What mysteries are you reading at the moment? (2023)

[Jess]

I've just finished Midnight at Malabar House a historical mystery set in 1950s India.

[Rosina]

Thank you for reminding me that I have to continue with the series!

[Susan in NC]

Jess wrote: "I've just finished Midnight at Malabar House a historical mystery set in 1950s India."

Oh, that was a good one!

[Sandy]

Jess wrote: "I've just finished Midnight at Malabar House a historical mystery set in 1950s India."

That is a series I'm following. Enjoy.

[Susan in NC]

I’m waiting on my library to get Sovereign by C.J. Sansom and Poseidon's Gold by Lindsey Davis. I also have to wait until after 8/25 to access The Death of Mr. Lomas by Francis Vivian on Scribd. These are all for our upcoming September reads. Can’t believe how summer has flown by - but it has been so hot here, I’m looking forward to cooler days!

[Jill]

I have just started Transcription by Kate Atkinson I loved her Brodie books but found another not so good

[Judy]

I'm listening to the first in a medieval mystery series, Wine of Violence by Priscilla Royal - enjoying it so far. It's set in my home area, East Anglia.

[Susan in NC]

Oh, I’ve enjoyed that series-some of the characters and dialogue are a bit stiff at times, but I like the lead, Prioress Eleanor

Edit: clicked on your link, and yes, that’s the series I’ve been reading for years, but who is “Vic Varello”? No such character exists in this series! If there’s a librarian here, please fix that - this is book 1, not book 5.

[Judy]

Susan in NC wrote: "Edit: clicked on your link, and yes, that’s the series I’ve been reading for years, but who is “Vic Varello”?..."

Hi Susan, I'm a librarian and had also spotted this. I've just been attempting to fix this - there is a book with a similar title by Dell Shannon aka Lesley Egan which someone (or some bot?) had amalgamated with this one. I've separated the two books and put the Shannon book in the Vic Varello series instead of this one, but it often seems to take ages for changes to update on GR! Hopefully this will clear within the next day or two.

[Jill]

I read the first one with another book group, but they never carried on with it. I have books 1 - 11 and keep meaning to give the series some attention.

[Susan in NC]

Judy wrote: "Susan in NC wrote: "Edit: clicked on your link, and yes, that’s the series I’ve been reading for years, but who is “Vic Varello”?..."

Hi Susan, I'm a librarian and had also spotted this. I've just..."

Thanks, Judy, I’ve read the whole series, and I was wracking my brain, “who’s this Vic person? Doesn’t Sound like a medieval name!” ;)

[Susan in NC]

Jill wrote: "I read the first one with another book group, but they never carried on with it. I have books 1 - 11 and keep meaning to give the series some attention."

I’ve found it a bit uneven, but some enjoyable “regulars” among the religious characters in the priory.

[Judy]

In the UK a lot of the Medieval Mystery series is on Audible Plus, meaning if you are a member they're included without having to use a credit. I also think the reader, Wanda McCaddon (aka Nadia May aka Donada Peters!) is very good.

[Sandy]

Judy wrote: "In the UK a lot of the Medieval Mystery series is on Audible Plus, meaning if you are a member they're included without having to use a credit. I also think the reader, Wanda McCaddon (aka Nadia Ma..."

True in the US as well

[Susan in NC]

Judy wrote: "In the UK a lot of the Medieval Mystery series is on Audible Plus, meaning if you are a member they're included without having to use a credit. I also think the reader, Wanda McCaddon (aka Nadia Ma..."

Thanks, she’s a favorite narrator of mine!

[Joanne]

Jill wrote: "I have just started Transcription by Kate Atkinson I loved her Brodie books but found another not so good" Jill, I loved Transcription and have listened to it three times. Hope you like it too! Joanne

[Jill]

I’m just over a quarter of the way through and really liking it. Juliet is very interesting and likeable, if a bit naive.

[Sandy]

I am reading The Murder Wheel, second in a new series, set in 1938, specializing in locked room mysteries.

[Craftyhj]

I've just finished The Moving Toyshop by Edmund Crispin. I quite enjoy the Gevaise Fen books once I have allowed for the casual patriarchy of the era.

[Judy]

Craftyhj, we have another Edmund Crispin book, Frequent Hearses coming up as a buddy read in mid September if you are tempted

[Judy]

In between full-length novels, I'm reading the anthology Bodies from the Library 2: Forgotten Stories of Mystery and Suspense by the Queens of Crime and other Masters of Golden Age Detection and enjoying most of the stories - I need to read this whole series! The editor, Tony Medawar, has found some amazing rarities and very entertaining stories.

[Carissa]

Judy wrote: "In between full-length novels, I'm reading the anthology [book:Bodies from the Library 2: Forgotten Stories of Mystery and Suspense by the Queens of Crime and other Masters of Golden Age Detection|..."

I listened to Bodies from the Library 1 on Audible! It was so good! I'm glad to hear that you like the second installment. Many of the Audible reviewers were unenthusiastic, so I wasn't sure if it was worth a credit. A recommendation from someone in this group is more than enough for me, though!

[Judy]

Carissa, I'm reading this in print, but my daughter is listening to the Audible version and enjoying it a lot. Thanks for recommending book 1, I will need to listen to or read that one too!

[Jill]

I am about to start Poseidon's Gold by Lindsey Davis for the buddy read

I haven't been too enamoured with the previous books and struggled with the one before this, so hoping for better things in this one

[Susan in NC]

Only about a third of the way in, Jill, but enjoying so far, hope you like it!

[Sandy]

And I just finished The Grove of the Caesars, Davis' follow-up series once Falco retires.

