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

Frances’s comments from the Reading the Detectives group.

Rosina wrote: "I haven't finished yet, but I was shocked at the murder of the policeman - partly because he was one of the regular sidekicks in the Rupert Davies series, so I fully expected him to be in the rest ..."

I wonder if Simenon realized that this would be the start of a long series. Killing off the side-kick would be a good way to illustrate Maigret's character by how he responds, and Simenon might not have thought of wanting the character to be there for the rest of the books. Does he get another regular partner later in the series?

This sounds fantastic-great idea! Any interest in doing one of the joint works you mentioned-in which different members each contributed a chapter? That might be a fun way to wind up the year of Detection Club.

I'm about 1/4 of the way in-bought an omnibus edition of the first 4 novels -the first translated by David Bellos but then there are 2 different translators for the 2nd and 3rd+4th novels so it will be interesting to see how much of a difference the translation makes.

I am enjoying it so far. Are there any other Louise Penny fans reading this? I am struck by similarities so far between Maigret and Gamache, the solid somewhat proletarian build, the focus on the person behind the incident, the close relationship with his subordinate of many years, and the fact that that subordinate calls him "Patron"-is that the case in other translations? So the two men are now quite similar in my mental picture of them!

I'm giving up-I have too many other books for this group and others that I want to read and this one just wasn't holding my interest-I got about half way into the second narrator and just thought-too many books, too little time! I wish you better enjoyment of it than I've had-it certainly has lots of fans on Goodreads!

I've just finished the first section and begun the second-I found the first section quite engaging/engrossing, enjoying seeing 17th c England and Oxford through the eyes of a foreigner, and trying to figure out which characters are real/based on known historical figures and which are not.

Agree with Abigail that some of the "realities" are a little hard to take.

I have started this but expect it will take me a while-I think I'm about an eighth of the way in, still on the first narrator. Enjoying it so far!

I'd like to nominate Family Matters, republished in the British Library Crime Classics series. The Goodreads blurb says

Robert Arthur Kewdingham is an eccentric failure of a man. In middle age he retreats into a private world, hunting for Roman artefacts and devoting himself to bizarre mystical beliefs. Robert's wife, Bertha, feels that there are few things more dreadful than a husband who will persist in making a fool of himself in public. Their marriage consists of horrible quarrels, futile arguments, incessant bickering. Scarcely any friends will visit the Kewdinghams in their peaceful hometown Shufflecester. Everything is wrong - and with the entrance of John Harrigall, a bohemian bachelor from London who catches Bertha's eye, they take a turn for the worse. Soon deep passions and resentments shatter the calm facade of the Kewdinghams' lives. This richly characterised and elegantly written crime novel from 1933 is a true forgotten classic.

I quite enjoyed this romp, but wondered how true to life at the time Victoria's experiences in Baghdad and other cities would be-that she could walk around quite freely, up and down random streets and alleys and eventually stumble upon the Olive Tree. I assume Christie has first hand knowledge of the area from her own travels with her second husband, and agree that the descriptions of air travel were quite a contrast to today's standards.

While I was late coming to distrust Edward, once Victoria arrived at the dig it became clear to me that Richard was in fact her intended, and so Edward would have to be a bad guy for her to be able to transfer her affections blamelessly.

I liked the Mrs Pauncefoot Jones twist, and suspected it simply because there had to be another way for Anna Scheele to arrive safely, but for Dr Pauncefoot Jones to say his wife had been "seedy" and neglect to mention that she had had surgery was a bit much, even for an absent-minded Professor!

I finished this novel with a "what the heck just happened?" feeling-a rather strange non-mystery murder, iggy's that ended up being available in a local shop, I lost track of people like the End of the World man who was actually a ?secret agent? with a cat, multiple scientists working on something that was in fact being produced commercially in Japan...my head was in a total muddle.

Yes, this felt like it was set in the 60's but I also struggled to find the characters-agree with Rosina on Helena. Could Canon Avril still be alive given the aging of the other characters? I just couldn't get interested in this rather bizarre plot.

I've been taking part in the Campion reads and was wondering how much further we will go-I understand that the next in the series, Cargo of Eagles was her last and was in fact finished by her husband, but then there are a couple written entirely by her husband and there are also various short story collections. I'm less interested in her husband's continuations but would enjoy doing the short stories if they are generally available.

Tara wrote: "It seemed odd that the "uncle" left all of the money to Rosemary and none to Iris. While neither necessarily deserved the money since they weren't blood relatives, so it wouldn't be fair to expect ..."

I wonder if that's on a par with the practice of the eldest son getting the entire estate, remaining sons getting much less or nothing-so there is less of a feeling in society at the time of things needing to be "fair" between siblings.

The Honjin Murders is the first of a series (written in the 1970's but set in "The Golden Age") from Japan.

I was also struck by several things around parenting/childbirth-first that Prunella would try to labour by herself for so long, to "not make a fuss" and that Tim's mother would not have told her husband that she was pregnant right up to the 9th month. Then there was some implied talk about what pregnancy/childbirth would really be like and that Nanny Broome would know quite clearly that Agnes had not had a baby (although I just checked and realized that this was published in 1963-hadn't realized it was so late-so authors might have been freer to discuss this) as part of the evidence. The whole part about Nanny Broome having recently lost a baby and therefore being so thrilled to take on young Tim, and essentially mothering him was quite a good bit and would of course fit psychologically.

I also wondered how much money the Kinnit's actually had-it was implied that they had a lot, but they were living with no servants and no cook-ordering all their meals from the local pub was quite comical!

I actually thought that this was one of Allingham's better Campion novels-no criminal gangs, no incomprehensible in-crowd language and jokes, no more than manageable class superiority/mockery of the lower classes, and quite a good mystery. I liked the whole history of the disappearing neighbourhood and all the confusion around the time of outbreak of war/evacuations/bombings and how that was worked into the mystery, and appreciated that Tim was given a solidly lower-middle class parentage, to contrast with the nuttiness of his wealthy/aristrocratic adopted family.

Robin wrote: "To follow on re women in Christie novels. I see the 1920s women as almost flappers at times, and by the 1930s Christie is depicting a wider variety of women. So Virginia fits into the 1920s way in ..."

Hi Robin-that sounds like an interesting study, as I've always struggled with some of Christie's representations of women, particularly as we assume she was quite a strong woman herself.

Kanishka wrote: "I've just started reading The Secret of Chimneys in celebration of my exams getting over. I'm hoping it turns out as a good thriller."

Congratulations on finishing your exams! Enjoy your read-it is a fun if somewhat dated thriller/mystery.

I quite enjoyed this one as well, and had hoped Virginia might have played a stronger role a la Tommy and Tuppence. It is interesting that Supt Battle was essentially supplanted by Cade as investigator (not to mention all the other detectives!).

I'll nominate The Seven Dials Mystery if it's OK to nominate another Christie. I enjoyed Superintendent Battle in our current read and would love to read another book in which he features.

Margaret wrote: "Until this thread I'd had no idea that star ratings were "negotiated" - how do you tell? GR is like a world unto itself, many things that happen here seem mysterious...."

My two red flags are if a book is self-published and if it is a really small number of reviews/ratings.