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

Judy’s comments from the Reading the Detectives group.

I like Parker in this book. We seem to see through his eyes quite a bit rather than through Peter's.

I'm reading The Progress of a Crime by Julian Symons, a seasonal read as it starts with a murder on Guy Fawkes Night. It's a British Library reprint of a book that was first published in 1960, and follows police and newspaper reporters. It's slightly grim, involving gang violence, but good so far - I think he was a really good writer.

l wondered if there was a version read by Ian Carmichael - that one must cost extra on Spotify. I can't really justify buying it as I'm mainly reading it on Kindle, but I bet he's brilliant. I think he's my favourite TV Wimsey although Edward Petherbridge was great too, so it's a difficult choice!

Which narrator is anyone listening to? I'm mainly reading this on Kindle but have listened to a bit via Spotify, which has a version read by actor Robert Bathurst included in its titles for subscribers. He reads well in general but doesn't do the characters who speak in dialect very well!

I've finished this now and enjoyed it although I do agree about many of the characters being unlikeable. I like Parshanti and Le Froy though. Nobody seems to remember that the little boy is there most of the time! I also guessed the killer but didn't work everything out. I think this is probably the best series in our challenge.

For anyone wondering about some of the references in this book, I find that Bill Peschel's annotations are useful and fun:
https://peschelpress.com/clouds-of-wi...

The first note explains where the title comes from - it's a Biblical reference

Welcome, Gabbi. Glad you found us.

I've started rereading this and am enjoying meeting the younger Peter, before he becomes a bit more serious in the later books.

I'm finding that I don't remember the main plot of the first book, though I did remember Su Lin and the set-up with her family and job.

Good to hear that several members are joining in on this one. I'm about a third of the way through and am really enjoying it so far - I think more than the first one as there was a lot of set-up for the series in that.

Susan wrote: "For those members in London, there are some Christmas Evenings coming up:

• Wednesday 27th November: Hatchards Christmas Evening..."

Exciting, Susan - quite the selection of authors at Hatchards!

This is the last but one book in our 'Revisiting the Golden Age' challenge! Who is reading this one?

I've started but haven't got very far yet - hoping to really get into it over the next couple of days.

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

Susan wrote: "Good to hear, Jill, and we've loved having you :)"

Hard to believe it was back in 2016 when we had the Sayers challenge! I've just checked back and the group actually started in October 2015, so we've just marked our 9th birthday!

Good to hear that several members are looking forward to this group read. The spoiler thread is linked below:

https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

I had the same problem with Audible the other day, claiming I had 24 hours left to listen to a book but then not working when I pressed "continue listening". I found the book on Spotify, luckily. :)

I've just started The Betel Nut Tree Mysterytoo, Susan. I'm not very far in as yet but I quite liked the first in the series.

I'm also slowly reading the short stories in Bodies in the Bookshop, a collection of stories by different authors based around the themes of bookshops and Cambridge. The quality is a bit uneven, but some of the stories are fun reads and I'm hoping to read more by some of the authors who took part.

Jill, thanks, in that case I'll probably give that book a miss! There must be others about round-Britain trips which would appeal to me more.

Jill wrote: "I have started Are We Nearly There Yet?: A Family's 8000-Mile Car Journey Around Britain by Ben Hatch. Too early to make a judgement, just glad it's not me dong it"

What was that one like, Jill? Intriguing title but I definitely wouldn't want to make that journey either.

I'm halfway through Sylvester or The Wicked Uncle by Georgette Heyer after meaning to try her Regencies again for ages - I'm enjoying the witty humour a lot.

Sandy wrote: "Then all Shardlake's efforts and much death and injury turned out to be unnecessary as Henry had the book all the time. Grrr."

Yes, grrr is right! But I thought it was a fantastic moment when we finally discover that the King is the person behind much of what has been going on - Henry is so vividly described here, as a physical wreck who still has such a powerful and tyrannical personality to the last.

I agree with everyone's comments about Shardlake being increasingly reckless in this book and ignoring Guy's warnings, or rather forgetting about them at key moments.

I nearly jumped out of my skin when Jack is injured so badly - I was actually thinking that either he or Nick might be killed, because there are so many warnings... but I didn't expect that moment of sudden violence. I don't think Shardlake is the only one to blame, since Jack and Nick decide to go along with him, but they must feel under a certain amount of pressure to do so as he is their employer.

Anyway, a fantastic book altogether - probably my favourite in the series. Such a shame we only have one more to go.

The messages about forthcoming group reads also aren't being sent out on email any more but only on the notification page, which isn't very helpful...

The notifications page is a real pain on a phone. I've also found that on a phone the site asks me to log in every few minutes, but if I just ignore the requests then I find I am still logged in anyway!