[Judy]

I've just read the Edmund Crispin novella The Hours of Darkness, which was included in Bodies from the Library 2: Forgotten Stories of Mystery and Suspense by the Queens of Crime and other Masters of Golden Age Detection - I found it an enjoyable read, starring Gervase Fen and including a brief appearance by Mrs Fen too! I see there will be an Audible version of this story released later in the year, though not many details yet:

https://harpercollins.co.uk/products/...

[Craftyhj]

Judy wrote: "I've just read the Edmund Crispin novella The Hours of Darkness, which was included in [book:Bodies from the Library 2: Forgotten Stories of Mystery and Suspense by the Queens of Cri..."

I imagine it would be quite exhausting being Mrs Fen although life would definitely not be dull!

[Judy]

Very true Craftyhj!

[Rosina]

I have just started re-reading Perfect end, one of the Yellowthread Street police procedural mysteries.

They are another series that I enjoyed decades ago, and re-read occasionally when I find new books too much! Fantastic, fast and fun - and I love the everyday life of Hong Kong.

[Sarah]

Rosina: Thanks for mentioning this series, which I had never heard of before. I'm also interested in the setting in Hong Kong, presumably taking place before the "Reunification" with mainland China when it was still a British Crown Colony. Hong Kong's always been a land unto itself, the "Fragrant Harbour" with a lot of activity below the eye.

[Rosina]

The last book in the series To the End is set at the time of the handover.

I think the series starts well before that - the first was published in1967. The series detectives don't age much if at all over the twenty years!

[Sarah]

Ha-ha! Very few detectives seem to age. Miss Marple stays the detective of St. Mary Mead, outliving several actors who have portrayed her. I saw a trailer recently for Gérard Depardieu playing Maigret, even though he seems a few decades older than I imagined Jules Maigret as written by Simenon– but Maigret doesn't age much over the decades, either!

[Rosina]

Reginald Hill - author of the Dalziel and Pascoe series - explained it rather well. In the series, which starts at the beginning of the 1970s and goes on until the 2000s Dalziel hardly ages at all, and Pascoe goes from being very young to having a wife and child (possibly aged about 10). But the books do deal with events in the real world - the Miners' strike, terrorism, mobile phones.

He explained that the real world is a slow train, but that his detectives are on an express, stopping at selected stations but taking much less time between them. (He puts it rather better than that ...)

[Kirsten]

Judy wrote: "I'm listening to the first in a medieval mystery series, Wine of Violence by Priscilla Royal - enjoying it so far. It's set in my home area, East Anglia."

I love that series.

[Craftyhj]

I'm continuing on with my Campion travels, having just started The Tiger in the Smoke by Margery Allingham

[Sarah]

Rosina: Thanks for Reginald Hill's remarks. It makes sense to have a senior detective seem ageless, while those in lower ranks start climbing the ladder and actually have personal lives that change. Though Peter Robinson's Inspector Banks does go through a bit of heartbreak, as do Elly Griffiths' DCI Harry Nelson and Dr. Ruth Galloway (will they or won't they?)

I'm reading a book that won a lot of awards but is out of my usual mystery genre, more hard-boiled, visceral crime, a literary action thriller: Razorblade Tears, by S.A. Cosby.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5...
Very well written, so keeps the pages turning.

[Sandy]

I have started a quite different take on the usual amateur detective, Three Bags Full, with a herd of sheep investigating the murder of their shepard. The brightest sheep is Miss Maple. Intriguing so far but I am not far into it.

[Susan in NC]

I finishedPoseidon's Gold, which I enjoyed, trying to get into my reread of Sovereign, but feeling like something lighter, with a holiday weekend coming up (Labor Day, kind of the last hurrah of summer).

[Craftyhj]

Rosina wrote: "Reginald Hill - author of the Dalziel and Pascoe series - explained it rather well. In the series, which starts at the beginning of the 1970s and goes on until the 2000s Dalziel hardly ages at all,..."

I always think the same applies to Wexford by Ruth Rendell.

[Jill]

I finished Poseidon's Gold, which I liked better than others I have read, and am now starting Frequent Hearses. By Edmund Crispin

[Susan in NC]

I spent a few hours on Sovereign last night, really immersed myself in Shardlake’s world- grim as it is, but addictive. I read this when it first came out, 2006, so it’s almost like reading for the first time again. I remembered very little except the overall claustrophobic, paranoid feeling of life anywhere near Henry’s court - even the outermost periphery our hero finds himself thrust into!

[Jill]

I have now started Circle, The by M.J. Trow One of my favourite authors

[Craftyhj]

I'm continuing my journey through the Mrs Pargeter series by Simon Brett. I am just starting number 6 of 8, Mrs Pargeter’s Point of Honour

[Dee❤️]

I am Reading Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie

[Judy]

I've started Accident by Design by E.C.R. Lorac - enjoying it so far.

[Susan in NC]

I just finished Two-Way Murder by E.C.R. Lorac - I’ve enjoyed everything I’ve read by her, one of my favorite finds, thanks to this group!

[Frances]

As I am traveling in Scotland I’ve just finished Ian rankin’s Strip Jack while I’m in Edinburgh and started Anne Cleeve’s White Nights before I head up to the Shetlands.

[Sandy]

Frances wrote: "As I am traveling in Scotland I’ve just finished Ian rankin’s Strip Jack while I’m in Edinburgh and started Anne Cleeve’s White Nights before I head up to the Shetlands."

How nice to be able to combine travel and reading.

[Sarah]

Rankin is more brutal, while Cleeves combines rough weather with elegant writing, and I love them both. Too bad I've never been to Scotland, never making it father north than Yorkshire!