Currently Reading? Showing 1,801-1,850 of 2,623

[Kay]

So did I ! There must have been a reason.

[Wendy]

I've just started reading The Poisonous Seed on my Kindle. Set in Victorian England, Frances Doughty has to solve a murder to save her father's reputation (and the family's livelihood) when he's accused of poisoning a client with strychnine in medicine he's made up in their chemist shop. Frances obviously gets a taste for detective work as two other novels follow!

[Jean]

I've just finished Murder at Brightwell, by Ashley Weaver. It's a period piece, set in a luxurious seaside hotel in 1930s England. The main character, 5 years married to a wandering husband, is approached by her former fiance for help to save his young sister from a man he dislikes. A reviewer compared it to Rhys Bowen's Lady Georgie series; IMO it's not up to that level, but the characters - especially Amory, her husband Milo, and Inspector Jones - are much more pleasant and interesting than I expected. The plot is acceptable, and some of the conversation is quite witty. I understand this is the first of a proposed series; if so, I'm sure I'll read the others. It's not A list, probably not even B; but it's a good solid C.

[Leslie]

I am reading The Weight Of The Evidence (Appleby #9) -- I have just started but so far it seems to be back to normal police procedural style & at a university too!

[Susan]

I couldn't find Murder at Brightwell on Kindle but my library has it so it's ordered.

[Jean]

I got it from my library too - or rather a library in a larger town nearby that we have cards for.

[Susan]

I also have a card here and in Florida and they have quite a few ebooks available.

[Leslie]

I finished The Weight Of The Evidence yesterday -- #9 in the Inspector Appleby series by Michael Innes. I gave this 3½ stars -- I liked the fact that Innes had returned to fairly "regular" police procedural style after the last few which were bizarre.

[Karen]

Jean wrote: "I'm not a list person - as I said, my memory is really good for almost everything else that I actually want to remember and even a lot I don't. I remember phone numbers from my childhood, the menu..."

That's what I use Goodreads for; especially in used bookstores. There are some authors whose books I want to own; I put all of their books in my Goodreads account, and I was putting those books on a shelf titled "owned" for a while, too, but I got tired of doing that. But I check on my phone to see if they're in my goodreads account before I buy anything in a store, and if I'm buying online I check my Goodreads account online before I buy anything.

[Carolien]

Just finished Thirteen Hours which is an excellent read. Part police procedural and part thriller with a plot that absolutely hurtles along. If you enjoy Ian Rankin, I would recommend it.

[Leslie]

I am listening to the audiobook of the third Flavia book, A Red Herring Without Mustard. I will be starting our BoTM soon...

[Jean]

I just read Charles Todd's latest, A Fine Summer's Day, which may be the best one yet in the Ian Rutledge series. It starts slowly but turns into a speeding roller coaster of a book, with extraordinary plotting and characters. In the background of this prequel to the series, England is hearing the first rumors of trouble after the Sarajevo assassination of 1914; that action also threads throughout the book as counterpoint to the mystery Ian must solve to save other victims, including a friend of his late father's and a man wrongly accused of one of the murders. As Germany invades Belgium, England becomes involved and young men enlist to find glory and adventure but instead find death. Rutledge races a driven and capable killer and what seems to be his own inevitable involvement in war. Clear several hours from your schedule and read it; you won't want to stop until the end. Now, I'm wondering . . . what can possibly follow that?

[Carol She's So Novel꧁꧂]

I'm rereading Georgette Heyer's Death in the Stocks. It was my favourite of her mysteries in my younger years & I'm still enjoying it.

[Miss M]

Jean wrote: "what can possibly follow that?..."

Well, for a start, for me, I think it's about time that wee Scotsman/ghost stops popping out of the backseat in every story, warning "Ware!"
:D

Seriously, though, I'm looking forward to this new one - thanks for the insights.

[Kay]

So am I. My library has it and I will get it tomorrow, hopefully. Just started our latest book.

[C.J.]

Miss M wrote: "Jean wrote: "what can possibly follow that?..."

Well, for a start, for me, I think it's about time that wee Scotsman/ghost stops popping out of the backseat in every story, warning "Ware!"
:D


It's always a mystery when Goodreads emails come in (halfway through a thread) to figure out what book/author people are talking about. In this case, no problem! I was at a salon a few days ago with "Charles Todd" & itched to ask Charles & Caroline if their research on PTSD ever turned up a real case of Dead Scotsman in Back Seat. To me he's jarring--an obvious & unnecessary literary device.

They mentioned that they never outline, but they put huge effort into getting their opening chapter just right.

