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

Judy’s comments from the Reading the Detectives group.

I've finished this now - I enjoyed it more than the previous couple but was still a bit underwhelmed overall.

I was a bit puzzled about why that biography was added to the earlier books, before Peter has met Harriet, as it would be a bit confusing to read then. I wish Sayers had written the whole story of his romance with Barbara, but we get the general idea.

I agree with all your comments, Susan - I was a bit disappointed with this book overall, although pleased that it wasn't as violent as the previous one. Again there wasn't much of a mystery element to the plot, and the villain is over the top, as you say. I'm also noticing that we aren't getting much sense of the historical background now, in terms of the war between Stephen and Maud.

I do like the camaraderie between the detectives and it is good to see Wakelin becoming a more confident member of the team, as you say, but I feel as if the series is falling off from the promise of the early books.

Welcome, Ariana, glad you found us!

The winner of our poll is Post After Post-Mortem by E.C.R. Lorac, which will be our group read for November.

Full results:

Post After Post-Mortem 5 votes, 55.6%
Roger Sheringham and the Vane Mystery 2 votes, 22.2%
No Game For a Dame (Maggie Sullivan Mystery #1) 2 votes, 22.2%

I'm enjoying the dreadful inspector, Craig Wilkinson, and his attempts to make himself more like great fictional detectives by listening to opera or writing poetry!

Interesting to see Peter finding himself torn between his role as a detective and his loyalty to his friends in this book. We've already had this in previous books, where members of his family were suspected, but it comes to more of a crisis here, including the moment where he and Robert Fentiman come to blows. I wonder if Peter's line after the fight, "I'll see myself out" was as much of a cliche then as it is now?!

I was also interested to see Parker's comment: "You and your women!" Peter somehow seems to have become far more attractive to women than he was in the early books, with not so many mentions of his long, pale face, etc.

His advice to Ann Dorland about the right type of man for her seems distinctly patronising now, but I think it's supposed to be a suggestion of him being very experienced, and then there's that comment from Parker, suggesting that Peter has a lot of girlfriends. I feel a bit sorry for Marjorie when she sort-of proposes but is turned down.

Alwynne wrote: "Did anyone else wonder if George Fentiman was partly inspired by Septimus in Mrs Dalloway? There were a number of similarities between them, including the state of their marriages/relationships with their wives...."

Interesting thought - I can see there are similarities now that you've said it, although it's a long time since I read Mrs Dalloway. I feel they must also both have known many people suffering similarly to the two characters, though.

Jackie wrote: "There are so many other things we could criticize about the plot - Rachael knows about the dangerous well, she's been thinking specifically about that - but in the dark she doesn't realize what the danger is until Gale mentions the smell? I don't believe that detail, but I also don't care: the whole scene was so well told and creepy...."

Great point! The whole scene feels like a nightmare, really vivid and powerful even though Rachel should realise what's going on much earlier.

I was also puzzled that the good characters don't cover over the well - I was slightly wondering if they could be charged with manslaughter on grounds of negligence, as it seems so inevitable that the villain will end up falling in.

Another problem for me is that with Wentworth, unlike Christie, it seems as if true lovers can always be ruled out as suspects (in the books of hers I've read so far, anyway, although most of those were non-Miss Silver Dean Street Press freebies!) So, once Rachel falls for Gale, we know it can't be him, it also can't be Richard or Caroline, and that doesn't leave many suspects!

Wow, I think I'll give that one a miss. Frances, just for a moment I couldn't think what SMM meant, googled it and found "social media management"... then realised you meant St Mary Mead! I think my brain is going ;)

I've started and it's quite fun so far, though I do feel too many of Mr Pargeter's old pals have the same type of ridiculous nicknames!

Who is reading this one? I haven't started it yet, but am pleased to see from the introduction that the plot sounds different from the previous couple, which have been getting a little samey.

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

I haven't started this yet but have borrowed a copy from the library and hope to get to it soon. Interesting to hear that the book has two different cases.

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

Opening up this discussion. Who is reading this one? I've borrowed the ebook from the library and have started it, but am not very far in as yet. The spoiler thread is linked below:

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

Great to read another Sayers book - many thanks for posting the threads, Susan.

I'm about halfway through and don't think I remember the solution even though I've read this at least a couple of times previously. The spoiler thread is linked below:
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

I think the feel of this is similar to the Beck books, though Wallander is considerably more dysfunctional!

I found it surprisingly easy to read although the mood is rather grim and it is darker than my usual reads - as with Beck, there is quite a bit of black humour woven in.

Thank you for putting up the threads, Susan. I enjoyed this one and found it hard to put down. Who else is reading it?

The spoiler thread is linked below:

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

I don't think these have already been mentioned but apologies if I'm wrong! A couple of books in our buddy read series are currently 99p in the UK. They are A Question of Belief by Donna Leon (Brunetti 19) and If The Dead Rise Not (Bernie Gunther 6) by Philip Kerr. I'm not sure how long the offers will last for, as they both say they are limited time deals.

Does everyone think that Caroline and Richard end up together? He does seem to get understandably fed up with her believing such a load of rubbish about him committing crimes, but he goes after her when she runs out of the room so I suppose we take it that it all ends happily!

For anyone else who has watched/plans to watch the Mark Gatiss TV detective series Bookish, the book, Bookish by Matthew Sweet, is 99p today in the UK.