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What are you currently reading?
Reading "Outrageous Fortune" by Patricia Wentworth, another of those overlooked, prolific writers of the latter 19th/early 20th century. She wrote a few series, the one with the most books featured Miss Silver (another predecessor to Miss Marple).This one's a stand-alone. The setup is that a man wakes up in a hospital with amnesia, one woman claims to be his wife, another claims to be a cousin and he may or may not have something to do with the theft of some rare emeralds. Published in 1933 originally, but her books are being rediscovered and many are easy to get on Kindle or in inexpensive reprints.
Currently reading Zorro by Isabel Allende. It’s pretty good, it starts before Don Diego is born and creates a really amazing backstory. Explaining the caves he uses and why he’s so amazing with sword play and tricks, as well as how he got his belief system. It even creates a really wonderful backstory on Diego and Bernardo’s relationship. So far, he’s in Spain and hasn’t yet returned to California and taken the mantle of Zorro yet.
I am currently reading the 3rd book in Mick Finlay's "Arrowood" series, "The Thames Corpse Murders." Arrowood is a grubby, uncouth, put-upon private enquiry agent in Victorian era London, who is miffed because he can score no better than low-paying, mundane cases, since all of the high profile cases are going to that overrated fellow, Sherlock Holmes.Well-researched, detailed, sometimes grim in its depiction of London's underclass, but great cast, well-plotted, one of the more original historical series to come around.
I started one of Marjorie Allingham's Campion books. The character's not really grabbing me. I think one or several of them were made for TV many years ago.
i am reading a biography of sir walter raliegh
Paula wrote: "Rohit wrote: "Paula wrote: "Rohit wrote: ""I just found an old volume of the complete stories by O. Henry at a local "free" store. You bet I snatched that right up. I'd been wanting to read more by..."he did a great job on the lord of the rings but the hobbitt was not necessary to be 3 parts and too many changes!
Currently reading one of Emily Brightwell's Victorian era "Mrs. Jeffries" books. Mrs. Jeffries is a widow who keeps house for Inspector Witherspoon.I picked this up because it sounded like it was in the same vein as my recent find, the Lizzie Thomas, John Webber books of Anthony Oliver. They're present day, a series that is only 4 books long, and they are without question the best English countryside mysteries - maybe among the best mysteries - I've picked up in a long time. Oliver is an obscure figure, and most believe the author to be a Welsh actor who worked n the 30s and 40s, and then turned to his real love, which was antique pottery - Lizzie Thomas is Welsh and antiques play a big part in the books. She is a middle-aged part time housekeeper and cook for a retired detective. Intricate, well-plotted with a very well-defined supporting cast.
Absolutely first-class writing and storytelling. Unfortunately, the books are long out of print, and the first in the series - The Pew Group - is unaffordable. However, you might be able to get your hands on mmpbs of the other three: The Property of a Lady, The Elberg Collection, Cover-Up, for a fair price.
!! I also got a used copy of one of the Brightwell Jeffries and Witherspoon books, picked it up because it sounded like a Christmas Mystery - Mrs Jeffires and the Silent Knight. Not very good and actually, I didn't finish it. Mrs. Jeffries is a housekeeper and policeman's widow. One thing I did wonder was whether Mrs. Hudson - there was something Mrs H-ish about Mrs. Jeffries - was a policemans widow.
I was given the MX Publishing Book of New Sherlock Holmes Stories Part V: Christmas Adventures, so I've been going through that.MX Publishing has been doing anthologies of new Holmes fiction, mostly short stories, but some of the volumes will include essays, poems, short plays. Full disclosure: I've got stories in four of the most recent editions (Part XII through Part XXIII).
Most of them are based on other cases, or new cases set in Conan Doyle's time frame. A few have themes, like the Christmas mysteries, or cases that appear to have a supernatural element.
I finished the Judith Lee stories from Richard Marsh. Marsh is best known for his supernatural novel "The Beetle" that outsold "Dracula" when it first came out in 1897. The Lee stories were published in magazines and are compiled in a volume - Lee is a teacher of the deaf and a skilled lip reader who is able to get the jump on crimes in progress through her "eavesdropping."Going through the Dorcas Dene stories now. Dene is another "female Sherlock", an actress-turned-sleuth who becomes a "lady detective" to make ends meet after her husband loses his sight and she has to support him and her mother. The character is more interesting than the stories overall, but worth checking out.
