English Mysteries Club discussion
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Thanks for this link! Hope your husband is OK, Ellen.
Carolien wrote: "Thanks for this link! Hope your husband is OK, Ellen."
Yes indeed he is. Already up and about.
Sandy, Carol, Ellen,I have enjoyed all the Clara Benson books - 9 so far, I think. But it's pretty clear they were not written in the 1920s, but are a modern series, pretending!
I found this about Clara Benson on the Website about the author and the books Clara Benson was born in 1890 and as a young woman wrote several novels featuring Angela Marchmont. She was unpublished in her lifetime, preferring to describe her writing as a hobby, and it was not until many years after her death in 1965 that her family rediscovered her work and decided to introduce it to a wider audience.
I guess they are now being released as ebooks.
Ella's Gran wrote: "I found this about Clara Benson on the Website about the author and the books Clara Benson was born in 1890 and as a young woman wrote several novels featuring Angela Marchmont. She was unpublish..."
But I just don't think this is true, just a smart marketing ploy. This has been discussed in other forums. There are absolutely no 1920s attitudes that grate in the 2010s.
It doesn't matter in a sense: the books are fun as they are.
I have read a few of them and I really enjoy them. The first seemed as though she was finding her way but then each one after was very good.
John wrote: "Ella's Gran wrote: "I found this about Clara Benson on the Website about the author and the books Clara Benson was born in 1890 and as a young woman wrote several novels featuring Angela Marchmon..."
i don't believe they are real either. they don't seem authentic to me. and I can't believe anyone would write all those novels and not attempt to get them published.
Louise wrote: "John wrote: "Ella's Gran wrote: "I found this about Clara Benson on the Website about the author and the books Clara Benson was born in 1890 and as a young woman wrote several novels featuring An..."
Mmm, I did wonder about the number of novels written as a hobby, and they are all full length too. Not just short stories as you would imagine hobby writing would be. I've bought the first in the series that Sandy alerted us to, so I shall be interested to see how it reads.
I just got the free book. Thanks, Sandy. I had never heard of that author.
John wrote: "Ella's Gran wrote: "I found this about Clara Benson on the Website about the author and the books Clara Benson was born in 1890 and as a young woman wrote several novels featuring Angela Marchmon...
But I just don't think this is true, just a smart marketing ploy. "
Like the pretense that the Amelia Peabody books were actually found in a trunk.
Started re-reading the Joe Leaphorn books by Tony Hillerman. Enjoying them as much now as the first time.
I like them too despite my preference for English mysteries. Perhaps it's the setting, and also the fact that Chee and Leaphorn are terrific characters.
Catherine wrote: "Sandy *The world could end while I was reading and I would never notice* wrote: "Catherine wrote: "Sandy *The world could end while I was reading and I would never notice* wrote: "Catherine wrote: ..."I just would have read my way out! *:D
Everyman wrote: "John wrote: "Ella's Gran wrote: "I found this about Clara Benson on the Website about the author and the books Clara Benson was born in 1890 and as a young woman wrote several novels featuring An...
Like the pretense that the Amelia Peabody books were actually found in a trunk. "
I never knew that!
Everyman wrote: "Started re-reading the Joe Leaphorn books by Tony Hillerman. Enjoying them as much now as the first time."Bought a Hillerman Leaphorn trilogy some time ago after hearing about them on GR. Even 'though, or even because, they didn't seem my normal thing. But put the book to one side. Thanks for the reminder, Everyman. Will start reading 'The Blessing Way' shortly. Hope to get hooked!
Ella's Gran wrote: "Everyman wrote: "John wrote: "Ella's Gran wrote: "I found this about Clara Benson on the Website about the author and the books Clara Benson was born in 1890 and as a young woman wrote several no..."
I look at Amelia's trunk as a literary device and Clara Benson's back story s a marketing ploy.
John wrote: "Everyman wrote: "Started re-reading the Joe Leaphorn books by Tony Hillerman. Enjoying them as much now as the first time."Bought a Hillerman Leaphorn trilogy some time ago after hearing about t..."
I really liked the Leaphorn/Chee mysteries when I read them years ago - I am probably due for a reread as well! John, I hope you like them (I think you will)!
