Sandy’s Comments (group member since Dec 14, 2015)

Sandy’s comments from the Reading the Detectives group.

I'll be starting this tonight. I just bought When Christ and His Saints Slept ($2 today in the US) which will supply some historical background I sorely need. However, we may be done the series before I get to it. There is also a new book out by about the tragedy of the white ship that started the Stephen / Matilde conflict, The White Ship: Conquest, Anarchy and the Wrecking of Henry I’s Dream. I suppose the Brits in the group know all about this already!

Both of these are on my TBR, with Piranesi first so if I don't like it, I can skip the thousand-page book.

It's amusing that you can track the prior reader's progress and that they gave up so early when it is such a long book. Not sure how I feel about that: admiration that they knew their mind so early? or disappointment they didn't give it a fair chance?

Exciting! All that action and the prospect of Bobby finding love.

I own this, definitely intend to read it, but it is a bit back in the queue. This often happens with books I own as those with library deadlines push to the front of the line.

I read this five years ago so don't remember many details. I hope to refresh my memory this month but it may be next year before I get to it. I definitely remember Pamela's confusion with the Freemans.

P.S. Also working my through a collection of Christmas short mysteries, The Usual Santas: A Soho Crime Holiday Anthology. Like any collection, some are better than others but I've liked most.

I finished one of our mid-month reads, The Dead Shall be Raised & Murder of a Quack, have started the latest in a series I follow, God Rest Ye, Royal Gentlemen, and have two other recent releases waiting for pick up at the library.

George Bellairs is wonderful and I am so glad there are a lot of Littlejohn books yet to read.

Marie wrote: "I finally got some time to myself so I was able to read it all in one sitting today.

I do wish that I had read it with the Lock 14 title instead of the Carter of La Providence that my penguin edi..."

Glad you found some time to yourself; it can be a rare commodity. I also quite like Simenon's style; it is very different from my other reads.

Jill wrote: "Finished the December group challenge The Dead Shall be Raised & Murder of a Quack by George Bellairs, and have to say Bellairs is one of the best authors I have dis..."

I like Horowitz's adult books so maybe I'll try that YA series, sometime.

I ditched my reading plans and picked up The Windsor Knot from a library display today. I don't expect it will sidetrack me for too long.

Judy wrote: "What did anyone think of the title? I didn't think there really was a night of fear! I do wonder who gave this author's books their titles - the title of the previous one I read, [book:The Body in ..."

I agree there was no 'night of fear' in the book but it is a better, or at least more general, title than 'body in the road' if there was no body in the road. What a strange title if it doesn't apply to the plot.

I am quite concerned that George Tunbridge (owner of house - I'm bad at names) is off on a two-year world tour with his wife, a murderer. Our detectives only seemed to be worried about Ivan.

How I finally found it on Amazon in the US:
From the page that shows "not available for purchase", click on the author and go to the authors Amazon page. Voila! it is listed for $8.

I don't understand Amazon's process and I might have been stopped from actually buying it.

I won't have much to add to the conversation as I listened to the radio play and ended up pretty confused. I read this three years ago (thanks to GR for remembering) but not much came back to me. I found the ending unsatisfying as I would like to think the Major would not kill his friend, and that the heroine would not choose the man with the fluid morals.

I am reading our Moray Dalton book at the same time and I have the two plots intertwined. Back to Collier (or is it Glide? or maybe Collier's boss?) For those not reading Dalton, ignore this comment.

Abigail wrote: "Currently reading Jane Austen and Shelley in the Garden: An Illustrated Novel by Janet Todd. Less fun than the title."

Interesting description!

I thought The Splendid and the Vile: A Saga of Churchill, Family, and Defiance During the Blitz was excellent, as are all of his books that I've read.

I've started and am about a third in. I read One by One very recently, remember the plot quite well, but Scotland Yard inspector Hugh Collier hardly at all. Then discovered I didn't rate / review it on GR so my memory cheat failed me. I agree with Judy and find both books very readable.

In US: Dead Man's Ransom is $2

I discovered I've been waiting for a copy of The Sittaford Mystery that does actually exist! Quickly added my name to a different library's list for the book and picked up radio drama version by the BBC. It is a reread for me, but I don't remember it so I'm not sure if the 2-hour radio version will give enough detail.

I have started the Christmas reads I store up during the year. Finished The Case of the Ghost of Christmas Morning (lots of Woodhouse-type humor) and started The Usual Santas: A Soho Crime Holiday Anthology. The title story is a rather sweet entry by Mick Herron of Slow Horses fame.