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

Judy’s comments from the Reading the Detectives group.

Happy Thanksgiving to all our US members from me too - have a wonderful time

I quite liked this and enjoyed the lyrical descriptions of the countryside, but yet again we had young lovers who fall for one another at first sight (well, except that they knew each other when she was a child).

I thought the discussions about heresy were quite interesting to start with but then went on and got a bit repetitive. I would have loved to see a picture of the amazing book!

Susan in NC wrote: "Same here - I got the impression the student they wanted reinstated was trouble, there were mentions of Ireland, didn’t get that really, I assumed linked to The Troubles?.."

Good point, I thought we would probably find out why he had been expelled but I don't think we found out anything about it. I also assumed his activities were somehow linked to The Troubles - a red herring, I suppose, but a bit odd how this storyline just seemed to fizzle out.

I agree with Jill that there were a lot of characters - I couldn't keep track of them very well and I didn't really remember the one who turned out to be the killer. I had the same typo-infested character list as Sandy and agree it wasn't much help!

I liked the academic atmosphere and enjoyed seeing Crosby develop as a detective, even though he didn't get much credit from Sloan, but must admit I found the actual mystery plot a bit boring and the solution wasn't very convincing imo.
I remember that campus novel The History Man by Malcolm Bradbury was published in 1975, but I think the atmosphere is much more outrageous in that than in this one - then again Calleshire is a traditional Oxbridge-style university, so maybe not surprising if it feels a bit behind the times.

I agree with everyone else that Sloan's "son" is bound to be a daughter! I'm also wondering if Crosby is about to get married, as he mentions marriage a couple of times.

I've started reading this now and am enjoying it so far. The visiting cleric certainly sounds full of himself.

For anyone reading the Inspector Sloan series by Catherine Aird (one of our buddy read series), I just noticed that The Calleshire Chronicles Volume Four: Last Respects, Harm's Way, and A Dead Liberty is currently £3.99 on Kindle, which is a good price for these.

Yes, I didn't understand why he did that at all - I know there have been previous cases where he has let people go, but I think there was always some reason for sympathy. I don't see why he should sympathise with this killer!

There are a lot of characters to keep track of - the edition I'm reading it in is a Rue Morgue paperback (amazingly this was in one of my local libraries) which has a list of characters at the start, so is quite useful to flip back to!

Editing to say that actually that list is less useful than I thought it would be - several characters aren't on it at all and one is on it twice!

Susan wrote: "It definitely was of its era, wasn't it? To say the investigation was unorthodox was putting it lightly!"

Definitely, talk about entrapment! They also force Michaels to take part in the trap.

The racial prejudice explanation of why Barry is being blackmailed is also very much of its era and comes as a shock. I think the authors may be showing up these attitudes rather than endorsing them but I'm not sure. (It's quite similar to an element in the plot of a theatrical production (view spoiler)[ Show Boat (hide spoiler)] which was produced in 1927, a couple of years earlier.

I thought there was going to be something about drugs after all the mentions of Madge O'Connell looking so deadly pale, but presumably that was a red herring.

Just finished! I'd previously read this 3 years ago (well, listened to it on Audible that time round and read the ebook this time) and didn't remember who did it, although I did remember all the searching for the hat. I found it a bit unlikely when all these expert detectives search the room so thoroughly and then suddenly think of the canopy over the bed, which sounds quite large and noticeable!

Was anybody able to solve it when we get to the "challenge to the reader" saying we should know once we've read this far? I definitely didn't see the clues and am not sure if it would be possible, but then again I'm no Sherlock Holmes/Ellery Queen.

For anyone who wants to listen to Rest You Merry, our December challenge read, annoyingly it isn't on Audible in the UK, but I've just noticed that it is available as an audiobook if you have Spotify premium, included in the subscription. My husband has Spotify premium so I'm in luck. ;)

I've finished reading the first in the series of short story collections Bodies from the Library: Lost Tales of Mystery and Suspense from the Golden Age of Detection: Lost Tales of Mystery and Suspense by Agatha Christie and other Masters of the Golden Age - I enjoyed most of the stories a lot and want to read this whole series. Editor Tony Medawar has managed to find some amazing rarities. A bit misleading putting Christie's name on the cover as her story is very short and slight, but there are some great Golden Age authors featured including quite a long short story in mini-chapters by Anthony Berkeley. There is also a radio play script by Nicholas Blake (starring Nigel Strangeways).

Jill wrote: "This link to spoiler is not working"

Sorry about that - not sure what I did there! Thanks for pointing it out, Jill.

The spoiler link is:
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Also now updated in the earlier post.

Another different setting for Maigret, this time on the Belgian border. I found this a quick and compelling read and very atmospheric, as usual with Simenon.

Who is reading this one? The spoiler thread is linked below:
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Now on to the fifth book in this acclaimed series. I will be reading this once I've finished one or two other books - who is reading this with us?

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

Who is reading this one? I've started and so far it is very enjoyable with lots of slightly sarcastic humour in an academic setting.

Thank you to Susan for setting up the threads and posting the introduction.

The spoiler thread is linked below:
goodreads.com/topic/show/22638397-mur...

Back to George and Genevieve again! I haven't started this one yet but was hoping it would be a bit different... however from reviews it looks as if it may be a similar formula again.

Who is reading this? The spoiler thread is linked below:
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Just opening up our latest batch of buddy reads - many thanks to Susan for the introductions and setting up the threads.

Who is reading this one? I haven't started it yet but will be doing so soon.
The spoiler thread is linked below:
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

I'm really enjoying this book this time and am now more than halfway through - I don't remember the solution as yet and am completely puzzled by all the strange circumstances!

And the winner is...
A Toast To Tomorrow by Manning Coles, which will be our January group read.

Full results:
A Toast To Tomorrow (Tommy Hambledon, #2) 7 votes, 46.7%
The Big Bow Mystery 5 votes, 33.3%
Murder in Blue 3 votes, 20.0%
Murder While You Work 0 votes, 0.0%