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

Judy’s comments from the Reading the Detectives group.

Just moving this comment from Susan in NC from the other thread as requested - thanks Susan :)

Susan in NC wrote:

Judy wrote: "Susan in NC, I'd never heard the expression bait-and-switch but have just looked it up, great expression! I think the nearest I've heard of is probably "advertising under false pretences" which isn..."

Lol! Yes, we Americans have a proud history of snake oil swindlers and other cons, and the slang to describe their techniques! You’re right, “advertising under false pretenses” is similar, but a bit more polished up, more of a sharp business practice as opposed to an out and out con.

The story was good, I just got somewhere in the middle, I think during the exciting chase in the bowels of the record store, and it hit me, “wait a minute, what happened with the dead old princess and the drunken grandson, how’d the story get kidnapped by this whole other set of crimes and criminals?” It did remind of some of the later Allingham’s, where I couldn’t figure out who was who and what was going on - partly slang of the period I didn’t understand, partly elliptical writing style.

We complain about “too much telling, not enough showing” - honestly, I could’ve used more explanation at that point! Wasn’t sure where it went off the rails for me, kept thinking it would make an exciting film, though.

I've started this one now and am immediately gripped - I know quite a few mysteries start with bones being discovered, and I think it tends to be an intriguing opening, with so many possibilities to consider.

I'm getting more into the story now and enjoying it. Cadfael books are perfect to read late at night. It's an interesting change to have a young widow as a main character, rather than the very young girls who often take a lead role in the romance strands of these books.

Welcome, Kori! I remember enjoying a short story by Roy Vickers in one of the British Library anthologies edited by Martin Edwards and thinking I would like to try more by him, but I haven't been able to find anything that's available in the UK.

Sadly the ebook of The Exploits of Fidelity Dove doesn't seem to be available as an ebook on Amazon UK. It sounds really good from your description though.

Having finished, I must agree with you, Susan in NC, that I was hooked by the opening with the contrasts between the Russian princess's present and past. I vaguely remember reading a similar short story, possibly in one of the British Library/Martin Edwards anthologies, with a princess and a Faberge egg, but I can't remember any more about it!

I was sorry that we didn't learn more about the family, and didn't find the whole gang story very interesting. I thought the whole way that Nightingale feels he is getting sucked in after buying the cameo was well done though - I was willing him not to buy it and was sure it would either be stolen or sold at a discount, as appears to be the case. I found the explanation of this a bit disappointing.

I would probably give the writing style for this book 5 stars and the actual mystery 2 or 3, but I enjoyed it overall and settled on 4!

I do agree the atmosphere between Nightingale and Stephanie is odd and I wasn't sure where it was going to go.

Maybe it is similar to the way women are always falling for Wimsey and supposed to show how attractive Nightingale is? I thought Stephanie was strongly attracted to him and that was why she found an excuse to go to his flat - she possibly didn't realise he was married. (I don't think many men used to wear wedding rings.)

But he is clearly attracted to her too, which makes it all feel a bit unsettling. I do agree that if we had read the previous books we might understand all the relationships better.

Susan in NC, I'd never heard the expression bait-and-switch but have just looked it up, great expression! I think the nearest I've heard of is probably "advertising under false pretences" which isn't quite the same thing.

I do agree with you - the story starts out as one thing but soon turns into something else. Anyway I have finished now so will head over to the spoiler thread.

I've read 70% now and am really enjoying the writing style, which at times reminds me of both Margery Allingham and P.D. James. However, I don't think the actual mystery is all that compelling and had hoped for more detail about the Russian princess. Anyway, I will read on and hope to be posting in the spoiler thread soon.

I've read one or two others with that plot element, but I think they came later. Thanks for using spoiler tags, Rosina.

Just opening up our latest Bobby Owen read.

Who is reading this one? I will be but haven't started it yet.

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

Just opening up this thread. Who is reading this one?

I'm looking forward to it but need to finish one or two other books first!

