Tara ’s Comments (group member since Jul 12, 2017)

Tara ’s comments from the Reading the Detectives group.

I may be mixing up books as I read this one a little bit ago, but wasn't it mentioned that Muriel's sister committed suicide after their father died?

And I agree that if you are going to marry a police officer (or anyone whose career will include unpredictable schedules and long hours), you have to be willing to accept that that is the way things are. But it is harder to navigate last minute cancellations and rescheduling when the relationship is new and trust is still being built. It did seem odd to me that despite not having her cell phone, she didn't seem willing to wait for him for more than a few minutes.

Jan C wrote: "No, I don't miss the 6 month long winters. Or the gray snow that stays forever!

Here the snow is gone in 2 days, if not sooner. I was in SoCal for a while - I couldn't stand that there weren't sea..."

I've lived in New York my entire life, and I don't think I could ever adjust to a place that doesn't have a true fall and winter. Fall is my absolute favorite.

Sandy wrote: "I have finally started and am about a quarter through. (end of book 1). I have met all these people and the next section is titled "first murder" so I am expecting some action soon.

Dalglish stil..."

Who really does in a Dalgleish mystery? I struggle to think of anyone who is genuinely content.

Piyangie wrote: "I read it last month and didn't like it. The story was pretty sloppy. Too many borrowed ideas from her previous books (Poirot being called to investigate a crime of the past, a girl wanting to find..."

Couldn't agree more. I also felt like there was a lot of vagueness about who said what about whom. Its almost like none of it mattered. I was also confused about which children had been murdered in the past, and by whom. It was very muddy on the details.

ChrisGA wrote: "Hello everyone. Mysteries have always been my favorite reading choice. I started with Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys and moved on to Agatha Christie as a teen and P.D. James and Ngaio Marsh as an adult...."

Welcome Chris! Which would you say is your favorite Marsh

As usual, James' writing is powerful, evocative, character driven and extremely well-detailed. But yet again, the world she has built is just so depressing. Everyone seems to lead dreary, painful lives, with no real happiness or contentment. No solace can be found in a fulfilling career, religion, money, or relationships. This book draws you in, but I am certainly happy to leave her world once the book is finished.

I agree with others that the weakest aspects were the motives for the murders, and the excusing of the sexual abuse. The incestual relationship between Karen and Eric also was received in a ho-hum kind of way. I would imagine it would be rare enough that it would be shocking for even hardened police detectives. I was also surprised how many extremely relevant facts only came out in later, more direct questioning when they knew specifically what to ask for (Eric's presence in the church the night of the murder, the missing cloak). For what is considered to be a crackerjack unit, they sure aren't very good at interviewing suspects. The whole idea is not to ask leading questions, but leaving them open-ended enough to allow the witnesses to drive the conversation (and potentially incriminate themselves). It seems like if they have been more efficient, they could have solved the case in about 200 less pages.

In the first, of hopefully many, of my Christmas themed mystery reads, I've started The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding. I was lucky enough to pick up a copy at a book fair several years ago, as this title was not published in the US. It is most definitely a Christie 60's book--longing for the traditions of the past, lamenting the unwashed youths of the present. I suspect this longing for the past was particularly strong during the holidays.

The one aspect I did enjoy was the tenuous nature of Emma and Adam's relationship, that the constant disappointments associated with a marriage to a police officer could spell doom for their romance. Once your relationship has been established, delays and cancellations due to cases is par for the course, but early on, it could be enough of an issue to drive them apart. I thought James did a good job here of conveying Adam's anxiety around this issue, which is perhaps one of the more realistic takes on what is it like to be a law enforcement spouse.

I've been reading the books a bit out of order, depending when I can get them from my library. I enjoyed this book, partly because I liked this narrator so much better than the one who has read the majority of the James audiobooks. Perhaps I am being a bit inured with these books, but I noticed the ramblings a lot less in this book than in previous ones. Copycat murders are always an interesting concept, I wish it had be explored more in this book.

Judy wrote: "I thought it was obvious that Strange was a police officer, but I completely failed to guess the Monk even though there were so few candidates! I was wrongly convinced that it was the man obsessed ..."

Totally agree Judy. The fact that the local police were so circumspect whenever Charles or Peter mentioned Strange as a suspicious character made it quite obvious he was undercover. I also didn't guess who the Monk was, but somehow it didn't seem particularly important. I think I might have enjoyed this more if I hadn't read so many hidden room/not-so-haunted mysteries lately, which made this feel rather flat and unoriginal.

I didn't end up liking this as much as I had hoped. It wasnt a bad story per se, but it felt like an average haunted house mystery without a lot of depth or development to it.

Jill wrote: "Tara wrote: "Piyangie wrote: "Tara wrote: "Just started Elephants Can Remember for our November read. Once again I'm loving all of the AO/HP early on in the running. It has a similar ..."

I won't finish it before December, that I guess that works out :)

Piyangie wrote: "Tara wrote: "Just started Elephants Can Remember for our November read. Once again I'm loving all of the AO/HP early on in the running. It has a similar flavor to Five Little Pigs in ..."

So far I like it, although I think all of the mentions of elephants is way overdone. Sometimes Christie just didn't know when to quit. But I do love Ariadne, so I enjoy it on that level alone.

Alwynne wrote: "Finished The Six Queer Things after some uncertainty this developed into a compulsive read, and the second half changed my understanding of what happened in the earlier chapters.

..."

Excellent review Alwynne. Its great when forgotten authors are rediscovered by new generations that can appreciate their works in a whole new light.

Judy wrote: "RC wrote: "I also didn't like the two confessions, one a massively long letter complete with word-for-word conversations, and then that verbal confession to Dalgleish. Yes, another case where they ..."

It seemed clear that Ashe did not actually love Octavia, particularly towards the end as he was fantasizing about killing her, and only decided to keep her around for an alibi and her money. One got the impression he would have eventually murdered her once she was no longer useful to him. He was a severely traumatized man, who was completely incapable of feeling love or affection for another person---it was just too risky for him to let anyone in--that would only open him up to rejection.
I did find his relationship with Cole rather odd. Why would he take the boy to an abandoned cottage in the middle of nowhere to hang out? Even if his intentions were good, he must have realized how much that opened him up to allegations of sexual misconduct (which Ashe eventually used to get rid of him).

One of the better James books thus far, although I agree with others that she still has a tendency to be rather long-winded in her descriptions of non-important elements, and sets up suspects that seem to get quickly forgotten. I actually didn't mind the confessional letter (although I believe it was way too long and detailed to be realistic), nor the shoot out in the end. However, the death of Michael Cole seemed completely unnecessary and cruel. It would only have made sense for him to go there alone if he felt like he could convince Ashe to either surrender or let Octavia go. If his only plan was to get Octavia away, he would have been better off going straight to the police to have them intercede.

I keep forgetting that these books are supposed to take place in contemporary times, as somehow they manage to maintain an older feel to them. There was so much going on in this book by the time we reached the end, I had nearly forgotten about the murder in the beginning. It almost felt like 2 books in 1. But still, one of her better outings.

Jessica wrote: "If we are gonna question the young doctor’s ethics...
How about kidnapping her in the first place?"

Christie made a particular point about how Norma would actually be wearing the pants in the relationship, which seemed to be a way to try to assuage these types of concerns. But again, its a very complicated situation.

Just started Elephants Can Remember for our November read. Once again I'm loving all of the AO/HP early on in the running. It has a similar flavor to Five Little Pigs in the long ago mystery to be solved.