The Mystery, Crime, and Thriller Group discussion
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Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "Jan C wrote: "It could also be that he is getting old. Not sure how old he is but his jackets have been showing him with white hair for quite a while now.And more than a decade I remember talki..."
Some people are older in their early 70s than others.
I'm sure. I note that is the same year Lawrence Block was born. I'm not a Matthew Scudder reader, so I don't know how his recent book is compared to earlier ones, but I know that he retains his usual wit and humor in regular Facebook posts.
Bill wrote: "Sally wrote: "I just started Mistress of the Art of Death
. I love historical mysteries so I hope this is a good one. I haven't read enough yet to have ..."I'm really getting into this series. Just finished Serpent's Tale and requested the next ones. I'm also a fan of Donna Leon.
A Red DeathSo is The Spies of Warsaw a good one to start with? I see that one at my library all the time.
I've been working on
in between my classes
I'm looking forward to the Furst series and plan to read them in order because they are in a time sequence historically. I ordered Night Soldiers at paperbackswap today.
Cliff wrote: "Marjorie wrote: "If you start with Night Soldiers -- note that it's quite different from the rest of the series. So if you don't like it, you shouldn't necessarily be discouraged from ast least try..."I started with The Spies of the Balkans with no good reason other than a friend with similar tastes gave me his review of it, and that plus the blurb about the content by Goodreads gave me the idea I'd enjoy it. I did, then started reading the others. Certainly not in sequence, but that was due more to availablilty rather than choice. I'm on the list now for Night Soldiers as an e-book, and the Polish Officer and Warsaw whatever the title are on my list to be made available for me at the library. People and repetitions were not glaring errors out of sequence. May do some of them, those that were not part of the series, but we'll see later. There is so much really great to read out there!
Jerry wrote: "Elli wrote: "Just started The Cuckoo's Egg by Clifford Stoll, a non-fiction spy novel. And so far I do like it."Thanks for reminding me about this trip through the early days of what would later..."
I am enjoying it, like the author's style, too. And it is historical. Except I'm a bit historical, too. Cobol, Fortran...remember when my kids studied them. I was fully an adult with kids who weren't babies when this happened!
Just started The Angels Will Not Care by John Straley--picked up a couple of his at a yard sale and was hooked after a paragraphScott
Just finished Some Danger Involved by Will Thomas. It was a decent read, but not nearly as well-developed as books I've read from David Liss.
I just finished Life Support by Tess Gerritsen. That is the second time I have read that book this year. It was better than before. I have started The Lincoln Lawyer by Michael Connelly.
Charlie wrote: "I just finished Life Support by Tess Gerritsen. That is the second time I have read that book this year. It was better than before. I have started The Lincoln Lawyer by Michael Connelly."The Lincoln Lawyer and The Brass Verdict were the first two Connelly books that I read. They got me very excited about his writings.
Kim wrote: "I've just finished re-reading The Nine Tailors by the wonderful Dorothy L. Sayers."I love Sayers Lord Peter Wimsey books :) Great characters and mysteries!
Barbara wrote: "I finished Kisser by Stuart Woods, a Stone Barrington mystery. Stone, a lawyer, is a real lady killer but his shenanigans in this book were waaaaay over the top. I th..."I've pretty much given up on the Woods books other than the "Orchid" series ... it's gotten a bit over the top too, but I like the characters ... particularly the dog!
Laziness in authors does annoy me as well and it still irritates me that Stuart specifically mentioned a character from "Orchid Beach" in a later book, as the 'faithful' manager for the police department office. Which was fine ... except that this was the woman who had been killed in the first book and was the person who had been passing information about the department on to the bad guys!
I was irritated enough about it that I actually emailed him about it. Surprisingly enough, I did get a response ... "Must have forgotten."
Just finished The Hundredth Man by Jack Kerley and just started The Death Collectors by same author. First time reading Jack Kerley, so it took a bit of getting used to his style of writing, but am finding The Death Collectors much more enjoyable. Good story so far, great suspense thriller.