Sandy - agreed. The one fine, the other a bit of a deceit.Leslie, Betsy - good for Leaphorn to have a seconder and 'thirder' as well as a proposer!
I've read all the Hillermans too, even the two by Anne Hillerman, his daughter, continuing the series. Hers are not bad but not nearly as good, and I do prefer the Leaphorns.The fake biography thing bugs me; I looked up J K Rowlings' alter ego, Robert Galbraith, and there's a whole faked life for him. I don't mind a writer having several pen names - one for each series perhaps - but the fake bios are idiotic.
Jean wrote: The fake biography bugs me..."It bugs me too. I don't mind so much JK Rowling and her fake author bio, but I feel like the Clara Benson books (assuming that her bio is fake) are trying to pass off current mysteries as classic mysteries. That feels like faking the books themselves, not just who wrote them. As for the hoary old story of a manuscript found in a trunk, that's been used so much it's hardly worth getting upset about.
One reason I started the Manning Coles books when I was a teen was that both authors had actually been intelligence agents. I thought that gave them some authenticity. The books, of course, are wonderful - anyone who hasn't read them should do so immediately, preferably in order. So any fake bio which falsely claims special knowledge annoys me - including Rowling's, though she does seem to be an exceptionally fine person in almost every other way.
Jean wrote: "One reason I started the Manning Coles books when I was a teen was that both authors had actually been intelligence agents. I thought that gave them some authenticity. The books, of course, are w..."Ah, I acquired my mom's Manning Coles collection this past summer -- along with the books of Dornford Yates and John Buchan. Something to look forward to :-)
Yes, I really liked Buchan too. Haven't read Yates - maybe I'll check those out. I envy you meeting Tommy Hambledon for the first time.
Sigh!! I just keep adding to my kindle. Now I've just gotta live long enough ... ☺
Ella's Gran wrote: "Sigh!! I just keep adding to my kindle. Now I've just gotta live long enough ... ☺"I know what you mean. Every time I read this Currently Reading section, I find new authors. I've never heard of Manning Cole or Dornford Yates or John Buchan but now I just have to read them.
Love Buchan, like Yates, never heard of Manning Cole -- yippee, sounds like another one to get to know. Thanks
I find that Manning and Coles were published (first) in England as by Francis Gaite.There don't seem to be e-books under either title, so it'll be second-hand via Amazon. A few seem cheap but some are etraordinarily expensive. Out of print, I assume?
Not Manning and Coles or Manning Cole - they wrote as Manning Coles and you'll find it on Fantastic Fiction. The books feature Tommy Hambledon, a British agent, and both authors (Adelaide Manning and Cyril Coles) worked for British Intelligence - Manning in the War Office and Coles as an agent during both world wars. His exploits form part of the basis of the Hambledon character. There is a lot of humor in all but the first few, which I find delightful. Francis Gaite was the name the two authors used for a series of ghost stories which were based on bedtime stories Coles told his sons - not terrible but stick to the Hambledon ones. Go to www.FantasticFiction.com and you'll find the titles in order and help in ordering them.
Jean - thank you so much for this. About to pursue .....
Jean - afraid to admit I had not come across this website before. It looks great.Would you suggest the obvious, starting the Tommy Hambledon series at the beginning, with Drink to Yesterday, or doesn't it matter? 25 in the series, I see, so I hope I get hooked!
Yes, you'll do better if you read chronologically, especially for the first few. In the later ones it doesn't matter as much. Hambledon is a great character, and if you like humor mixed in as I do you'll love Forgan and Campbell who appear in the later ones.
Yes, you'll do better if you read chronologically, especially for the first few. In the later ones it doesn't matter as much. Hambledon is a great character, and if you like humor mixed in as I do you'll love Forgan and Campbell who appear in the later ones.
You really do want to start with _Drink to Yesterday_ followed by _A Toast to Tomorrow_. The first five books were written while WWII was happening, and they are (as you might expect) less light-hearted. The bulk of the series takes place during the Cold War.And I must say that I am thrilled to find that I am not the only person who thinks the Tommy Hambledon series is great.
When I read the Bond books, I was seriously disappointed. Not a patch on Tommy . . . .
Ella's Gran wrote: "I found this about Clara Benson on the Website about the author and the books Clara Benson was born in 1890 and as a young woman wrote several novels featuring Angela Marchmont. She was unpublish..."