[Jean]

Since this new one is a prequel, there's no Hamish in the back seat. There's maybe a page and a half of the live Hamish proposing to his future widow. That's it.

[Sonali]

I have started reading Elizabeth George 's A place of hiding.

[Bionic Jean]

Is that one of the later ones Sonali?

[Jean]

No, it's kind of in the middle. I didn't much like it - too much Deborah and Simon, too little Lynley and Havers. There's also too much Deborah/Simon in Believing the Lie. What Came Before He Shot Her is more a very long, very boring sociological study rather than a mystery, and the four following books have just not been very good, with Just One Evil Act being really terrible - Lynley and Havers are stupid, overemotional, and illogical all throughout. I used to really like her books, but now I don't trust her. I used to buy them all in hardbook, including What Came, but now I just check them out from a library. I would really appreciate it if she would get back in gear.

[Bionic Jean]

Thanks Jean. That was the reason for my question, as I've heard similar assessments from others about her later novels.

[Sandysbookaday (taking a midwinter break)]

Jean wrote: "I've just finished Murder at Brightwell, by Ashley Weaver. It's a period piece, set in a luxurious seaside hotel in 1930s England. The main character, 5 years married to a wandering husband, is a..."

Sounds remarkably like Agatha Christie's The Mystery of the Blue Train! But still going to add it to my TBR list! Thanks Jean 8:D

[Joan]

Jean wrote: "Thanks Jean. That was the reason for my question, as I've heard similar assessments from others about her later novels."

Her later novels are definitely not as good as her earlier ones. Her last one (Just One Evil Act) was dreadful. I've resolved not to read anything else by her unless someone whose judgment I trust reads it first and tells me that I'd like it!

[Jean]

If the library has it and I can't find enough books I know I'll like, I'll check it out and let everyone know. If it starts as badly as Evil Act I will not finish it - and I almost never fail to finish a book - I'm OCD about that. I kept struggling through Evil Act thinking that surely things had to take a serious turn for the better . . . . How can someone who was so good just lose it? Back when the dinosaurs roamed, there was a mystery series by a couple named Lockridge - she developed the plots with clues, murder method, etc. and he did the characters and the actual writing. She died; he continued the series but they were awful. A 5-year-old could have solved them - purely formulaic. I wonder if EG had someone who made suggestions, devised some plot lines, etc? Someone who's no longer around for whatever reason . . . ? Oh, don't bother trying to find an old Lockridge book; I read those when I was in elementary school; and though I was already quite logical and scientifically minded, I was not a really sophisticated reader. I'm sure I'd laugh at them now, and not in a good way.

[Kay]

I stopped reading Elizabeth George several years ago. She seems to pad her books with irrelevant "stuff" to make them longer.

[Jean]

So many writers seem to be doing that. My husband thinks there may be pressure from publishers to hit the 350-page mark.

[Kay]

I agree!

[Karlyne]

Jean wrote: "If the library has it and I can't find enough books I know I'll like, I'll check it out and let everyone know. If it starts as badly as Evil Act I will not finish it - and I almost never fail to f..."

I loved the Lockridges, too, when I was a kid!

[Jean]

Ah, soulmate! Maybe that's the time to read them. That was before I knew about Agatha Christie, Ellery Queen, John Dickson Carr/Carter Dickson . . . .

[Karlyne]

Jean wrote: "Ah, soulmate! Maybe that's the time to read them. That was before I knew about Agatha Christie, Ellery Queen, John Dickson Carr/Carter Dickson . . . ."

I think I read them in between Agatha, but I never thought that they were in her league, just some nice pleasant reading!

[Jean]

I agree. Once I started on Agatha I never looked back.

[Aileen]

***Carol*** wrote: "I'm rereading Georgette Heyer's Death in the Stocks. It was my favourite of her mysteries in my younger years & I'm still enjoying it."

I just finished rereading Death in the Stocks. It is great. I think my favourite Heyer is Behold, Here's Poison. Her mysteries are so witty. Love the characters in them. Especially the inevitable dim-wits.

[Karlyne]

Jean wrote: "I agree. Once I started on Agatha I never looked back."

Do you remember what your first Agatha was? Mine was The Man in the Brown Suit, and I remember being amazed later on that it was written decades earlier. It seemed so modern and new!

[Karlyne]

Aileen wrote: "***Carol*** wrote: "I'm rereading Georgette Heyer's Death in the Stocks. It was my favourite of her mysteries in my younger years & I'm still enjoying it."

I just finished rereading Death in the S..."

