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

Judy’s comments from the Reading the Detectives group.

Michaela wrote: "If it´s available in the UK and US, I´d like to nominate The Z Murders by J. Jefferson Farjeon. It´s about 3 Euro on the German p..."

Thanks Michaela, great nomination (I've been meaning to read this for years) and just in time there as I was just about to post the poll! It's available in the UK for £2.99 on Kindle - could someone please check on US availability before I put the poll up? Many thanks.

Susan in NC wrote: "Thanks, Judy, hope you had a lovely holiday weekend (coronation + Bank Holiday, wasn’t it?)"

Thanks Susan! That's right, we got an extra bank holiday for the coronation. My daughter visited and we had a street party near home on the Sunday, but I was working on the Monday.

Any more nominations? Sorry, I've been a bit tied up over the holiday weekend (in the UK) but will get the poll up tomorrow.

Sarah, no worries - it can be difficult to keep track of what we've read recently! The easiest way is probably to search our bookshelf. Anything we read around 3 years ago or more is fine to recombination.

Good to hear, Michaela, hope you enjoy it. I'm just over halfway through now and finding it entertaining. Lots of Scottish scenery and some good characters - I'm enjoying the flamboyant police inspector who keeps quoting French sayings!

Great nominations, Jill and Susan - a pity the Dorothy Bowers has availability problems but maybe it will become more widely available in future. I'm intrigued by the sound of Six Against the Yard though, and I remember Death in a White Tie was possibly my favourite out of Ngaio Marsh's books!

Sarah wrote: "I second Jill's suggestion, only to include The Detection Club's https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7...
which is available as an ebook in the US."

Hi Sarah, The Floating Admiral was our group read in December. Below is a link to the non-spoiler thread - all our threads stay open for anyone who reads the books later to contribute:
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Good to hear you both liked it, Sarah and Susan. I'm a third of the way through now and finding it an exciting, atmospheric read so far - I don't have a clue about the solution as yet! Hope you like it too when you get to it, Carol.

You have a good memory for our discussions, Susan - I wasn't sure which title by Moray Dalton we had discussed! One by One They Disappeared is £2.84 on Kindle in the UK so I think it looks good for availability. :)

And yes, lots of Anthonys about - Anthony Rolls is another!

Susan in NC wrote: "In another group, I learned the owner of Dean Street died, and it was being discontinued, I think? I’ll see if I can find any of them available here..."

That's right, sadly, we've talked about it in this group too - but all the books DSP have published are staying in print and they have also just published a few more by Moray Dalton which the owner prepared before he died.

Thanks for the nomination, Susan - I really like Moray Dalton, but it looks to me as if Black Wings isn't available in the UK in any format. The same seems to be the case for other titles from this publisher, Spitfire Publishers Ltd, although bizarrely I think they are based in the UK! Maybe their books will be published here in the future.

There are a lot of Moray Dalton books available from Dean Street Press, though, which I think should be available in most countries, if you want to nominate any of those?

Nominations please for our July 2023 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. Also, please don't nominate books by Agatha Christie this month, as we will be reading her classic And Then There Were None for our July challenge read.

Opening up this thread as it's May tomorrow, with many thanks as ever to Susan for the introduction.

Who is reading this book? It's generally thought to be one of the best Wimsey books - I've read it in the past and remember really enjoying it. I'm planning to reread but also have the BBC dramatisation starring Ian Carmichael to listen to.

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

It's May tomorrow, so let's open this discussion up! Who is reading this book?

I'm just starting the novel now and am looking forward to it - Anthony Wynne is a new author to me. I think this is the only novel by him that is available on Kindle, in the UK anyway.

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

For any fans of Rhys Bowen, I've just noticed in the latest Bookbub that Evan Help Us the second in her Evan Evans series set in Wales, is currently free on Kindle. I've listened to most of this series on Audible and really enjoyed the early books, but thought the later ones became increasingly disappointing - haven't got round to the last one yet!

Sarah wrote: "Judy: yes, more realistic, I'm assuming, to how police work is really done. How many hours it would take to look up "Andersson" in Stockholm, lack of units to cover all parks, dealing with public hysteria..."

The public hysteria about the child killer reminded me of the great 1931 German film "M" starring Peter Lorre, directed by Fritz Lang, with fear spreading through the community. Probably many of us have felt something like this at times - it reminded me of the community fear I've been part of when police were looking for two serial killers.

Susan wrote: "Yes, I think there are often those lucky breaks. It reminded me a little of the Yorkshire Ripper and how he was finally caught. Just a routine stop and a policeman who thought to check..."

Yes, that's a good comparison. I like the way the book shows the slog of detective work and endlessly checking things that may not lead anywhere.

I also thought it was a brooch of some kind, maybe on a scarf?

The festival sounds brilliant, Carolien - I hope you enjoy all the books and authors you have discovered. And, Susan, I know the feeling re that pile of books!!

Yes, I slightly lost track of the drugs plot and the policeman's murderer as well.