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

Frances’s comments from the Reading the Detectives group.

For a complete change of pace I'm currently reading Ready Player One. It's a dystopian video game-based adventure novel set in the near future which has recently been turned into a film. It is surprisingly exciting and engaging for this middle aged woman who has never moved beyond Tetris and pac man, possibly because it is also full of '80's pop culture references which I DO get (unlike all the video-game references). A really enjoyable complete change of pace for me, as I'm usually wedded to my mysteries and my 19th century novels.

Thanks Judy, that's great.

A question-I'm trying to follow the Poirot buddy read going on right now but I'm reading somewhat out of order. As there are so many buddy reads happening it's often hard to find the thread I'm looking for. Any chance the Poirot reads could get a section of their own?

I was all set to join you for Police at the Funeral until I realized I've read it within the last 18 months or so-perhaps I'll just check in on your comments!

How about The Floating Admiral? This should have a number of our favourite authors all rolled into one novel.

Do we ever find out more about Campion's backstory as the series progresses? I always get a bit frustrated with books that give hints of some exciting events in a main characters past but never fill in the details.

Did I miss something, or do we learn much about how Val Gyrth ended up living on the streets? I know there was an "undesirable" marriage, but it seemed quite farfetched for his apparently loving family to just leave him homeless.

I also agree that this was more of a crime caper than a mystery novel-hoping this changes in later novels.

I enjoyed theses stories much more than I thought I would, and though I suspect I'd read them all before, I didn't always remember the solution and even when I did they were still an enjoyable read. Having read a number of the lesser-known Golden Age authors it is clear why Christie is the Queen. One peculiar thing I noticed a few times-sometimes the narrator's voice would speak with a Poirot-ish inflection- or speech pattern-I'm trying to find an example but can't at the moment.

I'm hoping to start this tonight and will definitely join this read.

I LOVED the Thursday Next series but agree that it's more fantasy than sci fi.

If there are any more short story collections it might be nice to set up a spoiler thread with 4-6 stories at a time-I don't want to go to that thread until I've completed the series.

I'm also working my way through these but because I have a collection of all the Poirot stories they're out of order and I have to keep checking the list! I do like the shorter ones.

Having also just finished Murder on the Links, (view spoiler)[ there seems to be no explantation for Hastings being back in the picture and apparently single. Are these supposed to be out of sequence? Do we ever hear more of Hastings personal life? (hide spoiler)]

I'm very late coming to this thread (the library book took forever to arrive-I've learned to request a couple of months in advance!) and enjoyed this second Poirot novel, although I found the Hastings romance a surprise-for one, isn't she a teenager? Also, I don't recall Hastings being married in later books, or perhaps I'm confusing it with the TV series.

I enjoyed the mystery, and once again was completely fooled (other than figuring out it was blackmail, not a romance). This did seem like one of those cases where a certain amount was cleared up by letters arriving and distressed damsels coming and confessing, and less by the little grey cells, but nonetheless it was very cleverly (if somewhat fantastically) plotted.

Sandy wrote: "Not to worry! I see #3 is due in June (Britian first I suppose).

Now, if J K Rowling would just get working on the next Cormoran Strike ..."

Agreed!

I quite enjoyed this, and by contrast to Judy, I found it took me a while to get into the book but was hooked by the end, and would like to read more in the series.

While there were a lot of coincidences, Upson explains them as part of the plot. For example the seemingly unlikely meeting of Tey and Elspeth was, in fact, planned by Aubrey. Marta just happening to be the wife of Vintner was explained as her insinuating herself into that world. Very clever plotting!

I've just finished it and the ending was gripping, although it did take some time to "grab" me as well. I will definitely want to read further in the series, particularly after the information above.

Interesting that in the Guardian article they mention John Gielgud's "Terry blood" as he was the grand-nephew of Ellen Terry, which explains the choice of name on Upson's part.

I'm going to give My First Murder a try-love the choir angle and haven't read anything Finnish, I don't think.

I've just started The Grave's a Fine and Private Place in the Flavia de Luce series, which I've enjoyed so far.

https://twitter.com/green_grainger/st...

This was an amusing thread on twitter from (I presume) a librarian who discovered that a number of patrons had secret signs that they left in books (for example underlining the "7" on page 7) so that in future they could easily find out if they'd read that book or not. I realized that that would be great help for genre readers, and I thought of myself and mysteries, as it is not that unusual for me to bring a library book home, get a third of the way in a realize that I've already read it (or worse, I'm still not sure if I have or not). Has anyone here heard of this habit (and would you 'fess up if you were already doing it?)

I'm not sure if this fits in your time frame but I would like to nominate The Necropolis Railway, the first in the Jim Stringer series.

Although it wasn’t particularly true to Poirot’s character and added a lot of extra details that seemed unnecessary, I thought the film was gorgeous, loved all the period detail, and will likely go to see it again, hoping to find it on a big screen somewhere.

I've read almost all of the stories in this lot and really enjoy them-it's nice to be able to sit down for a short read and polish off one or two-they are clever and I've given up trying to solve Christie mysteries-I just roll with them and enjoy the characters and clever plots. Out of the first 8, I think I've enjoyed the Jewel Robbery at the Grand Metropolitan the most-I always enjoy the Upstairs, Downstairs sort of tales.