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

Judy’s comments from the Reading the Detectives group.

The poll for our November group read is now open and tricky as ever to choose - so please cast your votes:
https://www.goodreads.com/poll/show/2...

The poll is now open - please choose your preferred read for November:
https://www.goodreads.com/poll/show/2...

Happy voting and thanks to all who nominated.

Susan, no I haven't put up the poll yet, sorry, time seems to be running away with me this month! I will put it up tomorrow.

I've started Accident by Design by E.C.R. Lorac - enjoying it so far.

I liked this to start with but then got fed up with the over-complicated plot, and do agree about the drugs plot not standing up well. I also thought there were too many repetitive interviews. Not sure if I will read more by Vivian - I may give him another try in case the series gets better, as they often do.

Susan in NC wrote: "I got about 65 pages in, DNF; I thought at first I’d enjoy it, the first scene with his wife, but our inspector came across as a sarcastic jerk with his subordinate, his boss, pretty much everyone...."

Sorry to hear you weren't enjoying it, Susan. I'm about a third of the way through now and am liking Knollis - I feel the sarky comments are more in the line of affectionate joking between colleagues, and that he has respect for his sergeant in particular.

I'm never going to keep track of the details of what happened at exactly what time, though!

Nominations so far:

Rosina: Due to a Death by Mary Kelly

Susan in NC: Death in the Night Watches by George Bellairs

Michaela: Green for Danger by Christianna Brand

Jill: The Footsteps at the Lock by Ronald Knox

Any more nominations?

Yes, anything that we read 3 years ago or more is fine to nominate! Thanks for all the nominations so far.

Susan, thanks for posting Terms & Conditions: Life in Girls' Boarding Schools, 1939-1979- I've been meaning to get a copy of that one, as I was at boarding school in the 70s and am curious to read it. Duly grabbed!

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.

We have something a bit different in our challenge this month, with this classic Japanese locked room mystery.

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

September is here, so I'm just opening up our new group reads. Thanks as ever to Susan for setting up the threads and the introductions.

Who is reading this one? I'll be starting today.

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

I agree it would be nice to have one or two other strong characters in the police. I'm also not sure what Olive is doing apart from helping Bobby - did I miss mention of any war work she is doing?

Very true Craftyhj!

I've just read the Edmund Crispin novella The Hours of Darkness, which was included in Bodies from the Library 2: Forgotten Stories of Mystery and Suspense by the Queens of Crime and other Masters of Golden Age Detection - I found it an enjoyable read, starring Gervase Fen and including a brief appearance by Mrs Fen too! I see there will be an Audible version of this story released later in the year, though not many details yet:

https://harpercollins.co.uk/products/...

Carissa, I'm reading this in print, but my daughter is listening to the Audible version and enjoying it a lot. Thanks for recommending book 1, I will need to listen to or read that one too!

In between full-length novels, I'm reading the anthology Bodies from the Library 2: Forgotten Stories of Mystery and Suspense by the Queens of Crime and other Masters of Golden Age Detection and enjoying most of the stories - I need to read this whole series! The editor, Tony Medawar, has found some amazing rarities and very entertaining stories.

I expected the royals to come in a bit more than they did, I'll admit. But it was interesting to have real characters turning up.

Craftyhj, we have another Edmund Crispin book, Frequent Hearses coming up as a buddy read in mid September if you are tempted

I've started too and must say it's an intriguing opening.