gingerbread by Laura Levine, and Gingerbread Cookies and Gunshots, by Leslie Meier.

2. Silent Nights, and anthology of Christmas short stories, golden age mysteries, collected by Martin Edwards. 15 stories, which we could do some, but not all.

3. Mrs. Jeffries and the Merry Gentlemen, by Emily Brightwell. We've read a previous holiday story by her. Mrs. Jeffries is the housekeeper for a not-too-bright policeman, and she helps him solve his cases without him being aware of it!

4. Mistletoe and Murder, by Carola Dunn

5. Kate Kingsbury, who has written several Victorian era Christmas mysteries taking place in a British guest house. We've read some of her books before, though I don't remember which.

I just got Fowl Prey and will start it today.

No problem

I have a novella length Christmas Sherlock Holmes book called Sherlock Holmes and the Yule-tide Mystery, by Val Andrews. I'm not sure how easy it is to find, but that is a suggestion. No demons there, either.

Christmas Cocoa sounds good, but only 5 copies in the library system and 9 people (so far) on the wait list!

I'll let someone else step in for November. The book is in the from the library; I'll get it Tuesday.

I've ordered Fowl Prey from the library and it should be here within a few days.

There is probably not enough to discuss with Hunter's Lodge, the story, but there is also the TV adaptation. Either Thanksgiving Day Murder or Fowl Prey sound fine with me, with a slight edge to Fowl, as it seems a little cozier. I don't think we've discussed anything by either author in the past.