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

Tara ’s comments from the Reading the Detectives group.

I'm just starting Rothstein: The Life, Times, and Murder of the Criminal Genius Who Fixed the 1919 World Series with a friend of mine who I do an informal book club with. I'm not a big sports fan, but scandal and murder tend to make for good reading regardless.

For some reason I mentally picture Alleyn looking like David Tennant, although I think he is written to be more polished and well groomed than that.

Leslie wrote: "Melanie wrote: "I love the actual feel of a book, electronic books are not for me."

I also love that feeling of a physical book, one reason why it is important to me for my Kindle to be in a case ..."

Sometimes its hard not to feel like an addict, sneaking in books at any spare moment, utilizing different formats to fit what else you're doing at the time. But there are just too many things I want to read, that I'm not happy if I don't have at least 3 or 4 going at any given time.

Whew, glad to know I wasn't the only one who was ambivalent about this adaption. It makes sense to untangle a bit of the plot twists (especially the part with the plan of snaring the murderer), but some of the changes just seemed unnecessary, and left the story a bit flat IMO. I also didn't like that they revealed Renauld's secret from the beginning, rather than letting it unravel as the story progressed.

I just started The Day of the Jackal from Audible on my commute in this morning. I vaguely recall seeing a movie about this on TCM years ago, but I don't know much about the plot beyond the fact it involves an assassination plot and lots of secrecy and intrigue. I'm hoping for a suspense ride!

Tracey wrote: "I've just started this, and enjoying it so far. I was quite surprised to see Alleyn refer to himself as being a 'bit Hitlerish' when he is ordering people around in the aftermath of the murder. The..."
I wondered that too Tracey, although I had totally forgotten about it by the time I finished the book. Perhaps its meant as a euphemism for acting like a dictator, since Hitler had recently seized power?

I look forward to hearing your take Jessica. I can be a bit of a purist snob at times, so perhaps I was a bit harsh in my criticisms. Normally I am a huge Suchet as Poirot fan, but the contrasts seemed more apparent when I watched it immediately after finishing the book. Hopefully you will like it!

Jessica wrote: "Tara wrote: "I would think that people would have been able to make that association almost right away. For a crime that is supposed to be so well planned, it isnt very well thought out, is it?..."..."

You might be right Jessica, but I still think that if Renauld was so desperate to keep his identity a secret, it wouldn't make much sense to duplicate his original crime in almost every aspect. After all, he wasn't successful at fooling the authorities the first time with his tale of masked men in the middle of the night, he was successful at being a fugitive. Whether or not anyone would have been able to connect the dots isn't so much the point as the fact that the psychology of the idea doesn't work for me.
I suspect almost everyone at some point in the story (as Christie intends I am sure). I was convinced there was a blackmail scheme pretty early on, and I didn't buy into the mistress story. I found something off about Cinderella from the word go (poor Hastings is always blinded by beauty), but it didn't really all tie together for me until the end.

Roman Clodia wrote: "I wondered whether it was GA writers who made police detectives unprofessional for readability reasons - or if evidence and court procedures really were more lax in the 20s and 30s? When did proces..."

While I am sure there is a degree of creative license that was going on (even today most police and courtroom dramas miss the mark in terms of accuracy), I think there had to be a lot less procedures in force, as well as deference to the upper classes and nobility that was just assumed. If you think about it, Miranda rights didn't come into being in the US until the mid 1960s, so I am sure that the police had virtual free reign in the 20s and 30s.

Besides, who doesn't love at wickedly good femme fatale?

I watched the TV adaption of this story with Suchet yesterday, and I have to say that I was not a fan. They changed too many aspects of the story in a way that made it feel haphazard and incomplete. While the written version is a bit complicated, I dont think the changes they made were in a positive direction.

I never seem to figure out the murderer, despite all of the crime stories I absorb (both fiction and non), so I guess its a good thing I never became a detective in real life.
I thought Alleyn's character was much better than in the first outing, almost as if he was more comfortable in his own skin. He is quite unlike either a Holmes or Poirot character in that he is very self-deprecating. He comes across more as a person with some great skills, rather an untouchable genius that no one else can match (besides their evil mirror images). Its an interesting character that I am looking forward to getting to know better as we read more about him.

