What mysteries are you reading at the moment? Old thread Showing 1,951-2,000 of 4,475

[Marwan]

Finished Hit Man by Lawrence Block

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

Started reading Blueprint for Murder by Roger Bax

[Susan]

I used to read Lawrence Block a lot some years back. I must go back and read them.

[Jill H.]

Susan wrote: "Golden Age authors expected their readers to be very well read - and have passable French and Latin :)"

How true, Susan!!

[Sandy]

Jill wrote: "Susan wrote: "Golden Age authors expected their readers to be very well read - and have passable French and Latin :)"

How true, Susan!!"

And, rather annoying for those of us aren't well read and don't speak anything but English!

[Carol She's So Novel꧁꧂]

The Rubber Band started off hilarious with some very typical Wolfe/Goodwin banter. I'm really enjoying it!

[Sandy]

I'm zipping thru The Murder of Roger Ackroyd and loving it. It is a different view (so far) of Poirot: he is hiding in retirement, growing vegetables, and the narrator isn't someone he knows.

I read something that, I think, gave away the murderer so it has been a different sort of read. I'm trying to recreate the crime, determine when the suspect lies, how it could have been done.

[Carol She's So Novel꧁꧂]

Sandy wrote: "I'm zipping thru The Murder of Roger Ackroyd and loving it. It is a different view (so far) of Poirot: he is hiding in retirement, growing vegetables, and the narrator isn't someone he..."

One of Christie's best! :)

[Teri-K]

I just started 4.50 from Paddington - one of my favorites. I really like Lucy and Alexander and his friend, as well as Miss Marple, of course. Though she's not in this one a lot.

[Sandy]

Teri-K wrote: "I just started 4.50 from Paddington - one of my favorites. I really like Lucy and Alexander and his friend, as well as Miss Marple, of course. Though she's not in this one a lot."

That was one of our annual Miss Marple reads, so be sure to check that thread for lots of comments. I certainly enjoyed it.

[Jan C]

I just started Deborah Crombie's latest, Garden of Lamentations. Really enjoying it so far, about 1/3 of the way in.

[Jill H.]

Sandy wrote: "I'm zipping thru The Murder of Roger Ackroyd and loving it. It is a different view (so far) of Poirot: he is hiding in retirement, growing vegetables, and the narrator isn't someone he..."

I have seen several reviewers reveal the identity of the murderer. I really hate that since this was a first in detective writing that used that approach. Christie was chastised for it but probably only because the chastisers hadn't thought of it before!!

[Susan]

Just a reminder that mid-September (around the 18th) we will be reading There's Trouble Brewing as our next buddy read.

This is the third Nigel Strangeways mystery.

Private detective and poet Nigel Strangeways is invited to address the Maiden Astbury literary society. The picturesque Dorset town is home to Bunnett's Brewery, run by the much disliked, and feared, Eustace Bunnett and shortly before Nigel's visit, Bunnett's dog Truffles, was found dead in one of the brewery's vats. The culprit was never caught - although there was no shortage of suspects - but when a body is then found in the same vat, boiled down to its bones, Nigel is called into action to help capture the killer.

You do not need to have read the previous books in the series to join in with this one. He is now married, but his wife, Georgia (who he meets in the second book) appears in only a few lines, before he goes off to do his sleuthing and this is very much a stand alone story.

[Judy]

Looking forward to Trouble Brewing, Susan. Interesting that Cecil Day-Lewis aka Nicholas Blake made his hero a poet - presumably he had plenty of experience of lecturing at literary societies himself!

[Judy]

After reading all the Sherlock Holmes stories by Arthur Conan Doyle last year, I've been wishing there were more to discover.

Now I've been tempted to read The New Mysteries of Sherlock Holmes by expert on the Golden Age Martin Edwards.



These are lovingly-written pastiches which I feel get the voice of Doyle/Watson very well - but, judging by the first couple of stories, the mysteries are not as fiendishly puzzling as the originals.

[Sandy]

I finished The Murder of Roger Ackroyd and loved the portrayal of Poirot and all the plot twists. I was fully engaged even though I knew the murderer and still missed an important clue dropped early.

