What mysteries are you reading at the moment? (2021) Showing 1-50 of 1,557

[Judy]

Are you reading a good Golden Age or more modern mystery at the moment, or have you just finished one? Please share your recommendations and reviews!

This is a new thread (part 3 of this discussion!) as the old one has become rather long. It has been archived, but you can still refer to it for past discussions.  

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

[Judy]

I've started reading The Weed That Strings the Hangman's Bag for one of our next buddy reads - enjoying it so far. It's fun to get back to Flavia again.

[Tania]

I would like to try to catch up on that series and read along with the group. Perhaps by book 3. Everything seems to move much slower through the library system at the moment.

[Jill]

I have started A Certain Justice, but have to admit I have been putting it off, one, because it is so long and two because I have not been that enamoured by the others of this length. The start has been good so far, so hopefully the rest is just as good.

[Judy]

I hope you go on enjoying A Certain Justice, Jill - I found it a much quicker and more enjoyable read than the other PD James books of the same length.

[Sandy]

Jill wrote: "I have started A Certain Justice, but have to admit I have been putting it off, one, because it is so long and two because I have not been that enamoured by the others of this length. ..."

Jill, I agree with Judy; this read went much quicker that the prior two (three?). Hope you stick to it.

[Gary]

My current reads:

Case Pending by Dell Shannon The first in the Luis Mendoza series.

A Dangerous Mourning by Anne Perry The second in the William Monk Series.

Academic Curveball by James J. Cudney

Pancakes & Pandemonium by Janel Gradowski

[Judy]

Tania wrote: "I would like to try to catch up on that series and read along with the group. Perhaps by book 3. Everything seems to move much slower through the library system at the moment."

Hope you get a chance to try Flavia, Tania. I think everything is going slower in general at the moment.

[Judy]

That's quite a selection of current reads, Gary - which is your favourite out of these? I keep wondering about trying Anne Perry.

[Judy]

I've started listening to Evan Only Knows, another of the Constable Evans series by Rhys Bowen. With most audio books I get frustrated by the slow pace of listening and end up changing over to a print or Kindle copy, but with these, perhaps because of the gentle feel and all the lovely Welsh landscapes, I manage just to listen!

[Judy]

Judy wrote: "I've started listening to Evan Only Knows, another of the Constable Evans series by Rhys Bowen.."

Unfortunately this one is set during the foot-and-mouth epidemic, so not quite the escapism I was looking for!

[Tania]

I'm hoping to get to Hallowe'en Party, but I thought I'd rather reader it later this month, closer to Halloween, so for now I'm rereading The Mysterious Affair at Styles.

[Sandy]

Marsh's A Grave Mistake has finally popped up at the library so I will be reading it somewhat soon! It was quite a wait.

Right now I'm reading The Thursday Murder Club and enjoying life in an upper class retirement colony.

[Sandy]

Judy wrote: "Judy wrote: "I've started listening to Evan Only Knows, another of the Constable Evans series by Rhys Bowen.."

Unfortunately this one is set during the foot-and-mou..."

I have a similar problem with The Constant Rabbit. Its satire is too close to US politics for me to enjoy it right now.

[Jan C]

I recently finished The Honjin Murders by Seishi Yokomizo, a Japanese locked room mystery. He pays homage to other locked room mysteries, including those by Doyle, Dickson Carr, Leroux and others. I enjoyed it.

[Gary]

Judy wrote: "That's quite a selection of current reads, Gary - which is your favourite out of these? I keep wondering about trying Anne Perry."

The Monk Series by Perry should be read in order is interesting in that Monk has severe memory loss that he is working through. Perry knows her stuff about Victorian England. I am listening to the audio book which is read by Davinia Porter who is very good.

I have read later books in the Mendoza series, this is the first and not everything is in place yet. There is a reason Shannon was known as the Queen of the police procedural

[Judy]

Thanks for the info, Gary - when I get on to Perry I will bear in mind that the Monk series needs to be read in order.

