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

Judy’s comments from the Reading the Detectives group.

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!

I really enjoyed A Telegram from Le Touquet by John Bude, even though it is strangely constructed. It's in two parts, starting off with a country house type mystery told in the first person, and then moving to France and narrating the rest in the third person.

The main detective in this one is Inspector Blampignon, who also appears in Death on the Riviera and at least one more book - I think he would have made a good series detective, but sadly Bude died not long after publishing these titles.

I'm reading a paperback but also getting on quite slowly because it is too big to carry around with me. I'm really enjoying it though. I agree, Sandy, the other case about the mural is also fascinating.

I've just finished Dr. Priestley Investigates by John Rhode, one of his titles which is currently on special offer. I enjoyed it even though the plot was extremely far-fetched even by Golden Age standards!

I noticed that the detectives mention the name of the killer in a previous mystery towards the end of the book - not a big problem, though, as that one is out of print anyway, and Rhode wrote so many books that I'll never manage to read all of them. I have come across this before in GA books - it seems as if some authors weren't at all worried about including spoilers for their previous books!

I'm jealous that you heard the talk by Donna Leon, Susan. Thanks for letting us know what it was like and about her attitude to technology, which is definitely interesting in terms of the novels and characters like Elettra.

Interesting, Susan - that could be, though I'm not sure how much was online back then! It will be interesting to see Brunetti himself get to grips with the internet as the series goes on :)

interesting thoughts about Leon not allowing her books to be translated into Italian. It hadn't struck me that it might be because of her criticism of the Mafia, but that makes sense, great point!

Sorry to have another moan, as I do really like this series, but Signorina Elettra seems to be able to find out anything almost by magic. I'd like a bit more information about how she does it as it seems too easy. I almost wonder if she will turn out to have Mafia contacts, or maybe contacts with disaffected members!

I'm also getting a slight overload of characters like this in our books at the moment! During the discussion of our challenge read of Death in the Garden, Sandy pointed out that the plot element of Caroline calling on her old schoolfriends in that series is similar to Mrs Pargetter calling on her late husband's associates in the Mrs Pargetter series.

Both of those series are fairly light and frothy so I'm not so bothered, but in a more serious series like this one I'd like to feel that it is actually possible for Elettra to get all the information she comes up with - I'm just not sure if she could.

Yes, the glimpse of Henry staggering around is horrific, especially coming just after Shardlake has seen the portrait of him looking so robust and majestic.

A few mysteries by GA writer John Rhode are on offer on Kindle in the UK, which is good to see as his books are often quite expensive. There's one at 99p, Dr. Priestley Investigates, and 3 at £1.99 each, The Venner Crime, Tragedy on the Line and Peril at Cranbury Hall.

I've just read Susan's great review and was interested to see the point that the question of whether the pizza chef killed his wife is never resolved. That's a shame - I don't think a question of who dunnit should be left unresolved in a novel like this, even though it so often happens in real life.

Thank you for opening up our latest buddy reads, Susan. I'm under way with this one and enjoying getting back to Shardlake again.

I'm also getting interested in the Tudor age in general, and currently listening to The Six Wives of Henry VIII, although it will be a long time until I get up to Catherine Parr!

Who else is reading Lamentation? The spoiler thread is linked below:
The Six Wives of Henry VIII

I rather like J.S. Fletcher, as I enjoy his Victorian writing style, though it's a long time since I've read any of his books. Arthur Rees and Dorothy Cameron Disney are new names to me - it's amazing just how many interesting Golden Age detective writers there were.

I've finished this now and found it a really compelling and enjoyable read, thanks to the quality of Donna Leon's writing - despite the problems with Paola's actions which we've already discussed in the other thread.

I also think there's possibly a problem with the plot twist about the drugs trade. The recipients might have no way of knowing that drugs are out of date if the dates on the packs have been altered (I remember similar news stories in the past involving tinned and packeted food).

But surely they would notice if placebos were sent instead of the real thing, and also if old wound dressings were falling to bits, as described. Then again, in the UK we've just had the Covid scandal about out-of-date and useless PPE!

Yes, good point, Jill, I can see that happening, and I would think a demo by students would be far more likely to affect their business than a broken window. I hope the rest of the plot will be better - the writing style is great as usual.

The group has caught up with me on this series! I've started this but am not very far in as yet. Great to be back with Guido.

So far, I find Paola's actions rather hard to believe. Surely someone in her position would be more likely to hold demonstrations and get a public campaign going rather than smashing a window in the middle of the night, with the danger to her husband's career and the general public not even knowing why. But I can see that it dramatises the conflict between her and Guido, and maybe it will make more sense to me as I read on.

I've started reading our next Shardlake buddy read, Lamentation, and am immediately finding myself sucked in. Good to be back with Shardlake.

Susan wrote: "Apparently Annie Haynes was popular though, particularly in library lending terms. She seems to straddle crime/romance..."

Interesting, Susan. think the other books I've read by her are better than this one, which was a very early book. I quite like crime with romance, but it depends how well it's done and in this the romance was so far-fetched!

Carol She's So Novel ꧁꧂ wrote: "I put In a Lonely Place for a group read, but it was too pricy now. I've just read it & can strongly recommend looking out for a cheaper copy. I really need to read more noir..."

Carol, I remember liking this book too. If you're a fan of classic films, I thought the adaptation starring Humphrey Bogart and Gloria Grahame was very good.

Susan in NC wrote: "Judy wrote: I'm now reading Fire in the Thatch by E.C.R. Lorac, set in Devon towards the end of WW2, and enjoying that so far as well... "Oh, that was my first Lorac, so a sentimental favorite! ..."

Susan, I'm really liking it so far. I think my first was Fell Murder. Talking of Lorac, I've just noticed that another title by her is now available on Kindle in the UK for 99p, Black Beadle. I think it's also out in the US.

Vanessa wrote: "I gave up on this one. The main problem is that I don't like Caroline and James. With James, it's definitely that I find him boring, and I especially don't care about his relationship with Caroline..."

I quite like Caroline but agree with you about James - there's nothing really interesting about him. He's not much more than a name!