Christie backed herself into a corner by starting both her series with elderly lead characters.

And I must look up vegetable marrows. I think they were mentioned in one of the Marples as well. Every one must grow these in Britain, like zucchini in the US.

[Sandy]

They are zucchini!

[Jill]

Sandy wrote: "They are zucchini!"

They aren't courgettes. They are usually quite big and are often stuffed with savoury mincemeat , to be served as a main meal. Vegetable growers get prizes for growing the biggest in shows

[Jan C]

Sandy wrote: "They are zucchini!"

From the pictures I had seen I wondered if they were like watermelon. They always seemed to be about the same size.

So, thanks for the update.

[Judy]

If you don't pick courgettes in time they grow into marrows! I think nowadays people usually try to pick them before they get that far as they are sweeter - unless they are growing prize marrows for a show, as Jill said!

[Judy]

According to this website, though, I'm out of date - courgettes used just to be marrows picked early, but there are now different varieties - some seeds which are planted to be marrows and others which are better for courgettes. Showing my age here!

http://www.barfoots.com/products-serv...

[Jill]

Don't forget people also eat the flowers , usually stuffed

[Lady Clementina]

Sandy wrote: "I finished The Murder of Roger Ackroyd and loved the portrayal of Poirot and all the plot twists. I was fully engaged even though I knew the murderer and still missed an important clue..."

Poirot's marrow growing- I read in AC's autobio -was inspired by Nicholas Nickelby where Mrs Nickelby's suitor throws marrows at her to woo her.

[Jill H.]

I am just about to finish the book cited below. I like the Roy Grace series, by James but this one is a little different and will put you on edge from the first chapter. It concerns a deadly stalker who will go to any lengths to "avenge" himself on a woman who finally threw him out of her life because of his violence. It is truly chilling and rather atypical of your usual British mystery/police procedural. Even though I haven't finished it, I am highly recommending it. It will have you looking over you shoulder, behind doors and under your bed.....this stalker is a truly frightening character who is very intelligent and has the money to spend to catch his prey.

by Peter James.

[Annabel]

I am reading Leaving Berlin

I like WW2/Cold War thrillers and this one is pretty good so far - exciting, but not too violent or depressing, which with this time period is always a risk. (I'm only halfway through, mind.)

[Brina]

I'm reading Windy City Blues by Sara Paretsky. I needed to relax after my last book.

[Leslie]

Jan C wrote: "Sandy wrote: "They are zucchini!"

From the pictures I had seen I wondered if they were like watermelon. They always seemed to be about the same size.

So, thanks for the update."

I always thought that they were some sort of pumpkin. After all, Poirot is trying to get them to grow more spherical & symmetrical. Zucchini's would never be spherical even if they were huge!

[Jill H.]

by Cynthia Harrod-Eagles

Just started this British mystery in the Bill Slider series. These are easy, quick reads with a great cast of detective characters who have a sense of humour. These books are light reading but quite enjoyable.

[Judy]

I've just started the third in the Oxford medieval mysteries series by Ann Swinfen, The Huntsman's Tale. I love her writing style but the previous book wasn't very mysterious, so am hoping this one will be a bit stronger in that aspect.

[Susan]

Currently reading There's Trouble Brewing]
our next buddy read and the third in the Nigel Strangeways series (or 'Mr Strangeness' as one character calls him!).

[Leslie]

Judy wrote: "I've just started the third in the Oxford medieval mysteries series by Ann Swinfen, The Huntsman's Tale. I love her writing style but the previous book wasn't very m..."

I agree with your comment about the second book - more adventure than mystery. I look forward to hearing what you think of the 3rd one.

[Leslie]

I just finished a Michael Innes mystery that was not an Inspector Appleby - From London Far. After the first chapter, I started to enjoy it a lot (the first one was so erudite in tone & I had no idea what was going on that it was a bit of a struggle).

[Susan]

I find Michael Innes a bit of a struggle generally, Leslie. I like his books, but they are hard work at times!

[Leslie]

Susan wrote: "I find Michael Innes a bit of a struggle generally, Leslie. I like his books, but they are hard work at times!"