[Tara]

I'm reading The Chinese Orange Mystery, my first by Ellery Queen. I was concerned by comparisons to Philo Vance, who I found to be quite insufferable, but so far, its a fun, very different read.

[Elizabeth (Alaska)]

I've become a fan of Georges Simenon, and this evening will start Maigret Goes to School.

[Betsy]

Maigret is great! I love the "twist" that, unlike so many big city police detectives, he has a stable, happy marriage. It's a welcome contrast to all the lying suspects and witnesses in each case. Simenon has a knack for evocative settings--if you can't go to Paris, just read a Maigret. You'll find yourself craving a ham baguette and beer for lunch....

[Alwynne]

I've just failed to finish a vintage crime novel by Nancy Spain, currently out of print but due to be republished by Virago Poison for Teacher

Link to my review

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

[Elizabeth (Alaska)]

Betsy wrote: "unlike so many big city police detectives, he has a stable, happy marriage"

Another with such a marriage is Guido Brunetti in Venice. A recent read ...

Coming home from work, Guido found his wife fixing one of his favorite dinners. ‘If I promise to clean my plate, will you run off to Tahiti with me for a week of wild excess?’ he asked as he put his arms around Paola and nuzzled at the back of her neck.

[Betsy]

Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "Betsy wrote: "unlike so many big city police detectives, he has a stable, happy marriage"

Another with such a marriage is Guido Brunetti in Venice. A recent read ...

Coming home from work, Guido ..."

Sounds like fun! I'll have to track those down.

[Judy]

I read a few of the Brunettis rather too close together - must go back to the series!

[Susan]

Me too, Judy. I did love that series but, like so many, I fell midway...

[Carolien]

I'm about 5 behind in the Brunetti series, must get back to it.

Another series with a functional cop that likes food and his family is the Kubu series by Michael Stanley.

[Sandy]

Carolien wrote: "I'm about 5 behind in the Brunetti series, must get back to it.

Another series with a functional cop that likes food and his family is the Kubu series by Michael Stanley."

I like that series and am hoping for more.

[Elizabeth (Alaska)]

Carolien wrote: "I'm about 5 behind in the Brunetti series, must get back to it."

I haven't read as many as you, but I'm also not a reader-in-order.

It seems to me an author can't expect to get new readers if they write books that can only be read in order.

[Roman Clodia]

I'm not generally a read-in-order person either and joined the Brunetti series only a few years back without feeling I'd missed out. I am now reading some of the earlier ones so am just glad to have discovered Donna Leon.

[Elizabeth (Alaska)]

I was so glad to have found a place for him recently. I think I did read the first one first.

Somewhere was the admonition to read the Anne Perry Monk series in order. There are 24 books in that series, and it seems folly that she would expect new readers to go back and find the first ones and follow through.

[Bicky]

Yes, I too was delighted when I recently started reading Donna Leon.

It is also great that the notifications function has re-awakened!

[Judy]

When I was a youngster I never read in order, just in the order I could get books from the library or borrow them from friends and family - but I do love to read in order now with any series that I really like. If I'm probably not going to read a whole series I'm not so bothered, though!

[Jill]

Donna Leon is probably my sister's favourite author. She has given me all the books she has and keeps nagging me to read them. Well over 20 of the books are here , but others keep getting in the way.

[Susan in NC]

I had been on library hold forever, but finally got an ebook copy Of Murder on Pleasant Avenue.

[Carolien]

I started the Brunette series years ago and my mother tended to buy the next in series each year so I have kind of grown with the series.

I didn't use to be that concerned about reading in order, but these days I try to read series in order where possible. It's a lot easier if there are not 24 books!

[Ruth]

Judy wrote: "When I was a youngster I never read in order, just in the order I could get books from the library or borrow them from friends and family - but I do love to read in order now with any series that I..."

Same here - it used to be less of a thing didn't it. But like you I try and read in order now and have even gone back and read a few series by favourite authors like Kate Charles and Betty Rowlands in order and it does make an enjoyable read.

