From the Bookshelf of Reading the Detectives…

Thunder on the Right

Mary Stewart

Start date: September 1, 2020

Finish date: September 30, 2020

Discussion: Group reads

Why we're reading this: Winner of our September poll - this will be the first Mary Stewart book we have read in the group.
[close] Winner of our September poll - this will be the first Mary Stewart book we have read in the group.

Find A Copy At

Libraries

Group Discussions About This Book

Showing 2 of 330 topics — 11,893 comments total

Group reads

* November 2025 group read - Winner!
By Judy · 20 posts · 32 views

last updated Sep 17, 2025 08:43AM

* Sept 25: Lonesome Road (#3 Miss Silver Mysteries) by Patricia Wentworth
By Susan · 16 posts · 16 views

last updated Sep 19, 2025 01:03PM

showing 2 of 2 topics view all »

What Members Thought

Sep 02, 2020 Carol She's So Novel꧁꧂ rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: vintage-retro-romance, espionage-action-suspense-thriller

From the back cover of my copy...

A strange, tense and fast-moving novel set in the Pyrenees...

All true, especially the strange!

I found Stephen & Jenny's relationship & the machinations of Jenny's mother quite odd at the start.

I loved the description of a wonderful meal that Jenny enjoyed in the first chapter, but didn't think the scenery descriptions were as evocative as usual in a MS novel.

Some of the writing was quite clumsy especially (view spoiler) and most ...more

38 likes · Like · see review

Dec 17, 2020 Tania rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: mystery

The first book by her that I've read and apparently not the best one to start with.

The story was fairly melodramatic and a bit silly, but it was good fun and after a slow start, I did enjoy it. ...more

5 likes · Like · see review

Aug 11, 2012 Leslie rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: thriller-suspense, mysteries, love

2020 reread:
This book was not really the best one of Stewart's for me to reread just after finishing "Melmoth the Wanderer" what with the (view spoiler)! But once I got involved in the story, I was caught up once again. Romantic suspense, in typical 1950s fashion without the overt sex that is now so common. ...more

2 likes · Like · see review

Sep 02, 2020 Jill rated it liked it

This is the first book I have read by this author, and apart from a couple of "eye-rolling" moments, (slushy romance) I did enjoy it. I could feel the frustration of Jenifer at the news of her dead cousin, and the doubts she had. The convent was described so well that it was easy to imagine among the countryside. The villains were definitely recognized by their descriptions. (I could almost hear an audience booing at their appearance). Having said that it did hold my attention throughout, with a ...more

1 like · Like · see review

Jul 13, 2013 Lynnie rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: adventures-abroad, romantic-suspense, read-in-1990s, read-in-2022

This one was too melodramatic for me.

I read in the Mary Stewart group that " Ms. Stewart once claimed Thunder on the Right as her least favorite novel. "I detest that book. I'm ashamed of it, and I'd like to see it drowned beyond recovery. It's overwritten. It was actually the second book I wrote, and for some strange reason I went overboard, splurged with adjectives, all colored purple.""

Sadly I agree. It wasn't a patch on the previous two published.

...more

1 like · Like · see review