Buddy Read - Eight Perfect Murders and the Eight Books Within

[Lisa, Moderator]

Hi everyone. This is a bit of a wild idea for an extended Buddy Read - is anyone interested in reading all eight books featured in Eight Perfect Murders, and then finishing by reading EPM as the last one of the stretch?

[Julesy]

Have no clue what this is. Author? Series? Reference links?

[Pamela]

Could it be this? Eight Perfect Murders by Peter Swanson. The book was just released in March.

[Lisa, Moderator]

Yes, that's it. The book references eight other novels and the "perfect" murders within, which are relevant to the plot. I thought it would be fun to read them all before reading 8PM. 😊

[Julesy]

Okay, thanks. I thought it might be Peter Swanson's book, which I just recently got the audiobook from Overdrive. I will read it sometime soon but not for another month or two since my May is already jammed packed with planned books.

[˜”*°•.˜”*°• Sheri •°*”˜.•°*”˜, Moderator]

Lisa wrote: "Yes, that's it. The book references eight other novels and the "perfect" murders within, which are relevant to the plot. I thought it would be fun to read them all before reading 8PM. 😊"

Let's pick a month, not this one hopefully, and do this. Give everyone time to get the book and get other things out of the way. What do you think?

[Lisa, Moderator]

Sounds great to me. I’m pretty flexible with regard to what you think is a good time to start. June? July? Thanks!

[˜”*°•.˜”*°• Sheri •°*”˜.•°*”˜, Moderator]

Lisa wrote: "Sounds great to me. I’m pretty flexible with regard to what you think is a good time to start. June? July? Thanks!"

I'm #6 in the que at my library so I'm not sure when I'll be able to get it. I'll keep a watch. Maybe things will change.

[Lisa, Moderator]

I was hoping to buddy read all of the 8 books mentioned in Eight Perfect Murders, and then read 8PM. If that doesn't interest you (or others) I can read those on my own and then buddy read 8PM. 😊

[˜”*°•.˜”*°• Sheri •°*”˜.•°*”˜, Moderator]

I've got a couple of them so do you want to start with ABC Murders in July?

I've got Strangers on a Train and Death Trap too.

[Lisa, Moderator]

That would be great! ABC Murders first up, starting in July, and we can progress through in alphabetical order. Thanks for doing this :)

[˜”*°•.˜”*°• Sheri •°*”˜.•°*”˜, Moderator]

Great.

[[deleted user]]

Hi just joined your group. This sounds interesting and I like the premise.

[Lisa, Moderator]

Nancy wrote: "Hi just joined your group. This sounds interesting and I like the premise."

Hi Nancy! We'll start in July with ABC Murders. We can use this thread for our discussion. Anyone else interested, please feel free to join.

[Barb]

Hi all, I just joined and really like the premise of this group. I am good with starting in July, but I wonder Lisa if you could post the names of all the books In order on this thread so I can work on gathering them ahead of time. And thanks for inviting me over from the other thread!

[Lisa, Moderator]

Sure thing.

The A.B.C Murders, Agatha Christie
Deathtrap, Ira Levin
Double Indemnity, James M. Cain
The Drowner, John D. MacDonald
Malice Aforethought, Francis Iles
The Red House Mystery, A.A. Milne
The Secret History, Donna Tartt
Strangers on a Train, Patricia Highsmith

[˜”*°•.˜”*°• Sheri •°*”˜.•°*”˜, Moderator]

Oh boy. This is going to be fun.

[Barb]

Thanks, I am definitely looking forward to this!

[Lisa, Moderator]

Me too! Thanks, ladies. I was becoming doubtful that I'd find any takers. 😊

[Leena]

Hi All
I've just joined this group and am completely game to start doing this.
Thanks Lisa for sharing the titles. I'll start collecting as many as I can.

[Lisa, Moderator]

Great, Leena! Thanks for joining 😊

[˜”*°•.˜”*°• Sheri •°*”˜.•°*”˜, Moderator]

Lisa, looks like you've got yourself a group read going for July.

