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

Frances’s comments from the Reading the Detectives group.

I'd never heard of it either-the closest I can come to that was the secret shopper, hired by stores to tell them how to improve their customer service.

I found his issue with MI5 was that it had become just another bureaucratic nightmare, and his biggest criticism of Ingrid Tearney (and Lady Di?) was that she had never been in the field, but had come up through the office. It's a clever turn on the spy thriller, when the threat is entirely within the organization for which they work.

I'm worried about Catherine Standish-having Jackson Lamb tell her about Charles Paynter might be enough to push her off the wagon. I was really surprised he said what he did to her at the end-I'd thought Lamb had a heart of gold somewhere under that unattractive exterior, and in this novel he seemed much less likeable.

One of my favourite comedic touches was the cheese stuck to his trousers-all the previous comments about places smelling like cheese and then having Catherine pull the disc of cheese off him.

I've just finished this and loved it-some laugh out loud writing, even though the plot is not particularly funny. I love that the top dog and the scheming underdog at Regent's Park are both women, and that nothing in particular is made of that. I love that the Slough Horse women get as much action as the men, and screw up as much as the men do-neither paragons nor weaklings along for some romantic side dealings. I LOVE the portrait of Peter Judd/BJ, and I'm not even British (although I've been compulsively following UK news via the Guardian since the Brexit vote).

I will move over to the spoiler section for further discussions!

I've just started this months Mick Herron and am enjoying it but.... I realize this series is going to run out soon and wondered if we could spread them out a bit more. I'm finding it hard to keep up with all the series I'm participating in and I'm seeing 2/month in buddy reads that I'm following (Upson, Allingham, Herron, Graham) and the Poirot series and possible monthly reads. I know this is a group decision and if others prefer to go at this pace I understand.

I'd love to read The Floating Admiral as well-a possible stand-alone Buddy read? I could't get it "elected" as a group read.

Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "I couldn't figure out why no one - not one person - said the maid came into the cabin. Not that I got the connection."

I agree with Susan-I think people just don't notice servants/wait staff and so the idea of disguising yourself as someone in those roles has often been a way to pass unnoticed.

I didn't understand why, if the thorn was thrust directly into her neck, he didn't just pocket it and flush it down the toilet when he went back to change. Then it would never have been discovered and everyone would assume it was the wasp, at least until the autopsy.

I've just started and I'm enjoying it very much so far. I'm reading this edition so you can see it has a different title-Death in the Air. This paperback version was published in the US in 1984 so perhaps it was a different name for the American market?

So I know it's a cozy mystery when I open the book to find a diagram-in this case a seating plan of the rear car of the aeroplane. This is almost as enjoyable as a list of characters, and I do refer back to it regularly through the opening chapters as we learn about the players and then hear them being interrogated.

Next, there are the sweet young lovers being at first shy and nervous around each other and eventually working up to having afternoon tea together.

Finally, there is the required hack mystery writer and the frequent references to the murder being something out of a bad mystery novel.

So here I am only 6 chapters in and knowing that I am firmly in my happy place for another 180 pages-I love Agatha Christie!

I've just finished this and also preferred it to the gang/secret society-type story. I also enjoyed the art world setting, although goodness they were very hard on their models, weren't they? All striking looks and brainlessness and presumably loose morals.

I did like how Belle was such a strong and sympathetic character, and also Linda and even Mrs Potter. I also appreciated the older and wiser Campion.

Definitely!

Judy wrote: "Who else is reading along with this one, or has read it before? I know we have a few Campion fans in the group."

I've just started this-I had to finish The Singing Sands first! I actually joined this group for the Campion reads so count me as a fan.

Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "Did anyone think Tey was putting us on when Zoe exclaimed there are no classes in Britain?"

Although (as someone said earlier) it was Grant that said this, it did seem to stretch things incredibly-I can't imagine a more class-structured society than Britain at the time. I was quite surprised that Grant would have a full-time housekeeper/cook-would that have been affordable on an Inspector's salary, or does he have private means? There is also a comment near the end that Pat needs to be sent off to his English school pretty soon to have the Scottish rubbed out of him (or something along those lines) so clearly his family runs to boarding schools and friendships with Viscountesses (impoverished or not).

Further to the discussion on sexual orientation, I wondered at the intensity of Tad's emotional responses when speaking of Bill, particularly in Ch 13 when he is talking about going back to their shared bungalow.

Finally, I loved how Grant compares the colours in London-the grey with the red double-decker bus (and post boxes?) to the colours worn by hospital nurses:

London was a misty grey with scarlet trimmings, and Grant looked at it with affection. Army nurses used to have that rig-out; that grey and scarlet. And in some ways London gave one the same sense of grace and power that went with that Sister's uniform. The dignity, the underlying kindness beneath the surface indifference, the respect-worthiness that compensated for the lack of pretty frills. What a happy thing it was that London buses should be scarlet. In Scotland, the buses were painted that most miserable of all colours: blue. A colour so miserable that it was a synonym for depression. But the English, god bless them, had had gayer ideas. Ch. 11

I'm hoping there is going to be someone other than Lady Di to screw up in further instalments. I rather like her as a character-she's a perfect MI5 senior and I always love a hard-nosed dame, so I don't like her constantly being a sucker.

I also hope we'll be seeing Molly Doran again, and even JK Coe-he was pretty clever to know how valuable Molly's lesson had been, and I like a newbie who is willing to listen to the old hands. I'd hate to see him end up in Slough House, but maybe he'll be an inside contact.

What was the office that Coe worked in? What did Lamb mean about it being second tier to Regents Park?

I just finished it-a fun and quick read, I'm really enjoying this series.

I have a beautiful folio society hardback with illustrations-a pleasure to read .

I'm about a third of the way through-I don't think I've read any other Grant novel apart from The Daughter of Time and it seems to work fine as a stand alone.

Tracey wrote: "Egg's detective work was great to read. The Dacres sounded like an awful pair. I had a real fondness for Egg.

A real 'kick yourself' solution, obvious in hindsight, but I didn't suspect Charles at..."

Neither did I-I suspected Egg!

Is Mr Satterthwaite a recurring character? I had no idea. What is the Harley Quin series? (Other than a great play on words!)

I'm going to try nominating The Floating Admiral again.

The creators of Hercule Poirot, Miss Marple, Lord Peter Wimsey, and Father Brown collaborate on one mystery, all applying their unique expertise to solve the same case.

It was notable that Poirot seemed much more sidelined in this one-most of the "detecting" was done by the threesome. I'm enjoying the sequential read to see how Christie has him evolve or change.

That was also an interesting final section where Poirot touches on the more comical aspect of his persona-that he is in fact putting on the accent and acting the "bumbling foreigner" role to put suspects off their guard. A bit of an indictment of the English/upper classes sense of superiority!

Hello, Emma, we've already "chatted" over on the Poirot read. I've also recently discovered the Nigel Strangeways books but I'm not sure I'll be able to catch up with the group.

I'm pretty sure that this was a new one for me-I don't remember it all all. I was pretty sure that Egg was the murderer once her mother had discussed her father who'd had a "kink" (which in this case meant her was naturally evil, I think) and once again (as always) was completely surprised by the solution.

I also rather thought that Satterthwaite might be "courting" Egg's mother, although perhaps Christie is going along with the prevailing idea in the story that any woman over 35 is completely out of the running for romance. I was rather disheartened by the number of either apparently over-the-hill or hopelessly unattractive women there were (I think everyone but Egg seemed out of the running for any possibility of romance). Thank heavens she at least had an age-appropriate lover for Egg waiting in the wings!