I was looking for any match ups between Holmes and Jack the Ripper and posted a list under another discussion. Got around to reading Sherlock Holmes and the Autumn of Terror and it was pretty bad. First of all, the book had weird formatting, broken up into paragraphs with spaces between. It tried to put Sherlock Holmes and the historical information into a story, came off like it was trying to be too many books - a novel, a historical account, a forensic look at the data - and wound up doing none well.
I'm 3/4 through Blood on the Tracks: Railway Mysteries, which is an anthology of railroad related mysteries compiled for the excellent British Library Classics. Its somewhat of a mixed bag, but mostly good to excellent.
I am still in classic mystery mode, though Jane Harper's latest is on deck. I started The Red House Mystery by AA Milne, better known as the creator of Winnie the Pooh. It was just too dull, and I moved on to "The Hunt Ball Mystery," by Sir William Magnay, who was a prolific 19th/early 20th century novelist. This was one of a few that were published posthumously. So far, so good.
I just finished "Quackery - a Brief History of the Worst Way To Cure Everything, by Lydia Kang and Nate Pedersen. It is a sometimes sickening, sometimes funny account of some of the worst treatments for health, curing disease and beauty of all time. Doctor Watson would be horrified.
i learned years ago that vikings put dead fish guts into wounds...now we know it reacts like PENICILLIN!
Finished Jane Harper's "The Survivors" and thought it was excellent. Got through a couple of Mary Roberts Rinehart's novels - The Man in Lower Ten and The Window at the White Cat. I think her writing shows more personality than a lot of her contemporaries - C. Daly King, Patricia Wentworth, for example - and the setups are very good, but a few too many detours throw the plots off course IMHO.
Finished Dorcas Dene, Detective, a collection of stories by the novelist/short story writer/playwright George Sims.I have read a lot of female detectives of the late 19th/early 20th century - Miss Butterworth, Loveday Brooke, Lois Cayley, Mrs. G, Miss Silver - but I think Dene is the best of the lot, often more interesting than the puzzles themselves.
I just finished "The House of Silk" and sorry to say I was pretty underwhelmed. I thought the author did a pretty good job of producing a Conan Doyle-sounding text, but wasn't taken by surprise by the plot twists, and found myself getting bored about halfway through. I did finish it though, but didn't like it enough to pick up the 2nd book.
i.m sorry you did not like it..i have read many other authors and did not come close to house of silk!
Roald Dahl wrote some rather suspenseful short stories - I remember we had to read "Poison" in school. I'd also recommend "Taste,""The Landlady" and his classic, "Lamb to the Slaughter."
J. wrote: "Roald Dahl wrote some rather suspenseful short stories - I remember we had to read "Poison" in school. I'd also recommend "Taste,""The Landlady" and his classic, "Lamb to the Slaughter.""I think "Lamb to the Slaughter" was made into a short movie about 15 years ago - it was also used for an episode of one of those suspense shows from back in the day, Alfred Hitchcock or Twilight Zone.
you are right about the hitchcock...and also the short film for the roald dahl series!
I am reading some of Shirley Jackson's short stories. Most people know "The Lottery" but The Possibility of Evil, and "One Ordinary Day, With Peanuts are also really good. And she wrote a pretty good comic story called "Charles", nice one to read to kids.
I just finished "Sherlock Holmes and the Christmas Demon." Disappointed overall. I posted a short review.
I got a book called "Sherlock Holmes and the King's Evil" a collection of long short stories featuring Holmes. I recall a film reviewer saying once that something promised more than it delivered. That's what I thought about this collection. One thing about Conan Doyle - he even managed to make the longer expository passages suspenseful. These tales were, IMHO, overly long and the payoff just wasn't worth the time spent reading them. I actually didn't finish the book
Read and reviewed Carolyn Wells' "The Diamond Pin". Wells wrote several mysteries with her Holmes-inspired detective Fleming Stone. This one was juggled two mysteries - a wealthy woman is found murdered in a securely locked room, and what is the significance of the "dime and pin" that has been bequeathed to a niece who had been promised a "diamond pin."Got a bit bogged down midway, but decent enough for me to look for other Wells books. Apparently Wells was inspired to write mysteries after reading Anna Katherine Green - I mentioned Green's "The Affair Next Door" earlier in this thread.
