Reading the Detectives discussion
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What mysteries are you reading at the moment? Old thread
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Elizabeth (Alaska)
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Apr 14, 2019 02:17PM
Will start later today The Judge and His Hangman by Friedrich Dürrenmatt. Dürrenmatt was awarded Switzerland's Schiller Prize in 1960.
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Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "Will start later today The Judge and His Hangman by Friedrich Dürrenmatt. Dürrenmatt was awarded Switzerland's Schiller Prize in 1960."I see this is book 1 of a new-to-me author and series - I’ll be interested to see what you think (plus a prize winner!)
Susan in NC wrote: "I see this is book 1 of a new-to-me author and series - I’ll be interested to see what you think (plus a prize winner!) ."I think there are only 2 books in the series. GR says there is a bundle, but for some reason I chose to get the single title paperback.
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Murder at the Mardi Gras (1947) by Elisabet M. Stone. I'm a little more than half-way done and I'm not entirely sure I like it. The protagonist is a journalist and she just doesn't appeal to me. Stone has made her very rough-edged and foul-mouthed (for a vintage-era mystery)--especially since she seems to come from Louisiana's upper-class.
Reading American Gun Mystery. About halfway through and Ellery has just said "I know but I don't know." I certainly don't know right now.
Sandy wrote: "I've started Inspector Ghote Breaks an Egg. Very light, set in India, written by a Brit. I heard about this series from Alexander McCall Smith and I can see the similarities with #1 L..."I've been meaning to try these out. I didn't know they were books but I saw a film called The Perfect Murder, which was based on one of these, which I liked very much. Later I discovered it was a series.
The most important fact about H.R.F.Keating is that he was a Britisher who had never been to India when he started his Inspector Ghote series set in Bombay and sometimes in other parts of India. It was only when the books had becomes successful that he deigned to make a short visit to India at his publisher's insistence and cost.This might be called a heroic feat of imagination or it might be called something else.
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I read this was a little Campion like, Judy? You must let me know. I haven't started it yet, but I have started:
They Rang Up the Police
and the next Poirot:
Cards on the Table(one of my favourites)
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I read this was a little Campion like, Judy? You must let me know ..."
That's interesting - the start is quite adventurous, so maybe! I haven't got all that far as yet though. I'll be getting on to They Rang Up the Police after this.
Starting to struggle now with Murder At the Bookshop.
It started out as quite a reasonably taut detective story but has now brought in gangs, masks, kidnappings, aggressive guard-dogs, faked deaths, etc and got completely silly. It rather reminds me of Dickson Carr in the mix of very careful, forensically-planned and detailed crimes combined with melodramatic absurdity in the plot.
The Detection Club's rules about gangs could have been usefully followed here, it seems to me. The big problem with gangs is that unless there's a colourful mastermind at the top, the whodunit element becomes completely interesting. And even if the mastermind is charismatic, the availability of henchmen can mess up the business of alibis.
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Jill wrote: "Now starting A Red Herring Without Mustard by Alan Bradley. Third in the Flavia de Luce series."I am yet to read that one though I have read books 4 and 5.
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Judy, I guess you are more generous than some of us. For me gangs are a strict no no. Even Christie's The Big Four is boring compared to her other Poirot books. I think If you want gangs, read Edgar Wallace- a GA writer I will never read again!
While reading Death of a Busybody by George Bellairs, I came across a description of the victim's drawing-room which included 'novels of a moral type'.I have no idea what this phrase means. Do religious people (in context the relevant characteristic of the victim) read novels different from others and if so, which ones?
I started American Eve: Evelyn Nesbit, Stanford White, the Birth of the "It" Girl and the Crime of the Century
for a book club. It is a turn of the century true crime story, and is well-written and interesting, although the crime at the center of the story has yet to occur. There are a lot of photographs of Evelyn Nesbit throughout the book, and even by today's standard you could understand her appeal. There is something like a chameleon about her, in that she looks totally different depending on her pose and costuming.
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I have no id..."
There were certainly children's books, given as Sunday School prizes, with moral/religious storylines. I remember Treasures of the Snow was one such title which I received at Sunday School as a child. I think there were probably similar adult books but I'm not sure.
Morality plays are defined as a kind of drama with personified abstract qualities as the main characters and presenting a lesson about good conduct and character, popular in the 15th and early 16th centuries.I suspect "novels of a moral type" might fall into the same sort of definition. Here is a GR shelf called moral. (And some are definitely more recent than the 15th/16th Centuries!)
In an attempt to google 'novels of a moral type' I also came across this list but I doubt Miss Tither's books would belong to a list of which the first three members are Nietzche, Paine and Machiavelli and one of the novels is Voltaire's Candide.This is a list of goodreads members shelving books as moral i.e. dealing with moral issues. This makes sense in our era and even in 1942.
However in the book the phrase must mean books of the kind Judy describes, but for adults. I wonder whether such books are still being published.
I've completed An Aegean Prophecy. Andreas Kaldis is assigned to investigate the murder of an old monk on Patmos, but his murder turns out to be closely linked to politics of the Eastern Orthodox Church and secretive monasteries on Mount Athos. Add in Serbian war criminals and a few Russian connections and you have an interesting plot in a beautiful setting. Andreas remains one of my favourite policemen and this is a series that needs more of my attention!
Thanks, Carolien. I've added the first in the series to my over-burdened wish list!
Tonight I will start The Chalk Circle Man by Fred Vargas. In 2009 it won the CWA International Dagger, but I'm reading it because she was awarded Spain's 2018 Princess of Asturias Award for Literature. They are a series of annual prizes awarded in Spain by the Princess of Asturias Foundation (previously the Prince of Asturias Foundation) to individuals, entities or organizations from around the world who make notable achievements in the sciences, humanities, and public affairs.
