Ruth’s Comments (group member since Oct 06, 2015)

Ruth’s comments from the Reading the Detectives group.

Judy wrote: "My husband absolutely loves the Herriot books, Jan, and the TV adaptations too."

How does he think the latest tv series compares to the original. I loved the original but haven't tried the latest.

I've just read the very sad news that Phil Rickman died yesterday. What a loss, I know he had been in poor health for some time.

Glad you're ok Susan, the devastation sounds heartbreaking. Hope we hear from Jan C soon.

Jan C wrote: "Not receiving any updates today. Is anyone else having any trouble?

Not sure if it is related to the long awaited Helene or not. I think it is supposed to affect us tonight and tomorrow. Roads in ..."

I get my updates via email, but Goodreads seems to have stopped these. There is a note about it in 'Account Settings'. I feel a bit adrift at the moment until I work out the best way to keep up with the posts.

Sandy wrote: "Best of wishes to our North Carolina members, and others in the US Southeast. Hurricane Helene did a LOT of damage."

Hope everyone is safe

Thanks Judy

We went to a launch event for one of his books (where Allan Watson who did the Lol Robinson CDs sang some of the songs) and he signed my copy of December which I took along with me.

Yes I've read up to about Book 9. I used to buy them as they came out but ran out of steam with them for some reason. I've just realised that I read the majority of his books before I joined Goodreads in 2013 so they're not in my list of books read.

I loved Lol and Jane but actually prefer the stand alone books. I found Merrily too intense. They all inhabit the same world though so any of his characters could pop up including from the Merrily books. I'm sure Gomer showed up in one of the stand alones.

He's also written a couple of young adult books under the pen name Thom Madley which are two of my favourites. They are set in Glastonbury and one of the characters is the relation (cousin I think) of a character from one of his stand alone Phil Rickman books, The Chalice.

I've read all of Elly Griffiths' Ruth Galloway series, so now it's finished it would be good to try her Brighton series.

Sounds fantastic Susan. Was it organised so that you could have seen all the events if you'd wanted to or did you have to choose?

Susan wrote: "I will be attending the Harrogate festival this year, which is sponsored by Theakston Old Peculier and it made me think about funding of festivals and the fact that there has been pressure on book ..."

Marina Hyde also commented on this on a recent episode of The Rest is Entertainment. This is a clip that was on her Twitter feed but you should be able to find in on your podcast app or on YouTube. https://x.com/i/status/18027102221520...

It could be a good starting point for new readers of vintage crime stories. A modern author might seem less daunting. Also the writing style might be easier (or perceived to be easier) for some people to understand if they're not familiar with an earlier style. This might encourage crime readers to try a genuine golden age novel. Am I right in thinking that the trend for writing crime books in a numbered series where the story moves on for the main characters is a fairly recent development (1980s onward perhaps)? This might appeal more to some modern readers.

Although it's sometimes a bit clunky, a Golden Age style book may give a fuller explanation of a custom, artifact or fashion that's now completely disappeared.

Also, sometimes you can only see the shape of a decade or era sometime later which could add some context to a story.

Personally I prefer to read books written at the time they are set in, but I can see that new series like Maisie Dobbs and Daisy Dalrymple are very popular so these are my fairly random thoughts on why that might be.

Sandy wrote: "And Eleanor Farjeon is the sister of the Farjeon we know."

I didn't know that! I recently found out that the illustrator Robin Jacques is the brother of Hattie Jacques. I love these family connections - have you ever looked at who Angela Thirkell is related to?

Good news about Dean Street Press.

Sandy wrote: "It does get confusing. Audible just released Stephen Fry's narration of Harry Potter in the US. I loved Jim Dale but I'm still tempted (as though I have the time to re-listen!)...."

I wasn't really interested in reading Harry Potter until one Christmas many years ago BBC Radio 4 had a whole day of Stephen Fry narrating the first book. After half an hour I was completely hooked and went out and bought a copy of the book as soon as the shops were open again!

Sandy wrote: "I've just discovered at least the first four Feathering books are narrated by Ralph Cosham, who died ten years ago. I love his narration for other books. Nothing like anticipating the next series w..."

That's interesting Sandy, on Audible in the UK they are all narrated by Simon Brett. Quite a few of them were 'Not Available on Audible.co.uk' until quite recently but they have all popped up again now.

Sandy wrote: "Ellen wrote: "Sandy wrote: "I read Close to Death recently (excellent book, excellent series) and felt I was returning to same set up in this 'not-a-close' (in both meanings) commu..."

An excellent series, he's such a clever writer.

Susan in NC wrote: "Perfect casting for Thursday MC, I imagined Helen Mirren, I hope as Elizabeth, she’d be perfect! Ben Kingsley is inspired, I assume Pierce is Ron? Not sure about that, he seems so polished, not how..."

Ron is described as very good looking though isn't he? I'm not sure about Pierce Brosnan either but hoping he can do Ron justice.

I still enjoy checking in older dictionaries to see if word meanings have changed over time.

I've got this on order from the library and I'm looking forward to it. I've read all the Fethering series. For some reason I've resisted this series, but looking at the synopsis I don't know why now as it looks like something I'd enjoy.