Does anyone have any FACTS abt this? I found the same bio quoted all over the Net. It does seem weird that if the family found her books & started publishing them in the 1960s, new ones are coming out in 2014-15. My impression is that the language is contrived: too many carefully chosen old cliches & outdated words, & too many present participles which were rare in those days. But...data?
Carol wrote: "Ella's Gran wrote: "I found this about Clara Benson on the Website about the author and the books Clara Benson was born in 1890 and as a young woman wrote several novels featuring Angela Marchmon..."
That's the odd thing about it all - no details about who she was or where she came from, no photos or anything. Seems very strange.
Jean wrote: "Not Manning and Coles or Manning Cole - they wrote as Manning Coles and you'll find it on Fantastic Fiction. The books feature Tommy Hambledon, a British agent, and both authors (Adelaide Manning ..."For anyone in the San Francisco bay area, the Mechanics' Inst. Library has 11 of them! Thanks for recommending - this group is so good for new discoveries.
The Cornish Coast Murder"This newest installment in the British Library Crime Classics series takes readers to Cornwall for a perfect example of the cozy mystery, sure to charm all fans of the genre."
First published in 1935 and just reissued by the British Library. There are a series of these by Bude, set in different parts of England. I'm reading this one, the first, and enjoying it. I was able to order it from my library.
Does anyone subscribe to Kindle Unlimited? I signed up for the 30 day free trial, and so far I've been happy with it; I read all the Clara Barton books for free (and greatly enjoyed them, despite questions about the author). But if anyone does subscribe I'd love to know whether you find it worth the cost and whether the books available include a lot of good mysteries.
Karen wrote: "Does anyone subscribe to Kindle Unlimited? I signed up for the 30 day free trial, and so far I've been happy with it; I read all the Clara Barton books for free (and greatly enjoyed them, despite ..."I have subcscribed for nearly a year and have found it very helpful, especially for mysteries. I have read many that I probably would not have read otherwise. They're not all great, but many are above avaerage.
Karen,I'm not a KU member, but I did do some research into it...For mysteries in KU, try searching for the publisher Open Road Media. They're a very large reprint house and offer lots of older series like Anne Perry, Dorothy Sayers, Miss Silver, Donald Westlake, Charlotte MacLeod...
Generally, not their new-release titles, though.
Here's one search string:
http://smile.amazon.com/s/ref=sr_pg_1...
Amazon's own mystery imprint, Thomas and Mercer, is also in KU - including Ian Fleming titles.
I keep a separate wishlist and when I see an eligible title I save it there for later--(I get the monthly Prime book and will eventually at least give the 30 days a shot.)
Karen wrote: "Does anyone subscribe to Kindle Unlimited? I signed up for the 30 day free trial, and so far I've been happy with it; I read all the Clara Barton books for free (and greatly enjoyed them, despite ..."I am not a member of Kindle Unlimited but I am an Amazon Prime member who takes full advantage of the Prime Kindle lending library (can borrow one Kindle book a month from selected titles). I read much of the James Bond series that way and have read some interesting foreign titles including mysteries such as The Hangman's Daughter and The King's Hounds. Sadly, the Patricia Wentworth Miss Silver mysteries are NOT available for Prime members; I am pretty sure Anne Perry, Dorothy Sayers, Donald Westlake etc are also not available in the Prime selection. It would be worth checking if they are available in the Kindle Unlimited.
One benefit to KU that tempts me is borrowing Audible audiobooks.
No, you're right, those authors are not in Prime/KOLL but they are in KU.ETA: they're in the link I posted
Karen wrote: "Does anyone subscribe to Kindle Unlimited? I signed up for the 30 day free trial, and so far I've been happy with it; I read all the Clara Barton books for free (and greatly enjoyed them, despite ..."I've subscribed for about a year now, and I've gotten a good number of mysteries as well as a number of other literature books. It's been worth it to me.
I'm a member of KU and I use it all the time. They have lots of cozy mysteries (if you're interested in those - I'm not), but they have a wide variety of other mysteries - I'm reading the Miss Withers series from there, but they have histories, etc. so I find it worthwhile.
English Mysteries Club
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Just finished Murder at Sissingham Hall on Thursday while my husband was having surgery. It really kept me occupied.