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

Frances’s comments from the Reading the Detectives group.

Just finished-there is exceedingly little about Christmas-more about what Christmas would be like if the family were actually celebrating it! Heading over to the spoiler thread to discuss!

So sorry Judy, I forgot that not everyone is reading each book as we go along-spoiler tag now inserted.

Great comments, everyone, and another enjoyable mystery. Reading the Poirot's regularly like this does start to show some repeated plot devices, as from an earlier book in this group read (view spoiler)[and the couple who appear to be in difficulties/previously separated but secretly working in tandem is one of them (think back to Death on the Nile) (hide spoiler)]

I also agree that having Poirot holiday at a seaside resort that requires climbing up and down to the sea, or some suggestion of walking about, seems a bit far-fetched, without Hastings to drag him there.

Just starting this, and it does feel very familiar-either I've read it before or there is another mystery with a similar setting. Still, I do enjoy the journey!

Sandy wrote: "Val probably had to be tolerant as Georgia was the fashion house's most important client. Dropping Georgia may have been an advantage to accepting Alan's proposal."

Good point, but it never felt like she was angry or outraged by what Georgia was saying, which I certainly was by much of what she was saying!

I actually found the book rather hard to follow-it may come from reading a couple of chapters at a time before bed and perhaps it would have been clearer if I read more at one sitting, but I never felt I had a good handle on the plot. Still, I do enjoy seeing Campion develop and mature.

I couldn't understand why Val continued to tolerate and in fact be rather good to Georgia. In similar circumstances I would have cut her dead and not put up with any of her malicious comments disguised as innocent/naive chatter. She actually accuses Val in a roundabout way of trying to poison her, and then expects her to be sweet to her. Unclear if it was total naïveté or plain mean-spiritedness, but I can't believe anyone of Val's strength and smarts would stick by her.

Judy wrote: "Bicky wrote: "I think he actually did not mind being engaged to Amanda, so there was a some sense of loss and hence a genuineness to his acting"

I think you are right - as well as remembering his ..."

Did I misinterpret the ending? I thought they were back to being engaged-or at least a couple-by the end of the book. Or is that just me projecting what I would like to happen?

Susan wrote: "The proposal was pretty revolting, I agree, but then, we look at it with modern eyes. In those days, women were not expected to work if they got married. Interestingly, I am currently reading [book..."

I think that for the time it might have been a standard proposal, but Val was a woman who had built a company back up from ruin and was apparently a brilliant designer-for her to throw that away, and for a man who loves her to want her to throw that away, seems too much. I expect we see too much of that in relationships, though-to love someone who is one way and then expect them to give it all up for marriage just seems a recipe for disaster.

I think Tomothy Spall, if very overweight, would be the closest fit to my mental picture of Jackson Lamb.

My Goodreads shows the publication date for The Catch: A Slough House Novella 2 as Jan 9th so should it perhaps be a Jan-Feb read? Or later for those of us who use the library?

I've just started this and had to laugh at the beginning-

As she stood before the mirror considering her burgundy-red suit from every angle she looked about 23, which was not the fact.

I assumed this meant that on closer inspection she iwas in fact in her 40's or more-turns out she is 30!

I also found that comment about women's voices rather jarring.

Bicky-I interpreted 'it had not happened before' to mean that one had never met someone so vivid or sharply defined.

I think what I am starting to find a bit jarring is this underlying sense in these novels that Campion and his family are a bit of a super-race, somehow better and brighter than other people, and it's hard to separate that from a sense of class superiority.

Nonetheless, I generally enjoy the mysteries!

I enjoyed this one, but miss the little summaries of characters the old paperbacks used to have-if I have to read a couple of chapters at a time it is often hard to get the characters sorted and i keep having to flip back.

I like the use of multiple hidden identities-both the dentist and Miss Sainsbury Stale-and the little clues around the shoes and stockings and buckles. I also like the idea of more or less worthy humans (particularly when Poirot has the internal debate of just letting Frank Carter put a noose around his own neck) and the discussion at the end to this effect

This was a fun read-I don't remember having read it before.

Bicky wrote: "I have been reading Deborah Crombie's Duncan Kincaid and Gemma James series and I thought this extract may be of interest:

As if reading her mind, he said, “It’s the prewar aura I c..."

I read that series years ago and remember enjoying it very much-and what a superb summary of why the Golden Age is so beloved and so successful.

I've just finished this and have quite mixed feelings.

I thought this book could have done with some significant editing-for example that scene Susan mentions where Janet tries to track down Trixie went on way too long and didn't seem in character-why would you buy all those things when you didn't even know if someone was going to be there when you got there? All the descriptions of the new-age stuff was also too much-we could have got the impression required with a lot less.

I find having a detective duo where one has no redeeming features-he's not bright, he's not witty, he's a sexist jerk-and where the pair don't seem to like each other doesn't really work.

I do like Barnaby and his family, particularly that Barnaby and Joyce rather see through their beautiful and talented but somewhat full of herself daughter and her fiancé-that was a nice touch.

The mystery was really solid and well-plotted-particularly having a lot of the information hidden in May's new age mumbo jumbo-that was quite clever and really makes me want to read the rest of the series! So I will try to find a copy of the next one sooner so I can join you on time!

Finally got around to this one this weekend-was a bit of a slog but overall quite an enjoyable mystery. I'll head over to the spoiler threads now.

Just finished this one and a little disappointed with how far-fetched the result was-I assumed (as clearly I was meant to) that it was Roddy trying to kill Elinor so he would get the money and could marry Mary, and then things went horribly wrong. That was way to long a long game for Nurse Hopkins-hadn't she been in the neighbourhood for years?

Also, the denouement wasn't delivered by Poirot but by the defence counsel which rather robbed him of his glory, didn't it?

I'm just starting and looking forward to it (as I always do with Poirots!) I can't recall if I've read this before-it may become clear as we go along but other than the unique ones (egMurder on the Orient Express, The Murder of Roger Ackroyd) I seem to have forgotten most of the solutions so they're just as much fun the second time around!

I'm familiar with "doozy"-have lived in Ontario, Canada and it's certainly in use here-and agree with Jason's definition.