Wrack and Rune by Charlotte MacLeod (Professor Shandy #3) (August/Sept 24)

[Susan]

Welcome to our August/Sept 24 buddy read of Wrack and Rune The third of the Peter Shandy mysteries, this was originally published in 1981.

A gruesome murder leads Professor Peter Shandy to uncover an ancient Viking curse.

When 105-year-old Hilda Horsefall tells young reporter Cronkite Swope of a stone carved with Norse runes that once sat in the nearby woods, the writer starts salivating at the thought of breaking the news that Vikings once marauded through their sleepy Massachusetts countryside. But while he's jotting down notes, a scream rings out, and Cronkite finds an even bigger story. A farmhand has been burned to death by quicklime, and Cronkite gets an exclusive scoop.

In this neck of New England, strange deaths are invariably referred to Professor Peter Shandy, the only local with the know-how to connect fearsome quicklime to the Vikings of old. But as he digs into the ancient mystery, he finds the forgotten Norse gods are not above demanding a modern sacrifice.

Please do not post spoilers in this thread. Thank you.

[Judy]

Many thanks to Susan for the introduction. Who is reading this one?

I've started it and have read nearly a third, but am struggling at the moment because I feel there is too much rather heavy-handed humour. I'm hoping it will pick up - there isn't enough about the campus so far for my liking.

The spoiler thread is linked below:

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

[Susan in NC]

Judy wrote: "Many thanks to Susan for the introduction. Who is reading this one?

I've started it and have read nearly a third, but am struggling at the moment because I feel there is too much rather heavy-hand..."

This was a reread, and I felt the same! I listened to the audiobook, and that was really annoying, as the narrator made several of the characters sound like Southern yokels rather than rural New Englanders.

[Sandy]

I also listened to the audio book and perhaps because of that I found the characters a bit confusing.

[Judy]

I listened to audiobooks for previous books in the series and felt the narrator gave clues to who the villains were by making them sound too evil! I'm reading on Kindle this time.

[Rosina]

I am suffering with this much as people suffer with the use of Scottish dialect/accents in some British mysteries!