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

Ruth’s comments from the Reading the Detectives group.

I started reading Agatha Christie books when I was about 17 - I can remember buying a new paperback about once a month, they were the ones with the Tom Adams covers and were very affordable at the time being about 25p each!

HJ wrote: "Naturally it's dated, in the same way that books by Dorothy L Sayers and Agatha Christie, and other Golden Age mysteries, are dated. They are very much set in their time, and that time is very different from ours. ..."

I have to say that if I read that a detective novel is 'very much set in its time' it's a positive incentive to read it! I know I can get immersed in a different age and writers like Josephine Tey and DLS really do bring their own era to life and allow us to get a real feel as to what it would have been like. Hurrah!

Jan C wrote: "I'm not sure where we were talking about Martin Edwards and his The Golden Age of Murder. He apparently had a successful weekend - received both the Agatha and the Ed..."

Fantastic news, Jan. It was a book that was being talked about in so many places and has made a big impact.

HJ wrote: "eBay? I found a surprising number of audiobooks at reasonable prices there."

That's a good idea, thanks HJ :-)

HJ wrote: "You could try the library. That's where I got them from. ..."

They just have a couple of the later ones :-(

I got quite enthusiastic about Ruth Dudley Edwards after seeing her recommended here and reading some of the reviews. But she seems to be unavailable on audio at the moment. I'm wondering if that's because the audio versions were by BBC Audio who were taken over by a company that no longer existd now?

I've just been listening to some Agatha Christie short stories featuring Miss Marple and what I really noticed and enjoyed about them was that all the clues were there for you.

There might have been a few red herrings along the way but the information you needed to solve the mystery was always clearly laid out and you could go back and check it and go 'oh yes of course, I should have noticed that!'.

Judy wrote: "I expect you're right, Susan! I've just noticed there is a map of Oxford at the start of the Vintage Books edition I've got - does anyone find maps/house plans etc much use when reading mysteries? ..."

I like having plans and maps in detective fiction books, and also a list of the main characters and how they relate to each other. The latter does help me sort out who's who. I don't know if maps and plans ever help me actually work out the solution but they are fun to follow and help me to work out where someone is in a house or street.

When I'm reading a book set in a certain town or city I put a map up on the wall so I can follow the characters around and it adds an extra dimension to the book.

Judy wrote: "I listened to one of the Charles Paris books on the radio in a dramatisation starring Bill Nighy and really liked it, although that might have been partly down to Nighy's voice! I haven't read any ..."

I've listened to the radio dramatisations as well as read the books. I much prefer the radio versions as the character of Charles Paris really grates on me in the books. His drinking perpetually leads to him letting people down, which they seem to have toned down a lot in the radio versions, where he comes across very sympathetically - but as you say I think Bill Nighy's potrayal helps a lot!

Abigail wrote: "Judy wrote, “In general, just wondering, do people think it's better if series are constructed so you can read out of order with the main characters staying pretty much the same, or if they develop..."

Something that annoys me in a series is when the main detective has particular character traits or idiosyncrasies and the author just reiterates them every single time. Like a policeman who dreads the first time he has to look at the body, or a detective with backache which always flares up at some point during the story. These tend to be the series where you can read in any order and the main character is fairly two-dimensional and unchanging.

Perversely though, sometimes it can be comforting to have a character who you know will always act or react in a particular way, like Miss Silver. She has characteristics, like her cough and her love of Tennyson, which always crop up. But you also know she will always sort things out, no one nice will die or turn out to be the murderer and there will always be a happy ending.

Miss M wrote: "Ruth,
I've only read Acts..., plus Unseen Things Above both of which are her most recent I think. Those two are sort of a 'birds eye view' of life in the extended cathedral community, very gossipy..."

I think Close Quarters was your next suggestion by a different author - I meant to delete that bit of the quote but forgot.

Thanks for the suggestion - I think I'll go for the sample first as I'm a bit concerned about the 'language' - I know it sounds prudish but I'm always put off by bad language :-(

Miss M wrote: "Not a mystery, but I really loved Catherine Fox's Acts and Omissions about life in a cathedral close...very funny, and there's also a follow-up.

Also liked [book:Close Quarters|180..."

Have you read all Catherine Fox's books, Miss M? Her name popped up again today while I was browsing and I looked at her first 3 books and decided they weren't quite my sort of thing. But looking again at your post, Close Quarters is a later book and does look interesting.....

Good idea. I sometimes avoid discussions of group reads altogether while I'm reading the book because I think I might inadvertently stumble across a spoiler.

I think it's worth trying out different solutions until we settle on something the group is happy with.

Damaskcat wrote: "I was browsing Audible last night and came across Derek Jacobi reading A Daughter of Time - so I snapped it up and was listening to it. It has to be one of my all time favourite books and I regular..."

Ooh Derek Jacobi - that's very tempting!

Damaskcat wrote: "Ruth wrote: "Damaskcat wrote: "Kate Charles' Cally Anson series is good too :-) ..."

I'm reading the first book in the Book of Psalms series A Drink of Deadly Wine at the moment an..."

Thanks Damaskcat - I'll probably try the Cally Anson series once I've re-read all the Book of Psalms series.

Damaskcat wrote: "Kate Charles' Cally Anson series is good too :-) ..."

I'm reading the first book in the Book of Psalms series A Drink of Deadly Wine at the moment and really enjoying it. I originally read these books out of order and I can't remember this one at all - I'm wondering now if I did read the whole series as I was always intrigued as to what David Middleton-Brown's backstory was - and it's all here!

How does the Cally Anson series compare? I love the book I'm on now because of the development of the characters and the detail of the storytelling - I'm enjoying the slow pace and the descriptions of the ecclesiastical aspects.

If any of you are mad keen on James Runcie's Sidney Chambers Grantchester series, or wanting to read them, there's a new Goodreads group just started https://t.co/3rJ8REAYgB

Watched the first episode of the new series of Grantchester last night. I'm currently listening to the first book on audio so it's interesting to compare the two.

There's The Widow's Cruise by Nicholas Blake and also Clutch of Constables by Ngaio Marsh

Susan wrote: "Do you think it is fine to use 'real' people in fiction? Obviously, this is a totally fictionalised version of them, but it does raise issues as the people are not able to give permission? ..."

Great topic Judy - I'll have to put my thinking cap on!

As for using 'real' people in fiction, although I have read and enjoyed some books that use this device, it does seems like a trick to get the books noticed and perhaps add some weight to their standing. Particularly in this internet age when everyone is googling - if you put in Josephine Tey, does Nicola Upson pop up somewhere now?