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

Judy’s comments from the Reading the Detectives group.

Frances wrote: "Does Bell land on a regular detective? When I look at her other books on GR they seem to have very few ratings suggesting they are very hard to come by...."

I've just had a look at the Fantastic Fiction website, which says there are 14 books in her David Wintringham series.
https://www.fantasticfiction.com/b/jo...

It doesn't look like there is anything currently in print/on Kindle beyond this book, though - maybe some more will be reprinted, fingers crossed.

I haven't tried any of those Tartan noir series, Susan, but would be up for one, as long as it isn't too gory, as you also say about the Scandinavian ones.

Fabulous list of good books coming up, thank you for this! :)

Susan wrote: "I am doing some work on the buddy books today. I was looking at the Shardlake series and it has listed:

Book 8. Ratcliff [NOT PUBLISHED]

Does anyone know whether there is any intention to publish this book, or are there only 7 books in the series?..."

I remember seeing in one of the obituaries for the author that he had only written the first part of this book (I think it said the first 20,000 pages) because of his illness, so sadly I don't think it will be published, unless the publisher decides to publish that section somewhere, maybe in a magazine.

I'm reading our next Maigret buddy read, entitled simply Maigret: Inspector Maigret #19 (also known as 'Maigret Returns') and am really enjoying it - so far I think it is one of the best in the series.

Susan wrote: "I think we just had a whole spate of Lorac's and we needed a break! ..."

Yes, we just had a brief break from nominating Lorac a while back, but she is in the latest month's poll which I've just put up!

Loads of her books are still out of print, you're right, Susan. At the "Bodies from the Library" conference that I went to earlier this year, Martin Edwards said in his talk that they are limited in how many by her they can publish, even though she is very popular because the British Library only brings out a small number of titles each year. (I think it was one crime book a month though I'm not 100% certain).

Lorac died in 1958, so I believe her books should all go into the public domain in the UK in 2029, (70 years after her death + 1 year), so it might be a bit of a free-for-all all then.

Welcome back, Chris! Hope the health issues are improving. I also hope you enjoy the book :)

The poll is now open - please cast your vote for the book you most want to read! A tough choice this month (I know it always is, but even tougher than usual...)

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

Nominations so far - we have a very tempting selection this month! Last call to add any more before the poll goes up.

Rosina: Impact of Evidence by Carol Carnac/ ECR Lorac

Jill: Bleeding Hooks by Harriet Rutland

Carol: The Horizontal Man by Helen Eustis

Susan in NC: Clouds of Witness by Dorothy L Sayers

Neer: A Shilling for Candles by Josephine Tey

Thanks Carol - I was actually editing my post as I'd got myself in a muddle but you understood me and replied! ;)

Sandy wrote: "In the US:

Judy is right, Impact of Evidence is $1 when it is by Lorac

Thanks for confirming this and the other prices, Sandy.

In the UK, In a Lonely Place is £5.99 on Kindle and The Horizontal Man is £6.95, so they are fairly similar prices.

Carol, do you want to swap, as The Horizontal Man is the cheaper of the two in the US? I'll put The Horizontal Man for now as you said you were happy to go with the cheaper one, but let me know if I've got that wrong.

Thanks for the great nominations to start us off, Rosina and Jill.

Looks like there is an edition of Impact of Evidence out in the US on Kindle, published under the ECR Lorac name, although the new edition under the Carol Carnac name isn't out there until April. I checked by putting a US zip code into the Amazon US site, so hopefully that's right!

Jill wrote: "This definitely had me puzzled and changing my mind as to who is really guilty...."

Me too - I did suspect the culprit because he seemed to be a character who didn't quite add up and his age seemed to change, but I often suspected other characters as well!

I think this book would make a good film - the Blitz setting is powerfully evoked and there's something very cinematic about that opening scene with the matchlight.

Interesting how some characters question the need to investigate one death when so many are dying - something that also came up in the Foyle's War TV series. Macdonald argues strongly that justice is still as vital as ever and part of what the war is being fought for.

I've just read Inspector French and the Starvel Hollow Tragedy by Freeman Wills Crofts, which I really enjoyed - I like his style of building up the evidence and find it exciting, even though he is known as one of the "humdrum" authors! I started off by listening to the audiobook on Spotify, but had to switch to reading it on Kindle to get to the solution more quickly, even though the narrator was great.

Nominations please for our November group read. 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.

I also thought A Chelsea Concerto was great and have been impressed by other books by Frances Faviell as well.

Thanks for the map reference, Rosina! I'm not great with maps but will have a try - very interesting to know that the location is so accuratem

I agree, Jill, very cosy and quite enjoyable, but not compulsive, as you say. I didn't see the final twist coming.

I also think the author sounds really nice and friendly in all the extra bits at the end.

Don't worry, we will go on doing lots of other authors for buddy reads so there will be something for everyone.

Thank you for posting next year's challenge, Susan! It looks great - lots to look forward to. It will be interesting to hear which of these two classic detectives our members like best (if anyone finds it possible to choose!)

I always like the British Library Crime Classics covers, but this is one where I prefer the book's original cover because it helps me to visualise the scene at the start of the book - although, even with this image, I still find the layout a bit complicated.