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

Judy’s comments from the Reading the Detectives group.

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%

I'm about 3 quarters of the way through now and enjoying it a lot more - once the story got going, and we stopped having so many meal descriptions, I found myself warming to Mrs P again and wanting her to win through.

Welcome, Sruthi. What a great choice of PhD topic! I also like Crispin a lot and know what you mean about favourite writers constantly changing!

That's annoying, Sandy - hope you get hold of it soon.

Thank you Sandy, that's intriguing and will help to keep me going! Maybe I just slightly resent Melita not bothering to follow the diet because I've had to be careful with diet recently due to health issues... though I haven't restricted myself to cottage cheese and lettuce!

Our latest batch of buddy reads are all open now - please take a look and join in the discussions :)

Good to hear, Pamela. I'll be very interested to see how the main characters develop through the series.

I've just read this one and found it quick and compelling as usual with Maigret. Also, interesting to see Maigret exiled from Paris and living in the Vendee (part of the Loire region) - he definitely gets around in this series, even though we always think of him in Paris.

The spoiler thread is linked below:
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

That's a great introduction you've found for this one, Susan!

Who else is reading this book? I've just finished it and found it quite enjoyable overall, if a bit slow at times, definitely better than the previous book. It was nice to see a bit more of the campus this time around.

The spoiler thread is linked below:
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

I'm about a quarter of the way through and struggling with this one a bit as the humour isn't working so well for me as in previous books. I'm also starting to find Melita a little bit smug in this one, maybe just my mood though! Hoping to warm to it more as I carry on.

Just opening up the threads for this one, with thanks to Susan for setting them up.

Who is reading this and what do you think of it? The spoiler thread is linked below:
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...