What mysteries are you reading at the moment? Old thread Showing 3,001-3,050 of 4,475

[Jill]

Judy wrote: "I've also started A Quiet Life in the Country - 40% of the day through, only one mystery so far. This seems like a very quick read, so as soon as I finish I will report back on whether there are an..."

Thanks

[Judy]

I've now discovered the answer to this, after looking at the author's page on Goodreads. This was originally a self-published collection of separate stories, but was reworked to turn it into a novel - so it sounds as if you have an older edition, Jill.

It says on the author's page:
"The first two books were originally self-published. They were each a collection of four "episodes" (longer than short stories, shorter than "novellas"). When they were republished by Thomas & Mercer I reworked them so that they became novels.

It's difficult to describe the exact process without giving away spoilers, but some of the stories were merged and interweaved to form two single narratives.

[Judy]

This means we will be discussing all the storylines as I think for most of us they are all in one novel - but it is of course up to you whether you want to read them all, Jill! :)

[Jill]

Thanks for looking into that for me Judy. I was going to read them all anyway, but having seen people's reviews and them only tying up with the first story, and with them being more of a cozy nature than we usually read , I wanted to make sure I was reading the correct book.

[Bruce]

I’m currently reading the Winner by Baldacci, Hannibal Rising by Thomas Harris, Jack and Jill by Patterson, and A Secret Rage by Charlaine Harris, and other non mysteries. (Mostly on audiobook). I agree with what the others above me have been saying about the current trend of crimes against vulnerable people, rapes etc,. I enjoy stories with social content, but it can be done without resorting to violence porn. Brilliant authors like Graham Greene used to be able to write mysteries and espionage with content without making them too disturbing.

I’m mostly reading some of these because I’ll be looking for a new library job at some point (I moved recently). Baldacci however is one of the better mainstream mystery writers and so far his content hasn’t been too disturbing. Patterson is a poor writer who somehow appeals to a mass audience, and sometimes has good stories, but I actually like his Alex Cross novels the least of his output. Still, even those are gripping.

The Charlaine Harris novel, although it deals with rape, is good, and even more so because she’s writing from her own experience as a former victim.

Actually, some of the disturbing elements in mysteries can probably be traced at least as far back as Arthur Conan Doyle’s the Casebook of Sherlock Holmes, and stories such as the Illustrious Client and the Veiled Lodger. Probably further back.

Doyle wrote the Casebook after losing his son in WWI, so he had a much darker outlook on the world by that point. In many cases authors write darker literature in the periods following darker and violent times.

[Lorraine]

Judy wrote: "This means we will be discussing all the storylines as I think for most of us they are all in one novel - but it is of course up to you whether you want to read them all, Jill! :)"

Which means, I believe, I should also read In the Market for Murder and Death Around the Bend.

[Judy]

Lorraine wrote: "Which means, I believe, I should also read In the Market for Murder and Death Around the Bend. ..."

Thanks for checking, Lorraine - no, we will only be discussing the one book, A Quiet Life in the Country. The confusion has been caused because in some editions the story is broken up into separate episodes.

The books you mentioned are sequels, which won't be included in our discussion. Hope this makes sense, but it is a bit confusing!

[Susan]

I listened to the audio version and, I have to say, if the author turned some short stories into a novel, she did a pretty good job. It didn't read like anything other than a novel, to me.

[Lorraine]

Judy wrote: "Lorraine wrote: "Which means, I believe, I should also read In the Market for Murder and Death Around the Bend. ..."

Thanks for checking, Lorraine - no, we will only be discussing the one book, A ..."

Thanks, got it.

[Amy]

Finished Why Kings Confess. Pretty splendid. Not cozy but a good mystery. I liked it better than others in her series because the "love interest" I hate wasn't featured in it.

[Susan]

Love interests can be tricky things, Amy. I must admit I was nervous about meeting Agatha Troy in our next Alleyn book, but I am enjoying it so far.

[Paperbackreader]

Susan wrote: "Love interests can be tricky things, Amy. I must admit I was nervous about meeting Agatha Troy in our next Alleyn book, but I am enjoying it so far."

