What mysteries are you reading at the moment? Old thread Showing 1,051-1,100 of 4,457

[Lynne]

Almost finished with Bar Mitzvah Murder by Lee Harris. I have read all the previous in the series and only have two left to finish them all. Not the best, not the worst, but a quick fill in between "meatier" fare!

[All About Agatha]

Yes, we loved it! The thing about The Secret Place that didn't work as well for us was the third-person perspective for those parts written about Holly and her friends at school.... Every other book French has written has been from the first-person POV (as were the Stephen parts of Secret Place) and that seems to work much better for her. Also, the magical realism stuff didn't fully play.... The Trespasser is firmly back on the ground, no supernatural(ish) stuff.

Incidentally, we had the same issue re: third-person vs first-person with two Christie novels, The Man in the Brown Suit (written from two different first-person perspectives) versus The Secret of Chimneys (written from a roving third-person perspective). The former worked EXTREMELY well, whereas the latter did NOT. (Much more about this on episodes 7 and 9 of our podcast: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/a....)

Jill wrote: "All About Agatha wrote: "We (Kemper & Catherine) both recently read The Trespasser, by Tana French.... We both adore her. Her last book, The Secret Place, was a little disappointing, but this one w..."

[Miss M]

Judy wrote: "I'm just reading a British Library Crime Classics book on Kindle, Sergeant Cluff Stands Firm by Gil North. This is the first in the series about a Yorkshire detecti..."

I've been dipping into the second Cluff book, not very impressed so far...seems to give new meaning to the notion of 'taciturn.' Reminds me a little bit of the Mosley series, but Insp. Mosley is much more entertaining.
Murder, Mr. Mosley

[Judy]

Thanks Miss M, I might try another Cluff but sounds as if I shouldn't hold my breath
I'll check out Mosley.

[Sandy]

I just finished The Shifting Tide, #14 in Anne Perry's Monk series: a Victorian London setting by a modern author. It's a series I really like but have ignored lately due to other reading commitments. I'm tempted to pick up the next one immediately. This one introduces Monk to the Thames and I know he joins the river police eventually.

[LovesMysteries]

Sandy wrote: "I just finished The Shifting Tide, #14 in Anne Perry's Monk series: a Victorian London setting by a modern author. It's a series I really like but have ignored lately due to other read..."

Have you read the previous William Monk books? Which one is your favorite?

[Sandy]

I have read the prior novels. I cannot identify a favorite (maybe Shifting Tide, but probably because I just read it). My least favorite was the one where they went to the US during the Civil War.

[Daniele]

Susan wrote: "I enjoy books set in the Sixties, Judy, so will look at the Gil North one.

Susan, you may also enjoy the Amanda Cross series of books set in the United States 1960s. A feminist professor is the main character.

[Susan]

Thanks for the recommendation, Daniele, I will certainly take a look - I enjoy academic mysteries.

[LovesMysteries]

Sandy wrote: "I have read the prior novels. I cannot identify a favorite (maybe Shifting Tide, but probably because I just read it). My least favorite was the one where they went to the US during the Civil War."

I think the one set during the Civil War was "Slaves of Obsession". Another series I love is the Thomas & Charlotte Pitt and my favorite one is the first book "The Cater Street Hangman"

[Jill H.]

I have read a few of the Thomas and Charlotte Pitt series and thought they were interesting, especially how the police worked in that era of no fingerprinting, DNA, etc.

[LovesMysteries]

Jill wrote: "I have read a few of the Thomas and Charlotte Pitt series and thought they were interesting, especially how the police worked in that era of no fingerprinting, DNA, etc."

I'm imagining it's hard to write mysteries set during contemporary times considering that DNA would be easy to spot out who the murderer is. It doesn't take as much leg or brain work as the detectives of old like Sherlock Holmes or Poirot.

[Jill]

I think that is what makes the stories before the science set in, so interesting

[Marcus]

That's true, unless you encounter the perfect criminal, one with the steps can only be follow and sometimes predicted by Miss Jane Marple or Mr Nero Wolf.

