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

Tara ’s comments from the Reading the Detectives group.

I tend to agree that the killer was somewhat obvious in that he was one of the only fleshed out characters with a motive. Ernie didn't make a convincing red herring at all, despite getting the impression he was supposed to be.
One thing that puzzles me, is that although the killer clearly had a selfish motive for wanting the victim dead, but the way the actual murder took place clearly indicates it wasn't premeditated. It came across to me that he did it more because he was a bit of a sociopath (his war killing years seemingly being the highlight of his life) than for any other reason. Still a middling book for me, but an interesting departure from the cold, calculated murders we are used to.

I struggled through this one, as many of you did, but always brighten up a bit when Fox and Alleyn enter into the picture. I also enjoyed how Alleyn was the only one who managed to tame the old Dame into cooperation!

Random question for anyone who knows--I've never quite understood the distinction of public/private bar areas, despite reading about them in various GA novels. Was the private area reserved for club members or relatives of the local noble family?

Louise wrote: "Abbey wrote: "ohh, yes! Christie often wrote that the main thing she regretted about her writing career was that when she began it she had made her two lead characters so elderly, she felt it didn'..."

Sue Grafton's Kinsey Millhone is a bit like this too. Despite writing 20+ books, the character only ages a few years and the story line stays in the 1980s. As with any approach, it has its pros and cons. You can create more continuity in their backstory, but then they also never grow or develop much from their experiences.

Christie aged her characters in the Tommy and Tuppence series, but even though they got old and had children, their personalities never seemed to age with them. I suppose some people stay young forever in spirit, but I always kept mentally picturing them as teenagers as a result.

Susan in NC wrote: "Tara wrote: "Susan in NC wrote: "ShanDizzy wrote: "Susan in NC wrote: "I really can’t get into The Warrielaw Jewel, so I’m rereading Dancers in Mourning."

I thought D..."

Oh yes. A definitive characterization indeed. Its a shame they didn't dramatize all of the stories.

Susan in NC wrote: "ShanDizzy wrote: "Susan in NC wrote: "I really can’t get into The Warrielaw Jewel, so I’m rereading Dancers in Mourning."

I thought Dancers in Mourning was an okay re..."

Love Jacobi in the role, although he doesn't have quite the sturdy sailor look to him that is described in the books.

Rita wrote: "I finished The Word is Murder by Anthony Horowitz

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show..."

Looks really interesting Rita.

Recently started The Burning Issue of the Day by T E Kinsey, mainly because I had run out of Audible credits, and its free on Kindle Unlimited. I enjoyed the first few, but I am finding the formula of the oh so witty, oh so clever, oh so butt-kicking women far ahead of their time oh so tiresome. The characters are beginning to feel like they are made out of cardboard, and lack depth or any real personality to speak of.

I enjoyed more Hastings than the books sometimes included, although I felt like both Death in the Clouds and Triangle at Rhodes were successful in creating interesting temporary sidekicks as written. However, there were instances where Hastings and/or Japp were shoehorned in, and I never quite got the warm and cozy relationship in Japp that they built up in the series over time.

I don't know how faithful the film is to the book (although they do seem to take a lot of dialogue from the letters), but there was a part where she was so annoyed with editors printing selections or excerpts of works rather than publishing the complete collections, and mentioned using one to wrap up items (as the bookshop had done with disregarded pages from random books). I'm not sure what book donation opportunities were in NYC in the 50s-70s; a lot of places now are strict about what they will accept.

As an interesting side note, the son of one of the owners, Leo Marks, was an author himself, and a code breaker during WWII. I enjoyed his book as well: Between Silk and Cyanide: A Codemaker's War, 1941-1945. He met Helene Hanff when she visited London, and his wife Ena, who was an portraitist, painted her picture.

I just watched 84, Charing Cross Road over the weekend, about a 20-year correspondence between a New York script writer who loved antiquarian English literature, and the employees at the Marks & Co. rare bookstore in London. The film was a delight, and I plan on reading the book once my copy arrives from eBay. In the interim I borrowed The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street from my library. This book chronicles the author's long dreamt about trip to London after the successful publication of her letters in the aforementioned book. It was a quick read that I was able to polish off in an afternoon, but was highly enjoyable. Her writing style is witty and honest, making you feel like you are reading the diary of an old friend.

