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No Wind of Blame Group Read August 2016 Chapters 9-16
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Finally got some reading time this evening and I'm almost through chapter 11 - I'm really enjoying it! It picked up for me after Hemingway and crew arrived on the scene, he's so much fun and just the man to handle the histrionics of the Palings household...
Susan in NC wrote: "Finally got some reading time this evening and I'm almost through chapter 11 - I'm really enjoying it! It picked up for me after Hemingway and crew arrived on the scene, he's so much fun and just t..."He comes off so normal and able to see through the crazies that I enjoyed him, too.
it's more fun once inspector hemmingway arrives. he is a very amusing character.
Louise wrote: "it's more fun once inspector hemmingway arrives. he is a very amusing character."Yes although (view spoiler)
I'm nearly finished and can't wipe the grin off my face when I'm reading this!
Susan in NC wrote: "Finally got some reading time this evening and I'm almost through chapter 11 - I'm really enjoying it! It picked up for me after Hemingway and crew arrived on the scene, he's so much fun and just t..."me too. I love his sarcasm and deadpan humor. I was waiting for him to arrive. He's always amusing.
I want to slap Vicki and Ermyntrude, Janet too. Vicki and Hugh's squabbling gets on my nerves. You know how that is going to end up. Heyer seems to like that plot. I'm not a fan.
I can stand Vicki, because she's at least got some understanding and a bit of intelligence and humor, but Janet? Oh, my, what a completely tiresome bit of humanity. What could her tea planter be thinking of?!?
Karlyne wrote: "I can stand Vicki, because she's at least got some understanding and a bit of intelligence and humor, but Janet? Oh, my, what a completely tiresome bit of humanity. What could her tea planter be th..."She really is a drip, isn't she?
Susan in NC wrote: "Karlyne wrote: "I can stand Vicki, because she's at least got some understanding and a bit of intelligence and humor, but Janet? Oh, my, what a completely tiresome bit of humanity. What could her t..."A drip - yes!
Janet's tea planter is thinking he's in India and she's in England and he'd like to keep it that way! Out of sight, out of hearing, out of mind. Unless he's deaf?! It sounds like everyone tunes her out anyway.
QNPoohBear wrote: "Janet's tea planter is thinking he's in India and she's in England and he'd like to keep it that way! Out of sight, out of hearing, out of mind. Unless he's deaf?! It sounds like everyone tunes her..."LOL!
Ha! I have to agree on Janet--"a drip" is the perfect description. Although at one point I thought she might be the murderess (view spoiler)On the tea planter, I immediately thought of the tea planter in Indian Summers--a BBC drama that aired on PBS last season. I gave up on it midway through but there was this character who'd gone out to India to run a tea plantation but lost himself to booze. He was thoroughly repellent and I enjoyed picturing Janet getting off the boat in Ceylon and finding her cherished tea planter all fat and dissipated.
Hana wrote: "Ha! I have to agree on Janet--"a drip" is the perfect description. Although at one point I thought she might be the murderess [spoilers removed]On the tea planter, I immediately thought of the te..."
She has no grip on reality, so I wonder if she'd have thought him wonderful anyway? The character from Indian Summers sounds like the bad fiancée in Shadow of the Moon. Blech.
But I'm picturing an alternate reality for Janet, complete with marksmanship...
I agree, she had no connection to reality, and I completely forgot about her, she was not very likable.
Karlyne, you're right about the Shadow of the Moon connection--a similar and very unpleasant character.
Karlyne wrote: "But I'm picturing an alternate reality for Janet, complete with marksmanship... Hahahahaha!
Carol ♛ Type, Oh Queen! ♛ wrote: "Karlyne wrote: "But I'm picturing an alternate reality for Janet, complete with marksmanship... Hahahahaha!"
Didn't you just get a sudden vision of her as a completely different character under all the drippiness?!?
Karlyne wrote: "Didn't you just get a sudden vision of her as a co..."
No I had a picture of her lifeless body!
I'm a bad person!
Carol ♛ Type, Oh Queen! ♛ wrote: "Karlyne wrote: "Didn't you just get a sudden vision of her as a co..."
No I had a picture of her lifeless body!
I'm a bad person!"
Hahahahaha! Wheeze! Gasp! Yours is a more realistic picture!
I will say that if No Wind of Blame were the kind of mystery that had more than one murder, Janet would be a hot prospect for an additional victim! Probably because the murderer was afraid she'd talk too much about the wrong things (even if no one did listen to her).
Is the sign of a good murder mystery the fact that no one minds that the victim is dead? I know I like the weird satisfaction that comes with knowing that there's one less idiot on the planet to plague the life out of everyone else so much that I'm willing to overlook the actual murder. (But I hope I only feel like that in the abstract...)
I'd say it's more the sign of a Golden Age murder mystery like Heyer's, where the puzzle is the main plot interest. Having a victim that nobody liked tends to widen the field of suspects, and prevents the reader being so distressed about the death that they can't concentrate on the clues.
Hana wrote: "Ha! I have to agree on Janet--"a drip" is the perfect description. Although at one point I thought she might be the murderess [spoilers removed]On the tea planter, I immediately thought of the te..."
Me too! I thought it would be fascinating like the BBC dramatization of "Raj Quartet" that captivated me in high school, I forget what they called the TV version, but "Indian Summer" just didn't do it...but yes, he'd be perfect for Janet the Drip's tea planter!
Carol ♛ Type, Oh Queen! ♛ wrote: "I quite liked Wally - he was so completely awful! Honestly if [spoilers removed]"The really bad thing is that her father would have just been annoyed with her!
Karlyne wrote: "...I know I like the weird satisfaction that comes with knowing that there's one less idiot on the planet..."I have to note that we've now fantasized about multiple character deaths...Wally, of course, the Prince (in a duel), and now Janet! I confess I wished for Ermy-whosit's demise on multiple occasions and Vicky more than once. Either we are an exceptionally blood-thirsty group of readers or (hopefully!) Margaret & Karlyne are right and this is one of those classic Golden Age devices. But then I read Carol's spoiler comment, agreed completely...and I wondered about us once again.....:D
Karlyne wrote: " Carol ♛ Type, Oh Queen! ♛ wrote: "I quite liked Wally - he was so completely awful! Honestly if [spoilers removed]"The really bad thing is that her father would have just been annoyed with her!"
Exactly - who's going to serve the tea and clean up after?!
I agree with Hana! Quite often in mysteries, the victim was so unpleasant, there were any number of people, including the reader, who wished them dead. It would have been more interesting if Wally and the sketchy prince (Alexis? For real? Is that British for Alexei?) killed each other in a duel or hunting or whatever. As I was reading these chapters, I kept hoping the Prince was the murderer, all the way until the reveal. I won't say if I was right or wrong, just that I HOPED.
Poor Janet. Stick her with Maria or whatever her name is in Lady of Quality and see who can out talk each other. I feel compassion towards Maria though, whereas Janet is a young woman with more opportunities than a Regency woman.
Louise I moved your comment to the spoilers thread.
QNPoohBear wrote: "I agree with Hana! Quite often in mysteries, the victim was so unpleasant, there were any number of people, including the reader, who wished them dead. It would have been more interesting if Wally ..."i liked the prince, didn't want him to be the murderer. And i felt sorry for janet, who had been bullied by her nasty old father all her life.
Carol ♛ Type, Oh Queen! ♛ wrote: "Louise I moved your comment to the spoilers thread."but you moved it to the wrong spoiler thread.
How is everyone feeling about the book? Did you like it?