I know this is not the right topic for this discussion but I can't find anyplace else to put it.....I am looking for a series of books that I read several years ago and have forgotten both the author and the titles. Basically, it is about a French detective with a dog that seems to solve the mysteries. The dog carries on a dialogue in the story but of course no one hears it but the reader. The books are very whimsical but I am at a loss for the name. Can anyone help?
Mod
First of all, feel free to start a thread with your request in the folder "Book Hunting/Recommendations" which is a little further down the list of our folders in this group. More people will see it and maybe you'll get an answer.
Second, there is actually a group here on Goodreads devoted completely to helping us find forgotten titles called What's the Name of That Book and here is the link. http://www.goodreads.com/group/show/1...
Thanks, Donna.....I thought there was a thread but could not find it.....maybe I didn't look far enough. I will go there and try my luck.
Just finished Ann Charles' Nearly Departed in Deadwood and the 2nd in series, Optical Delusions - FUNNY, FAST! HOT! - and am nearly finished with Julie Moffett's No One Lives Twice - love it!
Sharon wrote: "Barbara wrote: "I finished Kisser by Stuart Woods, a Stone Barrington mystery. Stone, a lawyer, is a real lady killer but his shenanigans in this book were waaaaay ov..."That's funny Sharon...that Woods forgot he'd killed off a character in an earlier book. At least he responded to your email. Maybe I should email Woods about how irritaitng Stone Barrington's antics are becoming :)
Barbara wrote: "At least he responded to your email. Maybe I should email Woods about how irritaitng Stone Barrington's antics are becoming :) "I have never cared much for Barrington as a character, though I'm not sure his lady-killer antics are particularly to blame for that. After all, I still enjoy the Travis McGee series by John D. McDonald and the Virgil Flowers series by Sandford and I can't call either of those characters restrained.
Barbara wrote: "I finished Kisser by Stuart Woods, a Stone Barrington mystery. Stone, a lawyer, is a real lady killer but his shenanigans in this book were waaaaay over the top. I th..."I never cared for his stories either - only read a couple - because it seemed the entire story conflict was based on Stone's inability to keep his fly zipped. Not enough to sustain a plot or my interest
Kari wrote: "I am really enjoying Iron Lake now."Iron Lake is terrific (love Krueger's world building, the area is practically a character) I'm listening to Thunder Bay right now
Just finished "The Informant" by Thomas Perry. This is the third and presumably last of the three which began with "Butcher's Boy" which has been one of my favorites since I read it the first time.Perry is one of the few authors who can manage to hook you into really wanting a less-than-admirable "bad guy" to succeed and get away 'clean'.
While Sleeping Dogs and The Informant are not as compelling as the first, Butcher's Boy, they are both well written and continue the plotline with long gaps quite believably.
Kim wrote: "I've just finished re-reading The Nine Tailors by the wonderful Dorothy L. Sayers."Re-read that earlier this year; wonderful book.
Susanna wrote: "Kim wrote: "I've just finished re-reading The Nine Tailors by the wonderful Dorothy L. Sayers."Re-read that earlier this year; wonderful book."
Isn't it just! Made me want to listen to church bells and visit the Fen country.
I'm halfway through The Quest for Anna Klein: An Otto Penzler Book by Thomas H. Cook. It's an historical espionage thriller about a rookie American attempt to stop WWII by assassinating Hitler, as told by the protagonist Danforth in 2001. It's an ARC; the book's out this month.
I just finished reading Mind's Eye by Håkan Nesser. I really enjoyed this one. Check out my review. http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...
I have just started reading The Shepherd I have seen it on amazon for a while, but thought I would give it a go, as it was in the top 10 for the free downloads. I wasn't expecting much from it, but it is actually really good. I am a couple of chapters in and it is very fast paced, which sucked me in from page one. So far, so good!
Starting two new books to begin Jun...The Time Thief by Linda Buckley-Archer (2nd story in the Gideon trilogy), and
Fifth Planet, by Fred Hoyle
Dorothy Sayers is AMAZING! Muder Must Be Adverstised was excellent as well.