I remember liking Troy when I read Artists in Crime and Death in a White Tie, two of the novels pivotal for the introduction and development of her character. I remember enjoying Final Curtain too, where we see most of the other characters through her eyes. I would say she is not as terrible as some of the other love interests we meet in mysteries.

[Pamela]

I am currently reading Arrest the Bishop? by Winifred Peck. It's quite sweet but a bit slow, so I've started Artists in Crime as well. I think I've read it before though, it seems very familiar!

[Judy]

I like Agatha Troy, but agree that love interests in detective novels can be a problem, especially if they are over- perfect! Often Mr or Miss Wrong is more interesting. :)

[Annabel]

Also, I think a lot of crime novels have moved from the pure problem-solving puzzle, usually involving professional investigators after the crime, to focusing on the tension and fear experienced by witnesses, victims, suspects etc DURING the phase of the crime. We're seeing an awful lot more kidnappings and domestic abuse scenarios, because these can drag out for ages and be played out in the narrative of the person experiencing or witnessing the nightmare, whereas once you've been murdered, you've been murdered! You can't continue to narrate how awful everything is (unless you're the girl in The Lovely Bones...).

There also seems to be this idea on the part of authors and publishers that we readers can't properly relate to anything unless we're put right at the heart of the mystery, experiencing every second of the drama inside the skin of someone like ourselves - ie, ordinary person, possible victim. Personally, I feel I can relate at will to being a brilliant courtroom lawyer with a mind like a steel trap or a ruthless secret agent, but there it is.

[Roman Clodia]

Well put, Annabel! I agree with all your points, and it's precisely the puzzle-solving that draws me back to Christie, Tey and other GA writers. Oh, and Sherlock Holmes, of course.

[Jill]

Finished A quiet life in the Country . Have now started The Wicked Boy: The Mystery of a Victorian Child Murderer I have read Summerscale's The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher: A Shocking Murder and the Undoing of a Great Victorian Detective and as this is set in a place I know well , I thought I would try it. I am finding it quite repetitive though

[Tr1sha]

I have just finished reading Raven Black - Ann Cleeves. This is the first of the series & I will definitely read more. I tried to watch the tv series Shetland but couldn’t get interested. In my opinion the book is much better.

[Jill]

Trisha wrote: "I have just finished reading Raven Black - Ann Cleeves. This is the first of the series & I will definitely read more. I tried to watch the tv series Shetland but cou..."

I found the same as you. I read Raven Black some years ago, but just could not get interested in the tv series

[Judy]

Interesting comments, Annabel and RC. I'm not all that keen on pure puzzle mysteries, I'll admit (like, say, one or two of the TV Jonathan Creek mysteries) - I do prefer to have individual characters where I care what is happening to them, rather than having people who are really little more than a list of names.

Sayers really gets the mix right here for me in most of her books. Annabel, I remember you are a Wentworth admirer, and she is another writer who creates vivid characters.

However, I really do agree that I don't want to read a lot of books where there are extended kidnapping sequences etc, or to see through the eyes of the victims for long periods.

[Susan]

I switch quite happily between modern, and GA, mysteries and don't mind either. Currently reading The Smiler With the Knife, our buddy read next month (along with Information Received, which I have yet to read).

I am looking forward to A Different Kind of Evil, the next by Andrew Wilson, featuring Agatha Christie.

In January 1927 – and still recovering from the harrowing circumstances surrounding her disappearance a month earlier – Agatha Christie sets sail on an ocean liner bound for the Canary Islands.

She has been sent there by the British Secret Intelligence Service to investigate the death of one of its agents, whose partly mummified body has been found in a cave.

Early one morning, on the passage to Tenerife, Agatha witnesses a woman throw herself from the ship into the sea. At first, nobody connects the murder of the young man on Tenerife with the suicide of a mentally unstable heiress. Yet, soon after she checks into the glamorous Taoro Hotel situated in the lush Orotava Valley, Agatha uncovers a series of dark secrets.

The famous writer has to use her novelist’s talent for plotting to outwit an enemy who possesses a very different kind of evil.

