What mysteries are you reading at the moment? Old thread Showing 1,301-1,350 of 4,475

[Sandy]

I just finished Locked Rooms, #8 in the Russell / Holmes series and, once again, loved the story and the characters. In this one Holmes hires Dashiell Hammett as a local operative and recruits a band of boys as "Irregulars".

Next up is a new book by Rhys Bowen, In Farleigh Field: A Novel of World War II which sounds as if its more of a spy story than a mystery. I have not read her books before, but have Her Royal Spyness on my TBR.

I need to read quickly as I can't renew it and I'm about to have cataract surgery so my vision will be blurry for a bit. Luckily I have the next Miss Marple on audio! (As well as so many other books.)

[Jill H.]

Fred wrote: "Judy wrote: "I've now finished The Siamese Twin Mystery by Ellery Queen and really thought it was pretty bad overall. Can't say why without veering into spoilers, but I ..."

Fred.....good point. I think that we sometimes get disappointed when we re-read one of our once favorite Golden Age authors. I absolutely loved the Philo Vance series by VanDine_S_S but after re-reading I have lost my taste for them and the character of Vance seems unappealing. This certainly isn't always the case with GA mysteries but when it happens it is rather sad.

[Betsy]

I am currently reading THE PUZZLE LOCK by R. Austin Freeman, which is a Dr. Thorndyke series of mysteries. In one of the stories, a female suspect tells Thorndyke that while she was in Paris she had her hair cleaned with petrol at a salon, and it caught fire so she had to have her hair trimmed because it was singed. Has anyone heard of doing something so dangerous and smelly?

[Susan]

Just started, A Murder Is Announced - always one of my favourites.

[Jill H.]

Betsy wrote: "I am currently reading THE PUZZLE LOCK by R. Austin Freeman, which is a Dr. Thorndyke series of mysteries. In one of the stories, a female suspect tells Thorndyke that while she was in Paris she ha..."

Sounds about as strange as the practice of using arsenic for the complexion.

[Betsy]

Good point. It's amazing what women (and some men) have done to themselves over the centuries in the search for physical attractiveness.

[Judy]

Sandy wrote: "Next up is a new book by Rhys Bowen, In Farleigh Field: A Novel of World War II which sounds as if its more of a spy story than a mystery. I have not read her books before, but have Her Royal Spyness on my TBR.

I need to read quickly as I can't renew it and I'm about to have cataract surgery so my vision will be blurry for a bit. Luckily I have the next Miss Marple on audio! (As well as so many other books.) ."

I'm planning to read In Farleigh Field soon too, Sandy, so will be interested to hear what you think - I haven't read any of her books before either. Wishing you all the best with the cataract surgery.

[Jill]

I have read a couple of her Constable Evans books , which I quite enjoyed

[Betsy]

I agree. The Constable Evans books are well done, but I am not as fond of some of the others.

[Judy]

Trying to read some of the freebies on my Kindle at the moment - I've made a start on The Safety Pin, a mystery by J.S. Fletcher published in the 1920s. I'm not very far in yet, but enjoying it so far - a very young lawyer is asked to help investigate a disappearance.

[Judy]

Jill and Betsy, the Constable Evans books look good - and looks as if the first one, Evans Above would be ideal as a book set in Wales for my European reading challenge! I'll look out for it.

[Jan C]

Currently reading The Silent Bullet by Arthur B. Reeve, written in 1910. I enjoy these stories. This is the second one of his I've read. Craig Kennedy, the scientific detective, and his friend, Jameson, writer for the New York Star.

[Judy]

I've just started The Winter Queen by Boris Akunin, the first in the Erast Fandorin historical mystery series set in 19th-century Moscow (for my European reading challenge). So far it is very good, witty writing and an appealing hero - I could get hooked. :)

I was surprised to see that what I'd always known as Russian roulette is here described as "American roulette" and it is said it is something developed in the goldfields!

[Jill]

I've just started Sleeping Murder. It is good to get back to a Christie. Almost like comfort food!

