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

Judy’s comments from the Reading the Detectives group.

Good to hear you are enjoying it too, Sandy. I've read about a third now and am really liking it. Many thanks to the person who suggested this series!

Jackie wrote: "I had been wondering if some of the detectives I'd never heard of were made up and searched on Roger Sheringham, but he is a "real" fictional character so I assume they all are...."

Roger Sheringham is in Anthony Berkeley's books - I'm a fan and the character is quite entertaining but can be annoying sometimes! As I'm listening to this one, I can't look back at the list of detectives mentioned, but am guessing they are probably all real, as you say, Jackie.

Interesting, thank you, Susan. I'm just listening to Partners in Crime on Audible, and I think Christie definitely works well in that format.

I've started listening to this and am finding it a fun listen, with Hugh Fraser doing a great job. In Chapter 3, The Affair of the Pink Pearl, I really liked the bit when Tommy is reading books and trying to decide which famous detectives to imitate. His attempt to play Sherlock Holmes with the bus ticket is funny.

Even funnier when Tommy says to Tuppence 'Now, mon ami, use your little grey cells' - although he does then decide to imitate Dr Thorndyke rather than Poirot! This had me wondering how long this book was published after the first Poirot book - I've just checked back and I see The Mysterious Affair at Styles was first published in late 1920, and Partners in Crime was published in 1929, so only a few years between them!

I've started now and am enjoying the writing style. I also like both Edgar and Max.

I suspect he may be back to normal in the last book - but we will see! I was wondering if Cadfael would be exposed for changing the bones back in the first book, but had a feeling that wouldn't happen in the end...

Sandy wrote: "Something I will be reading at a future moment: Mr Campion's Christmas. ..."

I'll be interested to hear what you think of that one, Sandy - I have often wondered about the Mike Ripley Campion continuations, but haven't tried one as yet. Good idea to get it from the library, especially given the Kindle price. :)

I'm thinking I'll listen to Hugh Fraser reading them too, Sandy - he always does a great job. I also think short stories often work well in the audio format.

I can hardly believe that we've almost finished this series - just one more book to go after this one.

Who else is reading it? I've read just over 20% and am enjoying it but have been distracted by other books - I need to get on with it to avoid getting mixed up!

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

P.S. I was pleased to see that this book and the next two in this series are on Kindle Unlimited in the UK.

I've started this and discovered it is a collection of very short stories - some are only a few pages long. That makes it perfect for dipping into but means the mysteries are solved very quickly and there's no time to build up characterisation! I'm enjoying them but am not sure how long I will remember each story.

Who else is reading this one?

Thank you for setting up and opening our new buddy read threads, Susan. I'm planning to read this - up to now I've only read a couple of non-crime books by this author, set in Italy, which she published under her real name, Domenica de Rosa, so I will be interested to try her crime writing.

Frances wrote: "Also, (in ch 16) when Mrs Grimethorpe has the effrontery to call her lover, for whom she is risking her own life, by his Christian name Gerald without a title, ...it gave Mary an odd shock to hear her brother's name spoken like that, by that speaker and in that company...."

Yes, that was a striking moment, great point.

To go off at a tangent, I found it interesting that we never really find out why everyone can't stand Helen - Peter clearly finds her unbearable but I don't think it's ever explained why, and we don't see all that much of her.

Susan wrote: "Shedunnit has an episode about The Mysterious Affair at Styles - our January challenge read.

For everyone planning to join us for that, then have a look at the Shedunnit podcast."

Thank you Susan! Perfect timing :)

Vanessa wrote: "Thanks for sharing this! I've apparently never understood what a shirt-front is..."

Thanks Vanessa! I don't think I've ever actually seen one, but I have come across mentions of them before. I suppose it was a bit like those jackets/jumpers you can buy with fake shirts underneath - I never like those as I'm bound to get hot and want to take the upper layer off!

Ah thank you, Vanessa, that makes sense of it. I'd forgotten about Wimsey speaking to the man in France who rented out apartments.

Jackie, I think Wimsey and Campion are quite similar in the early books, so it's easy to confuse them. Also imo the first books in both series aren't nearly as good as the second book onwards...

It is a sad solution. I do feel slightly unsatisfied when the solution to a GA mystery is suicide or an accident rather than murder, but, having said that, it's well done and the letter is moving.

I didn't quite understand how Wimsey traces the woman via the blotting paper - did anyone follow that element of the plot better than I did? I could see how it led him to the fact that it was a suicide note, but not how he found the woman.

I've started 2 of our forthcoming buddy reads, the Michael Innes short story collection 'Appleby Talks' and the Brother Cadfael book 'The Holy Thief'. Not very far in as yet, but enjoying them so far.

I found The Progress of a Crime by Julian Symons rather grim overall although I do like his writing style.

According to the Wikipedia page on Polly, "Polly is a given name, most often feminine, which originated as a variant of Molly (a diminutive of Mary)."
I also saw someone on Reddit point out that it's similar to Peggy being a nickname for Margaret (Meggie becoming Peggy).