The later Appleby books are less of a strain, in case you have not gotten to them yet.

[Leslie]

I finished a Patricia Wentworth book, the first in the Benbow Smith series, Fool Errant. Much better than The Annam Jewel! Of the type of thriller/suspense that Mary Stewart and Helen MacInnes wrote (innocent person entangled with villians), only the innocent was male instead of the more typical female.

[Susan]

I have only read two Appleby books, but have most definitely stalled at the moment! Enjoyed reading the third Nicholas Blake, who has long been one of my favourite GA authors.

[Judy]

Leslie wrote: "Judy wrote: "I've just started the third in the Oxford medieval mysteries series by Ann Swinfen, The Huntsman's Tale... I agree with your comment about the second book - more adventure than mystery. I look forward to hearing what you think of the 3rd one. "

I'll let you know, Leslie! I'm 40% of the way through now and enjoying the characters and period detail, but looks as if we are still building up to the mystery...

[Marcus]

You give me hope, Leslie! I should proceed to the others Patricia Wentworth's titles.

[Annabel]

Leslie wrote: "I finished a Patricia Wentworth book, the first in the Benbow Smith series, Fool Errant. Much better than The Annam Jewel! Of the type of thriller/suspense that Mary..."

Patricia Wentworth often uses the 'young man entangled in plot' opener - The Case of William Smith is a cracker from this perspective. I think she writes from the man's perspective pretty well for someone associated with 'girly adventure romances' - just as Ian Fleming is surprisingly good at writing from a woman's perspective.

Her books got a LOT better as she got older. They still often have slightly fantastical plots depending on coincidences, but the writing becomes a lot more self-disciplined and consistent as she becomes more experienced and the characterisation is better.

[Carolien]

Been reading The Abbey Court Murder for a while. 3.5 stars. An interesting plot and a good example of the classic English mystery genre. The main female characters were however too much given to swooning and melodrama for my taste. I will probably read the next in the series as the book was well-written and overall a slow, but enjoyable read.

[Leslie]

Annabel wrote: "Leslie wrote: "I finished a Patricia Wentworth book, the first in the Benbow Smith series, Fool Errant. Much better than The Annam Jewel! Of the type of thriller/sus..."

I should say that this one does have "slightly fantastical" coincidences that one can ignore in the heat of the moment reading but don't stand up well to over-much thinking afterwards!

[Carol She's So Novel꧁꧂]

I'm reading X by Sue Grafton. So far it is better than W for Wasted. For me, this has always been a very uneven series.

[Annie]

Finished this today A Murder for the Books by Victoria Gilbert an easy quick read.

[Susan]

I have A Murder for the Books from NetGalley, Anniegirl. Did you enjoy it?

[Annabel]

Yes, the plots never stand up to over-thinking afterwards. I read them as an indulgent trip into the past, enjoying the old houses, clothes, atmosphere etc, and ignore the plot-holes. But the later detective stories are certainly better than the early thrillers for holding together long enough for you to get to the end!

[ShanDizzy]

Annabel wrote: "Yes, the plots never stand up to over-thinking afterwards. I read them as an indulgent trip into the past, enjoying the old houses, clothes, atmosphere etc, and ignore the plot-holes. But the later..."

I agree, Annabel. I mostly read for the pleasure of it and almost never analyze the story, especially if it's a fiction or mystery story.

[Judy]

I've now finished The Huntsman's Tale by Ann Swinfen - I really enjoyed it though there is a lot of build-up before the mystery unfolds. My review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Gary]

Currently reading Malice in Maggody by Joan Hess. This is the first of the long running Arly Hanks series set in fictional Maggody, Arkansas.

[Leslie]

I have finished Amanda Cross' Poetic Justice - an American academic mystery. Very good!

Now I am rereading via audiobook this month's Miss Marple - At Bertram's Hotel.

[Marwan]

Finished Blueprint for Murder by Roger Bax

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

[Susan]

Leslie, I wish Amanda Cross was available on kindle in the UK. I do tend to have one 'book' on the go, but they are always review copies and I am resistant to adding to my overwhelmed shelves...