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

Frances’s comments from the Reading the Detectives group.

I've also been somewhat underwhelmed by the Marsh's so far-I remember reading a lot of her books in my teens/20s and enjoying them but don't know if I read these early ones. I was going to give up on the series but some early comments on the next one has kept me hanging on for at least 1 more!

I have been enjoying rereading some Christie with this group-I was impressed by her debut novel an am enjoying the short stories so far (and I'm still waiting for murder on the links from the library!). I had thought I wouldn't enjoy her books as much as I did when I was younger but stand corrected.

In fact joined this group to catch up on my Allingham-I'd read a few of her later books which I really enjoyed and wanted to read from the start-her earliest books have not been great but I do like Campion and want to read them in order now.

Agreed, though, that the casual racism and class snobbery is quite a problem sometimes.

I just finished the 4th Jackson Brodie Started Early, Took My Dog, and am devastated to learn there isn’t a 5th one (yet! I hope).

The Secrets of Wishtide-I'm enjoying it so far-a serendipitous find at my local library.

There was a little forward ostensibly written by the author and shown to Alleyn-was that what you meant? I must say I was dense enough not to register it so did not guess the identity (but I rarely do, perhaps as I rarely stop to think about it, I just enjoy the story).

While I plan to carry on with the series as I remember enjoying the Marsh novels I read as a young woman, I found the humorous banter a bit grating and found the whole scene between Alleyn and Stephanie, when he invites her to the empty apartment and they have some sort of "moment", a little disconcerting and unprofessional. As with Christie, it is sometimes difficult to read these novels with our 21st century world view.

I don't mind Nigel, but I think that for an Inspector of the police to bring a civilian along into various murder scenes and interviews is a bit much-I expect they will have to ease Nigel out of the sidekick role sometime soon. This was a great set-up-to have the detective 'witness" the murder and I suppose that gave him a bit of leeway to allow Nigel to come along.

Robin-I really enjoyed your take on Poirot-despite having read multiple stories featuring him over the years I hadn’t appreciated the emotional aspect of his character until you pointed it out. I agree that his response to Mrs Inglethorpe was quite illuminating-he appreciates her for her work with refugees (including himself ).

LC and Patrick (and others), if you're interested in picking up at or after Phineas Finn, come over and join us at the Readers Review.

I'm currently reading Phineas Finn as part of a Trollope read in another GR group (we've finished the Chronicles of Barsetshire series and are working our way through the Palliser novels). Trollope is definitely one of my favourite Victorian authors.

I've just finished Glass Houses by Louise Penny and for those of you familiar with the series I thought it was the best one yet. This series is set between Montreal and a small village in Quebec and features a Chief Inspector in the Quebec police force as the detective and is really engaging and clever.

I read lots of Muriel Spark years ago and loved her and was just thinking of doing some rereading. I think that The Girls of Slender Means was also one of her better ones so yes Sandy, go for it. I believe all her novels are quite short as well.

I just saw MOTOE last week, LOVED the scenery/Orient Express component, but they had made Poirot more manly (he chases people! He gets in fights!) and there was a moderate amount of melodrama added in, which seemed out of keeping with Christie's usual flavour.

Star-studded casting as well, and while Branagh does a great job (despite the reservations mentioned above) no one will ever hold a candle to David Suchet, in my estimation.

Susan wrote: "I have read the first few. Like so many series, I got stuck a few books in. Did hope that book 2 would win the vote, but it didn't. Perhaps, if there is enough interest, we could do a buddy read, l..."
I was also disappointed the second one wasn't chosen so would be up for a buddy read of this at some point .

Sandy wrote: "I've started The Essex Serpent. It was on my wish list most of last year but its availability and mine never overlapped. Liking it so far."

I read that recently-really enjoyed it.

Has anyone else seen the recent Murder on the Orient Express film? I just saw it today, LOVED the scenery/Orient Express component (view spoiler)[ but they had made Poirot more manly (he chases people! He gets in fights!) and there was a moderate amount of melodrama added in, which seemed out of keeping with Christie's usual flavour. (hide spoiler)]

Star-studded casting as well, and while Branagh does a great job (despite the reservations mentioned above) no one will ever hold a candle to David Suchet, in my estimation.

I'm about half way through reading this and agree that Poirot feels fully formed-his character doesn't change much over the course of many books. Interestingly, he is being spoken of as an older man retired from the Belgian Police force (I had forgotten he was in the police in his earlier life) so I'm sure if the stories were put into chronological time he must have been very old indeed by the end of the Christie novels.

I'm reading The Mysterious Affair at Styles edition and it has the deleted courtroom scene at the end.

Farrah wrote: "Yes, I thought that too. A turntable.
If they had a parrot in the house, I would have thought it was the parrot 😃"

Ooh, I like the parrot idea!

I assumed that whole singing the death of Boris episode would have been some sort of false alibi-that they would find a turntable playing or some such-so was quite disappointed that that didn't happen!

Thanks Judy, I did by a bundle of the first 3 so might well try the second.

I've read the first 3 chapters and have thrown in the towel-I agree with the comments about it feeling more like an old sensation novel than a mystery. Having just reread some Christie and Marsh I realize I'd rather read more of them (or the other Queens) than this novel.

Thanks for clarifying-I'd just done a quick Wiki search on her background (I knew she was from NZ but didn't know much else). I suspect it was still quite a different social stratum from that of her literary subjects, however!