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

Welcome to our buddy read! Who is reading this one?

I've started but am not very far in as yet.

The spoiler thread is linked below:

https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Just opening up our new buddy reads, with thanks to Susan for all the introductions!

Who is reading this one? I'm in the last section and really enjoying the writing style.

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

The poll has now finished - it was very close this month, but the winner is Verdict of Twelve by Raymond W. Postgate, which will be our February group read.

Full results

The Verdict of 12 7 votes, 30.4%
Crossed Skis (Julian Rivers #8) 6 votes, 26.1%
The Rasp (Colonel Gethryn, #1) 6 votes, 26.1%
The Mysterious Affair at Styles (Hercule Poirot, #1) 4 votes, 17.4%

Sandy, I also agree about the screaming pig being a rather unnecessary touch - though it is one of those wonderfully bizarre Golden Age twists!

Although the secret son plot was clever, I do find it disappointing in general when one of the detectives is the culprit in a mystery, and I can see why this was against the "Rules" drawn up by Ronald Knox!

Good to hear you both enjoyed the challenge, Susan and Pamela, and thank you for your kind words about the mods.

My favourite was Malice Aforethought by Francis Iles aka Anthony Berkeley. I possibly wasn't expecting to enjoy this one as much as I did, as I don't always enjoy inverted mysteries where readers see through the eyes of a killer, but I really enjoyed Berkeley's sarcastic style in this. I agree with Pamela that it was quite creepy. I had already read a few books by Berkeley and hope to read some more.

I also really enjoyed The Missing Partners by Henry Wade, and wanted to read another by him, but didn't like the one I tried, The Duke of York's Steps, which is supposed to be one of his best and mentioned in Martin Edwards' book The Story of Classic Crime in 100 Books. I will probably still try more by him though.

I also enjoyed the Crofts and Cyril Hare books - they were both authors that I already liked. My least favourite was probably Death in Fancy Dress, as I felt it rather fizzled out.

We now have a thread to discuss everyone's favourite books from this year's Detection Club Challenge:
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Now that our Detection Club Challenge is coming to an end, I'm just wondering which books were people's favourites?

Have you discovered any authors you haven't previously tried who you want to explore further?

As a reminder, here is a list of the books in the challenge. We also had a buddy read of The Golden Age of Murder by Martin Edwards before starting, and our current group read, The Floating Admiral, also ties in with the theme as a "round robin" book written by members of the Detection Club.

Jan: The Hollow Man - John Dickson Carr
Feb: Inspector French's Greatest Case - Freeman Wills Crofts
March: The Three Taps: A Detective Story Without a Moral - Ronald Knox
April: Tragedy at Law - Cyril Hare
May: Whose Body? - Dorothy L. Sayers
June: Murder at Monk's Barn - Cecil Waye
July: The Red Thumb Mark - R. Austin Freeman
August: Malice Aforethought - Francis Iles
September: The Studio Crime - Ianthe Jerrold
October: The Missing Partners - Henry Wade
November: Death in Fancy Dress - Anthony Gilbert
December: Hercule Poirot's Christmas - Agatha Christie

What did anyone think of all the other solutions by the various authors at the end of The Floating Admiral? I found that I glazed over a bit by the time I'd read a few of them, but I did find the Agatha Christie solution very intriguing.

Susan in NC wrote: "Jessica wrote: "It also might have been helpful if they agreed on a plot or at least the killer beforehand."

Good point, that vital plot point should have been the baseline."

I agree with this. The sheer number of clues and characters does become confusing!

I've started reading The Sinking Admiral, published a few years ago, which was jointly written by 14 current Detection Club members but followed a different system which Simon Brett describes in the introduction. They worked together more closely and didn't write separate chapters, although they still finally agreed on the killer quite late on.

I'm enjoying it so far. Apparently there will be some moments of tribute to the original book, which I wonder if I'll spot. The only problem with this system is that you don't know which writer's work you are reading!