[Susan]

I just finished Slow Horses and loved it. I want to read the whole series now!

[Sandy]

I have read the first two Pitt books, but decided concentrate on only one of Perry's series (Monk) so I could keep them seperate. I have so many years of good reading ahead of me!

[Susan]

Reading What You Don't Know which is an impressive debut and started Dead Lions the second Slough House mystery. If anyone is a Le Carre fan, Mick Herron really gives spy mysteries a modern twist, but with lots of nods to the classic spy novel.

[LovesMysteries]

I'm about to start reading The Sittaford Mystery and while I read that I'm going to read the well-known short story by Roald Dahl Lamb to the Slaughter and then proceed to reading the Poirot short story collection Poirot Investigates reading a few of the stories then proceed to another novel (after The Sittaford Mystery) then read another few stories from the Poirot collection.

[Susan]

Good plan, LovesMysteries. Anything that includes lots of Poirot can't be bad :)

[Daniele]

Susan wrote: "Thanks for the recommendation, Daniele, I will certainly take a look - I enjoy academic mysteries."

As do I. I never attended a college, although I had always wanted to. This gets me close anyway:}

[Helen]

I went to oxfam and looked for the penguin logo in the crime section and came away with Gentlemen and ladies by Susan Hill. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3... which is a book so obscure I had to add the edition myself, but amazon have second hand copies.

Looks to be a one of those little village wth lots of old ladies mysteries, was published in 1968 when she was 20 but she wrote it when she was still at school.

[Judy]

What a great find, Learnin Curve. I'll be interested to hear what you think.

[Susan]

Just finished debut novel What You Don't Know based loosely upon John Wayne Gacy.

[Pamela]

Susan wrote: "Just finished debut novel What You Don't Know based loosely upon John Wayne Gacy."

I recently read this one too. It was a bit too grim for me, but I thought it was well written

[[deleted user]]

I am about to start reading meet me in Malmo by Torquil Macleod an Anita Sundstrom novel only on chapter four first time reading this author. Really enjoying this book although i am just starting.

[Jan C]

Susan wrote: "Just finished debut novel What You Don't Know based loosely upon John Wayne Gacy."

As a (former) Chicagoan I tend to stay away from stories about either Gacy or Richard Speck. I had a friend who had a friend was almost picked up by Gacy and I was in town when they were digging up the basement. I was visiting from Albany at the time. I was still in high school when Speck had his rampage (killing 23 Philippine nurses). There was a big fear running through the area between the time that the murders were known aand they found him at the Mark Twain Hotel (essentially a flop house at the time).

[Gary]

Just started Murder in the Ball Park by Robert Goldsborough. Archie and Saul are attending a ballgame between the Brooklyn Dodgers and the New York Giants when a state senator is shot and killed not far from where they are sitting.

[Jill H.]

Gary wrote: "Just started Murder in the Ball Park by Robert Goldsborough. Archie and Saul are attending a ballgame between the Brookly..."

How do you like the Goldsborough books as opposed to the Rex Stout originals?

[Gary]

I have read most of the Goldsborough's, this is one of the two I haven't read. So far Archie and Saul have attended a ballgame, a state senator has been murdered and his widow, who is a neighbor of one Lily Rowan, has attempted to hire Wolfe. All that in the first 25 pages. I have enjoyed them in some cases more than some of Stout's. RG knows his Wolfe inside and out as you'd expect from a long time member of The Wolfe Pack. The newer books take place during the period Stout was writing. The first batch Goldsborough wrote take place after Stout's final novel.

[Jill H.]

I always worry that when someone else takes on the writing of a classic series it won't live up to my expectations. I have read all of the original Nero Wolfe corpus (some a couple of times) but I may have to break down and try one of Goldsborough's. Which one would you suggest as a starter?.....I like the period of the 40s and 50s.