[Susan]

Just finished, "A Murder is Announced." Judy, I love the Boris Akunin books and The Winter Queen is a fabulous read - enjoy!

[Pamela]

Judy wrote: "I've just started The Winter Queen by Boris Akunin..."

Judy, I just read this last month and loved it. It had a touch of dark humour that was very engaging.

[Judy]

Pamela wrote: "Judy wrote: "I've just started The Winter Queen by Boris Akunin..."

Judy, I just read this last month and loved it. It had a touch of dark humour that was very engaging."

I am really enjoying the humour too! And the detailed portrayal of Tsarist Russia.

[Sandy]

Re: The Winter Queen - it has been languishing on my TBR. Seems time to nudge it up a bit. I like that time period and dark humor is always a draw.

[Carolien]

Judy wrote: "I've just started The Winter Queen by Boris Akunin, the first in the Erast Fandorin historical mystery series set in 19th-century Moscow (for my European reading challen..."

I'm really enjoying this series.

[Carolien]

I've finished a few books that I don't think I've mentioned here.

Riot Act is the second in the Charlie Fox series. I've enjoyed Charlie as a character and this is a great series if you enjoy Sue Grafton or Sara Paretsky.

The Junior Bender series by Timothy Hallinan is very interesting as Junior is a burglar by trade and fixer of problems for criminals. Little Elvises is fast paced and I thoroughly enjoyed the plot. Seriously recommend if you like Robert B. Parker or Robert Crais. It has the pace and humour that you expect from these guys.

Miss Phryne Fisher Investigates is the Kindle title of Cocaine Blues and my first book by Kerry Greenwood. I've heard lots of good things about the series and am very glad that I finally got around to it. I love Melbourne and it's an interesting time period. Will be reading the rest of the series.

[Sandy]

Continuing on my audio TBR backlog, I've started A Great Reckoning, the latest in Louise Penny's Three Pines series.

[Gary]

Current reads are Murder at Redwood Cove by Janet Finsilver and Dead Case in Deadwood by Ann Charles

[Carolien]

I need some assistance to complete a challenge based on the board game Cluedo in another group and couldn't think of a more qualified place to ask for help! The challenge is here if anybody is interested https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/....

To complete the challenge I need to find a mystery/thriller where the murder is committed with a pipe (any kind of pipe although the original one in Cluedo was a lead pipe). For the life of me, I cannot think of one despite all the hundreds of crime books I have read over the years.

I'm also looking for books where a scene is set in a conservatory or billiard room - doesn't have to be a mystery, could be anything really.

If anybody has any ideas, I'd appreciate them.

[Jill]

The Sherlock Homes books have a picture of him on the cover smoking a pipe

[Susan]

Billiard rooms often feature in country house mysteries - I seem to remember a scene in the first Daisy Dalrymple book? I will think about it, it sounds a great challenge!

Currently reading I'll Eat When I'm Dead as I felt like reading something lighter, having just finished Laurence Rees history of The Holocaust: A New History.

[Jan C]

Susan wrote: "Billiard rooms often feature in country house mysteries - I seem to remember a scene in the first Daisy Dalrymple book? I will think about it, it sounds a great challenge!

Currently reading ..."</i>

I was wondering if there was a billiard room (or maybe even a conservatory) in [book:The Crime at Black Dudley.

[Susan]

I think The Murder on the Links features a length of lead pipe, although I can't recall whether that is actually the murder weapon?

[Judy]

There's a conservatory in Clouds of Witness which we read here last year - I'm sure it gets searched so there is probably a scene in it?

[Susan]

Yes, that's right, Judy. Well remembered :)

[Jay-me (Janet)]

Judy wrote: "There's a conservatory in Clouds of Witness which we read here last year - I'm sure it gets searched so there is probably a scene in it?"

I wondered about a billiard room in that book - were some of the characters playing billiards?

[Sandy]

Carolien wrote: "I need some assistance to complete a challenge based on the board game Cluedo in another group and couldn't think of a more qualified place to ask for help! The challenge is here if anybody is inte..."