[Jill]

Before easy access to the Internet, the only place to find the order of a series was in the front pages of one of the books, and often they were wrong. Now, it is so easy to access information about books and authors.

[Tania]

I think in pre-internet days, it was also harder to get the books; I wouldn't have wanted to wait to find the first in a series if I was intersted in trying an author. Now the series arc seems more prominant than in earlier books, though I'm sure there are still some series being published where reading order doesn't matter too much.

[Rosina]

Tania wrote: "I think in pre-internet days, it was also harder to get the books; I wouldn't have wanted to wait to find the first in a series if I was intersted in trying an author. Now the series arc seems more..."

It was quite usual for the series detective to go through various life stages - courting, marriage, having children, getting promoted - but that wasn't really a story arc in the sense that it is used now.

Reading the Campion books out of order you might know about Campion's wife before reading the one where they meet, or where they get engaged, but it doesn't seem to be so important as the more modern series where the detective is struggling to come to terms with some life-changing incident in his past, and there is an on-going subplot where he is searching for the culprit or a missing family member (or both) The writer must either spend half the book giving the backstory of the past trauma, or the reader ends up wallowing in a story line that neither begins nor ends in the book they have picked up.

[Abigail]

Blame literary agents, who demand certain elements in series that feel very hackneyed to me.

[Jackie]

Susan in NC wrote: "I had been on library hold forever, but finally got an ebook copy Of Murder on Pleasant Avenue."

I read that last summer and enjoyed it. The Gaslight series seems to me like a lighter version of the William Monk series by Anne Perry. (I'll spoiler just in case) (view spoiler)[ both have a medical woman who ends up marrying a policeman, where they initially have conflict (hide spoiler)].

I am still reading the Monk series but have to space them way apart as they are heavier reading and there is a certain sameness to them I get a little tired of, even though I think she is a wonderful writer.

[Jackie]

I love the series about Chief Inspector Armand Gamache by Louise Penny, is anyone else reading those? or, too modern for this group? I am done with book #13 in the series, but have to space them out as well.
I find the village of Three Pines is my favorite character.

[Elizabeth (Alaska)]

Jackie wrote: "I love the series about Chief Inspector Armand Gamache by Louise Penny, is anyone else reading those? or, too modern for this group? I am done with book #13 in the series, but have to space them ou..."

I read the first one - because others insisted it be read in order. I wasn't impressed enough to think I would ever read it in order and so have never picked up another.

[Abigail]

I read and adore the Louise Penny series, Jackie. I’m behind by three books right now because I save them up for treats and I would hate to get myself in a situation where I’m all caught up and have to wait for months for the next one. I love their richness of psychology, the philosophical ambition, the art talk, though I sometimes find her drug-use plots a bit hysterical.

[Sandy]

I am another Louise Penny fan, but I am caught up so have to wait for eleven months. Sigh. I found the first entry, and perhaps the second, weaker than the rest of the series. I almost put the first book aside after the character introductions as they seemed such a stock cast. Not sure why I persisted as I didn't know anything about the series at the time, but very glad I did.

And it does need to be read in order. There is a larger story arc.

[Sandy]

Jackie wrote: "Susan in NC wrote: "I had been on library hold forever, but finally got an ebook copy Of Murder on Pleasant Avenue."

I read that last summer and enjoyed it. The Gaslight series see..."

I dropped the Gaslight series awhile back, but enjoyed the first several. I agree that Monk need to be spaced out for the reasons you mentioned Jackie. But I might be ready another if I can find a gap in my reading schedule.

[Jill]

I am determined to start reading Louise Penny. Like always it is difficult to fit them in

[Susan]

Me too, Jill.

[Jan C]

I'm way behind in Louise Penny's books.

I read the first few in the Gaslight series.

[Elizabeth (Alaska)]

Jackie wrote: "I am still reading the Monk series but have to space them way apart as they are heavier reading and there is a certain sameness to them I get a little tired of"

I don't think I'd like reading any series back to back. I've ended up abandoning our P.D. James series, mostly because they became too thrillerish, but also because I realized I'm not really up for reading any author once a month.