August Monthly Read 2013: The Cuckoo's Calling

[Susan]

Oh leave it you, Allan, to provide the background. You were born to be a teacher. How are we going to survive when you go back to teaching. I hope your kids know how lucky they are.
Cathleen, I am so glad you are having a great time. Have you done anything special? Have you taken pictures to share with us. I laughed when you said it was different than Boston. It certainly is, in so many ways. Thanks for the chuckle.

[Barbara]

Declan wrote: "Barbara wrote: "I am not inclined to care as much about what happened to her..."

With the little experience I have in mystery books, movies and TV shows, there is often little to no info about the..."

Often, the investigator(s) uncover details about the victim, especially in a story like this where the mystery is suicide or murder.

[[deleted user]]

There was a certain amount revealed as the story continued, but nothing really revealed about Lula's personality that was out of character with my initial impression of her.

[Barbara]

I only have an hour and a quarter left, but still am mystified by the lack of progress. I always wondered why anyone would submit to be interviewed by a private detective and much less tell them anything. After all they have no real authority.

[[deleted user]]

Similarly, I have 35 pages to finish, later, and I'm enjoying the clinax. I'm not sure which part you mean, Barbara. I must have missed it. I think we may have a good spoiler discussion.

[Barbara]

Declan wrote: "Similarly, I have 35 pages to finish, later, and I'm enjoying the clinax. I'm not sure which part you mean, Barbara. I must have missed it. I think we may have a good spoiler discussion."

Actually throughout the book, Stryke relies on interviewing people to get anywhere. I realized that when Robin goes out and gets info, she just reports it. But with Stryke we are subjected to blow by blow accounts. Again, as I am listening and not reading, it may seem that much of the text is made up of interviews. In the beginning of the book, there were some great descriptions of the environment. The descriptions now seem to be limited to the people Stryke interviews.

[Barbara]

Declan wrote: "Similarly, I have 35 pages to finish, later, and I'm enjoying the clinax. I'm not sure which part you mean, Barbara. I must have missed it. I think we may have a good spoiler discussion."

I meant to clarify - the premise of private detective novels is that they interview lots of people who for some reason always talk to them. Why? I enjoyed the ways that Robin gets information out of people by pretending to be other than who she is. Two days ago two police detectives showed up at my door. It was puzzling as they were from a neighboring county. They asked me if I had observed goings-on in a neighboring home. I said I hadn't, and added I used to live in Boston and was accustomed to paying attention to what went on around me. I still don't know why they were there. They showed me a picture of a guy who looked like someone I hadn't seen in a few months, and then told me he was incarcerated. They had badges and guns so I talked to them. Back to Boston. Once I called the police because there was a huge moving truck that was blocking access if a firetruck had to get through. The next day, there was a huge raid of a nearby house. It turned out there was a "chop shop" in the back - a place where they stripped parts off of stolen cars. My neighbor told me she knew that something was up because there was a sedan parked in front of her house with "two old white guys" sitting in it watching the house. They apparently were the police. I also have wondered since then how cops get away with stakeouts as neighbors tend to notice people sitting in cars for hours.

[[deleted user]]

@Barbara. I don't think he had the luxury of enthusiastic interviewees. Most of his interview were arranged by Bristow, coaxed from reluctant witnesses or greatfully given by Lula's friends who felt she wouldn't have committed suicide. There's at least one other instance I think is worth mentionig, but it's probably better left for the spoiler thread...

Which I'll open soon.

@Allan. I've enjoyed the last 70-80 pages, and a good 'unmasking' might just earn it a fourth star.

[Barbara]

I am a half hour from the end and am saving it for my morning walk:)

[Sara]

I've finally gotten around to starting, but I'm only in Chapter 3. So far, it's a quick engrossing read with a couple characters I find compelling.

[[deleted user]]

I finished it a little while ago, and I really enjoyed. I'll leave the finer details for the spoiler discussion, but the main appeal of this book, for me, was the chemistry between Strike and Robin who were both interesting and endearing, individually.

I think the novel might have benefitted from a greater inclusion of Robin. I would have enjoyed reading more about the gifted novice who was terribly excited about it all.

I still can't decide whether or not the book earned itself a fourth star.

[[deleted user]]

I've gone ahead and opened the spoiler thread for this discussion.

I don't have time to get stuck in just yet, but I'll definitely be jumping in when I get home tonight.

[Cathleen]

Susan wrote: "Oh leave it you, Allan, to provide the background. You were born to be a teacher. How are we going to survive when you go back to teaching. I hope your kids know how lucky they are.
Cathleen, I am ..."

Hi Susan--Yes, we did have a great time. Now, once I figure how to post a photo, I might have one or two to share.

[Susan]

Ask our guru, Declan. He knows everything. I am so glad you had a good time.

[[deleted user]]

Hi, Cathleen. I previously started a thread in the general folder. I'm in my phone at the minute, but I'll post the link to it later if yoy can't find it.

Sorry I was so long responding. This didn't show up in my notifications, for some strange reason.

[[deleted user]]

Here's the link to the thread that instructs on how to post picture and photos, Cathleen.

It show's how to post pics that are already somewhere on the web. So if you have them already uploaded to Facebook, etc., you can just follow that thread and it'll show you how to put them into a comment box.

If you're stuck you can ask questions on how to do it, there. If it's still unclear just copy and paste the picture's URL into the comment box, like this:

http://t1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:AN...

And you'll be as happy as that little fella.

[Neil]

I've finally bought it. 14 blips and I gotta say that's the most I've payed for a book in a while. Get ready peeps 'cause I am gonna bomb into this now and gonna drop some knowledge on ye all at the end, what with my crazy thoughts/rants.

Woah, gotta go, I think...The Cookoo's Calling (Wink, wink).

[[deleted user]]

After that snazzy anouncement, Niall, I can't wait to read what you think.about the book.

[Cathleen]

Declan wrote: "Here's the link to the thread that instructs on how to post picture and photos, Cathleen.

It show's how to post pics that are already somewhere on the web. So if you have them already uploaded to ..."

Thank you, Declan. I'll get to posting a couple of photos a little later today.

[I-like-to-read]

I've nearly finished only 50 pages to go, so I will be reading and posting in the spoiler thread shortly.

Regarding the marketing ploy, I don’t think so, just releasing a book under her name would have caused a buzz. I think maybe she is a bit insecure about her writing and wanted to see the reviews of a crime / detective novel rather than reviewing a JK Rowling book, also a lot of authors write under pseudonymous, especially if they are writing a different genre to what we are used to.

[[deleted user]]

@Cathleen. You're welcome.

@Kate. I don't think that Rowling had anything to do with, and I agree about why you think she used a pseudonym in the first place. She doesn't need, or maybe even want, money, but there will be far more people that Rowling who'll stand t earn money from this.