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

Judy’s comments from the Reading the Detectives group.

Frances wrote: "I was unclear about Diablo-was his frailty and failing magic tricks an act? Where did the gun come from? Edgar asks but we never get an answer...."

Great comments, Frances, and a good question about Diablo, I was unclear about this too and didn't feel he quite hung together as a character. Maybe his personality will become clearer in the second book. I do agree with you that the various characters are strongly drawn though. It was nice to see Edgar taking some trouble over his mother at the end, but I get the feeling that will always be a difficult relationship.

Thanks, Rosina. Does anyone else mind if we skip the second collection of short stories for discussion? I'm wondering if it's just you and me reading them. I agree that they are better to dip into as and when rather than reading them all straight through.

I've finished this now and found it a compelling read, although at times I found it difficult to keep track of all the characters. I think the contrast between the glamorous hotel and the lives of the staff described in the introduction that Susan posted works well.

The solution is clever and it was good to see Maigret furious with the killer and determined to see justice done this time, after we've had a few books where he took a different view. I wasn't too happy about him physically attacking the killer, though. Hopefully a one-off!

I feel sorry for the little boy who has been growing up with wealthy parents in America and only speaks English, but now, it seems, will be handed over to his biological father in France, who is a stranger to him.

Yes, I agree it's good to see him back on the job, Sandy - I'm wondering why Simenon made him retire in the first place. I also feel sorry for Mrs Maigret, but definitely better for the series to have Maigret back in his office in Paris!

I had only read one of her non-crime books, The Italian Quarter, written under her real name, Domenica de Rosa - I think it was one of the dual timeline books which were popular a few years ago. I believe I quite liked it and tried it another by her but didn't like it and gave up, not sure which one that was now. I may also have made a false start on one of the Ruth Galloway books involving children being murdered, but am not certain on that as I may be getting mixed up with another author. Anyway, I liked this one a lot and will look forward to reading on in this series.

I've started this and am enjoying it. It's a very different setting for Maigret, in this glamorous hotel, but the workers' lives are far more like his usual world, as the introduction says.

I can hardly believe that we are already on the 20th Maigret book! He's back in his job in this book - I'm wondering if there will be an explanation at some point of how he came out of retirement.

I thought this was a great start to the series and a very different setting, as you say, Sandy. I was thinking it would be a 5-star book for me for most of the read, but I was disappointed with the "reveal" as the killer didn't have much of a motive, and it was rather melodramatic, as you say. Funny, I liked both Edgar and Max and thought they made a good combination, but wasn't very keen on Diablo.

I actually guessed two of the main twists, which I don't manage all that often, so I think maybe the clues were a bit too heavy. But anyway I will definitely read on and see how the series develops.

I haven't read the Ruth Galloway books, though I think I may have tried the first or second one years ago. Not sure if I'm getting mixed up with another author. I know a lot of people love them, but I get the impression they are a lot darker than this series so am not sure if they would be for me.

Yes, some of them do feel rather whimsical, I agree, Rosina. I'm thinking perhaps we should skip the second of these (very) short story collections and go on to the next Appleby novel for our next Innes buddy read - would everyone be happy with that?

Thanks, everyone. The poll is now open, so please make your choice!

https://www.goodreads.com/poll/show/3...

I've just found this article which explains who all the detectives and authors mentioned are - I don't think there are major spoilers, but I'm going to read each paragraph after the relevant story just in case.

https://www.mysteryfile.com/Christie/...

Has anyone else started these stories? They are very short - quite fun to read when you don't have much time.

Nominations so far:

Rosina: The Man Who Knew by Edgar Wallace

Susan: Bloody Instructions: An Antony Maitland Mystery by Sara Woods

Judy: The Wintringham Mystery by Anthony Berkeley

Jill: Fire in the Thatch by E.C.R. Lorac

Any more? This is the last call for nominations as I was so late in putting up this thread.

Thanks Jill, good nomination - I recently read Fire in the Thatch and really enjoyed it.

Good to hear, Susan! My daughter recommended this one to me.

Frances wrote: "I quite enjoyed this one-it is a change for Christie characters to grow and age and even seeing them now married is a change from their first novel. .."

Definitely! It's also refreshing to have a young female detective carrying on with her sleuthing rather than disappearing into marriage and living "happily ever after", a phrase which I think Tuppence refers to near the start of the book.

I'll nominate The Wintringham Mystery by Anthony Berkeley

Here's the blurb: "Originally serialized in 1926, this classic English countryside mystery contains a puzzle that even acclaimed crime author Agatha Christie couldn’t solve.

A secluded country manor in the dead of winter seems like the perfect place to hold a house party. Even better, one of the guests declares that an after-dinner séance would be so much more entertaining than bridge.

And it’s all fun and games until a young woman goes missing. Assuming the disappearance is someone’s idea of a joke, the well-heeled host Lady Susan doesn’t want to ruin a good party by calling the police. So it’s up to her footman, a down-on-his-luck young army veteran, along with the lovely lady he once hoped to marry, to solve a mystery that soon turns to murder, with the only suspects being the eccentric party guests . . ."

The reference to Christie is because there was a newspaper competition to find the solution, and she was one of the runners-up who received a £5 prize, entering under her husband's name!

Thanks for the nominations, Rosina and Susan! I have just checked availability on US Amazon using a zip code and it looks as if The Man Who Knew is available free on Kindle there.

Bloody Instructions will be released on Kindle in both the US and UK on December 2, so I think they should both be fine. :)

Susan wrote: "I thought we skipped a month, so the next nomination thread should be the beginning of December? My mistake, sorry."

Sorry, that was my fault - we decided to read the runner-up from the September poll in December, so we were supposed to skip October's poll, but I should have put one up at the start of November!

Sorry everyone, I'm very late in putting up a thread for nominations for our January group read. Please follow this link to nominate:
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Oops - sorry, everyone, I've just realised it had slipped my mind that we need nominations for our January group read! Please could we have a few nominations and I'll get the poll put up very soon?

As usual... please only nominate books written and published in the Golden Age period, or a little earlier or later - if in doubt whether a title is eligible, please ask. As usual, just one nomination per group member, and only one book by any individual writer can be nominated per month.

If you aren't sure whether we have read something, the group bookshelves may help, or just ask. If it was at least 3 years ago that we read it, it is fine to renominate.