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

Judy’s comments from the Reading the Detectives group.

Thanks to everyone, it looks like everything's fine now, so let's move on and enjoy more good reading together. We have plenty of it in store.

Sorry, Keith, but I lost the rest of the post (tried to copy and paste but I must have done something wrong). Thank you for the apology.

I received a weekly newsletter from Joffe Books/Lume Books today, and noticed that To Run a Little Faster by John Gardner, a spy thriller set just before WW2, is free today. Gardner wrote a series of sequels to James Bond and 3 Sherlock Holmes sequels which had many admirers. These offers usually last for a few days but best to pick it up asap if you are interested.

Folly, a Cotswolds murder mystery by Stella Cameron, is also currently free from the same publishers. (This looked a bit grim for me at a quick glance inside despite the cheery cover.)

I have just removed a post due to comments which could potentially cause offence to American members. Please could everyone remember that the rules of the group are to be polite. We have members from all over the world and our policy is zero tolerance for rude or offensive comments. I would ask everyone to bear this in mind. Thank you, let's move on.

Thanks Susan, that looks great to me! :)

Thank you Susan. This is all looking great, lots of goodies in store!

Would it be OK to move the second MacLeod to a slightly earlier date? I was wondering if we could put it in April/May to have a shorter gap from the first book, but no worries if that's going to lead to an overload.

Difficult question about favourite buddy reads! I think Martin Beck, Shardlake, Maigret and Catherine Aird are probably my favourites at the moment. I also like Donna Leon but am a bit ahead (not as far as Pamela though) so will be joining in on those soon.

Jill wrote: "It seems a lot of people liked the Charlotte MacLeod book so she may be worth bearing in mind"

Sorry, belatedly remembered this comment from Jill from just before Christmas. I'd be happy to read some more of these - the next one in the Peter Shandy series is The Luck Runs Out, should we give that one a try?

Well remembered - I've just checked back and I read this in 2017. I had meant to read book 2 as I enjoyed the first one, but it's one of those series that I somehow never got back to and I would now have to go back and reread this first.

I remember that quite a bit of this first book is set in London, seen through Russian eyes, so you might find that interesting, Susan! So yes, anyway, I'd be up for a buddy read:)

Susan in NC wrote: "No, it seemed mostly descriptive bits, or internal monologues of characters. Kind of odd, because I had to pay attention to not miss anything that fleshed out the characters or situations...."

Thanks Susan. I have access to Murderer's Mistake, the version I read previously, though Kobo Plus, but am thinking I'll treat myself to the "iron dogs" version to get those extra bits :)

I'm struggling with this a bit so far (about 100 pages in) - the writing and characterisation are as good as ever, but it all seems very bleak and dark so far. I'm sure that's true to the period, but am hoping for a bit of light among the darkness along the way.

Sandy wrote: "Judy wrote: "On the subject of alternative titles... I dropped everything to finish Roger Sheringham and the Vane Mystery by Anthony Berkeley when I realised it was ..."

Hope you enjoy it, Sandy.

Just noticed that Last Respects by Catherine Aird, which is number 10 in the Calleshire Chronicles is currently £1.99 on Kindle. (This is also in an omnibus that I nabbed on a previous special offer, Calleshire Chronicles volume 4, so if you grabbed that one you already have it!)

Also, for anyone who has access to Kobo Plus (their answer to Kindle Unlimited), most of Aird's books seem to be included in the service at the moment. I don't think Kobo Plus has anywhere near as many books as KU, but it does have some other goodies like many of the Michael Innes' Appleby books, which used to be on KU but aren't there any more.

On the subject of alternative titles... I dropped everything to finish Roger Sheringham and the Vane Mystery by Anthony Berkeley when I realised it was due back at the library shortly and they wouldn't let me renew because there was a waiting list.

I didn't manage to finish it in time, all my own fault for being disorganised, and the ebook was grabbed back from my tablet (sadly flight mode doesn't seem to stop this any more!) I was slightly panicking as I hadn't managed to find it available anywhere else and was desperate to know the ending - but then luckily discovered that the same book is on Project Gutenberg under a different title, The Mystery at Lovers' Cave.

Anyway, I thought it was a great read even though Roger is just as infuriating as ever, and there are some brilliant twists. I would recommend it to anyone who likes Berkeley - I'm fast becoming a big fan as he is such an entertaining writer.

Susan in NC wrote: Also started Murderer's Mistake (Robert Macdonald #28) by E.C.R. Lorac, one of my favorite GA authors, for our February read. Also have the audiobook under the original title, The Theft of the Iron Dogs A Lancashire Mystery by E.C.R. Lorac . Really enjoying this one, she rarely disappoints! Interesting, finding my ebook seems to be missing text I’m hearing in the audiobook, even though the ebook doesn’t say anything about being abridged.

That's really interesting, Susan, thanks for the info! Is the 'Murderer's Mistake' edition missing much text? I have that one and have read it before in that version, but may switch to Iron Dogs version if there is much difference!

As predicted, the winner is... The Invisible Host by Gwen Bristow, which ran away from the rest this time around.

Full results:
The Invisible Host 12 votes, 50.0%
Death in the Tunnel (Desmond Merrion, #13) 4 votes, 16.7%
The Blind Side (Ernest Lamb #1) 3 votes, 12.5%
The Viaduct Murder 3 votes, 12.5%
The Litmore Snatch (Murder Room Book 675) 2 votes, 8.3%

Thanks to all who nominated and voted.

I hadn't realised that Kate Saunders had died, Sandy - very sad news. She was only 62. I really like her books too. I see from her obituaries online that she was also well known as an actress and had appeared in the classic UK TV comedy Only Fools and Horses.

I'll look out for those, Frances, will be interested to hear what you think!

I read this a couple of years ago and remember liking it although I don't remember the plot in detail now. I'm not going to reread as I'm slightly sinking under books, but am looking forward to joining in again in a couple of books' time as I have only read the first 7 books so far.

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

I gave up on this series early on but may be tempted back in future.

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

I've started reading but am not very far in as yet - it's interesting to see in the early pages that there have been some changes in the main characters' lives since the previous book. I love the way Shardlake's character is deepening more in each book.