Bruce wrote: "Suchet was great - tied with Albert Finney to me - but I always welcome new interpretations. People and fans get too hung up that there can never be another great interpretation of a character afte..."

Totally agree Bruce. The earlier ones were more comparable to the books, while I feel like the later ones tried too hard to add action or drama where it wasn't needed. I think one of the things that made Suchet so successful was that he didn't look at Poirot as a joke. I enjoyed the Finney Orient Express movie, but couldn't get over the shoe-polish hairdo.

Carrie wrote: "I'm really enjoying listening to this on audio as well. It's the first time I've listened to a Poirot story on audio and I had no idea Hugh Fraser was such a brilliant narrator! I read this years a..."

Hugh Fraser has narrated quite a few of the Poirot stories, and does a masterful job each time IMO. He doesn't do a half bad impression of Poirot either!

This book kept me guessing right up until the end, which makes for a great page-turning mystery. I also thought the bond between Hastings and Bob was adorable. Its nice to see that Hastings can excel in certain areas that Poirot does not.

The solution seemed so obvious once Poirot spelled it out, but Christie was very clever with her red herrings throughout. I was hoping that the "suspicious foreigner" wouldn't be the guilty one, but I appreciate that the real killer used those prejudices against him to cast aspersions that people would readily believe.

I was not a huge fan of Yellow Iris, but I enjoyed the Murder in the Mews quartet, particularly Triangle at Rhodes. Poirot is quite adept here at seeing through the false façade that the killer is trying to set up as reality.

Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "Tara wrote: "I generally agree with the sentiment that the book is always superior to the film "

I won't argue whether one is "superior" to the other, but that they are different, whether or not a..."

I think the reason that people tend to feel this way is because they fall in love with the book first. Movie adaptions have a tendency to wildly deviate from their source material, which while understandable in some respects, can also originate from the idea of changing for changing's sake. Whether or not the movie is good as a stand-alone product, is it impossible to view without the lens of what came first. The written word is also a much more flexible medium than film in a lot of ways, and it can be difficult to translate or convey thoughts or characters in a visually focused form.

Susan in NC wrote: "Tara wrote: "Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "I started The Maltese Falcon. Just what I was hankering after."

Quite different from the Christie et al. crowd, but every entertaining in its o..."

Its hard to say that one is better over the other. The movie of course is a noir classic, and has very good performances all around (Sydney Greenstreet as Mr. Gutman is particularly memorable and delicious). I actually listened to the book on audio, so it came across more like a radio play than a novel, which I am sure had an impact on my perception.

Final analysis: The movie is a fairly close adaption from the book, so I would say they are equal for their respective mediums. I definitely recommend watching after you've read it.

As a side note, I generally agree with the sentiment that the book is always superior to the film, with the noted exception of The Princess Bride (both written by the same man, who was in fact more well-known as a screenwriter than a novelist).

Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "I started The Maltese Falcon. Just what I was hankering after."

Quite different from the Christie et al. crowd, but every entertaining in its own way. When I read this recently, it was impossible for me not to picture the characters from the Bogart movie.

Susan in NC wrote: "Tara wrote: "Susan in NC wrote: "I’m rereading The Unknown Ajax on Audible and Kindle, and [book:Wicked Plants: The Weed That Killed Lincoln's Mother and Other Botanical Atrocities|6..."

Not surprisingly I have that one, although I haven't finished it yet. It's interesting so far though.

Susan in NC wrote: "I’m rereading The Unknown Ajax on Audible and Kindle, and Wicked Plants: The Weed That Killed Lincoln's Mother and Other Botanical Atrocities."

The Wicked Plants book is probably something Christie would have enjoyed! Added to my TBR

Continuing to work my way through the History of Middle-earth series, I have now started Sauron Defeated: The History of The Lord of the Rings, Part Four by J.R.R. Tolkien. This series explores the many drafts and re-writes of JRRT's work, as he was certainly a perfectionist, and never really considered any work finished, even after it had been published. This particular book examines the last chapters of The Return of the King from the LOTR "trilogy" and The Notion Club Papers, Tolkien's non-starter attempt at writing about time travel.