I enjoyed the first A Talent for Murder

[Annabel]

I am reading The Silent Companions , which, as always, I was attracted to because of the cover.
TBH I'm a bit nervous about it. I've learned not to read things which have upsetting scenes in and you get quite good at being able to tell in advance, but I feel this one may have slipped through the net.

[Lady Clementina]

Annabel wrote: "I am reading The Silent Companions , which, as always, I was attracted to because of the cover.
TBH I'm a bit nervous about it. I've learned not to read t..."

The cover does look intriguing!

[Susan in Perthshire]

I love Anne Cleeves’ books and I have to say I think the television adaptations are amazingly good. I have watched all of the ‘Vera’ adaptations as well as the ‘Shetland’ ones. Really authentic locations, atmosphere and characterisations in my opinion. So often, television or film adaptations don’t do justice to the book but I think these do.

[Elinor]

It is an interesting discussion ! I do prefer the more puzzle like mysteries, although I do like to enjoy my characters, However I'm more focused on the detective than the victim, and since I'm quite empathic, I don't like the victim to suffer to much, I don't like for examples to see the murder happen in a series. The perfect blend for me is the tv show Lewis (my favorite ever), I love how the plot is character-focused and clues-focused, if I can say so. I like characterization and I like psychology, I don't like serial killers at all, their murders are kind of motive-less and I find the search for a motive really interesting, along with the opportunity analysis.


I have started Death in the Stocks and I'm enjoying it (no big surprise but that's only my second Georgette Heyer, looking for a conversion here !)

[Jill]

Elinor wrote: "It is an interesting discussion ! I do prefer the more puzzle like mysteries, although I do like to enjoy my characters, However I'm more focused on the detective than the victim, and since I'm qui..."

Here is the thread where we discussed Death in the Stocks ;-
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

We didn't have a spoiler thread then so suggest you look at this when you have finished the book.

[Judy]

I've started Spy's Honour by Gavin Lyall (vowing to read at least one or two of the books on my Kindle each month!) and am enjoying it a lot so far.

It's a historical novel which starts in Greece in 1912, and more of a spy thriller than a mystery, but I believe it will have a mystery element to it. Great writing style - I loved this line:

"The Major was wearing highly polished riding boots and an expression that said he hadn't put them on to go jaunting in oxcarts."

[Judy]

Elinor, I often tend not to like books with serial killers either, partly for the same reason as you - I prefer there to be a real motive of some kind. Also some serial killer books are very gory.

Susan, do you prefer the series with Agatha Christie as a detective to the series with Josephine Tey as a detective, or does it have the same problems for you - do you feel it could have been done without a famous heroine?!

[Susan]

I don't think the Andrew Wilson could have been done without using Christie, as it relates to her famous disappearance. As such, it is more involved in her personal life than the Tey, where she is more an onlooker to events - which, although based around one of her plays, does not involve her personally. I liked it - could be a future nomination or buddy read, as I think it was interesting and we could compare the two?

[Judy]

Jill, Lorraine and anyone else reading A Quiet Life in the Country, I've just discovered more confusion surrounding the contents of the different editions, sorry!

I've posted about this in the thread for the book - it looks as if only 2 of the 4 short stories in the original edition are reworked in the novel version, even though the author's comment on his page said he had reworked all 4!

So we will at least be starting off by just discussing the 2 stories he turned into the novel, The Body in the Woods and The Case of the Missing Case.

I did just look to see if I could get hold of an older edition on Kindle to compare the two, but it looks to me as if it has been withdrawn. After googling this a bit more, I am guessing that bits of the other two stories are probably included but he has got rid of the main storylines for those to avoid too many mysteries in one novel.

[Lorraine]

Should make an interesting discussion, looking forward to it. I'm listening on Audible.

[Jill]

Started Dominion by C.J. Sansom
I love his Shardlake series and this has started well. It has been on my list for years so surprised I have only just got to it.

[Amy]

I just put The Case of William Smith on my phone to listen to while I work. Super busy at work so I've been getting a lot of books in!

[Elinor]

Judy wrote: "Elinor, I often tend not to like books with serial killers either, partly for the same reason as you - I prefer there to be a real motive of some kind. Also some serial killer books are very gory.
..."