Am into City of Silver by Annamaria Alfieri. It's 17th century Peru and definitely a mystery. So far both an Inca miner doing some under-the-table work for some unidentified someone, and a daughter of a wealthy family have been murdered. It's an era at least in the west of strict rules, which at least publicly are slavishly followed, and roles well defined. Individuals are easily and willingly sacrificed to what is considered the common good. Big includes the aristocracy, wealth and church, and goes down by degrees determined by birth circumstances, degree of white blood, and wealth and power...how useful you are, with pretty much the indians at the bottom. Slavery is, both in reality and in essence...with degrees and hierarchies in all areas including the church. Silver's important, both to the residents of Potosi (a difficult place to live with the extremely high altitude) and to the wealth of the Spanish crown. The mine may have been over-mined and suspicions have arisen to the mixture used in the monetary coinage. And representatives of the inquisition and the kings personal representative with total powers as such are arriving. Also possibly a time for underhanded personal vendettas. And I'm on like a third of the way in. Action heating up, anyone?
Am wrote: "Dorothy Sayers is AMAZING! Muder Must Be Adverstised was excellent as well."She is one of my favorite authors, too. When I was first introduced to her years ago, she was another author that I just had to read everything she wrote! I'm sure at some point, I'll re-read.
Ahhhh I think I know who your talking about! Let me know how you feel about it at the end. I may pick it up. I am re-reading Agatha Christie then Dorthy Sayers.
Barbara wrote: "I finished Kisser by Stuart Woods, a Stone Barrington mystery. Stone, a lawyer, is a real lady killer but his shenanigans in this book were waaaaay over the top. I th..."I think he's just writing now for the money. I quit reading him. He became second rate.
I am about 1/3 into City of Silver by Annamaria Alfieri. It's genuinely a mystery involving, at least so far, two murders which need solving badly since the silver mine has been overmined and the quality of the coinage made is open to question and two representives of the Spanish king, one from the notorious inquisition and the other armed with full authority of the king to do anything are due in town very soon. I'm enjoying the book. If anyone is interested, here's the blurb from an interview with the author: http://www.historicalnovels.info/Anna...
Just finished re-reading The Benson Murder Case by S.S. Van Dine. It is a Philo Vance mystery and he was one of the leading fictional detectives of the early 1920/30s......almost forgotten today except by die-hards like me. They can be rather tough to read due to the attitudes of the time; besides, Vance wasn't a very likable character... too effete, snobbish and condescending. But, I read these books several years ago and being a fan of the "golden age" of mysteries, I was hooked. Keeping in mind all the shortcomings of the character and he is annoying, I still like the books.
Finished Buried Prey this morning. Loved that it went back to Lucas Davenport's beginnings as a detective and connected it to his current life. Have to admit that I got lost in the various characters due to a couple lapses in reading and went back to re-read the beginning. Short attention span I guess....sigh....
Jill wrote: "Just finished re-reading The Benson Murder Case by S.S. Van Dine. It is a Philo Vance mystery and he was one of the leading fictional detectives of the early 1920/30s..."I am reading, every now and then, a biography of the author, Alias S.S. Van Dine.
So effete he wouldn't use his real name. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree. Although I'm still in the early part of the book. He was also connected to The Smart Set with H. L. Mencken and George Jean Nathan.
Just finished
Before I Go to Sleep and while a good read, I wouldn't say it was the most outstanding thriller that it's purported to be. One thing the author does well is create characters that make the reader guess where their true intentions lie.
A 3* read for me. If you're interested in reading more, my review can be found here: http://wp.me/pTRJE-6E
Reading the Magic Bullet by Larry Millet which is a locked room mystery set in Minnesota. Never read this author brfore and it hasn't been reviewed on this site which I have to say is a first for me. I am really enjoying it thought, apparently based on some historical fact.
Mod
Now on to Prophecy which I won in the Goodreads giveaway.
Finished A Test of Wills. It was pretty good, although the twist at the end was a little "out of the blue". I will definitely continue the series.
currrently reading
by craig russell.finished animals by simon beckett yesterday. was a weird and creepy story but really bad compared to his david hunter series
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And more than a decade I remember talking to someone ..."
http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/w/s...
says he was born 1938, so early 70s.