Frances’s Comments (group member since Aug 21, 2017)

Frances’s comments from the Reading the Detectives group.

Rosina wrote: "I saw it as a justification for the sexual harassment of women - they're all gagging for it really! Particularly middle-aged/elderly women. I completely missed any 'humour' in the situation.."

Yes I felt this way as well, and disliked the general mockery of older women, other than the sainted Helen.

Susan wrote: "I found the writing style annoying. Peter seemed to um and er all the time and go from being some rather dry academic to being chased by all the female faculty. I didn't feel it had aged well to be..."

I agree with Susan on this one-while the mystery itself was engaging and I enjoyed some parts of it, the humour fell flat for me, and the bitchy, over-sexed flirtatious wives (and girlfriend), in contrast with the clever and ladylike Helen, (not to mention the stereotypical Scandinavian giants), just grated after a while. I don't think I would read more, particularly if, as the other Susan suggests, this is the best of the lot.

Also, what a lot of drinking is going on! Very 70's vibe.

I've started this and enjoying so far-yes I like the friendship between the two men, although the way they dance around discussing the murdered wife is a little odd, but perhaps not for two academics-while I hate to get all Psychological, the fact that Shandy counts everything and remembers the numbers does suggest some neurodivergence.

I found the explanation and the denouement quite satisfying, but yes it was an overly complicated plot and mystery. The crumbling manor house is just too sad-they really shouldn't exist, the class system that perpetuates that (and I do notice a certain sneering about the servants, when what an awful job working in that house with those employers must have been) is unfair, but the houses themselves do have a beauty and grandeur that makes their crumbling quite poignant. I like inspector MacDonald, although I do get him a bit mixed up with Catherine Aird's detective that some of us are reading in series.

I'm about 1/3 of the way through, also reading on whatever was the cheapest e-book version for my iPad mini, and yes it is full of wonky punctuation and misspellings-very annoying!

What I'm struggling with in this one is that the evidence for suicide is so clear that I'm surprised the police have any time to take this further. Obv there is something else going on or it wouldn't be a mystery novel, but still, one would think the police would just be happy to have an "easy one" and leave it at that!

I will be joining you, and I have an ebook from the library so I will be forced to finish it in 11 days before it disappears back into the library cloud (unlike library book-books which I will occasionally hold late to finish!). I haven't read this author before but understand she was Canadian-born (though became an American citizen later) so that's an extra incentive for me to try her out. First I have to finish our Lorac though!

I just checked the dates and it was written in 1977-I'd assumed it was the 60's with the sit in and so on. It was quite an interesting look at University politics/academia but again not sure how true to life it is.

I read it last month and have trouble remembering it! However I did give it 3 stars and am quite enjoying the series so will be carrying on!

Judy wrote: "Frances, no, not an H&H book, it has a different inspector called Logan and is quite a bit darker in feel. I enjoyed some parts but it wasn't a favourite for me, although I suspect I may actually r..."

Thanks, Judy. I have so many series on the go between this group and my own more modern choices I don’t think I’ll fit this one in.

Is this in fact a Hannaside and Hemingway book? It wasn't listed as being part of the series on the Heyer page and from the reviews I don't think I'll be reading it unless it is part of that series.

Divisha wrote: "Anybody interested in reading with me right away..?"

Hi Divisha-that may be a hard sell here-we're more focussed on Golden Age detective fiction or books that have adopted that style.

I'm going to add a second link for the AKG-The Amethyst Box-because my first link, which gives some reviews, doesn't give any details of the novel itself. Hope that helps (or makes your decision harder-it could go either way)!

I'll nominate The Amethyst Box by Anna Katherine Green. It's more of a novella, and described as a mystery/romance, first published in 1905. I believe that there is a Kindle Edition (I found mine in a collection of crime fiction) so hope that it is readily available.

Really great summary Susan of a lot of the reasons that I thoroughly enjoyed this one. I felt that Lorac very skillfully wove together the possibilities-caught up in the wrong gang, war crimes resurfacing, Psychological and memory issues, family and inheritance issues-and gave us a very satisfyingly drawn out mystery and its solution, without stretching it out too much.

I've just finished this one in the last week or so and really enjoyed it! I am joining the ranks of members who are big fans of Lorac and hope to read more of her.

I've just finished this one and found it a fun and amusing mystery which kind of cheats by having two separate crimes-the murder and the art fraud-overlap enough to fool us and the detectives. Jonathan Argyll and his bumbling diffidence is starting to grate a bit, as was Flavia's grumpiness and their combined inability to sort out their relationship without a nudge from her boss. Here's hoping that, now that they have figured themselves out, in future adventures we will see them working together as a couple.

I’m just starting this one now.

I very much agree with your take, Abigail-a weirdly convoluted plot which didn't quite work in the end.

I particularly enjoyed his take on composers-I presume Napier was modelled on himself, and liked this ?self-referential passage:

Upon the screen in front of her two lovers, bereft of their soundtrack, mouthed preposterously at each other; in the sound engineer's glass-fronted control-room behind her, the composer sat complacently imbibing through a substantial loudspeaker the noises he had contrived. The ticker on the wall spelled out the seconds; Griswold, with headphones adjusted and a cigarette in his mouth, glanced rapidly and continuously from the players to the score to the ticker to the screen;...Not a bad score, Judy conceded; in his concert works Napier was a somewhat acrid modernist, but like most such composers he unbuttoned, becoming romantic and sentimental, when he was writing for films.

I've finished this as well and enjoyed but also didn't think it was brilliant-heading over to the spoiler thread to discuss further.