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

Judy’s comments from the Reading the Detectives group.

Good to hear you are enjoying this series, Susan. I'm looking forward to rereading this.

Hi Susan, no, I've never read this series before. Good to hear that it gets even better!

I also have a non-series book by C.J. Sansom, Winter in Madrid, so should move that one up my list.

Just opening up this discussion - hard to believe that we are already on the 9th Maigret book!

Who is reading this one? I've borrowed it from the library but haven't started as yet.

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

Opening up this read as we are now mid-month and it's the weekend. Sorry, I put this in the wrong thread and had to move it!

Spoiler thread is linked below:
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/edit/...

Who is reading this book, the second in this celebrated series? I read it six years ago and only really remember the atmosphere and that I liked it. Hoping to reread, but I must finish a couple of other books first!

I've read about a third of this book and am enjoying it a lot - it's great to get back to Fen, and I think school settings tend to work very well in mysteries in general.

Thanks to Susan for the introduction. Who is reading this book and who are our Gervase Fen fans?

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

Just opening up this discussion as it is the weekend, with thanks to Susan for the introduction. Who is reading this one?

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

I've started this and am really enjoying it although I haven't had time to get all that far in as yet - hoping to do better over the next day or two! I'm liking the character of Shardlake and all the layers of historical detail.

Interesting also to read this after reading the Wolf Hall series by Hilary Mantel, and see a different angle on Cromwell.

As it's the weekend, I'm just opening up all our new buddy reads, with thanks as ever to Susan for the introductions.

Who is reading this one? Exciting to be starting to read this acclaimed series together.

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

On Poirot's sometimes surprising holiday choices, the same is true for Miss Marple, but she sometimes has her nephew booking holidays for her as a present :)

We have a winner! Sorry to be a bit slow in posting the results, slightly frantic week - many thanks to all who nominated and voted.

Our winner is These Names Make Clues by E.C.R. Lorac, which will be our March group read.

Full results:
These Names Make Clues 12 votes, 54.5%
Seven Dead 6 votes, 27.3%
Quick Curtain 2 votes, 9.1%
Death on the Down Beat: An Orchestral Fantasy of Detection: 106 (British Library Crime Classics) 1 vote, 4.5%
Murder in Piccadilly 1 vote, 4.5%

I also liked The Death of Amy Robsart, which is like a mini novel with several chapters - a clever murder method in this one. Overall I think the stories are very clever.

I don't think I've guessed many of the twists so far, if any! I thought Hermione was an excellent story and was pleased that Freddy manages to get shot of her, even though she escapes justice. I think that one could have been expanded into a longer story as it had good characters.

I didn't get very far with the programme either and also felt the part I saw seemed to make a lot of assumptions. I'd be interested to hear if the book is better.

I've also started Dissolution after picking up a beautiful paperback edition which I couldn't resist! Not very far in as yet but I already think I'm going to love this series.

Roman Clodia wrote: "I love all the comments at the start about how bodies are only found in libraries in fiction. Which made me wonder if there were lots of books at the time that used the library? I can't recall any immediately and tend to think of the study as the place where lots of men are murdered."

Great question - I've been trying to Google this but inevitably got a lot of search results about either the British Library series or borrowing murder mysteries from libraries! (I did notice along the way that quite a few modern cosy series have librarian detectives.)

I think perhaps studies go together with libraries, and think possibly in many homes they would have been the same room. I did try to search for this as well but found some academic studies of mysteries!

Thank you Lady C, I got a bit confused about the motivation. Sandy, I agree with your comment about hoping this wouldn't happen in real life, but that it is a clever twist for a mystery. I do find it rather grim though.

I've finished rereading now - I remembered that Mark was involved but got mixed up and thought he was in love with Addie. I was glad that wasn't the case as I quite like Addie.

I didn't totally understand the need to use Pamela, I think I got slightly lost with that and it is also a rather grim plot element - but I do agree that the book is a lot of fun, as RC said. I had forgotten that Miss Marple doesn't come in as much as she does in some of the other books, but she is great when she does appear.

I read a couple of the stories last night and found the plot of Death of a Blackmailer very clever, but a bit hard to believe with so many twists at the end. I think his novels work better because the characters are so well developed, and he doesn't have space to do that in these very short stories.

I'm getting towards the end of Celia's House by D.E. Stevenson, which I've been listening to on Audible, beautifully read by Lesley Mackie. It's a Scottish family saga and I've found it an enjoyable comfort read on the whole. A lot of the story follows the plot of Mansfield Park, which feels a bit odd, although the characters aren't all that similar.