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Currently, though, back in Aberdeen with Flesh House
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I am just about to start it, so that is encouraging
Bicky wrote: "OK, you have made me push Death in Captivity to the top of 'have to be read right now' list."Same here, but the kindle edition isn't available in my country yet.
I've wanted to read a Colin Cotterill for a while now & picked up The Coroner's Lunch while on holiday. I really enjoyed the start, but I'm just over the half way mark, & it is falling away for me a bit.This won't put me off trying another Cotterill - first in series books are often a bit weak - & I love Laos. Would go back in a heartbeat.
Judy wrote: "I'm halfway through our next group read, They Rang Up the Police by Joanna Cannan, which is very witty and readable - enjoying it so far."When does this group read start?
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I've read the first three books and enjoyed the setting and characters. Sometimes there is a supernatural element that I don't like. I have the fourth on audio as someone mentioned that the humor comes through more in audio. We'll see if that is true but its a series I plan to continue, just not as avidly as others.
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When does th..."
The main group reads start at the beginning of the month, Bicky. So we have one main group read and the challenge read. The extra, buddy reads, open mid-month - with the exception of the Poirot books, which were set up by a member of the group, and she opens those on the first of the month too.
You can find a list of all the current, and upcoming, reads at the very top of the discussion threads.
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
General Chat - Current and Upcoming Reads
Hope that helps!
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Just a reminder that the next books coming up, on May 1, are the group read They Rang Up the Police by Joanna Cannan, the next book in the Inspector Alleyn challenge, Spinsters in Jeopardy by Ngaio Marsh, and the next Poirot buddy read, Cards on the Table.
Carol She's So Novel꧁꧂ wrote: "I've wanted to read a Colin Cotterill for a while now & picked up The Coroner's Lunch while on holiday. I really enjoyed the start, but I'm just over the half way mark, & it is fallin..."I read that last year and loved it - but I know what you mean, the characters and humor were terrific, but at the halfway point I felt like the mysteries were piling on and we weren’t making any progress!
I would definitely continue with this series, but as many of you say, I’m juggling several series and I love them all, some publish once a year, some not so much, and others you pick up along the way from recommendations from GR friends (yes, I’m blaming all of you for feeding my addiction...)
Sandy wrote: "Carol She's So Novel꧁꧂ wrote: "I've wanted to read a Colin Cotterill for a while now & picked up The Coroner's Lunch while on holiday. I really enjoyed the start, but I'm just over th..."I know what you mean about the supernatural touch, I just assumed the author was trying to reflect he spirituality of the people - not easy to keep alive in the face of the Communist government. I wondered if he’d keep that in future books.
Up next on my Kindle,
Enter the Saint by Leslie Charteris. This is the first Saint book and is the first one I will have read.
Bicky wrote: "In an attempt to google 'novels of a moral type' I also came across this list but I doubt Miss Tither's books would belong to a list of which the first three members are Nietzche, Paine and Machiav..."Interesting discussion! I'm very much into collecting old novels, many of which are the sort of moral novels you mention. Many were Sunday School prizes for kids for perfect attendance or good grades (back in the days when Sunday School literally was a school to help with working kids and literacy!) and there were even several publishers founded to print this sort of thing. Others were used to illustrate facets of the Christian faith and were published in cheap editions to be used as tracts (Christie's Old Organ, Jessica's First Prayer, for instance).
I don't know of any that are traditionally published these days, though I think some are still being written as indie novels, particularly for kids. The only publisher I know of that's still in business is Thomas Nelson, which is now owned by HarperCollins and publishes Bibles and other various books, but definitely not the old sort of "moral novel."
I've just completed Herbie's Game which is the fourth in this very entertaining series. I've loved the premise from the start. Junior Bender is a burglar who gets hired by other criminals to solve cases which they, for obvious reasons, cannot report to the police! This is not the best in the series, but it has a solid plot, lots of suspects (there are 3 - 5 hit-men and hit-women involved!) and quite a bit of life philosophy. Recommend this series if you enjoy Robert Crais or Robert B. Parker - it has a similar pace and humour.
Sandy wrote: "I've read the first three books and enjoyed the setting and characters. Sometimes there is a supernatural element that I don't like. I have the fourth on audio as someone mentioned that the humor comes through more in audio. We'll see if that is true but its a series I plan to continue, just not as avidly as others."My library system carries more of the Jimm Jurree series than they do of the Doctor Suri, so I may try that. I'm so close to the finish on The Coroner's Lunch but I'm having to push myself to read it now.
Gary wrote: "Up next on my Kindle, Enter the Saint by Leslie Charteris. This is the first Saint book and is the first one I will have read."Hope you enjoy Gary, I love the Saint.
I love The Saint too, I must reread some of those books.Currently reading Landed Gently, #4 in the Inspector George Gently series.
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Susan wrote: "I haven't read the Gently series, Pamela. I have looked at them before - perhaps I should push them up my TBR list?"I've read about 5 or 6 and they've been a mixed bag, but I like them as a quick undemanding read, and the 1950s setting is strong.
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Pamela wrote: "Susan wrote: "I haven't read the Gently series, Pamela. I have looked at them before - perhaps I should push them up my TBR list?"I've read about 5 or 6 and they've been a mixed bag, but I like t..."
I have read the first 10. I enjoyed them all but I liked Gently best when he ate the peppermint creams in the first few.
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Reading the Detectives
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