And I don't like gory as well ^^

These Agatha Christie as sleuth book looks good !

[Tania]

I've started Touch and Go, another freebie (thanks Judy).

[Judy]

Tania wrote: "I've started Touch and Go, another freebie (thanks Judy)."

My pleasure, Tania - can't remember if I've read that one, as Patricia Wentworth's titles are so similar, but I always enjoy her writing style, even though the early stories can be a bit hit-and-miss.

[Tracey]

Elinor - I agree with you. I enjoy a puzzle mystery, and a engaging detective. My personal fave is a locked room mystery, a real brain teaser! I prefer there not to be too much gore in the actual killing.

I'm currently reading Blood on the Tracks: Railway Mysteries. Enjoying so far, it has a great selection of authors. I'm reading this as part of some pre-reading for the Bodies from the Library conference on the 16th June in London - is anyone else going?

[Carolien]

Judy wrote: "I've started Spy's Honour by Gavin Lyall (vowing to read at least one or two of the books on my Kindle each month!) and am enjoying it a lot so far.

It's a historic..."

I adore Spy's Honour, very high on my list of all time favourites. In general, I like Gavin Lyall 's books, but this one is special.

[Elinor]

Tracey : 200% agreed, I do love locked room mysteries as well !

[Judy]

Carolien wrote: "I adore Spy's Honour, very high on my list of all time favourites. In general, I like Gavin Lyall 's books, but this one is special..."

That's good to hear, Carolien. I read a bit of it when I was too tired to take it in and had to reread, but am still really enjoying it.

[Teri-K]

I'm reading Christie's They Came to Baghdad. It seems to be a spy novel, not a mystery, but I'm really enjoying it so far. Lots of interesting people coming together...

[Lady Clementina]

Teri-K wrote: "I'm reading Christie's They Came to Baghdad. It seems to be a spy novel, not a mystery, but I'm really enjoying it so far. Lots of interesting people coming together..."

It's a fun one- a touch silly but fun and there is a mystery eement as well if I remember right

[Marwan]

Started reading The Thief Who Couldn't Sleep by Lawrence Block

[Teri-K]

Lady Clementina wrote: It's a fun one- a touch silly but fun and there is a mystery element as well if I remember right "

There is a mystery, but it's much more "innocent young thing gets involved in international conspiracy". I really enjoyed it. You're right to call it fun - not a book to take seriously. Yet I was worried about our heroine a time or two.


I also loved the first timer's view of Baghdad and a dig. Christie, with her background, made that very real and quite interesting. All in all a good read. Reminded me of Helen McInnes, though lighter.

[Lady Clementina]

Teri-K wrote: "Lady Clementina wrote: It's a fun one- a touch silly but fun and there is a mystery element as well if I remember right "

There is a mystery, but it's much more "innocent young thing gets involved..."

Yes- I enjoy her archaeology related settings- Even Murder in Mesopotamia was very enjoyable for that (besides the murder of course).

[Susan]

I have started Information Received, our other buddy read this month. I haven't read it before and it looks really good so far.

[Annabel]

Amy wrote: "I just put The Case of William Smith on my phone to listen to while I work. Super busy at work so I've been getting a lot of books in!"

One of my favourites. Although the plot has a few too many coincidences, it's more rigorously plotted and characterised than a lot of Wentworths. I also find it really atmospheric and moving about the war and its impact on people's lives. Some sections are narrated by the male protagonist (William Smith himself) which is unusual for PW but not unknown. I think it's very effective.

[Paperbackreader]

Finished Overture to Death, at long last! Many of the main characters annoyed me and at times I feel Marsh was especially harsh to certain types of women in her fiction.

[Susan]

We have that one to come in a month or two, Paperbackreader. I see it is set in the theatre world again, which Ngaio Marsh, of course, knew well.

[ShanDizzy]

Paperbackreader wrote: "Finished Overture to Death, at long last! Many of the main characters annoyed me and at times I feel Marsh was especially harsh to certain types of women in her fiction."

I agree...Marsh's snobbishness was certainly reflected in some of her mysteries but I think she created wonderful characters in Inspector Alleyn and Fox.