Read and reviewed another of Carolyn Wells' mystery novels - "The Clue." A young heiress is found murdered in a locked room on the eve of her wedding. Wells wrote several mysteries with a series detective, Fleming Stone, who is somewhat inspired by Sherlock Holmes.Overly long for its material, but enjoyable for people who like to go back to the mysteries of that era. (This was written in the early 1900s.)
Ken B wrote: "Just started The Columbus Affair by Steve Berry.Steve writes Dan Brown-esque historical conspiracy theory stuff. I'm sure there is a name for this genre but I have n..."
i have read all his books! they are great!
Ken B wrote: "Just finished a couple of books. Both of which were Dollar Bin purchases!First, Thunderhead, another good book by the dynamic duo Douglas Preston and [author:Lincoln..."
i agree!
Read and reviewed another Carolyn Wells mystery, "Raspberry Jam", again billed as one of her "Fleming Stone" mysteries, though again, Stone doesn't appear until you're well into the plot.Liked it a lot less than the previous two I'd read, though generally I've enjoyed going through mysteries of that era overall. Wells gravitated toward the locked-room mystery, and the Holmes/Wiggins inspiration for her Fleming Stone and his sidekick Fibsy are pretty obvious.
I read a collection of short mysteries, "The Best Detective Stories of Cyril Hare." I'd never heard of Hare (pseudonym for judge/crime writer Alfred Gordon Clark.A real find. These were excellent short mysteries/puzzles, most with a devilish twist at the end. Highly recommended.
Just finished (and posted a review) of an anthology called "Rivals of Sherlock Holmes", 40 short stories of mystery and crime written by contemporaries of Conan Doyle and including four of his non-Sherlockian tales. The stories are formatted as they had originally appeared in magazines like The Strand, with the original illustrations. Good overall with a couple real gems.
Going over my reviews, I reviewed a number of Sherlock Holmes books through last week. This is how they did with me (I read others, but didn't post about them.)5 Star - Sherlock Holmes and the Eye of Heka
Knight Errant, the Singular Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
4 Star - Most of the MX Anthologies (a few got 5 stars)
The Strange Case of Eliza Doolittle
The Spider's Web
3 Star. Sherlock Holmes and the Beast of the Stapleton's
The Revenge of the Hound
Sherlock Holmes and the Christmas Demon
The House of Silk
Sherlock Holmes and the Autumn of Terror
Holmes Entangled
2 Star. The Fifth Heart
The Sherlock Holmes Stories of Edward D. Hoch
i give 5 stars for the house of silk and 4 stars for beast of the stapletons
I think my 3 stars for the Beast of the Stapleton's was generous. I really liked the look of the book the cover art and "packaging" but the story itself was IMHO riddled with Canonical errors. I don't mind doing a sequel of one of the novels, but there were things in the book that weren't alternative takes, they were just plain errors. It made me doubt that the author actually read the book.
Barbara wrote: "Going over my reviews, I reviewed a number of Sherlock Holmes books through last week. This is how they did with me (I read others, but didn't post about them.)5 Star - Sherlock Holmes and the Eye of Heka
Knight Errant, the Singular Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
Thanks for the nod. "Knight Errant" was 3 novellas, been out of print awhile. It was actually accepted so quickly that I felt I would have liked to do one more pass - but I always feel like that!
I also liked "The Eye of Heka."
Just started "Hidden Fires - An Adventure of Sherlock Holmes Before Baker Street" . So far it is really good, really authentic and some great characters. I will probably review it when I finish.
Thanks, Barbara. Goodreads does not have Hidden Fires searchable yet - I don't know what the problem is.Right now, I'm reading "Necropolis," a Victorian era thriller by Basil Copper. Published in 1980, but it reads like a Victorian-style novel.
"The Witness on the Roof", by Annie Haynes, who had a very short career (started late and passed away too soon); she has been compared to Margery Allingham, Carolyn Wells, Dorothy Sayers.
Just finished "The Joss, a Reversion," (1901) by Richard Marsh. I thoroughly enjoyed Marsh's novel "The Twickenham Peerage," and this was in the same vein - opening puzzle, multiple narrators, non-chronological timeline. Not without its flaws but a lot more interesting than some of the contemporary suspense novel's I've read lately.