[Gary]

I have only read 2 of the books set in the 30s - 50s Archie in the Crosshairs and Archie Meets Nero Wolfe: A Prequel to Rex Stout's Nero Wolfe Mysteries. In the latter Archie is the focus but it answers the question how Archie got the job. In the former pot shots are taken at Archie as he walks home from a poker game at Saul's place. I liked them both.

[Susan]

I just finished Dead Lions Dead Lions the second in the Slough House series. Really good and I think I may have discovered a spy series that is as compelling as Le Carre, albeit in a different way...

[Jill H.]

Gary wrote: "I have only read 2 of the books set in the 30s - 50s Archie in the Crosshairs and Archie Meets Nero Wolfe: A Prequel to Rex Stout's Nero Wolfe Mysteries. In the latt..."

Thanks, Gary.

[Leslie]

I just finished a contemporary cozy, The Spia Family Presses On. Pretty good if you like the cozy subgenre.

Now onto a Golden Age mystery by Ngaio Marsh -- Death at the Bar.

[Elsie]

I just started The Circular Staircase. Have any of you all read it?

[Jill]

Elsie wrote: "I just started The Circular Staircase. Have any of you all read it?"

I nominated for the group read last October for a Halloween type read, but it didn't win. I haven't got around to reading yet, and thought I might put it off till next October. Let me know what you think of it.

[Leslie]

Elsie wrote: "I just started The Circular Staircase. Have any of you all read it?"

I read it a few years ago -- I thought it was quite spooky without being horror. I gave it 4*

[Jill H.]

Elsie wrote: "I just started The Circular Staircase. Have any of you all read it?"

The writing style is a little different than what one is used to but we have to remember that it was written in 1908. I think you may like it if you are interested in the early mysteries by one of the good authors of the time. Let us know.

[Diane]

I just finished Vanity Dies Hard and I actually, really and truly, guessed most of the answer to what was going on and quite a while before the end. I didn't guess all of it but am proud of myself for even getting most of it. Normally I never can figure out the endings of mysteries.

[Judy]

I'm reading The Orange-Yellow Diamond by J.S. Fletcher, published in 1921, which is very interesting so far - the opening section is set among a Jewish community in south London.

[Elsie]

Well, I've finished The Circular Staircase. It is quite the story! I loved the feel of the whole thing. I gave it 4* too, and I think that it would be a very fun group read.

[Gary]

Come February and I will be reading the 3rd and 4th books in The Tourist Trap cozy mystery series for a challenge in another group.

I was going to read The League of Frightened Men, but found that either the print in the paperback is too small or my eyes have gotten worse or a combination of both...sigh.

[Jill H.]

Elsie wrote: "Well, I've finished The Circular Staircase. It is quite the story! I loved the feel of the whole thing. I gave it 4* too, and I think that it would be a very fun group read."

It is a good early golden age mystery.....glad you liked it.

[Jan C]

I enjoyed The Circular Staircase when I listened to it a year or so ago. I gave it 4.

[Jill H.]

I have started The Private Patient by P.D. James. It is part of the Adam Dalgliesh series and those are usually very interesting. It is starting out well.

[Susan]

I love P D James, Jill. I started re-reading them and must go back and continue...

I just finished a psychological thriller Blink .

[Marcus]

I don't read (yet) a book by P D James. I'm intending to do it. How are her books? Do you fellows readers recommended it?

[Susan]

Absolutely, Marcus, she was an excellent writer. I love her books and, I think you you said you enjoy Christie, so you will probably like her too.

[Jill H.]

Agree, Susan. P.D. James, who passed away last year, was a terrific writer and her books often have some unexpected twists. She wrote a series about Commander Adam Dalgliesh of Scotland Yard but also wrote other novels which were more like psychological thrillers. You can't go wrong with her and she will be missed.

[Lady Clementina]

Judy wrote: "I'm reading The Orange-Yellow Diamond by J.S. Fletcher, published in 1921, which is very interesting so far - the opening section is set among a Jewish community in ..."
I read two of the Fletchers some time ago- pretty good. One seemed not so very PC but the other made up for it.