I thought of organ pipes and the books by Edmund Crispin often feature an organist as he was one himself. However I'm not sure it was ever a weapon.

And one of the Flavia Deluce books involved an organ.

Seems someone, somewhere, was killed in an organ loft.

[Carolien]

Thanks for the nice ideas everybody.

[Susan]

Let us know if any helped, Carolien.

[Jill H.]

In the book Pretty Jane and the Viper of Kidbrooke Lane: A True Story of Victorian Law and Disorder: The Unsolved Murder that Shocked Victorian England by Paul Thomas Murphy, the victim is killed with an iron pipe.

[Susan]

I read that, Jill, and forgot about it....

[Carolien]

Jill wrote: "In the book Pretty Jane and the Viper of Kidbrooke Lane: A True Story of Victorian Law and Disorder: The Unsolved Murder that Shocked Victorian England by [author:Paul Thomas Murphy..."

Thanks so much!

[Jill H.]

The title is a bit lurid but it was taken by the author from one of the broadsheets being handed out during the trial. The book was interesting and not lurid...nor did it contain a viper!! :D

[Carolien]

It looks very interesting, I'm sure I'll enjoy it.

[Susan]

Having loved The Truth About the Harry Quebert Affair, I am about to start the follow up, The Baltimore Boys.

[Gary]

Nearing the halfway point in Dead Case in Deadwood by Ann Charles. Also just started Murder at the Mansion by Janet Finsilver and Motor City Blue by Loren D. Estleman

[Susan]

Just started Murder Take Three: A British Country House Mystery the fourth in a series set in the 1950's and have also just started The Crime At Black Dudley

[Judy]

I've just started listening to Death in Kashmir by M.M. Kaye on Audible for a read in another group (Retro Reads) - an intriguing start, set in a ski resort in India on the eve of Independence.



I'm hoping to keep track of what is going on while I supposedly do a lot of cleaning and housework, lol.

[Ruth]

I'm currently reading Death at the Dog by Joanna Cannan which is excellent. She goes into a lot of detail about the locations and houses with descriptions of clothing, furniture and accessories, and also how the war was affecting people with things like the blackout. This is the sort of detail someone writing now will often put into a Golden Age style crime novel but you don't always find in contemporary writing which really sets the book in its period at the beginning of the war, which was when she wrote it.

The only problem now is that I'd love to read more of her books but they seem hard to find!

[Susan]

Death in Kashmir and Death at the Dog sound great. Maybe they will re-release more of Joanna Cannan's books, if this does well?

[Jill H.]

I just finished the second in the long running series of John Rebus books. I think the author was still finding his way to develop the distinct personality of Rebus which was so strong in the later books. The plot in this story was not as good as the later works but I am a great fan of the Rebus books, so the author can be forgiven. I think it is always interesting to read the early books in a series to see the differences in the main character's persona.

Hide and Seek by Ian Rankin

[Jill]

Just started The Ice Cream Girls by Dorothy Koomson. So far have found it good. The story is narrated in turns by Serena and Poppy - the 'Ice Cream Girls'.

[Judy]

For those enjoying a long weekend over Easter, are you doing anything special - and what if anything will you be reading?

I'm aiming to have a relaxing break with the family, without eating too much chocolate, and hopefully do a fair bit of reading - I've just started The Late Scholar by Jill Paton Walsh.

[Marwan]

I'm currently reading B Is for Burglar by Sue Grafton

[Jan C]

Started 2 books today, Les Parisiennes: How the Women of Paris Lived, Loved, and Died Under Nazi Occupation by Anne Sebba and Death in Uptown by Michael Raleigh, a Chicago author.

[Susan]

I have just started A Dark So Deadly , which is HUGE! I have read some books by Stuart MacBride before and enjoyed them and I think this is his first stand alone for ages. Looks good so far and I am a big fan of Tartan Noir, so hoping it is a romp and not a slog :)