I'm on my second J. Jefferson Farjeon mystery - I wasn't a fan of Mystery in White, but I'm giving him another try. And I'm half way through Jane Harper's new novel, "The Exiles." One of my favorite contemporary writers.
Just finished another of those women friends/one's (or both's) a psycho, called "Her Closest Friend." Not good.Lately I love the idea of psychological suspense, women-centered mystery more than I'm liking the actual books.
I just finished an anthology called "A Study In Sherlock", short stories "inspired by" the Canon. It was a great disappointment overall, especially since these are well known mystery authors, and the editors were Laurie King and Leslie Klinger. A lot of the stories didn't really connect to Holmes and aren't really pastiches.Not as good as the recent MX anthologies I have been able to pick up lately.
I reviewed it and gave it 2 stars - just really disappointed.
I read "Sherlock Holmes versus Jack the Ripper" which was written around the beginning of the 20th century, originally issued by German "pulp" publishers, picked up by other European publishers and translated into English.The portrayal isn't very authentic, and there is no Watson but there is a young assistant named Harry Waxman. The plot involves the near 40 murders of the infamous Jack the Ripper and a wager between Holmes and a police detective named Murphy to see who will capture the killer.
The translation is quite awkward and occasionally hilarious but it was an entertaining digression into early Sherlockiana.
I just finished the latest Jack Reacher book - very disappointed in how weak the series is now. I put up a review.
Change of pace with the bio of Tucker Carlson written by Chadwick Moore. I found it very interesting, not what I expected. Well written, very readable.
Barbara wrote: "I just finished an anthology called "A Study In Sherlock", short stories "inspired by" the Canon. It was a great disappointment overall, especially since these are well known mystery authors, and t..."This book is one of the titles that I can't find as it's out of print !
J. wrote: "I read "Sherlock Holmes versus Jack the Ripper" which was written around the beginning of the 20th century, originally issued by German "pulp" publishers, picked up by other European publishers and..."I have read several accounts that one of the London detectives had taken Joseph Bell and Arthur Conan Doyle to the crime scenes and given them access to the files, they then put their own conclusions in separate envelopes and then handed them to the detective who claimed they both suspected the same individual.
I recently finished reading 'Portrait of a Killer - Jack the Ripper, Case Closed' by Patricia Cornwell which is a criminal investigators look at the evidence. It's an interesting read and worth it even if only for the forensic detail and photographs. Without any wish for spoilers (as it's on the cover) she has compelling evidence that Jack the Ripper was a student of Whistler called Walter Sickert. Not only was he responsible for the Whitechapel murders but the earlier similar murders know as the Camden Town murders.
Wouldn't these be a good starting point for a Sherlock Holmes novel, perhaps a challenge for an author to accept ?
I just finished Joanne Harris' "Gentleman and Players" (she's probably best known for "Chocolat", which was made into a film.) I thought it was excellent, the sort of solid writing and slow, but accelerating burn similar to Jane Harper's work. (Harper's one of my favorite contemporary authors.)Several years after "Gentleman and Players" Harris did two more works at the same setting, so it's the first in a trilogy. I'm into the second book now.
Baker Street Irregulars
Books mentioned in this topic
Thunderhead (other topics)The Columbus Affair (other topics)
Blood on the Tracks: Railway Mysteries (other topics)
Collected Stories of O. Henry: Revised and Expanded (other topics)
Lincoln in the Bardo (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
Douglas Preston (other topics)Steve Berry (other topics)
Shashi Tharoor (other topics)
O. Henry (other topics)
Anne Frank (other topics)
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Green was an American writer of detective fiction, writing from the late 19th century into the 1920s. Though she didn't write the first female sleuth (often credited with it, but wasn't the first) her amateur sleuth Amelia Butterworth is cited as the precursor to Miss Marple, and other senior lady sleuths, and her socialite sleuth, Violet Strange, is cited as a precursor to the "girl detective", specifically Nancy Drew.
"The Affair Next Door" was strong on the main character and had some good plot twists - too long, as were many novels of the era - but Green should not be overlooked in discussions of 19th/ early 20th century detective fiction.