Lisa
Sheri
Leena
Barb
Nancy

And room for more :)

[Lisa, Moderator]

Fantastic! What are everyone's thoughts on how much time we should take to complete each book? Is two weeks a good amount of time? Less? More?

[Lisa, Moderator]

Garnet wrote: "I would like to join."

Great! Glad to have you, Garnet.

[˜”*°•.˜”*°• Sheri •°*”˜.•°*”˜, Moderator]

Lisa wrote: "Fantastic! What are everyone's thoughts on how much time we should take to complete each book? Is two weeks a good amount of time? Less? More?"

I think I remember that The ABC Murders, Death Trap and Double Indemnity, are very short books, so I think 2 weeks would be fine. I can't remember about the other ones.

[Lisa, Moderator]

Sheri wrote: "Lisa wrote: "Fantastic! What are everyone's thoughts on how much time we should take to complete each book? Is two weeks a good amount of time? Less? More?"

I think I remember that The ABC Murders..."

Yes, Deathtrap is only 72 pgs. and Double Indemnity 115. Maybe those super-short ones we could even read in a week to keep things moving along.

[˜”*°•.˜”*°• Sheri •°*”˜.•°*”˜, Moderator]

I was up late last night and Double Indemnity was on the TMC channel. It was made in 1947 and the stars were Edward G. Robinson, Fred McMurray and Barbara Stanwyck. I was up until 1:30 am watching it and since I have the book I read after that until 2:15. So I've jumped ahead in our alphabetical order but I just couldn't help myself. The movie is a LOT different than the book and I like parts of the movie better than the book.

[Kirsten]

Sounds fun!

[Scott]

Sheri wrote: "I was up late last night and Double Indemnity was on the TMC channel. It was made in 1947 and the stars were Edward G. Robinson, Fred McMurray and Barbara Stanwyck. I was up until 1:30 am watching ..."

I agree, the movie written by Raymond Chandler and Billy Wilder is better than the book.

[Lisa, Moderator]

Sheri wrote: "I was up late last night and Double Indemnity was on the TMC channel. It was made in 1947 and the stars were Edward G. Robinson, Fred McMurray and Barbara Stanwyck. I was up until 1:30 am watching ..."

Very cool - I want to see that movie. I recently watched two other Billy Wilder films (Some Like It Hot, The Apartment) and really liked them.

[Lisa, Moderator]

Kirsten #happybirthdayarthurconandoyle wrote: "Sounds fun!"

Welcome, Kirsten!

[[deleted user]]

I was able to get the first four books. The Drowner I could not get through Libby or Hoopla. I bought it on Amazon kindle.

ABC Murders-224 pgs
Deathtrap-72 pgs
Double Indemnity-115 pgs
The Drowner-240 pgs
Malice Aforethought-289 pgs
Red House Mystery-160 pgs
Secret History-527 pgs
Strangers on a train-256 pgs

The Secret History I can only get as an audiobook. I can’t imagine listening to 527 pgs. I hope the libraries open up soon.

[Lisa, Moderator]

Nancy wrote: "I was able to get the first four books. The Drowner I could not get through Libby or Hoopla. I bought it on Amazon kindle.

ABC Murders-224 pgs
Deathtrap-72 pgs
Double Indemnity-115 pgs
The Drowner..."

Thanks, Nancy. I do see the Secret History on Libby, but that might be because I’m in a different library system. I can’t wait until libraries reopen as well. Ours does have a curbside pickup system implemented, which is at least something.

[[deleted user]]

Just got a phone call to pick up books curbside ay my local branch. Yeah! They said we could put holds on books so I did for The Secret History. Hopefully the book can be transferred between branches.

[Lisa, Moderator]

Nancy wrote: "Just got a phone call to pick up books curbside ay my local branch. Yeah! They said we could put holds on books so I did for The Secret History. Hopefully the book can be transferred between branches."

Yay! That’s great news :)

[Gem , Moderator & Admin]

Sorry I'm a day late and a dollar short, when is this starting?

[Lisa, Moderator]

Gem wrote: "Sorry I'm a day late and a dollar short, when is this starting?"

