Judy’s Comments (group member since Oct 01, 2015)

Judy’s comments from the Reading the Detectives group.

Jackie wrote: "thank you, Judy. I find myself more interested in her life the more I know and my next nonfiction read is going to be Come, Tell Me How You Live"

I'll be interested to hear what you think of it, Jackie - I keep meaning to read it!

I've just read a couple of good blog reviews of the book, thought I'd share the links for anyone who's interested. They go into a lot of detail about the plot so I've put them in the spoiler thread:

https://crossexaminingcrime.wordpress...

https://theinvisibleevent.com/2022/01...

Also, I have just read an interesting article about Christie's writing of the novel on the official Agatha Christie website:
https://www.agathachristie.com/en/new...

Carol She's So Novel꧁꧂ wrote: "Victoria wrote: "My edition of this book had a bonus chapter at the end, with Christie's original draft for the ending. ..."

Thank you for sharing that, Victoria! My edition didn't have this but I've just noticed that the alternative ending is included in Agatha Christie's Secret Notebooks, edited by John Curran.

This is available on Kindle Unlimited in the UK, so I've downloaded it and am looking forward to reading the bonus chapter while I can still remember the ending in the book! (There is also a 'Complete Secret Notebooks' but that one isn't on KU.)

I was also wondering if we might have a different love interest in each book and hoping not! Sandy and Susan, I agree about the motive - I'm also not keen on reading about psychopathic killers where there is no real reason for their crimes.

Although I thought the archer was a good character, I was puzzled as to why he takes on the job of killing the people involved in the salt deliveries in the first place - just for the money? Or for his love of his craft as an archer? I'm not sure if this was fully explained.

Re the free cozy mysteries event, having had a quick look through, it doesn't look all that great and most if not all the books are on Kindle Unlimited anyway, for those who have it. But possibly worth a quick skim just in case.

I've just posted this in the White Swan general chat thread but thought I'd post here too...

I've just heard that today (January 23) is 'Cozy Mystery eBook Blast' day, which means 170 books are free to download for one day only. Most of them seem to be available in various parts of the world.
Here's the link:
https://cozymysterybookclub.com/bookb...

I've just heard that today (January 23) is 'Cozy Mystery eBook Blast' day, which means 170 books are free to download for one day only. Most of them seem to be available in various parts of the world.
Here's the link:
https://cozymysterybookclub.com/bookb...

If anyone spots anything really good please say! I'll probably grab a few anyway just because they're free.

Welcome Mike, glad you found us. We are doing a Christie challenge here at the moment so maybe that will tempt you? Just coming up is The Murder at the Vicarage which I think is one of her best.

Jackie, I've just had a look and it's a UK deal of the day, looks like it's not on US Amazon sadly. Here's hoping our US members soon get some Miss Marple deals too.

I've finally finished this, after reading the stories occasionally in between other books rather than straight through. The longer stories, especially Dead Men's Shoes, are the best, I think.

I've started this now and am enjoying it so far. I listened to a little on Spotify but then realised the audio version is abridged (only slightly, I think), so decided to stick with reading the ebook. The narrator is good though.

I've just finished Case in the Clinic by E.C.R. Lorac which was a fun read - I thought from the title that it might be set in a hospital, but it isn't. It's in a village where a couple of the characters are staying at an osteopath's clinic.

Not important to the plot, but this one also briefly features a woman of 50 who claims to be settling down to enjoy her old age - I'm coming across this everywhere now! ;)

Just in case anyone is still looking for our list of upcoming reads, it's here :)
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

I didn't think this was quite up there with the previous book in the series in the end. Must admit I thought the romance took over the story too much, though I did like Christina. I really liked the history woven into the story, though - lots of interesting detail.

Good to hear, Abigail. I also found Stephen a fun character. More Berkeley titles seem to be becoming available at the moment so you should be in luck there, hopefully.

Although I loved the atmospheric writing, as usual, I was a bit irritated by the plot of this book. We never find out exactly what is supposed to be wrong with the judge's daughter - nymphomania? There are vague mentions of her suffering "attacks" and having to be shut up in her bedroom.

We also don't find out why Maigret has been banished from Paris to the Vendee. A lot of unanswered questions all round.

I've started this now and I think it gets off to a good start - I like the writer's style and the portrayal of the Anarchy period feels multi-layered, with lots of interesting details about life at that period.

I've finished this now and quite enjoyed it overall after a slow start, but I thought the plot was a bit weak, with more of the late Mr P's friends coming to the rescue to sort things out! Still, at least we also had one enemy cropping up.

I do remember going on one of those passive exercise machines many years ago and finding it really relaxing and enjoyable, but I don't think I would have fancied staying in it for hours on end!

We have a winner - it's Bloody Instructions: An Anthony Maitland Mystery by Sara Woods, which will be our March book.

Also, Crook o'Lune by E.C.R. Lorac was only a couple of votes behind, so let's read that one for April and skip the poll next month. :)

Bloody Instructions: An Antony Maitland Mystery (THE ANTONY MAITLAND MYSTERIES) 7 votes, 53.8%
Crook o' Lune 5 votes, 38.5%
The First Time He Died (Murder Room Book 636) 1 vote, 7.7%
Murder Jigsaw (Doctor Manson #2) 0 votes, 0.0%