I also enjoyed this one more than the first, perhaps because the circumstances of that murder seemed so improbable (I won't go into more detail for those who haven't read that one yet). The forward actually pointed me to Saint's direction, so it didn't spoil the ending for me, although I seem to be rather terrible at picking out the culprit, so perhaps I am an outlier.
I find it to be an annoying habit of authors to almost never make the guys (or gals) you dislike in a story out to be the guilty party. Perhaps its a form of distraction, but I can find it deflating when someone you are rooting for ends up as the bad guy.
I was not particularly off-put by the Allen/Vaughn sub-plot, but there were certainly too many occasions to count where they veered off of the strictly professional path. I would imagine any case run that way today would get thrown out of court before the trial even started. I do think that most crime fiction, even of hard-boiled variety, as a tendency to ignore by-the-book procedures. What would be the fun in reading it then?

Poor Hastings does have to serve in as the role of reader throughout the story, which makes him seem far less clever than he probably is just because we are so clueless. Besides, if we are to imagine that Poirot is half as clever as he believes himself to be, then others wouldn't be able to draw the same conclusions he does with the same evidence. Even the rather clever Giraud looks buffoonish in comparison.

I read this one years ago, and totally forgot the plot and whodunit, so it was like reading for the first time all over again. I agree that the title is somewhat misleading, in that the body is found on what is going to eventually be a golf course, but that only plays a part in the story as far as the the timeline for the discovery of the corpse.
The one aspect that makes no sense to me (well alright, if you really think about, there is probably more than one...) is the fact that Renauld is desperate to keep his real identity a secret, but yet concocts a crime that is like the one he was convicted of in almost every detail. At a time when these types of crimes were few and and far between, I would think that people would have been able to make that association almost right away. For a crime that is supposed to be so well planned, it isnt very well thought out, is it?
As far as the Hastings marriage goes, I think part of the motivation was probably to change up the narration, as well as to imbue the story with some romance, since this distraction was almost nonexistent in Poirot's life. I would also hope that the only woman worth turning Hasting's allegiances would be his future wife, although to be frank, I found her character to be less than appealing throughout most of the story.

Judy wrote: "I've now watched the TV version of this starring David Suchet, which felt very true to the book. This was the first episode of this series that I've seen, but I'm looking forward to watching more. ..."

I like this version too Judy. I thought it was close to the original story in many important respects. I've read interviews with Suchet and he strived to stay true to Christie's vision rather than trying to parrot what other actors did with the character, which is very important.

Jan C wrote: "Tara wrote: "My copy of This Gulf of Fire: The Great Lisbon Earthquake and Its Aftermath is due back at the library tomorrow, so I will be racing through the last few chapters this ..."

Luckily they were spared a blizzard Jan. I think the earthquake, tsunami and firestorm were quite enough for them to deal with! Unsurprisingly there were widespread economic, political, religious, and scientific ramifications from the fall out. In a way, Portugal has never really recovered from it. If you like disaster books, I think you would enjoy this one, although it is quite lengthy (including all of the footnotes).

My copy of This Gulf of Fire: The Great Lisbon Earthquake and Its Aftermath is due back at the library tomorrow, so I will be racing through the last few chapters this evening. Its been an interesting read about a natural disaster I had never heard of (probably because I only have limited knowledge of Portugal's history). It intersects nicely with other books I have read about that period in history, with lots of first hand accounts of the death and destruction.

What would be the point of chasing someone on a trapped train anyway, unless they have changed that plot detail too. But the essence of Poirot is that he would always prefer to exercise his little grey cells over exercising his legs. Chasing someone down would just be too undignified for words.

I have been on a bit of a Princess Bride kick of late (I finally sprung for the DVD), so I grabbed this up quick when a recent kindle offer appeared: As You Wish: Inconceivable Tales from the Making of The Princess Bride. I also plan on reading Goldman's book in the near future, which I have never done.

Sandy wrote: "Tara wrote: "I am terrible about this as well, but I am trying to mix in stuff I own with library books. I also keep buying new books when I have a ton already that I have never read. I have a good..."

The question is Sandy, do we really want to find a cure? But it heartens me to know there are others in the world who share my obsessions. Most of the "real" people in my life are casual readers, if they read books at all, so I have always felt like a bit of a crazy person in this regard. It was life-changing finding the asylum known as Goodreads!