Hi Gem, welcome! You’re not late at all. We’re starting with ABC Murders in July and working through the list in alpha order. :)

[Gem , Moderator & Admin]

Lisa wrote: "Hi Gem, welcome! You’re not late at all. We’re starting with ABC Murders in July and working through the list in alpha ..."

Thanks. Do you have a schedule? I can open the discussions for each book a week or so before it starts.

[Lisa, Moderator]

Gem wrote: "Lisa wrote: "Hi Gem, welcome! You’re not late at all. We’re starting with ABC Murders in July and working through the list in alpha ..."

Thanks. Do you have a schedule? I can open the discussions ..."

Nancy was kind enough to compile a list with number of pages for each book.

ABC Murders-224 pgs
Deathtrap-72 pgs
Double Indemnity-115 pgs
The Drowner-240 pgs
Malice Aforethought-289 pgs
Red House Mystery-160 pgs
Secret History-527 pgs
Strangers on a train-256 pgs

Edited to reflect later discussion: Sounds like the early consensus for schedule here is to just have at these eight in order, beginning on July 1st. Read at your own speed, with the plan to start Eight Perfect Murders on Sept 1 or thereabouts. We can keep a continual running discussion in this thread, using spoiler tags.

[˜”*°•.˜”*°• Sheri •°*”˜.•°*”˜, Moderator]

I would like to keep this thread going if possible. For me it’s easier to find things when they’re all together. I say just use spoiler tags rather than 2 separate discussions.

[Lisa, Moderator]

Sheri wrote: "I would like to keep this thread going if possible. For me it’s easier to find things when they’re all together. I say just use spoiler tags rather than 2 separate discussions."

Good thought. What are your thoughts on time to read books?

[Gem , Moderator & Admin]

Sheri wrote: "I would like to keep this thread going if possible. For me it’s easier to find things when they’re all together. I say just use spoiler tags rather than 2 separate discussions."

Agreed, we tried two discussions per book (spoiler and no spoilers) and it didn't seem to work well.

I thought we could start a discussion for each book in the Buddy Reads folder. I cleaned it out yesterday so only the "how to" and this discussion are in there. Do we not want a discussion for each book?

[Lisa, Moderator]

Gem wrote: "Sheri wrote: "I would like to keep this thread going if possible. For me it’s easier to find things when they’re all together. I say just use spoiler tags rather than 2 separate discussions."

Agre..."

I think I like Sheri's idea of keeping all discussions in one thread. There are advantages to both ways; nice to see comments by book, but also nice to maintain a single flow, especially if we're going to just set a July-September schedule for the 8 novels. There may be general discussion that crosses multiple books. I'm happy, though, with what the majority of the group prefers.

[Linda]

I don't really contribute to discussions much but I like to follow along. I've added all eight books to my library.

[Lisa, Moderator]

Linda wrote: "I don't really contribute to discussions much but I like to follow along. I've added all eight books to my library."

Great, Linda :)

[Gem , Moderator & Admin]

Lisa wrote: "Gem wrote: "Sheri wrote: "I would like to keep this thread going if possible. For me it’s easier to find things when they’re all together. I say just use spoiler tags rather than 2 separate discuss..."

Can I suggest that you edit the first post with the schedule? I think that will be easier to keep up with, and if the schedule changes we'll be able to see it right up at the
top.

[Lisa, Moderator]

Gem wrote: "Lisa wrote: "Gem wrote: "Sheri wrote: "I would like to keep this thread going if possible. For me it’s easier to find things when they’re all together. I say just use spoiler tags rather than 2 sep..."

Sure. Do you like the idea of the general schedule of reading the eight roughly at the pace between July 1 and Aug 31, and starting Eight Perfect Murders on Sept 1?

[Gem , Moderator & Admin]

If that is a comfortable reading pace for everyone, I think that works. I hope to participate, it depends on whether or not I can get the books.

[[deleted user]]

It sounds good to me. I don’t know if this will help but the book I’m currently reading on my Kindle is 280 pages and it stated it would take just over 5 hours to read

[Lisa, Moderator]

Hi everyone :) Looking forward to starting ABC Murders next week!