I love Heyer's wit; every one of her mysteries have it in one shape or another.

[Jean]

No - it's been waaaaay too long. I've read all the Poirots and Marples and keep them in my library though I seldom re-read - I remember them too well.

[Karlyne]

Jean wrote: "No - it's been waaaaay too long. I've read all the Poirots and Marples and keep them in my library though I seldom re-read - I remember them too well."

I do re-read, because I find that after a decade or so they're brand-new to me! Well, mostly, anyway...

[Leslie]

Karlyne wrote: "Jean wrote: "No - it's been waaaaay too long. I've read all the Poirots and Marples and keep them in my library though I seldom re-read - I remember them too well."

I do re-read, because I find t..."

Same here! Although sometimes I will suddenly recall the book when I am two-thirds of the way through...

[Sandysbookaday (taking a midwinter break)]

Karlyne wrote: "Jean wrote: "No - it's been waaaaay too long. I've read all the Poirots and Marples and keep them in my library though I seldom re-read - I remember them too well."

I do re-read, because I find t..."

Haha! It doesn't even take me a decade.....one of the pleasures/frustrations of getting older 8:D

[Jean]

(giggle fit!)

[Karlyne]

Leslie wrote: "Karlyne wrote: "Jean wrote: "No - it's been waaaaay too long. I've read all the Poirots and Marples and keep them in my library though I seldom re-read - I remember them too well."

I do re-read, ..."

And it doesn't bother me a bit when I do recall it, Leslie!

[Karlyne]

Sandra wrote: "Karlyne wrote: "Jean wrote: "No - it's been waaaaay too long. I've read all the Poirots and Marples and keep them in my library though I seldom re-read - I remember them too well."

I do re-read, ..."

Hahaha! Wait, why am I laughing?!?

[Sandysbookaday (taking a midwinter break)]

She Shall Have Murder by Delano Ames

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Jane is a practical person. She is a legal secretary with a secret - she has a man in her life who is, unfortunately still married (albeit separated and in the throes of divorce) - most unacceptable in the 1940's, the period in which the book is set.

Dagobert does not have a job; in fact he seems to be quite allergic to work. Quite where he gets his income from remains a mystery.

Dagobert is prone to taking sudden fancies to ideas, and expects Jane to execute them. His latest idea is that Jane should write a murder mystery. He feels that in her job, she should have plenty of material to draw from.

Then one of the law firms most irritating clients dies. Is it accidental death - or a cleverly disguised murder? Dagobert feels sure it is murder (and there is no shortage of suspects) and sets out, with Jane, to prove it.

A lovely, intriguing, cozy murder mystery.



View all my reviews

[Sandysbookaday (taking a midwinter break)]

and

[Helen]

Currently reading Riddled on the Sands by J.J. Salkeld (ebook). This British Police Procedural series always entertains.

[Carola]

Just starting "Charters & Caldicott" by Stella Bingham. Finished "Something Borrowed, Someone Dead" by M.C. Beaton and I wasn't thrilled as you will see if you read my review.

[C.J.]

I very much enjoyed Bill Moody's "Looking for Chet Baker." (e-book currently free: http://amzn.to/1wwfyIv) It's set mostly in Amsterdam--not English, but satisfyingly low on gore, as well as a fascinating inside look at the jazz world of the 40s-present.

Now I'm reading my first Mary Russell novel, "The Beekeeper's Apprentice," Laurie R. King's equally adept re-creation of the world of Sherlock Holmes. (http://amzn.to/1utHAom) Most pastiches make me gag, but King had the wit to imitate Jeremy Brett & Co. > Conan Doyle, so the dialog & gestures are instantly audible & visible--a sensory doorway into a plausible (albeit TV-based) world.

[Joan]

I just finished Stella Rimington's Illegal Action, the third in her Liz Carlyle series of post-Cold-War espionage novels. I loved it! I had tried twice before to get into this one but had gotten distracted both times and not finished it. This time, it "took."

There is one plot element that I did not understand. So if any of you has read it, please PM me. I'd love to get this detailed sorted out.

[Susan]

Thanks just ordered "Looking For Chet Baker" Love the freebies.

[Leslie]

I finished The Spy Who Loved Me, 10th in the original James Bond series. I had previously skipped this one, so I am glad that I decided to come back and read it. It is significantly different from the other Bond books, as it is a first-person narrative of a young woman coming into adulthood in the early 1960s. Suddenly violence erupts into her life (followed by the arrival of Bond).

[Susan]

Just finished "A Fine Summers Day" by Charles Todd. A great read and a great story. One of my favorite writing teams